Foster City Real Estate...and so much more!
Shad Park is another of those slightly hidden little gems in the middle of a neighborhood. It’s bounded by Bluefish, Shad, Tarpon and Marlin and features 2.1 acres of space that includes a basketball court, kids play structure and a picnic area. I really think parks like these are a great idea and they really are few and far between on the Peninsula. The neighborhood known as “The Lanes” in San Mateo has essentially the same motif, but Foster City has more of them. Here’s a map link:
Kind of weird looking from this angle, huh? Sort of like a big thumb sticking out of the ground…or a miniature version of El Capitan. Seriously, in this week in particular this rock has some special significance. The question for today’s contest is where is it, and what does it commemorate? This weeks winner will receive a $30.00 gift certificate to Waterfront Pizza in Edgewater Place. The winner and all other correct answers will be published on Monday morning. All humorous (or reasonable attempts at humorous) jokes, semi smart aleky quips and all wrong answers will be published immediately. All the rules of the road are available on the left hand margin as well as on the bar above. Have fun and I hope you have a great weekend!
For several years it’s been a common event in this area for a seller to initiate home inspections (pest inspections too) prior to listing their place on the market. The rationale for that is to avoid any surprises in an escrow, via a buyers home inspection, that could place a seller at a negotiating disadvantage. It’s was also a great way to minimize or even eliminate contingencies in hot markets where there were multiple offers. Having inspections done up front by the seller is still a good idea in my mind, not only for the reasons mentioned above, but for the simple fact that often inspections bring up areas that a seller can easily correct with minimal expense prior to marketing their home. I found a little check list from a home inspection company that I thought could be helpful if you’re contemplating preparing your home for sale sometime in the near future. It’s worth mentioning as well that buyers might also find this useful if they choose to have their own inspections done once in escrow.
These are incredibly useful tips…I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed to return to a property with the inspector later because of an inability to complete an inspection as the result of one of these elements being overlooked. You’ll really save yourselves some time…and potential heartache if you do these things up front.
I started thinking about this post, and quite naturally Elvis Costello came to mind! Thus…a musical accompaniment. Just click that little button below and enjoy!
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There are, in fact, opportunities right now in Foster City. Interestingly, most are in the range under $1mil. The market seems to have reached the stage where buyers have a clear choice between well priced homes…and homes that will, most likely, be on the market for a long, long time. 19 of the 31 active single family homes on the market today in Foster City have experienced price reductions during their listing life. Since Foster City is a planned community it’s often relatively simple to compare properties since there are so many similar floorplans all over town. Here’s a sample of some places that I think are good opportunities:
1387 Tarpon listed for $969,000 by Mary Bee of Re/Max Today. This is a great house in really good condition and it’s listed for $126,000 less than a very similar house with the same floorplan listed elsewhere in town. It’s clean has got 4 bedrooms and it’s location is good too. Here’s some pics:
842 Grenada listed for $958,000 by Susan Lindstrom of Elite Properties. This 3 bedroom Plum Isle place is in terrific shape and this location is a really good one. It’s come down $40,000. There’s a waterfront listed down the street for $1,948,888…Susan’s listing seems like a pretty good deal in light of that. Here’s some pics:
1260 Ribbon listed for $915,000 by Jim Minkey (who?!!). A good opportunity is a good opportunity, OK? Seriously, this is a great buy on a 5 bedroom house especially when comparing it to another house with the same floorplan listed elsewhere for $143,000 more…and it needs more work. That’s Ribbon in the photo on top. It, too, is clean freshly painted and ready to go. Here’s the pics:
It’s going to be an interesting end to 2008. There’s some buyers that should do very well.
It’s the ever popular Whalers neighborhoods. These are terrific, well planned streets with lots of trees and very nice waterfront exposures and for as long as I can remember these neighborhoods have been extremely coveted. Home values there tend to be among the highest in town. Congratulations go out to Nicole Fabris who arrived first with the correct answer and won the $30.00 gift card to Kobe Japanese at Edgewater Place. Good job Nicole!! Also answering correctly were Rowena, Ryan, Bill Hastings, AR, Asif, Erika, Koen and Linda. Thanks for playing you guys! Good luck next time…hopefully this Friday?
Marlin Park is the twin sister of Gull Park and has that nice beach/waterfront aspect. It’s nicely located between Pompano and Swordfish on Marlin and has 3.1 acre of space. Nice big lawn area and kids play equipment too. Here’s a link to the map:
In which of the Oracle buildings shown here is Larry Ellison’s office? (Just kidding!) I know there’s plenty of Oracle folks out there who read this blog so that may not be a very hard question! Seriously, I’m really interested in the name of the waterfront neighborhood depicted in the foreground. It quite possibly is Foster City’s most popular place to live. There’s actually two names for these developments and either one will suffice. This week’s winner will receive a $30.00 gift certificate to Kobe Japanese in Edgewater Place. All the rules of the road are available to see on the left hand margin as well as on the bar above. The winner and all other correct answers will be published on Monday morning. All half way decent jokes, puns, attempts at wit along with all wrong answers will be published immediately. Have fun and have a great weekend. Thanks for playing too!
It’s a tad bit different for sellers in Foster City than it was just a few short months ago. Inventory is up (32 single family and 42 condo/townhouse) and the number of pending sales is down (9 single family and 8 condo/townhouse). In this era when the average number of days on the market has increased…and may continue to increase, sellers will need to be prepared when negotiating an offer when it comes in. Buyers in this current market feel like they have plenty of leverage when it comes to negotiating, particularly in the range over $1.3mil, and selecting the right real estate agent is more important than ever.
Already in Foster City we’ve seen a few examples of listings that go into escrow only to have their deals fall apart…and sometimes that’s happened after a painfully long time in the process. In this market it’s not uncommon anymore to hear stories of buyers re-negotiating 2 and 3 times after the contract has been ratified over issues involving credits or repairs and in some cases buyers have asked for price reductions prior to removing contingencies 10 days to 2 weeks into an escrow. It’s also more common to see offers accepted contingent upon the sale of a buyers property…something that was virtually unheard of in years past.
So, what should you do? Here’s a couple of important suggestions: 1) Make sure that the buyers are not only qualified, but approved for their loan. It wouldn’t hurt at all to ask that the buyers be approved by two separate banks. If you as a seller are comfortable early on in the process that your buyer will get their loan, you’re certainly going to sleep better…and the chances of chiseling on price later in an escrow will be reduced.
2) Have a solid contract going in. The fact is that the buyer is most likely going to have some leverage in negotiating the price right now. Having a contract that gives you favorable terms should help you to eliminate arguments over repairs and other problems that could come up later. I also think it’s important to be aware of any and all problems that the property has going in…so that your not surprised by an inspection done by a buyer in escrow and fall victim to a bid given by a contractor of the buyers choice.
Gone are the days when sellers held all of the cards and every sale was “As Is” with no contingencies and sellers just relaxed all the way to the bank. It’s really is a new world out there.
What an amazing photo this is! It almost seems a little symbolic of how we all seem to be constantly trying to hold back all of the negativity and fear that’s engulfing our culture lately. When I started to reflect a bit on real estate in our area the other day, I had to ask myself…what’s changed?
Back in 2001 the San Jose Mercury News did a story about how the rapid pace of Silicon Valley growth was altering our lives here. They said that, at that time, there were 6 working individuals for every one housing unit and they were alarmed by the fact that Peninsula municipalities had been granting building permits to commercial projects in much greater numbers than they were residential permits. They also showed how the bulk of the new residential was high density condo or apartment projects and single family home development, especially in San Mateo County tended to be high end, expensive properties. I know many people who moved to places like Manteca and Tracy and commuted back to this area to work each day. Has any of that changed? Maybe the 6 to 1 ratio no longer exists…but I’ll bet it’s still at least 2 to 1. I don’t know anybody rushing back here from those outlying areas. I realize that there have indeed been some layoffs in our area lately…but this sure isn’t the Rust Belt we’re living in. Last I heard Gilead is still expanding over across 92, the local projects are still moving forward and Reardon Commerce and IBM aren’t fleeing Parkside Towers.
So, what has changed? Well, loans are harder to get. Just fogging a mirror doesn’t cut it anymore and all those zero down, stated income, sub prime loans are gone with the wind…except very few of them were used in Foster City in the first place. Inventory is a little higher, we’re at 33 single family today…that’s equal to the 2008 high, but it’s really not a significant change. No, what has changed significantly is the degree of fear that we now find ourselves living in. What we have, in fact, is a fear bubble! Major job losses have not occurred, inventory has not doubled, interest rates are still reasonable, good deals are possible…yet probably 3/4 of potential buyers have moved to the sidelines because they’re afraid of this economy, and many of us are fighting it like this lady in the photo. I’m not immune either! It’s like we’re all feeding off of each other’s anxiety.
Well, oddly enough, Forbes came up with this article on their website yesterday…check it out:
Nov 3rd, 2008
“If you’re a homeowner seeing property values plummet, look to the commercial real estate market for solace. It might tell you which areas will recover fastest–and which will likely remain weak.
The Urban Land Institute recently asked 700 real estate professionals to name the best (and worst) places to invest in commercial real estate in the coming year. Those surveyed included private developers, Realtors and Real Estate Investment Trust executives. Their answers also apply to the residential market, since the single-family-home sector typically follows the economy. As wages go up and there are more jobs, more people can buy homes, pushing prices up.
The best cities in which to invest are those that are considered gateways to international investment, have vital downtowns where people can forgo cars, and don’t have a glut of condos or office space.
San Francisco comes in second (Seattle’s first) with a 6.12. The City by the Bay learned from the tech crash of 2001 not to overbuild. There is a reasonable supply of office and apartment space, which should limit vacancies. San Francisco’s port is also expected to help the city during the downturn as Americans continue to rely on Asian imports.”
On this day, of all days, I think we’re going to have lot’s a reason for hope in our future. The biggest change we’re going to see is coming tonight…and I’m thinking it’ll be a positive one!
Wow! Friday was really something! The blog got 722 page loads from 285 unique users. That’s double the best day ever before that. I guess it helped having a post about Foster City’s Halloween safe streets on the day when lots of people were searching Google to try and find where they were! As you can see from the map, they were in Ponderosa Shores on Blythe, Bainbridge and Decatur streets. I sure hope everybody had a great time, in spite of the occasional drizzle. This weeks winner, of a $30.00 gift card to Noah’s Bagels, was first timer Larissa Lindval. Good job Larissa! Lot’s of other folks answered correctly to and my hat is off to Erika, Rowena, Manoj, Ryan, AR, Ben Velichko, Sankar, Angela, Koen, Tina, Nana, Sameer, Jim S, Katherine, Ted Young, and Stephanie. 29 people commenting is a high for the foto contest too! Great job you guys! Keep coming back…hope to see you again this Friday when we’ll do it all over again.
Jim Minkey
Today Sotheby's International Realty
Email:
jim@jimminkey.com
______________
1250 San Carlos Ave. #101, San Carlos
Phone: 650-576-1732
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Anurag on Funky Foto Contest Week 201
