Who Is Selling In Palo Alto?   There has been a lot of speculation about what will happen to the market in Palo Alto. Will it drip 30%, drop 10%, improve in 6 months? Most of the argument against Palo Alto having a lot more decrease in home value, is the thought that most people here did not get bad loans and therefore do not have to sell. If most people don't have to sell, the prices should not go down too much, but if more people selling do have to sell that would bode for sharper decreases. I thought it would be interesting to see as best I can, who is selling.  I have broken the listings up into over 2 million and under 2 million for the asking price and put the listings into the following categories:     Over 2 Million:   •10    New construction   •5        Vacant   •7        Owner... 01/31/2009

Palo Alto, Ca. Single Family Home Market Update 01-29-09   As of today this is the snap shot of the Palo Alto market:   •81    Active Listings •17    Pending Sales •5        Sold listing in past week     What does this mean?  Big change from last update on Jan. 18th. There are 16 more active listings than 11 days ago but only 1 more pending sale.  There are now 29 actives 2 pending sales over 2 million, and 52 active and 15 pending sales are under 2 million. The ratio of pending to active sales overall has increased from 1 to 4 to almost 1 to 5. The ratio of active to pending over 2 million is almost 1 to 15 and under 2 million is almost 1 to 4.  So, things do not look bright, except for the fact that there was a lot of homes that came onto the market for last Friday's tour, and very fe... 01/29/2009

There were two new beautiful condominium listings in downtown Palo Alto. Downtown Palo Alto is a highly sought after location. University Avenue and all its shops, stores, and restaurants are within a few minutes walk from these two listings. 800 High St. $407, Palo Alto is listed by Nicklas Granoski at $1,398,000. This unit is a top floor condo in a four story building - 4 bedrooms 2 baths all on one level - contaning 1,638 - built in 2006. This building has a San Francisco loft/industrial feel on the outside. The other new listing is 315 Homer Ave. #203 Palo Alto listed by Elizabeth Daschbach at $1,348,000. This condominium is located int he desirable Weatherley building built by Summerhill in 2004. This unit contains 1,510 square feet of living space all on one level with 2 bedrooms ... 01/25/2009

2008 was generally a slow year for real estate on the San Francisco Peninsula. In the desirable residential communities, prices were flat to slightly declining and number of sales was typically down about 25%. But did things change for the worse after the October collapse of the stock market? The data below seems to indicate yes. Whether compared to the prior quarter in 2008 or the same quarter in 2007, the data for the 4th quarter 2008 is weaker. Median and average price is down from the prior quarter and from the same quarter the year prior. The number of sales is down from the prior quarter and from the same quarter the year prior. It appears and it makes sense that the stock market debacle in October 2008 has impacted our local real estate market. I will look at other cities on the ... 01/25/2009

Here is a review of the Palo Alto, California residential real estate market in 2008: Median price decreased to $1,550,000 in 2008 from $1,552,100 in 2007 - a 0.1% decrease. Average price increased to $1,760,930 in 2008 from $1,870,640 in 2007 - a 5.9% decrease. The number of sales decreased to 351 from 465 in 2007 - a 24.5% decrease. Current number of active listings is 63 compared to 25 at the same date in 2007 - an increase of 152.0%. The sales per list price ratio dropped to 101.8% in 2008 from 106.4% in 2007 - a decrease of 4.3%. Days on market increased to 26 days in 2008 from 24 days in 2007 - an increase of 9.3%. Days of inventory increased to 72 days in 2008 from about 31 in 2007. Much of this data is shown in the charts below. 01/25/2009

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Red Mango: Another Reason to Love Palo Alto   My favorite latest addition to University Avenue's line-up of great restaurants, coffee shops, and boutiques, is perfect any time of day or night. I consider it meal replacement, necessary dessert, fuel, and pure tastebud joy. If you haven't made a pit stop at Palo Alto's Red Mango, you should. The line stretches out the door nightly for a reason--the frozen yogurt and fresh fruit toppings dished out at Red Mango are a thousand times more delicious than rival Pinkberry's similar froyo (that's frozen yogurt for all you non-yogurt addicts), and to top things off, Red Mango's totally guiltless.  Palo Alto doesn't have a Pinkberry of course, but most people are aware of last year's debacle. There was a big fuss when t... 01/22/2009

Palo Alto, Ca. Single Family Home Market Update 01-19-09   As of today this is the snap shot of the Palo Alto market:   •65    Active Listings •16    Pending Sales •1        Sold listing in past week     What does this mean?  Not much change from last week. The inventory is still pretty low. All of the pending sales are under 2 million. The ratio of active to pending sales overall is about 1 to 4, but the ratio of active to pending under 2 million is less than 1 to 3. There are 43 active listings under 2 million.  I maintain my prediction from last week that the under 2 million market is fairly healthy right now and I don't see any great drops in prices. The over 2  million dollar market is stagnant. Those homes may be sold at large discounts if the sellers are motivated. What we do not... 01/19/2009

Saturday, January 17, 2009 Palo Alto is the Best City for Dogs   As if it isn't obvious from my previous posts (especially the last one!), let me reiterate--I love dogs. Love them. One of my favorite things to do is take my labradoodle Demi out for a run or to the docks at Redwood Shores. Demi is at her happiest here, chasing balls into the water for hours. Palo Alto is very dog compatible, with a number of quality dog runs and dog-approved local businesses. It sometimes seems like most members of the community are dog owners, and I've made some surprising friends while watching Demi play in local off-leash parks. As most pet-owners know, owning a dog is a great ice-breaker. This isn't just personal opinion--according to the Dog Blog, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area is one of... 01/17/2009

Shout Out For Summerhill Homes in Palo Alto, Ca.   Summerhill Homes is a local builder of new home developments. They were the builders of Palo Alto Central as well as the communities on the old Palo Alto Medical Foundation site. They are now selling Lane Woods in Menlo Park which is a development I really love.   I have a client who is going to purchase a condo with a VA loan, so it is not very much money compared to other sales in this area. Today I got an e-mail from Summerhill saying they had reduced the price of a 1 bedroom condo to a price that my client can afford. While they advertised they could do FHA loans there was nothing about VA loans. I made a call to the corporate office and with in a few hours they found the person who knew the answer and were able to let me know they ... 01/16/2009

The Green Elephant In South Palo Alto, Ca.   The Green Elephant is a combo Chinese/Burmese Restaurant on Middlefield Rd. in the Piazza Shopping Center at the corner of Charleston. I've never actually eaten in the restaurant but get take out from there all the time.  There are many wonderful dishes, but I just want to give you my person favorite.   Nutty, fruity, shrimp.  This dish is so good it deserves its own blog post. This is the most wonderful combination of shrimp, mangos, pineapple, papaya, peppers, cashews, and some kind of sauce. You can order it with brown rice, white rice, or pineapple fried rice. This is my comfort food.   Also available are nutty fruity chicken or nutty fruity tofu. If you are in south Palo Alto it is worth a try. I have never seen this dish anywhere else, ... 01/15/2009

Palo Alto, Ca. Single Family Home Market Update 01-11-09   As of this afternoon here is the snap shot of the Palo Alto Market:   •62    Active Listings •15    Pending Sales •2        Closed Sales in the Last Week     Closed Sales:   4212 Suzanne Dr.: Listed for $1,089,000 and sold for $1,151,000   2351 Santa Catalina St.:  Listed for $1,695,000 and sold for $1,675,000   Interesting observation on the pending sales:   There is 1 pending sale at $3,995,000, 3 hovering at the 2 million mark, and 14 pending sales under $1,588,000. These are all list prices.   The higher end market, ie. over 2million is not healthy right now. The number of active listings over 2 million is 21, with one pending sale,  A VERY BAD RATIO.   There are 41 listings under 2 million and 14 pending sales, a 1 to 3 rat... 01/12/2009

Palo Alto Market Update Condos 01-06-09   As of this evening, here is the snapshot of the Palo Alto condo/town home market:   Active listings: 20   Pending sales: 5   Sold in last week: 1     Sold Details:   2579 Park Blvd. X102: Listed for $639,950 and sold for $630,000   What does mean?  We are probably at the bottom of inventory for a while. The number of condos for sale should increase over the next few months, whether the market is good or bad. The thing to watch is will be, is the inventory of condos over 35 active listings, and how are the pending sales going? Even if the active sales stay under 30, if the pending sales do not go up to at least 2 active for every pending listings we will see some more price decreases. If we can get up to 2 to1 we won't see much change in prices. ... 01/06/2009

Palo Alto Market Update 01-05-09 Single Family Homes   As of this morning this is a snapshot of the real estate market in Palo Alto:   Single family homes:   Active listings:  60 Pending sales:   11 Sold in last week:  4   Sold homes included:   1018 Los Robles: listed for 1,350,000 and sold for $1,390,000 821 E Meadow: listed for $1,298,000 and sold for $1,350,000 1151 Middlefield :listed for $1,495,000, reduced to $1,295,00 and sold for $1,600,000 2774 Randers Ct: Listed for $799,000 and sold for $800,000   What does mean?  We are probably at the bottom of inventory for a while. The number of homes for sale should increase over the next few months, whether the market is good or bad. The thing to watch is will be, is the inventory of homes over 130 active listings, and how are the pend... 01/05/2009

Palo Alto Market Update 12-28-08   As of this morning this is the snapshot of the Palo Alto Inventory of homes:   Single family homes:   Active Listings: 68 Pending sales: 15 Closed in last week: 0   Condos/town homes:   Active listings: 22 Pending sales: 6 Closed in last week: 0     So what does this mean? Not too much. There would normally not be too many closed sales at the end of the year because of the holidays. The condo market and the single family home market have a similar ratio of pending to active listings. The results may be a little off though because there are more new condo/town homes on the market than single family homes, so these numbers are not an exact picture since not every new home in  a development is on MLS.  The inventory of both classes is shrinking, but that ... 12/29/2008

It's a Wonderful Life In Palo Alto, California  Every year on December 24th, Stanford Theatre on University Ave.  in Palo Alto shows Frank Capra's classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" staring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. They have been doing this for the last 21 years, and it sells out every year. It is THE place to be on Christmas Eve for this wonderful little city.   The theater is gorgeous, built in the 40's and renovated in the mid 80's by Dave Packard, or Little Dave as he is known here. His father, Big Dave was one of the founders of Hewlett Packard, who famously started Silicon Valley in a garage on Addison St. Before the show the huge Wurlitzer organ rises from under the stage plays Christmas music. When finished, it drops back under the stage. Then Dave comes to stage to talk ... 12/25/2008

  Palo Alto Market Update 12-22-08   As of 12-22-08, this is the snapshot of the Palo Alto real Estate Market:   Single Family Homes:   Active listings: 72   Pending Sales: 13   Sold in last week: 8   The sales for the last week were as follows:   676 Mayfield Listed for $2.8 million and sold for 2.5 million. This house is on Stanford campus and can only be sold to Stanford Faculty or qualified staff.   784 Loma Verde Listed for 1.795 million and sold for 1.825 million, 30K over asking. The street is busy, but he house and lot are large with the house being set far back off of Loma Verde and gated.   3874 Magnolia listed for 1.65 million, reduced to 1.55 million, and sold for 1.42 million. I think I am the only person in the world, besides the buyer who liked this house. It does have a ... 12/22/2008

  10 Reasons To Love Palo Alto Sunday, 21 Dec 2008 at 02:16 pm   Schools, Schools, Schools! Palo Alto has some of the greatest schools in the country. Whether your kid is seven or seventeen, going to school in Palo Alto guarantees access to incredible academic resources and enrichment programs. Gunn High School is renowned for its competitive academics (and award-winning robotics team!)--they send over twenty graduates a year to college right around the corner at Stanford University. Palo Alto Children's Theatre sponsors outreach programs in district elementary, middle, and high schools. First-rate music programs are available at every turn, and choice programs like teacher-directed learning at Hoover, conceptual learning at Ohlone, and Connections at JLS are always options for parents... 12/22/2008

Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto Is A Great Place For Dogs   Do you want to go shopping but feel guilty about leaving your dog at home or in the car? Do you need a place to go and socialize the four legged love of your life? Do you want to meet more people and need a non threatening ice breaker? My advice to you is to go to Stanford Shopping Center and take the dog. Not only are dogs permitted at the center's out door walkways, but they are also allowed inside every store that does not sell food. They are welcome at the outside tables where people are eating. It is so much fun to be able to shop with a dog and not have people yell at you to get that smelly beast out of our shop!    My personal favorite is taking my Mini Labradoodle Demi to Tiffany's.  While not a huge jewelry collect... 12/21/2008

  I posted the PA update on Mon and due to a big mistake on my part I gave out the wrong info on sold homes. I apologize! There were an additional 5 homes that closed escrow last week.   2757 Gaspar Ct. in Midtown listed for $1,745,000 and sold for $1,751,000, a little over asking price. This is a very nice 17 year home on a peaceful cul-de-sac. 1491 Edgewood listed for $1,995,000 and sold for $2,075,000, 80K over asking. It was an old, smelly house, on a gorgeous 20K sq. ft. lot in Crescent Park. 743 Holly Oak listed for $1,740,000, was reduced to $1,595,000 and sold for $1,500,000. This was a gorgeous remodeled Eichler in South PA, but had an old pool, and the remodel was not done with permits. In this tougher market remodeling without permits is a big liability. 351 Oxford listed for... 12/17/2008

Palo Alto Ca Market Update 12/15/08   Single Family Homes   Active Listings: 80 Pending Sales: 18 Closes sales in last week: 3     Condos/Town homes   Active Listings: 27 Pending Sales: 4 Closed in last week:1     So what does this tell us? There is not much change from last week, except for a 10% decrease in inventory. This is absolutely to be expected as very few sellers put their homes on the market at this time of year, although buyers in the past have still been active in Dec. Pending sales are still low compared to listings, and single family home sales are better than condos right now.   If you have nay questions about the market please feel free to contact me. I am here to help you.   Marcy Moyer Intero Real Estate Services marcy@marcymoyer.com 650-619-9285 www.marcymoyer.com 12/15/2008