Posts Tagged ‘advice’
January 6, 2009
Last night I met up with a client who I am going to refer to an East Bay agent. We got to talking about how to find the right agent and the advice I gave was motivating enough to write a post about it. So here we go.
There are two types of real estate agents out there. There are salespeople, and there are consultants. Lets go through the characteristics of each, and end it with a discussion on how you can choose the right one appropriately.
A salesperson:
- Usually a smooth talker.
- Puts their interests ahead of their clients’.
- Only works with people who have to buy or sell NOW.
- Can manipulate Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Home Buying, Home Selling, Tips | Tagged advice, agent, buyer's agent, characteristics, expertise, how to choose an agent, qualities, real estate agent, realtor, san francisco, san francisco real estate, seller's agent, Tips | Leave a Comment »
December 17, 2008
It seems the question on everyone’s mind is how the stock market crash of October 2008 has affected activity in the local real estate market, ie: numbers of home sales. We set out to find the answer, and here’s how we did it.
Are buyers and sellers in a stalemate?
First, we limited our search from November 1 through December 16. The reason we chose November 1st is because there is a lag of activity in the market. Many people were in escrow during the crash of early October and ended up closing in late October despite conditions. What we wanted to find out is how many people were willing to move forward with a purchase after the crash rocked everyone’s boat, hence the November 1 start date. The reason we capped the search at December 16 is because today is the 17th and the 16th was our last full business day.
Next, we constrained our numbers to the City of San Francisco only. No outlying areas are included. Property types in these numbers include single family homes, condominiums, tics, lofts, and stock cooperatives.
Lastly, to get a point of comparison, we ran this query for each year during the exact same time-frame, going all the way back to 1995. How did it stack up?
Sales Activity is at a LOW (click to enlarge)
What does this data tell us? Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Home Buying, Home Selling, Macro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis, Tips | Tagged 2008, advice, market activity, october 2008, sales volume, san francisco, san francisco real estate, stock market crash, Tips, trends | Leave a Comment »
December 4, 2008
We’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately about how the high-end of the real estate market is performing better than the overall market. But what about here in San Francisco? Some reports tout that the luxury market has remained relatively unscathed, while others say that there is a lag and it will soon be hit. We wanted to sample some neighborhoods around San Francisco so we could get a feel, not just for the high end of the market, but also for the middle and low ends.
Here’s what we did. The most expensive single family home to sell in 2008 (per the MLS) is in Pacific Heights. The least expensive single family home to sell in 2008 is in Bayview. The neighborhood with the highest number of median-priced sales (median is currently $835,004) was Central Sunset. These 3 neighborhoods are our three samples from around the city of the high, the middle, and the low end.
The results from our analysis?
How you fared if you owned your property for... (click to enlarge)
For our commentary, continue reading –> Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Appreciation and Hold Times, Bayview, Central Sunset, Micro-Level Info, Neighborhood Info, Nerdy RE Analysis, Pacific Heights | Tagged advice, analysis, appreciation rates, Bayview, Central Sunset, depreciation, hold times, Pacific Heights, san francisco, san francisco real estate, Tips, trends | Leave a Comment »
November 24, 2008
“Comp” is industry shorthand for the word “comparable”. What is a comparable, and what makes a good one? That’s what this article is all about.
“Comps… huh?!?”
Real estate agents and appraisers use comparables to determine the value of a home. Actually, there are three different methods used in determining the value of a home, but the approach that utilizes comparables is the one that holds the most weight. The whole idea behind figuring out the value of a home (we’ll call it the “subject property”) is to compare it to other homes that have sold nearby.
A “comparable” is a sale that is A) competitive with the subject property, B) took place on the open market, and C) Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Appraisal 101, Home Buying, Tips | Tagged advice, Appraisal 101, case shiller, comparable, comps, dataquick, puppeteer, sales, san francisco, san francisco real estate, Tips | Leave a Comment »
November 7, 2008
When you’re out looking at properties, be on the lookout for curable versus incurable characteristics. What are these?
Jaw-dropping views from the back yard!
Both refer to types of depreciation homes can go through. However, there is a big difference. Curable refers to conditions that are financially feasible to fix. This means that if you were to spend $1 on curing this type of depreciation, you would get back $1 or more of your investment. Some examples include repainting, putting in a new kitchen, or updating an old bathroom.
By contrast, incurable depreciation is where one would invest that same $1 and get back less than the full $1 in return. Examples range from Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Appraisal 101, Home Buying, Tips | Tagged 747, advice, Appraisal 101, curable, depreciation, home values, incurable, obsolescence, san francisco, san francisco real estate, Tips | 1 Comment »
November 4, 2008
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about price reductions, price drops, prices bottoming out, yada yada. Well here’s some news for ya. Listing prices mean absolutely nothing. Here’s why:
1) Listing prices are determined by the seller and the seller’s agent, putting their heads together and arriving at a figure which is amenable to both… but more often than not, a figure that is amenable to just the seller. Realtors will oftentimes take an overpriced listing just for the opportunity to sell the home, knowing that future price drops are part of the deal. Don’t get mad at ‘em. It’s their job to get top dollar for their seller.
2) By law, the seller’s agent owes a fiduciary responsibility to the seller. So, I ask you, could the listing price be a more biased number?
3) There are many strategies to pricing. Price low and let the market bid it up. Price right and hope for the best. Price high and see if there’s a sucker out there. Pricing strategies further cloud the “validity” of a listing price.
4) Most importantly, listing prices do not show us anything about what the market is doing. Sold prices are the only thing that show us that. Solds speak of action, and action defines the market. Everything else is just noise. Listing prices, price reductions, you name it.
- Here is a graph of the meaningfulness of listing prices. Yup, it’s displaying correctly.
Because list prices are biased, fail to speak of action, and mean nothing, so does all the hype surrounding price drops. Every time Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Appraisal 101, Home Buying, Tips | Tagged advice, Appraisal 101, comps, listing prices, sales prices, salt, san francisco, san francisco real estate, Tips | 2 Comments »
November 2, 2008
Gone are the days where you could buy any old piece of property and do okay. The feeding frenzy is long over. Nowadays, buyers must be smarter in deciding what to buy. The old wisdom was “location, location, location.” While we agree that location is still the single most important factor in real estate, a new reality is here and we want to share some tips with you on how to make a smart investment in real estate.
- A new reality in real estate requires buyers to be smarter than ever.
So what’s our new mantra? Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Appraisal 101, Home Buying, Tips | Tagged advice, appraisal, desirability, Home Buying, location, miami, monkey, san francisco, san francisco real estate, scarcity, smart buyer, Tips | Leave a Comment »
October 27, 2008
This weekend I ran an open house and bumped into a young woman who had been to a few properties before visiting mine. She said that a few other Realtors she had spoken with were all touting “now’s a great time to buy!”.
I quickly congratulated her for having rubbed elbows with some fine real estate salespeople… but hardly real estate experts.
How can one possibly know if it’s a good time to buy if they haven’t asked you one very simple question first? The truth is, the only way it’s a good time to buy is if
- What’s it going to take to get you into this house today??
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Home Buying, Tips | Tagged advice, good time to buy, is now a good time to buy, october 2008, sales, san francisco, san francisco real estate, sleazy salesman, Tips | 2 Comments »
October 23, 2008
Ahhh, good ‘ol appraisal. It’s how I got started in the real estate business years ago and it’s one of the most useful things to know. I’m going to be sharing tips, little-known facts, and stories from my experience as an appraiser (as well as endless spreadsheets and analysis).
Today’s Appraisal 101 post will be a TIP. This is one of the fundamental things you should know if you are planning to invest any additional money into your home.
What’s the number one way you can add value to your home? Well, I suppose you could invite Bob Vila over for dinner and see if he’ll help you cross off some of your honey-do’s (as long as he promises to trim that fro, that is). If you can’t land dinner with Bobby V, your next best bet is to follow this tip:
- Bobby V
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Appraisal 101, Tips | Tagged 1970's, add value, advice, appraisal, Appraisal 101, bob vila, brady bunch, shag carpet, Tips | Leave a Comment »
October 21, 2008
Tenancy In Common (TIC) properties have grown in popularity over the years. One reason is the rising cost of housing in San Francisco has put the generally lesser-expensive TIC on the map. Another reason for their growing popularity, especially since 2005, is the proliferation of fractional financing. Currently, TICs account for approximately 3-4% of San Francisco’s total housing stock (per the tax assessor’s office).
So what exactly is fractional financing? In a traditional TIC, there is one loan for the entire building, essentially making you business partners with your neighbors. If one of your neighbors can’t pay their share of the loan payment, the bank will come after them and the other tenants. For this reason, neighbors scrutinize the financials and are very picky about who they let join in on an existing TIC loan (and rightfully so!). Despite the risk involved, we rarely hear of loan default being a problem in a traditional TIC.
In recent years, lenders have developed TIC lending products where tenants can now get an individual, or fractional loan, for their percentage ownership in the building. Fractional financing has definitely added fuel to the growth and desirability of TIC ownership, mitigating a huge portion of the risk of being in a traditional TIC. There are currently a handful of banks across the nation that will do fractional loans on San Francisco TIC properties (we know of about five). Here is a look at the number of TIC sales taking place within the City of San Francisco since 1995 (per MLS). Each year was capped at October 19th, so we could include the present year.
- Number of TIC Sales Since 1995 – Click to Zoom In
The chart shows a sharp increase in the number of TIC sales over the last 14 years. It’s impossible not to notice Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Macro-Level Info | Tagged 1022 chestnut, advice, charts, fractional financing, loans, number of sales, real estate, russian hill, san francisco, tenancy in common, tic, Tips, trends | 1 Comment »
