Comments on: “NorCal median home price plummets 41 percent”

By: madhaus

madhaus — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:58:36 +0000

Illusion of a Dream – that sounds like another song title. But I’m still wokring on rhymes for credit default swap.

By: anon

anon — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:52:10 +0000

The American dream is to be free.

A dream that can be ‘sold’ never really was a dream at all. It is only the illusion of a dream.

By: Pralay

Pralay — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:05:49 +0000

How ironic – to have one’s dreams auctioned off to the highest bidder.
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Yes, that American Dream – related to unreal estate stuffs.

By: anon

anon — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:30:21 +0000

How ironic – to have one’s dreams auctioned off to the highest bidder.

By: anon

anon — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:23:56 +0000

Foreclosure of a dream? I do love me a courthouse auction…

By: Pralay

Pralay — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:33:54 +0000

Yes sir, we’re cleared for takeoff on the flight to quality!
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Wait, wait! Not so fast. Let me add some vagueness so that the statement can be justified and backfitted in every future condition. How about “desirablity” instead of “quality”? You know, like those “desirable homes” kind of things.

By: Pralay

Pralay — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:29:30 +0000

Yes, I remember the angry renter from Pacific Heights. That’s why renting should be banned so that they cannot do all those anti-social activities.

By: madhaus

madhaus — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:20:07 +0000

Yes sir, we’re cleared for takeoff on the flight to quality! Can I interest you in some in-flight service? I’ve got sticky pricing, default notices, and a fifth of deposit, or more!

Tonight’s movies will be The Money Pit and Pacific Heights. On audio, enjoy “Foreclosure of a Dream.”

(That’s for you, anon.)

By: RealEstater

RealEstater — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:15:59 +0000

Bob says,
>>I can personally say that nothing in my neighborhood is selling that’s over $400,000.

What you’re seeing right now is the flight to quality. Buyers are more selective on which neighborhood they will buy into, what price level they will tolerate for a particular area, and whether the home has major issues.

I think your neighborhood has further to fall, so buyers are holding back. The cherry neighborhoods have a different mentality. Buyers are opportunistic, but they want in. Sellers are not desparate, so prices are holding even on low sales volume. If I were to summarize:

1. The higher end areas are doing better than the lower end.
2. The the higher priced homes in any given neighorhood (e.g. 800K+ in Santa Clara) are harder to sell compared to mid and lower priced homes (e.g. +- 500K in Santa Clara).
3. Homes with issues (e.g. on high traffic street, next to railroad, very small lot etc.) will struggle to sell.

By: bob

bob — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:36:43 +0000

RE,
There’s much of the same story going on in the entire Bay Area though. The mix of homes selling right now is heavily reliant foreclosures. Now there’s two ways to look at this. On one hand, the “nice” areas are still clinging to somewhat higher prices. But then again, not many of those are selling. I can personally say that nothing in my neighborhood is selling that’s over $400,000. Then on the other hand, what is selling becomes the current median price, and since the median is tied to what foreclosures are going for, this will affect the overall median of the region. The question will be how much this will eventually erode those still holding out for higher wishing prices. Its pretty clear that there is resistance in buying higher priced properties.