Comments on: Real Estate is Saved! Thanks stimulus package!

By: “Make the splurge, you won’t regret it now, you won’t regret it later.” [Burbed.com]

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:56:49 +0000

[...] Wow… commenter Steve really stirred up some discussion. Here’s what Steve had to say yesterday: Real Estate is Saved! Thanks stimulus package! [Burbed.com] [...]

By: Renter

Renter — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:43:46 +0000

My coworker bought a house in Palo Alto last year for $2.6M and she said it is worth $3.2M now. She said her neighbors are CEO/CFO/CTO, etc, or middle east oil mogul who bought the house for their kids to go to Stanford.

On the other hand, a lot of low end houses in Santa Clara county are in fire sale. In SC county, there are 2348 property in pre-foreclosure, 1036 scheduled for court auction, 1385 bank owned, according to RealtyTrac.

By: densityduck

densityduck — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:25:51 +0000

Steveo is right. The market for the houses that people actually WANT TO BUY is doing just fine. The market that’s falling apart is the one that the flippers built, the one that’s just over the jumbo-loan limit but still in the mass-produced range. Once you get past 1.2 million you’re getting back into individuality, a place where the house feels like it’s actually WORTH what you spent on it. As opposed to being slapped together in five weeks by a bunch of guys from Home Depot.

By: Norcalboomer

Norcalboomer — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:02:12 +0000

Stevo, your such a big f–king real estate mogel you should go out and buy a few more houses in the real bay area. Take that $200,000 in equity and leverage it to the max. You can’t lose, real estate in the REAL bay area NEVER goes down. Why are you letting us in on your secrets to WEALTH???. Go out and make money, buy! buy! buy!

By: Stevo

Stevo — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:33:08 +0000

Pralay – (I’m not a RE agent) I agree with you on sales, but by pulling listings in this area, demand = supply for these areas where there are no investors, good schools, solid job prospects, and most folks lovin’ their low prop 13 tax base. My sources:

Inventory, 12-month avg source: rereport.com/scc/ (click on relevant cities), Zillow, Trulia

MV=25 homes in inventory, 12-month avg. up ~ $200K (Zillow MV non-condo=$100K gain)
LA=20 homes, 12-month avg. up ~ $150K (Zillow LA = $200K gain)
PA=20 homes, 12-month avg. up ~ $300K (Zillow PA = $200K gain)

Current snapshot of mlslistings: 46 homes for sale in MV, 27 in LA, and 31 in PA… very low, and it’s been that way for 6 months…

Trulia has MV & LA up for non-condo (3&4 bed) units. Kinda tough to tell on Palo Alto 3&4 bed.

And, my favorite, Creekside Realty: top 10% of homes in SCC increased median from $1.37M to $1.70M in one year. Check it out: http://www.creeksiderealty.com/bay_area_real_estate/2008/santa_clara_county/1jan.htm Yeah, I know there are more high $$ selling than low, but look at the historical trend back to 2000…

I’m just proving the premise of this site – There is The Real Bay Area (>$1M houses in NW SCC county) and there’s everything else… Make the splurge, you won’t regret it now, you won’t regret it later.

By: Pralay

Pralay — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:14:10 +0000

“My advice – jump in to these areas now… the water’s fine!”

You bet! It is never bad time to buy a home. David Lereah all over again.

By: Pralay

Pralay — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:11:13 +0000

“Los Altos, Palo Alto, Mountain View resale homes above $1M all have appreciated just fine during a flight to quality schools, quality employers, and most importantly areas with no new housing development. There’s zero inventory, LP remains above 100%, high-tech is weathering the storm just fine, etc, etc.”

Steveo,
Reading your first post I really thought you as are a homeowner. But your 2nd post sounds more like a real estate agent.

BTW, I would love to see your reference about Palo Alto, Mountain View inventory zero. Here some info that indicates opposite:
http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Palo_Alto-California/

Median price dropped. Number of sales dropped. Drop in number of sales is not an indication of zero inventory.

In some areas the inventory could well be zero. If that happens at all, it won’t be due to a hot market where homes are selling quick. It is because homeowners are not putting their homes in market due to bad real estate market. Market freeze is in not uncommon in bad housing market.

By: RealEstater

RealEstater — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:55:46 +0000

By the way, the proposed Jumbo limit for the Bay Area is $730K, not $625K. Check the article in the SF Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/25/MNS7UL6SQ.DTL&tsp=1

By: Steveo

Steveo — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:22:27 +0000

Not sniffing a thing… The pessimism for the market carte blanche is misplaced.. just need to pick carefully. Los Altos, Palo Alto, Mountain View resale homes above $1M all have appreciated just fine during a flight to quality schools, quality employers, and most importantly areas with no new housing development. There’s zero inventory, LP remains above 100%, high-tech is weathering the storm just fine, etc, etc. My advice – jump in to these areas now… the water’s fine!

By: REBubbly

REBubbly — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:31:53 +0000

Hey Stevo,
What do you drink or eat or sniff?
Could I have some …
Or are you just being sarcastic……….?