by arlene on December 10, 2011
It gave me great pleasure to host a party on Thursday! No, it wasn’t your normal holiday party. This was the tour for agents, and my listing was THE place to be. This Queen Anne duplex south of campus was indeed the Queen of the day, welcoming almost 100 agents, and I was delighted to finally have this property ready to find its new owners!
In 15 years in the business this property has taken more time and effort on my part, as well as requiring more of an investment on the part of the trust that is selling it, than any other listing. I coordinated major projects: a new foundation, a drainage system, new sewer lateral, new roof on both the building and the garages (a wonderful asset in this location!). It was painted from head to toe, inside and out. Floors were refinished, the garden was relandscaped. The electrical system was improved (though actual upgrading of the service is still advised). As we speak new furnaces are being installed. The shared driveway has two lovely new drivestrips with mulch down the middle–a thing of beauty in the eyes of this proud listing agent!
Berkeley has many rental properties, and this has the strong advantage of having both units vacant. It’s also a terrific location, near campus but not too close, and between the shops on Telegraph and Shattuck, each with their own character. Walkscore gives it a score of 86: very walkable.
Want to take a peak: check out my slide show above, or for even more details visit: www.2326ParkerSt.com.
So far the response has been super: I’ve mailed out 12 disclosure packages! Any offers will be heard by appointment on Wednesday, December 14th.
by arlene on November 24, 2011
As I count the things for which I am grateful this Thanksgiving, I have several things on my real estate list:
–I am grateful for terrific clients! Right now I have two wonderful sets of buyers in contract, am looking for a wonderful family, and am working with lovely sellers getting properties ready to bring to market, one very soon, and a couple early in 2012. A special pleasure is to be working with two of my favorite agents on one of the buyer’s transactions.
–I am grateful that lobbying efforts by NAR and state associations succeeded in maintaining jumbo loan limits at $729,750 within California. Lowering those limits would have significantly dampened the high end market in our area.
–I am grateful that a relatively small percentage of properties in this market area are distressed properties: either short sales or bank-owned properties. As I talked with colleagues from all over the country at the recent National Assoc. of REALTORS convention a couple weeks ago, I met numerous agents whose market is dominated by foreclosures. Some cities count their distressed inventory as high as 95%. As you can see, our market is impacted, but to a much lesser degree.
What is striking to me in the numbers below is 1) our inventory is very low and 2) it is taking much longer than normal to sell. We are used to average days on market in Berkeley, CA area hovering around a month. Currently it is taking almost three months for the current inventory to sell.
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Summary of Active Single Family Listings |
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# Active |
Avg. list price |
Med. List |
Avg. DOM |
# DP* |
% DP |
| Berkeley |
78 |
$700,231 |
$544,500 |
83 |
24 |
30.77% |
| Albany |
13 |
$541,626 |
$479,000 |
53 |
4 |
30.77% |
| Kensington |
8 |
$772,375 |
$654,500 |
97 |
0 |
0.00% |
| El Cerrito |
45 |
$475,152 |
$454,900 |
73 |
17 |
37.78% |
| Oakland |
694 |
$366,784 |
$242,500 |
73 |
332 |
47.84% |
| Rockridge |
23 |
$1,000,795 |
$799,000 |
93 |
3 |
13.04% |
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| *DP=Distressed Properties, either Short Sales or Bank Owned Properties |
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And for those of you reading this, thank you! And a very Happy Thanksgiving to you!
