In February Foster City had 28 active listings and 25 pending sales when I did this report. The inventory has only gone up slightly, to 34 active listings and there are 30 pending sales (pendings are light color). That really is a pretty good ratio! It’s also interesting that 17 of those 30 properties sold in April. The market is healthy! Yet, it’s really interesting how other properties have just been sitting for a long time. In many cases, it’s the over priced property that’s been sitting for a long time…and there’s plenty of those. If it’s clean, remodeled and priced right it’s gone quickly. Here’s some examples:

225 Bonita listed by Sue Dickey of Alain Pinel for $695,000. I was going to talk about nice new listings…but all the best ones sell right away! Take this one for example. It’s an absolutely stunning 3 bedroom unit at Marina Green. It came up on Sunday and sold yesterday. Why not, it was priced well and it was drop dead gorgeous.

1035 Rudder listed by the illustrious Richard Williamson of Re/Max Today for $720,000. Ditto the last entry, another gorgeous 3 bedroom unit at Bayfront Court. Incredible place…this one took 6 days to sell.

55 Commons listed by Cheryl V with Achievers Real Estate for $599,000. Sold in 9 days at CityHomes. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, again…gorgeous. Priced well and it’s gone right away.

The amazing thing is, there’s so many overpriced, mediocre units out there right now that I think will probably be sitting forever. When the new, nice units like these come up buyers will snap them up.

It’s just a tad different right now versus what it was a few months ago. There’s a ton more inventory in Foster City that wasn’t here then. In February, there was 15 single family homes on the market here with 13 pending sales. Today there are 28 single family on the market and, oddly enough, 13 pendings (in red above). In the last 2 weeks we’ve seen 8 new houses come on the market. I think it’s a certainty that an increase in inventory will mean less activity per house with the home selling for less than it could have just a few months ago…but we’ll see. I have no doubt that we’re also just beginning to see the increased inventory too. Here’s a sampling of some of the newer listings:

1381 Tarpon listed by Rumana Jabeen of Coldwell Banker for $815,000. This one is certain to go quickly! It’s a 1640 sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bath house that needs some updating. It’s a really good price folks…

951 DeLeon listed by Sue Dickey of Alain Pinel for $1,079,000. This is a really gorgeous unit at Bayporte. A 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath model with 2760 sq ft. Tons of remodeling…it’s nice!

420 Bodega listed by Bob Lahl of Re/Max Today for $1,049,000. The Kay St. Tropez…just a few years ago this model was selling for over $1,300,000 in Foster City. It’s actually a great floor plan and it has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths in 2360 sq ft. It’s a good deal…

Much like the single family homes, there’s been some movement of property since we did this chart too. The chart shows 30 active listings, there’s 28 this morning…that could be less by the end of the day today too. Right now there are 25 pending sales. ( The chart shows 23) Last February there was 37 active listings and 3 pending sales. That’s a wild turn around if you ask me. Of the actives listed up there I can tell you that at least 4 of them are currently sorting through mutiple bids and should go pending soon. Here’s some interesting active listings:

1003 Stern Lane listed by Emily Lim of Re/Max for $749,800. It’s not often that you’ll find a townhouse with it’s own beach! Not just waterfront…but beach. Even though it’s a 2 bedroom this Bayfront Court place is pretty cool and worth a look.

105 Cityhomes Lane listed by Andrea Kohler of Intero Real Estate for $599,000. City Homes has been pretty darn popular this year and everything that’s come up there has sold quickly. This 2 bedroom should be no exception even though it backs onto a busy street.

1151 Compass #201 listed by Roger Dewes of Coldwell Banker for $559,000. This is really one gorgeous condo! Even with the fairly high dues ($471.00) this 2 bedroom is most likely going to cause somebody to fall in love with it.

Check them out for fun if for nothing else…

You know what…the market is pretty darn healthy! I say that because for the longest time Lydia, my assistant, has created these charts a few days before they’re posted…and that usually meant nothing to their accuracy. That’s not quite true anymore. As of today, Tuesday February 9, there are 15 single family houses on the market in Foster City and 13 pending sales. (The pendings are in red.) Last February 5 there were 26 actively for sale…and 4 pending sales.  The hottest segment of the market is the under $900,000 price range and that’s really because there’s very little inventory in town and most of what is there has an issue or two that limits it’s viability. Consequently, when a new listing comes up in that range it gets plenty of interest. The listing below just came up and isn’t on the list, and my friend Ronda O’Leary sold her listing at 257 Puffin…so it’s a pending now.

937 Constitution listed by Debbie Wilhelm of Coldwell Banker for $888,000. 4 bedrooms 2 baths, I think this will be an interesting barometer for the market. It’s really the only listing under 900k right now and I’m anxious to see how it does. 1121 Catamaran go multiple offers and was bid over a couple of weeks ago listed at this same price and it was bigger and had more upgrades. We’ll see.

1020 Windjammer listed by Stanley Lo of Green Banker for $918,000. This 3 bedroom house is a good one too and Windjammer is a great location. It’s just a tiny bit over that sweet spot but it’s worth watching. It has an offer date set for this coming Saturday…so I guess they’re pretty confident.

Again, looking kind of normal out there. Today, there are 30 active condo/townhouses listed and 22 pending sales. Basically in the same ballpark as it was in July and way, way better than it was earlier this year. It’s an interesting phenomenon this year to see some places remain on the market for a long, long time…while others, often in the same project, sell right away. Here’s a couple new ones of note:

1218 Moonsail listed by Patrick Ryan of Alain Pinel for $600,000. This is a really cute unit, no shared walls…almost a small house. Nicely updated and priced lower that the sellers bought it for. I think it’s a good buy.

1074 Tiller listed by Miriam Chirko of Coldwell Banker for $745,000. There sure has seemed to be alot of listings lately at Bayfront Court. This one is really cute. Lot’s of nice upgrades and well worth a look.

The very first time I did one of these charts was April 19, 2008, and on that date we had 18 single family homes active on the market in Foster City. I actually commented that 18 was alot at that time!! Funny! A year later, on April 21 2009, there was 41 listings active and it actually rose by a few above that in May. Today, there are 17 active single family homes in Foster City (there’s 3 properties at Williams Landing that the MLS considers single family…but I think they’re nice townhouses since they’re attached and have an HOA). There’s also 10 pending sales ( in gray on the chart)…another positive thing. I think it’s undeniable that the market is at it’s healthiest point in 2009…it’s a normal market. Here’s a couple that stand out to me as worth a peak:

221 Pelican listed by Hon Fay Louie of Re/Max Active for $900,000. Well, now we know where at least one of those foreclosures are! This REO came up yesterday and represents a great price for this 2250 sq ft 4 bedroom house. I think this is a great price on this floorplan and it’ll be interesting to see how it’s received.

1281 Swordfish listed by Justin Lawrence of Hallmark Properties for $875,000. This 1600 sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bath house has the interesting verbage built into the body of the MLS listing “Motivated Sellers”…seems like an invitation to me. Another possible opportunity?

I really think the inventory is sort of lean, a really good deal…or a great house will sell right away in this market. I think.

Again, like Thursday’s numbers there’s vast improvement in the market for single family homes as well. Today there are 29 active homes for sale and 17 pending sales. In April there were 41 active and 10 pendings. One of the things that’s really fascinating to me is how many people are out there looking right now. Multiple offers are not uncommon in Foster City again. Here’s some to watch:

900 Flying Fish listed by yours truly for $899,000. Not that I’m at all bashful about touting my own listing, but this house is really quite the amazing location. The 10,000 sq ft, wide water lot is a very rare commodity and although the house needs a ton of work it’s a great opportunity.

11 Coral Ln listed by Jan Majeski of Alain Pinel for $998,000. A tad close to 101 but this is quite the house. Nicely remodeled and seemingly priced right. It’s already got alot of interest.

606 Waterbury listed by Sue Dickey of Alain Pinel for $1,499,000.  Amazing remodel job on this one too! Well worth a look, even if it is on narrow water. It’s one cool house!

Keep an eye on them.

Things have certainly improved, that’s for sure. If you click on that link below that says “What’s For Sale?” you’ll see how different it is based upon past posts. Last time we did this, in April, there was 58 units on the market and there was 15 pending sales. When I did it in February there were 3! Today there are 34 active listings and 32 pending sales. That almost seems normal to me. Still, there’s alot of homes that have been on the market for a long, long time. Here’s a few that are worth a look see:

841 Balboa at The Islands listed by the mayor himself, John Kiramis for $718,000. It’s his own place. Really gorgeously updated. It’s one of the smaller 2 bedrooms but it’s been redone for top to bottom.

851 Vespucci listed by Mary Bee of Re/Max Today for $649,900. I like Winston Village, I like the $245.00 dues and this is actually a really nice unit.

880 Meridian Bay listed by Mary Yeargain with Re/Max Today for $629,950. Nice clean unit and it’s priced $50,000 less than an identical unit there. Worth a look.

The last time I did this, on February 10, there were 37 active condos/townhouses on the market in Foster City. Today there are 58. Quite a difference. Amazingly, there are 4 units for sale at Promontory Point where the association dues are now $835.00 a month! There really is alot of inventory right now, although there are 15 pending sales whereas there were only 3 in February. That’s real improvement for sure, but just like for single family, there’s some real improvement. Here’s some nice new listings that may be worth looking at:

857 Canis in Isle Cove listed for $300,000 as an auction. This is the place I mentioned on Saturday. Can’t wait to see how this turns out!

664 Cygnus listed by Stephanie Russell of Re/Max Today for $578,888. Nice place at Edgewater Townhomes that sure seems cute to me. I sold the same floor plan last year, and not as nice as this one for $615,000. Seems like a good buy to me.

800 Spruance listed by Joan Wachter of Coldwell Banker for $729,888. Nice one level unit at Harborside, plus it’s an end unit which sort of makes it feel like a small house. Nice place.

Good hunting!

There’s good news and bad news. There’s more listings, 41 as of today…but there’s also significantly more sales than we’ve been used to in 2009. As of today there’s 10 pending sales. We also have our 3rd house priced over $1,200,000 that’s sold…350 Sea Horse Ct. Like I’ve said before we’ve got a long way to go and it sure is interesting to see the number of homes for sale under $900,000. So far so good! Here’s a couple of interesting listings:

1338 Halibut listed for $1,029,338 by Sue Walsh of Cashin. I like this house, it’s not real big but it feels unique. All remodeled and done up nice. Worth a look for sure.

341Spinnaker listed for $835,000 by David Howarth of Bay Capital. This sure seems like a good price on a 4 bedroom home, it was recently reduced from $924,000. Great neighborhood too.

Naturally, I’d like to think that things are improving. Real improvement won’t really be measured until a large part of this existing inventory sells. Whether or not that can happen with the current prices is quite a different thing. We’ll see…