My Sunday Open House

Yesterday I held a colleagues listing on 75th in East Oakland Open. There seems to be a lot more activity on the market than I was expecting for January. While not a flood of new homes, I saw about a dozen homes open in the area of my open house, as well as many more new listings on the Monday and Thursday Broker's tour.
I had originally expected that most people would be holding back for the much more active market in the Spring, but I think I am going to have to reevaluate my opinion. Each new week of 2007 there are more homes on the market, and not just the ordinary 2 bedroom homes, but also the larger, higher end properties.
There may not be any waiting until March for the smart buyer. Sellers are coming out early.

Best Burger in Berkeley

I have found the best burger in Berkeley, and a wonderful little café for breakfast and lunch. It is called 900 Grayson, right at the corner of Grayson and 7th Street. It used to be just another greasy spoon in the industrial area of Berkeley. It was bought and revamped and it has become a stylish café offering homey food with a modern twist. The hamburger comes stacked with little onion rings and bacon. It is the beefiest tasting burger I have had in a long time.They also make a fantastic Cobb Salad. Check them out

Martin Luther King Jr.

I Have a Dream

The Thursday Broker's Tour

It's Thursday, and another Broker's tour has come and gone. Things are just starting to wake up on the market. While the volume is still low, the larger more expensive homes are starting to come out, and as all listing agents know, the real way to a Realtors heart is through the stomach. Thursday Tour always has a lot of food at each stop.

If you read the buzz from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and the California Association of Realtors (CAR) and their economists, you will hear that the market will start moving upwards come the Spring. I am a little less sanguine about our local market. Most Industry analysis seems to take the position of the listing agent and the seller, and they are telling the seller's that come mid-year, there will be a stiffening of the market, and perhaps even an upward swing in prices.

I feel that sellers will be lucky if things just remain even for the rest of the year, and they should really look for a 2% to 5% decrease in value, with the hopes for a leveling in the market in 2008. Most economists point towards a rise in interest rates to 6.5% to 6.8% for a 30 year fixed loan by the end of the year.



I know I keep harping on this, but 2007 is going to be a great year for buyers.

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Monday's Broker Tour

Today was the Broker's Tour for most of Oakland. There is still not alot of new listings coming onto the market, but I think in the next 2 months there will be an onslaught of new home listings.
With the market being what it is, listing agents are being careful to bring homes onto the market with as much advantage as they can give them. This means that most listings will be staged and painted, and many of the repairs will be done and all the reports will be available.
Timing a sale to get maximum effect is part of the stratagy, and a March introduction of a new property when more buyers are traditionally out looking is part of that.

Most observers, me included, think that the market has corrected for the most part, and that now we are in a leveling off period. Part of this is because towards the end of 2006, buyers started to become active again. They saw that home prices had dropped, and interest rates were about as low as they were going to get. This put a little squeeze on the market that leveled home values out at the end of the year.
This does not mean a return to the over-heated market we have known in the Bey Area. It means just another factor that is returning us to a more sane, and even market.

I still see 2007 as a great year for those looking to buy Real Estate.

Tacos Instead of Real Estate

Thurday is a Broker's Tour day. The day we go out to look at what is new on the Real Estate market. It's still early, and there is not much to see. Certainly not anything to write about.
During these blustery Winter days I cannot help but day dreaming of what I want to do when the weather turns warm again.
The New York Times Online ran a wonderful article about finding the perfect Taco on the road from Santa Barbara to San Francisco. Mix this with a few choice stops for the beaches, and I think you have a fantastic, easy Summer getaway.
Here is the article for your winter day dreaming.

Let's Get Started

A new year has begun, and traditionally this is a slow time for Real Estate. But, I have found that it is not wise to treat this time as vacation time.
At the end of December and continuing on to the first week of January is the best time to organize the year.
You can get a feel for how the Real Estate market is going to progress, and you can set your plan A for the year, but always remember, be prepared to act on plan B at any time.
I think the year is going to see continued retrenching in the value of Real Esate. Last year we saw a 2% gain in value, but I think that was just some of the left over momentum in the market from the previous over heated years. This year there should be the begining of an actual decrease in Real Esate Values reflected in the quarterly surveys.
As I said in my last entry. My final clients of 2006 got much more house than I think they could have gotten in 2005 for the price.
Interest rates remain relitively low, so I think 2007 is on track to be an excellent year for anyone who wants to buy property.