Featured in the Local Papers
Date: Saturday December 6, 2008Posted in: real estate, short sales, foreclosure, Morgan Hill Real Estate, Gilroy real estate
I was “quoted” in the local papers, Gilroy Dispatch, Morgan Hill Times and the Hollister Free Lance. I say “quoted” because I don’t remember saying the exact words they used, but hey, it was fun to be interviewed by the media and then to get a mention in the papers! (And not in the Crime Watch section….!)
The article discussed the impact of foreclosures on our South Santa Clara County area and included a few personal stories. My quotes are somewhere in the middle of the article. One of the article’s authors, Nicole Baldocchi, had contacted me to ask me about the number of foreclosures hitting Morgan Hill and Gilroy and I helped direct her to some statistics regarding the impact on our local real estate market. Nicole was able to find several families facing foreclosure. These families had been misled by their real estate agents and lenders (too often one and the same person), and their stories are heartbreaking.
Condition of South Santa Clara County Distressed Properties
Date: Sunday November 23, 2008Posted in: REO, real estate, short sale, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, foreclosure, housing inventory, Morgan Hill Real Estate, Gilroy real estate, bank-owned
As I mentioned in my last post, I showed a lot of bank-owned residences in Los Banos on Friday. One thing that struck me was that for the most part (with a few exceptions), the properties were in good condition. Out of the ten that we saw, at least half of them had been freshly painted and new carpet was installed.
This goes against what most people think of when they consider the condition of REOs and short sales. But the condition of these homes is sometimes ”turn-key”, meaning that you could move into the home and not have to do anything.
In the south Santa Clara County cities of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy, there are currently 346 distressed residential properties that are either REOs (bank-owned) or short sales. See my previous post that defines the meaning of these types of sales. These homes range in price from $1,999,999 for a short sale at 12895 Ales Place in San Martin,
to $104,900 for a bank-owned townhouse at 7759 Murray Avenue in Gilroy:
Both of these properties appear ready to move into.
If you like the prices of the distressed properties that are on the market now but are reluctant to even look at them because you are concerned that all distressed properties are going to be terribly damaged, please reconsider. As your agent, I can weed out the properties that are in poor condition and only show you the properties that require very little work to make them habitable.
South County Sales Week of November 12 - 18, 2008
Date: Wednesday November 19, 2008Posted in: real estate market, real estate, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, statistics, pending sales, pricing, Morgan Hill Real Estate, Gilroy real estate
Quite a jump in sales last week in the south Santa Clara County area of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy - especially considering that it is mid November! There were 38 residences that went from active to pending status. Of these, 36 were single family homes and 2 were condo/townhouses.
Of these sales, the list price ranges were:
Below $200,000 = 1 sale (3% of total)
$200,000 - $500,000 = 26 sales (68% of total)
$500,000 - $800,000 = 8 sales (21% of total)
$800,000 - $1,200,000 = 2 sales (5% of total)
$1,200,000 - $2,000,000 = 1 sale (3% of total)
As of November 18, 2008, there are 719 residential listings active on the market in the Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy area, and 228 pending residential listings. Therefore, 24% of the listings are pending under contract as of this date.
Tune in next week for an update on the number of sales in South Santa Clara County!
Just How Far Did South County Home Prices Fall?
Date: Tuesday November 18, 2008Posted in: price, real estate, short sale, foreclosures, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, Gilroy, MLS, statistics, housing market, pricing, average price, home selling, Morgan Hill Real Estate, Gilroy real estate
I’ve had several clients and friends recently ask me just what, exactly, have home prices been doing in south Santa Clara County since they peaked. And, by the way, just when did they peak? To answer that question, I turned to MLSListings Pro where Realtors go to look at the Multiple Listing Service.
Here’s what I found for Morgan Hill: Morgan Hill’s average home sale price peaked in September, 2006 at $1,091,144. The average sale price for the year of 2006 was $945,240. The average sold home price in 2007 didn’t dip too drastically, but did fall 5% to $901,582. Our most recent data for 2008 through the third quarter shows an average sale price of $767,900.
For Morgan Hill, that is a total drop in average home sale prices from the year of 2006 to the end of the third quarter in 2008 of 19%.
And for Gilroy, the statistics look a little gloomier: Gilroy’s average home sale price peaked in the year 2006 with an overall average sale price for single family homes of $800,620 for that year. The average sale price for a Gilroy home in 2007 barely moved from the previous year and was $796,676. But through the third quarter of this year, the average sale price for 2008 is $565,278.
For Gilroy, that is a total drop in average home sale prices from the year of 2006 to the end of the third quarter in 2008 of 30%.
Gilroy has been particularly hard hit with foreclosures and short sales and those “distressed” listings seem to be what is selling there, so of course, that will drag down the average sale price for the city. If you live in Gilroy and you want to know how much your home may be worth now, don’t just automatically take 30% off what you think your house was worth in 2006. Each house is still valued individually and there are many factors that make up its worth. Call me for a thorough, in-depth market analysis if you are considering selling your home.
