Well what do you know! After writing on TechCrunch for the past year about how Silicon Valley’s Gatsbyesque wealth couldn’t find much real estate to buy, Bay Area inventory is up. Bidding wars are down. And rising rates are squeezing buyers who have to borrow money. Below is Redfin’s quarterly rundown of what’s happening in Silicon Valley real estate.

Bidding wars are less intense. Bidding wars are still common, with Redfin agents facing competition on 95 percent of all homes in May 2013, the highest of any of the 21 markets Redfin serves. For example, Redfin Silicon Valley agent Brad Le reports that this nice-enough $2 million Cupertino listing got 12 offers, and likely went under contract in June for well above $2.4 million. But fewer bidders are competing. Since Redfin publishes competitive dynamics for every offer our agents write, we measure the average number of competitors in a bidding war, which has declined from a peak of 16.3 in January to 7.8 in May. As agents, we know that demand is waning not because buyers no longer want a home but because they’ve despaired of ever being able to get one. About one in four of our Bay Area homebuyers have told us at some point in the last three months that they’re taking a break from their search out of sheer frustration.

Also-rans are left behind. The decrease in competition hasn’t changed the pricing of the most sought-after properties. But occasionally, close also-rans languish. Redfin Silicon Valley agent Mia Simon noticed that two nearly identical Mountain View homes, one slightly better looking, sold at the same time last week: The beauty queen sold for $200,000 over asking, drawing all the attention away from its neighbor, which got only one offer and sold for $150,000 less than comparable properties in the area.

Flash sales. The fact that homes are still selling very quickly may reflect a fundamental change in consumer behavior rather than simply a hot market; the median days on market for Bay Area homes that sold in May was 12 days; last year at this time it was 18. Mobile instant alerts triggered by the debut of new listings have been behind this trend, with 302 listings in May going under contract in less than 24 hours. Some of our buyers don’t even like to go into a Costco for too long if it will block the cell signal they need to get instant alerts. This has also put pressure on real estate websites to get inventory quickly. On average, brokerage sites like APR.com, ZephyrSF.com, and Redfin.com get new listings days earlier than national portals; the reason is that the brokerage sites employ real estate agents with complete, direct access to the Bay Area’s four local Multiple Listing Services.

More homes for sale. Higher prices, and perhaps the fear that higher interest rates could dampen demand later, have at last drawn would-be sellers into the market. Bay Area inventory began the year down 59 percent from 2012, but has now improved to the point that it’s only 28 percent down from this time last year; by year-end we expect 2013 inventory to be up year-over-year for the first time since 2011. Redfin’s own Bay Area listing business has increased more than 100 percent over last year. In 2013, real estate’s spring may come in summer, and summer may come in fall. Sales volume will increase, and price increases may lose steam.

More new construction coming in the East Bay and in San Francisco: Builders are often slow to respond to inventory crunches, in part because it takes time to finish projects, in part to drive profits from a run-up in demand. This is why we’ve seen line-ups, lotteries and camp-outs among buyers competing to get units as they’re released by builders. But four new projects are releasing units this summer in San Francisco, where the total number of homes has barely budged since World War II: 300 Ivy in Hayes Valley, One Rincon Hill Phase Two near the Bay Bridge, The Icon in the Mission, and Linea-built projects in the Mission like Nove.

More inside jobs: We hear more reports of pocket listings, where the listing agent sells the home to one of his own clients or to one of his partner’s clients, without offering the property to the broader market. The actual data suggests that this is common only for homes priced above $5 million. Few sellers at lower prices would ever bypass the larger market, which can draw in enough buyers to spark a bidding war. But there are other types of inside jobs. “Some Redfin clients are trying to get creative,” reports Landon Nash, Redfin San Francisco agent. “I just closed one deal with a client who asked his landlord to sell, and I have another two — which may or may not close — in the works.”

Interest-rate anxiety: With interest rates increasing since May 1, and sharply since May 22, Bay Area homebuyers have felt more pressure to buy a home soon. On June 4, interest rates exceeded 4 percent for the first time in a year. “You know how analytical we can be in the Bay Area,” said Redfin agent Brad Le. “Some of my clients know down to the dollar how much more their mortgage is per month with the current rates, and others already stretching to afford a home have been priced out by the rate increase. The buyers who remain are even more motivated to find something.”

Buyers are withdrawing money from retirement accounts to compete with more cash in bidding wars. In the past week, three different Bay Area buyers did this, despite the penalties associated with withdrawals from 401(k) accounts. Bay Area sellers continue to have a strong preference for cash buyers, to avoid a second price negotiation if an appraisal comes in low from the buyer’s lender. Buyers are also getting help from their parents. Just last month, Redfin clients living in a one-bedroom San Francisco apartment with two small children needed extra dough to avoid being priced out of the Oakland Hills market, so the parents — who were already tired of staying in hotels during visits from the East Coast — just became a party to the purchase. Virtually every Redfin agent in the Bay Area has a story about this.

Surprisingly, fewer for-sale-by-owner listings: Of the Bay Area sales closed in May, 89 percent had been listed by an agent. By comparison, 85 percent of May 2012 sales were agent-listed. Usually, when the market makes it easier to sell a home, more sellers try to do it themselves. But the Bay Area is in such a frenzy that people here are hiring an agent in even greater numbers to play the game to perfection, and to get top dollar. Of course, as real estate agents ourselves, Redfin benefits from a decline in for-sale-by-owner sales. Nonetheless, Redfin’s website is the only one I know of that shows both all the agent-listed homes for sale as well as for-sale-by-owner listings.

A decline in commissions offered to buyers’ agents, from 2.65 percent for Bay Area listings that debuted in May 2012, to 2.56 percent in May 2013. Sellers have been emboldened by the market to offer the buyer’s agent less, with no fear of steering.

A still-exclusive club: Booms usually bring an increase in the number of agents. Not in the Bay Area. In May 2012, 6,008 Bay Area agents represented homebuyers on 9,456 transactions. By May 2013, 5,540 Bay Area agents represented buyers on 8,295 transactions. Because the market here has been inventory-gated, 2013 sales actually declined 12.3 percent, whereas the number of active agents declined 7.8 percent.

What does it all mean? The Bay Area real estate market is getting back to its own version of normal, which still isn’t that normal at all.

• REDFIN

Redfin is an online real estate company that provides real estate search and brokerage services. Redfin uses an interesting combination of online real estate search and access to live agents. They employ their agents so they can better control customer satisfaction; traditional brokerage firms license their name to independent agents. Redfin claims to save homebuyers on average $7,500 by reimbursing roughly 1/2 of the buy-side real estate fee directly on closing. Redfin also pays bonuses to agents when they…

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Article source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/15/silicon-valley-real-estate-update-the-craziest-market-in-the-u-s-just-got-a-little-less-crazy/

“We were outbid quite a few times,” said Sury Balasubramanian. “They were all-cash deals with no contingencies, way over our budget.”

They decided to get aggressive.

“We realized that our budget of $600,000 would not cut the mustard,” he said. They found a three-bedroom Sunnyvale townhome listed at $649,000 and beat out 14 other buyers with a $725,000 bid.

Their experience is the story of the day in the Bay Area real estate market, especially in the tech-fueled swath from San Francisco to San Jose.

Buyers are battling over tight inventory, with for-sale homes in such short supply that they sell up to twice as fast as a year ago and draw multiple offers. In many areas, asking prices and sale prices are up significantly from this time last year.

The combination signals a shift to stability for the once-plummeting housing sector, experts say.

“The market has clearly turned,” said Christopher Thornberg, principal at Beacon Economics. “The question is: How high a bounce? Will it be a basketball or a bowling ball? The answer is more on the bowling ball end. While things have clearly (improved), it’s not like the problems are finished.”

Price per square foot

Asking price per square foot – a metric that captures the most current market snapshot while controlling for a change in the mix of properties being sold – rose in 105 out of 239 Bay Area ZIP codes analyzed in April compared with a year ago, with many of those areas in the South Bay and Peninsula, according to real estate information service Zillow. (Data were not available for some ZIPs.)

“There is more growth in listing prices in that area than elsewhere in the Bay Area,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow chief economist. “A desire to live close to the major technology companies is definitely helping those markets.”

Zillow shows that properties in towns such as Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, San Jose and Santa Clara are selling at above asking price.

Realtors specializing in Silicon Valley said the change is tangible.

“Over the past year, we have seen the market start to accelerate,” said Eric Boyenga of Intero Real Estate in Cupertino. “We could feel that job growth was happening when we started getting relocation calls almost every day.”

That revved up even more this year, said his wife, Janelle Boyenga, also with Intero.

“The light switch went on in mid-January, when (tech workers) realized, ‘Omigosh, Nasdaq stock prices are going up, the economy is doing well – we’d better jump into the housing market.’ We’re seeing hundreds of people going through open houses on the weekends; they’re like rock concerts.”

Asking prices are also up farther afield in suburbs both pricey (Corte Madera, San Anselmo, Moraga) and modest (Concord, Discovery Bay), according to Zillow.

“We’re seeing growth that’s organic, not stimulated” by government home-buyer tax credits, Humphries said. “We expect a lot more to spread throughout the San Francisco metro area, which will help stabilize prices.”

Inventory is the other “real-time” real estate metric – lower inventory signals a recovering market. It is down significantly in every Bay Area county this year as demand outpaces supply. Some have fewer than half as many houses for sale as a year ago, according to multiple listing service data provided by Realtor.com.

Besides a surge in demand, there are several factors on the sellers’ side. Many homeowners are staying put, waiting to put their houses on the market until they’re sure that prices are on an upswing. Many others are underwater, so they cannot sell without taking a loss. At the same time, the pace of foreclosures has slowed in response to government programs.

Quicker sales

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/02/MNJ11OMMVC.DTL

Burlingame, CA (PRWEB) October 06, 2011

By definition, a “deficiency judgments” is a court decision against former homeowners when the sale of the house does not sell for enough money to cover the amount owed to the lender. In essence the lender can still hold the seller financial responsible after the close of the sale in attempt to satisfy the remaining balance on a loan. However, in California, all first mortgages on a property of 1 to 4 units are protected from deficiency judgements by Senate Bill 931, (SB931) and Civil Code Procedure 580 (e).

Mary Ann Teixeira says “I hear a lot of fear from homeowners, as they examine choices, they fear that the house may sell but that the debt will live on.”

In many situations where the homeowners are in a short sale or foreclosure the idea of a debt living past the transaction is haunting. Homeowners in danger of this situation need to consult with a professional to find out exactly how this may affect them in the future.

For additional information about the conforming or jumbo loan impacts on your home buying, reasons to use a Bay Area real estate agent or San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula real estate and relocation, call Mary Ann Teixeira at (650) 241-0318, or visit her website at www.maryannt.com.

About Mary Ann Teixeira

Mary Ann Teixeira is a licensed REALTOR with McGuire Real Estate in Burlingame, California who specializes in relocation services, homes for sale and luxury homes. She is a seasoned buyer’s agent who serves the San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula communities of Atherton, Burlingame, Cupertino, Hillsborough, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Woodside.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebburlingame_foreclosures/peninsula_real_estate/prweb8858144.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/06/prweb8858144.DTL