Danielle Lazier

Archive for the 'Home Selling' Category

Zephyr Sales Report

This week’s real estate sales in San Francisco showed the same overall pattern: Of all properties sold this week:

• 68% of property sold with multiple offers
• 23% of property sold for under the asking price
• 42% of property sold for over the asking price
• 35% of property sold for the asking price

Zephyr Sales Report

Check out this past week’s sales report for Zephyr Real Estate, San Francisco’s largest, independent real estate brokerage!  Of all properties that sold:

• 52% received multiple offers!
• 55% sold for over the asking price!
• 23% sold for under the asking price!
• 23% sold at the asking price!

This means we continue to be in a mixed environment, where some properties that were either not properly positioned (i.e. price) or presented (i.e. condition and marketing) sold for under or at asking while others are getting multiple offers and going for over the asking price. Inventory supply is back at 2004 levels….

Zephyr Sales Report & What Affects Property Value

This week’s sales showed the same mixed picture: strong signs of revival combined with pockets of flatter sales. Of all properties sold, company-wide:

• 33% of properties received multiple offers.
• 15% of properties sold for the asking price.
• 48% of properties sold for over the asking price.
• 37% of properties sold for under the asking price.

Again, I must reiterate, there is no such thing as a national housing market or even a City-wide one in our case. General conditions may overlap but property value and activity level is so property-specific here in San Francisco. Why? Here’s a list of some factors affecting an individual property’s value:

• Original asking price (Was the property listed for less than perceived market value from the get-go?)
• Listing agent’s marketing prowess or lack thereof (Was the property heavily marketed with color photos on the Internet? Was the property statement attractive and informative, also with color photos? Was the property easy to show? Was the property promoted to other San Francisco agents with buyers for this type of property?
• Exact, precise location (Even the side of the street can affect market value.)
• Vacancy (Was the property to be delivered vacant or with market rent-paying month to month tenants or was it occupied by long-time, possibly protected tenants paying under-market rent?)
• Floorplan
• Condition
• Parking
• And last but not least, how many home buyers want the property at this moment in time. This last one is not to be underestimated.

The Market Is Transitioning. Buyer’s Market?… Maybe.

Today’s NYTimes has an interesting article on home sale statistics. What I find the most interesting is how the most pertinent information is in the last two paragraphs. Doesn’t it just always seem this way? They get you with the more inflammatory statements up-front and squeeze the moderation at the end! Check out this data.

“Unlike some other sources of data, the Realtors group does not adjust home prices to reflect changes in the kinds of homes being sold. So if this year’s sales include a larger number of cheaper homes, compared with a year ago, it will appear that home prices are falling even if the actual price of any given home has not declined. Some indexes, including one compiled by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, do take into account the kinds of homes sold. The government index shows that prices were still rising through the third quarter of 2006, albeit at a far slower pace than in 2005.”

Read the entire article here. To me, this is a great example of how the same data can be used to make opposite points. Are home pricing falling or not? Certainly, there is journalism to back up both answers. If you want to prove your point that home prices are falling, it’s easy! If you want to prove your point that home prices are not falling, well, heck, that’s easy too! And of course, non of it is really that relevant anyway b/c real estate markets are localized, very localized. National or even state-wide data is just not that helpful in determining how much your home will sell for or how much you have to pay for the home you want.

Zephyr Sales Report

Read on for this week’s company-wide real estate sales! The market continues to show seemingly random results. But, it’s not random. It’s business as usual for San Francisco real estate!

• 40% of properties sold received multiple offers.
• Of properties sold:
• 40% sold for more than the asking/listing price
• 40% sold for less than the asking/listing price
• 20% sold at the asking/listing price

All politics is local and so is all real estate. For San Francisco, real estate is REALLY localized. Exact location, property type, condition, tenancy, and marketing prowess are just some of the factors that explain why the results are all over the chart. It is a buyer’s market in some places and a seller’s market in others. One just needs to know where to look! One rule of law always apply: fair market value is determined by the buyer, not the seller. Whatever price a buyer is willing to pay for a property is its value.

Zephyr Sales Report

This week, Zephyr Real Estate, SF’s largest, independent real estate company announced 13 sales for the week. 30% of properties received multile offers, 38% sold for over the asking price, 30% for under the asking price and 30% at the asking price. Real estate value here is very complex and sometimes, seemingly random, depending much on property condition, exact location, occupancy, and marketing strategy. There are values to be had but they must be found in the right places.