You need the best information available to be confident of your real estate decisions, so, by invitation I’m back (real estate columnist, Marin IJ, 1980 – 1992). And I’d love to hear about your real estate adventures, wants and needs.

Before we begin, two disclaimers: Newspapers give you a biased version of the truth (they sell disasters, gossip and a few newspapers). I have a value-bias as well (I sell real estate, own a great little home in Ross and have income from a Class A office complex TIC).

Now let’s explore the good news/bad news bias. The end of February brought us a marvelously biased, in my opinion, IJ headline: HOME PRICES IN MARIN DROP 24% IN A YEAR. Sure, our average/median price is down, but comparing January 08 to January 09 I found that Marin had an 11% increase in number of sales (Multiple Listing Service statistic). This view leaves begging the question, why did prices drop in Marin? There are a variety of reasons but one big reason is that many of the sales are foreclosed properties – especially lower priced condos (if one million dollar home and three $330,000 condos sell, the average sales price is $500,000 and the median is $330,000). My view (statistic from the same IJ article): The number of sales are UP 143% in Contra Costa. Contra Costa leads, Marin follows. The direction is UP.

Keep your chin up and look them in the eye: Remember Obi-Wan talking to Luke about light sabers? ‘The sense of struggle creates struggle.’ Keeping in mind that real estate isn’t all struggle, I say, enough seriousness, let’s have some fun:

Congratulations to Isobel Weiner who sold another home for just south of $20M.

Up-coming and unique: Kudos to Patti Cohn, offers flowing on her nine listings, Patti will soon bring a remodeled beauty in Larkspur to the market. Yes, it has a 2-car garage. Hop, skip or crawl to The Silver Peso, fabulous schools, The Left Bank or post office, not necessarily in that order. Price to be under $900,000.

Did you know… most bank-owned properties sell at or above their list price, often amid multiple offers?


Posted By: Tom Verkozen