This gorgeous Magnolia Tree sits along Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur, just across from Marin Primary School. The tree is in stunning full bloom right now! The story I have been told is that a dentist lived in the home and in lieu of payment, a gardener client planted the tree. It may have originally been two magnolia trees together.
If you know the real story about this Larkspur beauty, I would love to hear it!
According to the the National Association of Realtors®, “distressed homes” represented nearly 2 of every fifth home sold in January 2010. Clearly, real estate investors in Marin County and around the country are taking advantage of good deals on inexpensive property. But there’s risk involved.
This NBC Today Show interview first ran in March 2009, featuring real estate expert Barbara Corcoran. Despite its age, the message remains relevant. Today may be a terrific time to buy a bank-owned home — just make sure you do your research first. There’s plenty of ways for investors to get burned.
Corcoran also gives pointers on how to evaluate a prospective tenant.
Foreclosures may represent a significant number of 2010’s total Marin County home sales and will offer interesting opportunities to bona fide real estate investors.
Remember, the stats and the data are from 12 months ago, but the advice stays meaningful.
There are 12 active homes for sale in Fairfax and 10 homes under contact. Six Fairfax homes have sold this year. The average list price for a single family home is $748,120. The average sales price is $747,333. The average days on the market for a Fairfax home sold in 2010 was 157 days. The table below shows the trends for the month of January over December 2010, for 1 year and for 15 months.
1 Month
1 Year
15 Months
Dec
2009
Jan
2010
%
Change
Jan
2009
Jan
2010
%
Change
Nov
2008
Jan
2010
%
Change
For Sale
10
12
20%
22
12
-44.5%
30
12
-60%
Sold
8
2
-75%
1
2
100%
2
2
0%
Pended
4
4
0%
3
4
33.3%
5
4
-20%
Fairfax Home Sales Year to Date
35 Azalea Ave $501,000
79 Hillside Drive, $595,000
28 Oak Tree Lane $626,000
4 Spring Lane $656,000
Fairfax Real EstateMarket Data effective as of March 2, 2010. Data provided by Bay Area Real Estate Information Services. Are you a Marin real estate junkie?Sign upto receive very detailed real-time market reports in your email. Just register and let me know which neighborhoods you are interested in.
Fairfax is one of my favorite Marin communities and today it celebrates it’s 79th Birthday! The Town of Fairfax was incorporated in 1931. Fairfax still retains its eclectic downtown area, features a vibrant local live music scene and is bustling with energy. Simultaneously, Fairfax is one of the prettiest outdoor communities with access to miles upon miles of hiking and biking trails, reservoirs, and more. Just outside the town you will find the Mt. Tamalpais Game Refuge and the Marin Municipal Watershed with thousand of acres of open space land reaching from Mt. Tamalpais to the Bolinas Ridge.
According the 2000 U.S. Census, 7,319 residents live in Fairfax.
Wishing a very happy birthday to the Town of Fairfax, California!
There are 15 active homes for sale in Larkspur and six homes under contact. Four Larkspur homes have sold this year. The average list price for a single family home is $1,252,067. The average Larkspur home has been on the market 100+ days. The table below shows the trends for the month of January over December 2010, for 1 year and for 15 months. Keep in mind that Larkspur is a very small community and the statistics are easily skewed because of the small number of homes sold each month and year.
1 Month
1 Year
15 Months
Dec
2009
Jan
2010
%
Change
Jan
2009
Jan
2010
%
Change
Nov
2008
Jan
2010
%
Change
For Sale
12
14
16.7%
24
14
-41.7%
24
14
-41.7%
Sold
4
2
-50%
1
2
100%
1
2
100%
Pended
0
3
n/a
0
3
n/a
o
3
n/a
Larkspur Home Sales Year to Date
34 Diane Lane $628,000
60 Diane Lane $775,000
135 Tulane Drive $975,000
362 Madrone Ave $1,391,000
Notice the price point of homes sold in 2010 in Larkspur. The lower end of our real estate market continues to move, albeit slower than in the past.
Larkspur Real EstateMarket Data effective as of March 1, 2010. Data provided by Bay Area Real Estate Information Services. Are you a Marin real estate junkie?Sign upto receive very detailed real-time market reports in your email. Just register and let me know which neighborhoods you are interested in.
On this day 102 years ago, the City of Larkspur officially incorporated. Larkspur earned its name in 1886. Downtown Larkspur is only three blocks long and has retained its historic charm. Larkspur gained a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Downtown Larkspur remains the central business district today and is lined with small boutiques and restaurants. Larkspur is primarily a residential community with 12,014 residents according to the 2000 U.S. census.
Larkspur is nestled at the base of King Mountain, under Blithedale Ridge and Mt Tam. It is known for its perfect weather, majestic redwood trees and beautiful magnolia trees which line Magnolia Road, Larkspur’s main thoroughfare.
I am proud to call Larkspur my home! Happy Birthday Larkspur!
I took this picture yesterday afternoon from the houseboat docks in Sausalito at low tide, looking back towards Mt. Tam. I love the way Mt. Tam looks in the background in the aftermath of the storm.
Replacing a home’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) air filter is one way to keep the unit’s motor running right. It’s an oft-forgotten part of keeping a well-run home. And, it’s simple, too.
In the two-minute video above, you’ll learn how to replace an air filter from start-to-finish. There’s no need for tools and no need for experience — the job is about as basic as home maintenance jobs come.
Air filters should be changed at least quarterly but it’s okay to change on a monthly rotation, too — especially if your home has shedding pets, or is under construction or repair. Just remember that not all air filters are created equal.
In this famous video, we see how $0.99 filters can fail to get the job done. Spending $10-15 for a filter that works is a better idea.
If you are not a do-it-yourself type, give us a call to find a Marin pro who can help you with your home maintenance.
Foreclosures happen for many reasons and it is something no homeowner wants to experience. There are many resources available to homeowners concerned about or in jeopardy of being foreclosed upon. I have a series on this site with loan modification tips. Unfortunately, we are hearing about many instances where homes are being foreclosed on while the homeowner is in the process of the loan modification. We are also seeing many new short sale listings coming up after failed loan modifications. We have a new series coming up on the short sales in Marin, stay tuned for that. In the meantime, we thought it would helpful to have tips and resources for homeowners who need assistance and information to avoid foreclosure.
Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.
According to Case-Shiller representatives, the housing market is “in better shape than it was this time last year”, but some of the summer’s momentum has been lost. 15 of 20 tracked markets declined in value between November and December 2009.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note the 5 markets that didn’t decline — Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego. Each of these metro regions were among the hardest hit nationwide when home prices first broke. Now, they’re leading the pack in price recovery.
For some real estate investors, that’s a positive signal. But we also have to consider the Case-Shiller Index’s flaws because they’re big ones.
As examples:
Case-Shiller data is reported on a 2-month lag
The Case-Shiller sample set includes just 20 U.S. cities
There’s no “national real estate market” — real estate is local
That said, the Case-Shiller Index is still important. As the most widely-used private sector housing index, Case-Shiller helps to identify broader housing trends and many people believe housing is a key element in the economic recovery.
Marin County was one of the last markets to be hit by the economic crash. It’s hard to predict what will happen the remainder of this year and in to next, but we still expect a bumpy road ahead.
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