After a long tour of homes for sale in Mill Valley I returned to Ross, exhausted. My clients are looking for a ‘deal,’ so my job is to eliminate homes that simply won’t work. If you know of some good deals … (20 Marin View was too much work but an amazing opportunity) … let me know.

The BIG questions are: When is the best time to sell a home in Mill Valley? When is the best time to buy? 

Before I get you to the answers, think back … You may remember early last week, with temperatures hitting 105 in San Rafael … so in the evening it was time to head south from Ross into the fog. Not. Mill Valley was hot, too!

My buddy Michael Whyte, one of the last independent book store owners still alive in the post-Amazon era, with Whyte Booksmith at 615 San Anselmo Avenue, joined me for a Mark Pitta Tuesday night comedy adventure at 142 Throckmorton in Mill Valley.

After a café dinner outside at Small Shed Flatbread, a quaint organic café around the corner from 142 Throckmorton… we shared a wonderful flat bread with figs, prosciutto, caramelized onions and blue cheese and I had an IPA, Michael had a pinot … yummy … the night began … and what a night it was … the 20th anniversary of a young, pranksterish Mark Pitta having been on the Johnny Carson Show …. an evening kicked off by Jackie Kashian, achingly funny female comic … followed by Steven White, intellectually stimulating, thigh slapping ADHD (attention deficit in HD) comic with a bit of history to relate … along with a long list of lusty women on his mind …and then … with the theme song from Mork and Mindy … the night got raunchy with Robin Williams … joined by Mark Pitta … they used a fan to blow the audience … I’ve skipped half of the cast of characters … and even clicked a shot with my cell phone but got busted and promised to delete the photo … so all that’s left is for you is to check out www.markpitta.com … which will guide you to the Throckmorton website. Best show in town. A $20 bargain! Get your tickets and have a blast.

And now the answer on when to buy/sell, a partial answer at any rate (click graphs to enlarge):

With the exception of June, sales of single family homes in Mill Valley average around 20, plus or minus, month in and month out. If you’re selling, hey, do you want to compete with 150 homes or half that many? Timing is the key. And if you’re buying, how does August stack up when compared to December? Pretty obvious.

The graphs are a partial answer because in August of ’09 in San Anselmo, there were 87 homes on the market … and 45 days later (in September) six closed escrow … which differs from what you’d think if you simply look at the graph.

Clearly I want you to call me so that I can straighten out the statistical picture, help you make sense of it and then list your home. As always, www.tomverkozen.com or (415) 257-2039 … and know that I do straight forward sales, short sales and foreclosures as well as auctions (the 20 Marin View was a bank-owned, auction sale house with great potential).

Long and short, you need a guide and I’m thrilled you need me to make sense of this amazing market … a market filled with potential good deals and some great homes for sale. Come on, call!

Posted by:  Tom Verkozen