Before the downturn, I worked with a lot of real estate investors and helped them do 1031 Exchanges. A lot of my investor clients wanted to buy properties outside the State of California, but all of the loan agents I worked with couldn’t accommodate them. In 2005 I saw an ad in a real estate newspaper for a guy with Bank of America, realized how big they are and thought, “I bet they can do loans out of state…” Sure enough, they could — and my relationship with them was born.
Over the course of four years my referrals brought him, and Bank of America, over 20 loan originations. In 2009 I realized this guy was struggling, and at the end of the year he told me he had decided to leave the company. He told me that, despite how proactive he is, Bank of America couldn’t effectively fund loans anymore. This had negatively affected his business to the point where his clients were jumping ship and that leaving the company was the only thing he could do to save his reputation in the industry.
The real estate market for Dublin Ranch condos and townhomes has changed significantly over the last year. There are quite a few reasons why — lenders have slowed down on foreclosing and have allowed a wider variety of work-out options for owners in distress. For owners who can’t afford a work-out option, short sales are taking much less time and that means properties don’t have to be marketed and re-marketed when homebuyers eventually become frustrated with waiting and walk away.
There’s also a lot more optimism in the real estate market these days. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it would seem we’ve hit the bottom. Prices are stable, but have experienced small increases. The reason why the market isn’t taking off with soaring home prices is, quite simply, because of the current lending environment that depends on appraisals. Worried appraisers (who took quite a bit of the blame for the skyrocketing market of a few years ago) are much more conservative with values when a property is being financed.
Dublin Ranch residents who are thinking about purchasing a car this year will have a a new, different option starting this summer when the Tesla Model S is introduced. An all-electric, seven seat sedan, the Model S uses no gasoline. Just like you would charge your cell phone at night, you can plug in your Model S and enjoy up to 300 miles of range between charges.
Needless to say, as a real estate company who takes environmental issues seriously, this car has been something we’ve been VERY excited about. Realtors have traditionally driven oversized, gas-guzzling vehicles in the name of projecting an image they think is important. We don’t think that way, and we love the fact that Model S is well-appointed, it’s a beautiful design, and it’s emissions-free.
Now that we’ve drawn the curtain on 2011 and almost everyone (including us!) is back to work, it’s fair to say the Holiday Season is over and the New Year has begun. Here at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle, we wanted to wish you and your family a fantastic year — it seems it’s already gearing up to be a great one!
We know that in the spring, we’ll see the opening of a new BJ’s Restaurant in the new Fallon Gateway shopping center where Target is now. We suspect that this year will also come with interesting news regarding The Promenade, and whether or not KB Homes will be allowed to build condos there instead of the walking, shopping center we were all promised.
Little by little, month by month, the market for Dublin Ranch condos and townhomes is inching toward a seller’s market. It’s still a good time to buy, but each month that goes by sees less supply and more demand.
Looking at the “Supply and Demand” statistics published by Terradatum, the condo/townhome market here in the City of Dublin has seen a 36% drop in supply, and a 22% increase in demand, since this same time last year. Inventory has seen a slight drop from 73 homes for sale in October to 61 homes for sale in November. That has maintained a market that favors sellers, but not strongly so (unlike the market for detached homes in Dublin Ranch, which is enjoying a strong seller’s market this month!). Currently, there are 66 days’ inventory in the City of Dublin.
According to statistics published by Terradatum, our local real estate market here in Dublin Ranch has made a sharp turn for the advantage of sellers. Inventory has plummeted from 74 homes for sale in October to only 44 homes for sale in November, but that hasn’t stopped home buyers from wanting to buy! The result is a strong seller’s market; there are only 36 days’ inventory in the City of Dublin.
For those of you who aren’t as familiar, an easy way to measure the “velocity of the market” is to take the number of homes that are currently available and divide that by the number that have gone into contract in the last 30 days. If the resulting number is less than 90 days, we know we’re in a seller’s market. Less than 45 days and we know it’s a strong seller’s market.
As the Broker and President of a start-up real estate marketing company called Lifestyle Real Estate Services, “Green Initiatives” are something I think about a lot. It’s funny — real estate seems to have a reputation for cheesy sales people driving huge, gas-burning cars and working in offices that use a tree’s worth of paper each day.
In the effort to do things differently, I’ve become quite interested in green initiatives. We drive cars that are smaller, “ULEV”s (that stands for Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle) and we are working on making our work paperless with on-screen signing technology by ZipLogix. What in the world does all this have to do with the holidays? Well, let me tell you…
It’s that time of year! The “holiday lights” across all the buildings at Waterford Place are coming on at night, the beautiful wreaths and decorations are up at Ulferts Center, and this year we even had a Christmas Tree lot on Camino Tassajara. Your real estate team at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle bought our Christmas tree there, and had a great experience. The people (and the animals in the petting zoo!) were friendly and the selection of trees was fantastic!
Sellers of Dublin Ranch single-family homes have something to celebrate — the real estate market continues to be in their favor! “Months of Inventory” for last month was at just below two months, which is a good seller’s market.
People ask us, all the time, “How’s the real estate market?” We’ve found that the easiest way to describe any market is by talking about the “months of inventory” statistics. This stat measures the length of time, with current buying activity, it would take to sell all the homes on the market if no more homes came on the market after today. The shorter the time, the more the market favors sellers — the longer the time, the more the market favors buyers.
The holidays are a beautiful experience for those lucky enough to live in homes in Dublin Ranch. I always get excited when I see the lights come on across the top of Waterford shopping center and the garland and wreaths go up on Ulferts Center — it’s so great that property owners in our community get excited about the holidays, too!
So many of our Dublin Ranch homes include vaulted ceilings that are fantastic for installing a tree, and the smell of fresh evergreen always makes a home, condo or townhome feel more festive. These days, tree lots are popping up in parking lots as fast as the common cold is popping up amongst your friends and co-workers. But where are the best places to get a tree?
So, Thanksgiving has come and gone and this article is four days late — I get that. Still, it seemed appropriate to write something up and thank all the great folks we’ve had an opportunity to work with so far this year. Buying and selling homes in Dublin Ranch can be a crazy, hair-raising process. We are so thankful for the opportunity to simplify the complicated for our clients, and to help them reach their goals.
The fact is, the reason this blog article is four days late is because we’ve been busy. Negotiating on our client’s behalf, closing transactions, helping prospective clients understand if a short sale is the most appropriate strategy for their situation, and even meeting with designers and contractors to prepare listings for sale (or make newly-sold houses feel more like home) are all activities that occupy our time. Not all real estate agents, or real estate companies, can say they’ve been busy. Many professionals in our business are waiting for the phone to ring…
News of interest rate increases is the result of great news for our economy. Strong earning announcements from several major companies caused stock market rallies throughout most of last week. The bad news, though, is for home buyers in the market for Dublin Ranch homes, condos or townhomes this led to a few mortgage rate “re-prices” for the worse. We are still seeing historic lows for many loan programs, but the fact that this upward movement occurred is a great reminder that we will not see these low rates forever. If you are in the market for Dublin Ranch real estate, and are still on the fence about whether now is a good time to buy, act quickly to take advantage of the low rates…before they unexpectedly go up and stay up!
With the limited inventory in Dublin Ranch, if an opportunity seems like a good one for you I’d encourage you to give me a call quickly for a showing appointment. Also, if you would like to receive email updates about homes coming on the market in Dublin Ranch, contact me and I’ll set you up with a free email alert account.
The Real Estate Team at DublinRanchLifestyle.com has done it again! The owner of 6145 Mabury Avenue in Orange, CA hired us after learning about our unique marketing philosophy at dublinranchlifestyle.com/our-philosophy.
Working with past clients is not only a lot of fun, but it’s also an honor to be re-hired by someone who recognizes the caliber of work we do to market homes and get them sold. A couple of years ago, I helped this client buy a home in Moraga after she moved from Orange County to the Bay Area for a new job. Out of the blue, this spring I got a call from her. That call went something like this:
The Real Estate Team at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle has done it again! The owners of 3587 Colchester Lane in Dublin Ranch hired us after learning about our unique marketing philosophy at dublinranchlifestyle.com/our-philosophy. After an initial consultation, they were excited to get started!
We coordinated a photo shoot of the home, included the home as a Featured Listing on our website, created a Property Brochure, produced a video of the home, and held a Twilight Open House to invite the neighborhood to see the home on behalf of their family and friends.
The Real Estate Team at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle has done it again! The owners of 3077 Lakemont Drive #2 in San Ramon hired us after learning about our unique marketing philosophy at dublinranchlifestyle.com/our-philosophy.
Knowing they were underwater not only on their home equity line, but also on a portion of their mortgage, they wanted us to help them avoid foreclosure, unload the property, while paying the least amount out of pocket as possible. This husband and wife had recently experienced a loss of income. Because of their high payments on their upside-down loans, and their inability to find a tenant, we were able to help them sell the property and preserve their credit from a foreclosure.
We employed Mortgage Resolution Services (MRS) to negotiate the short sale on their behalf. MRS has a great deal of experience at negotiating short sales. With this being the most difficult type of short sale to negotiate and close (two loans with two different lenders…), this was the most practical approach to take.
I always thought you were the BEST Realtor I know!!!! You know how much I thank you for all your efforts on my behalf.
I had the opportunity to meet with a Dublin Ranch homeowner two nights ago who needs to do a short sale on a condo in the Terraces. They are a really nice family; when we originally started talking they told me they had been declined a modification in the “Making Home Affordable” program, and had thought that letting their Dublin Ranch condo go to foreclosure was their only option. I’m glad we got a chance to talk!
They had purchased their Dublin Ranch condo from Toll Brothers in 2004, and within only a few months refinanced both of their loans for a lower interest rate. Remember those days? When property values were climbing so fast that you could do a refinance every few months and enjoy more equity? I promise I’ll snap out of my nostalgia in 5… , 4… , 3… , 2…
There is a crazy phenomenon going on here in our local market — it’s on FIRE! It seems like only a few months ago (oh wait, it was only a few months ago!) that homes placed on the market would languish for weeks and have multiple price reductions before they would finally receive an offer that was 10-15% below the asking price.
But those days seem to be gone for now, and the market has created a total negotiation disadvantage for individuals looking to purchase homes, condos or townhomes in Dublin Ranch. There’s a few layers to this disadvantage — first, buyers have to write an offer for more than the property is worth in order to secure the deal. The problem with that, though, is that if that buyer needs financing from a bank who is doing an appraisal (and most of them do!), and the house doesn’t appraise (and it probably won’t!), then it’s back to the negotiation table or the buyer will have to bring more cash to close.
All of us here in Dublin Ranch are looking for signs of where the economy is headed. Everywhere we look we run across good news and bad, and one begins to wonder at some point — what is Dublin Ranch going to look like in the next five years?
Nationally, the Consumer Confidence Index in January rose for the third straight month. I actually didn’t know this (even though I hear about the Consumer Confidence Index quite a bit…), but the index is based on research done in a monthly phone survey done of 5000 households. It measures consumers short-term and long-term outlooks; it questions those surveyed on their impression of how the job market is doing, whether they see conditions for business improving or degrading, and how they expect what’s going on to effect their income personally.
We got some great news last week! Any owner of a Dublin Ranch home who is looking to sell, or any buyer interested in purchasing a condo, townhome, or single-family residence in Dublin Ranch will be interested to hear this. Ready? Drum roll please!
The Real Estate Team at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle was selected by the BayEast Association of Realtors to be part of their prestigious President’s Club! This award was given based on our production for 2009, and because of our high standards of professionalism in the marketplace. Here at Dublin Ranch Lifestyle, our real estate team really does go above and beyond to make sure your transaction is smooth, professional, and to allow our clients to be fully informed every step of the way. It appears to be working; we not only have happy clients, but professional trade organizations in our area are taking notice as well!
