Marin County, people, places, culture and real-estateStopped by Ponsford’s Place on Shaver Street in San Rafael for their Wednesday pizza night this week, where they had live music and super tasty and healthy pizza. They also make yummy breads and treats. The menu changes daily and they have cooking classes as well. More info at www.ponsfordsplace.com.
Trying to find the perfect place for a kid’s birthday party can be a challenge if you want to avoid the crowds or the cost of an indoor space. Our favorite outdoor spot is at Marinwood Park in San Rafael. It has a large open lawn area to throw a football or frisbee around and there’s a small grassy hill that the kids love to roll down. Talk about instant entertainment! The play structure area is nice and has a separate section for smaller kids, and there’s a concrete path that surrounds the park which makes a perfect loop for little ones to ride their bikes around.
You can reserve a spot near the play structure area for a private party, but we like to be out in the grassy area, which has picnic tables and BBQs. Bring your hot dogs and burgers (or tofu dogs), start up the grill and make it an adult party too. In the summer they have a great community pool which you can also make part of the party for a fee. The best part is the secret path along the side of the play structure area that leads to a year round creek. Kids love playing in it, especially when the weather’s hot. One important tip: get there around 9:00 am to claim your table with a cooler and table cloth so when the party starts later in the day you will have a primo spot.
It took a while but it was worth the wait. We stopped by the new Andy’s Sun Valley Market the other day to check it out and it’s a really nice addition to the neighborhood. It’s been given a complete makeover, with a great looking deli and a nice wine selection, and tables outside. They’re having a grand opening block party BBQ on Labor Day. It’s at 2202 5th Ave at California in San Rafael.
We brought on a really cool new listing in Fairfax this week. An updated, open floor plan, mid-century home in a beautiful setting. Only a couple minutes up the hill from downtown. We’ll have it open both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, Aug. 13th and 14th, 1:00-4:00 pm. www.30mountainviewroad.com.
An interesting year continues, with things still a little wacky in the Marin housing market. We’re still seeing multiple offers on some homes, and then there are some listings that are sitting for months. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, one thing that’s pretty glaring is the continued lack of inventory, especially really desirable houses. Looking at the stats for June, the number of residential properties in Marin is the lowest it’s been in any June in at least the last five years. And the months supply of homes based on pending sales is the lowest it’s been in any month since 2007. It’s 45% lower than this time last year, and 17% lower than June 06!
The conventional wisdom says that July and August aren’t the best time to list a home since people are on vacation, but this could be a good time for sellers to throw that thinking out the window and take advantage of the lack of competition.
While searching for the perfect shed for our backyard recently I discovered a cool company in San Francisco that produces prefabricated studios and cabanas. They even make the hippest kids playhouses you’ve ever seen, suitable for the cover of Dwell magazine, and a doghouse with a rooftop garden!
Structures are sustainable and customizable. Electricity can be easily installed and they can include a bathroom. Cabanas start at $11,500, kids playhouses start at $2200, and a house for your canine will cost you about $650.
Check them out at www.moderncabana.com. There’s a company in Seattle doing similar stuff that’s worth a look too, Modern-Shed.
Looking at the Marin County stats across all residential properties and price ranges through last month, pendings (houses going into escrow) ticked back up and inventory remained lower than any May since 2007. With all the doom and gloom in the media lately about the housing market nationwide, I guess we should feel good that Marin is looking like a different story right now.
With relatively low inventory and sales still pretty brisk the months supply is as low as it’s been in quite a while. It was at 3.4 in May, meaning at the current rate of homes going into escrow it would take 3.4 months to exhaust the current supply. That number was 4.9 in May 2010, and 3.1 back at this time in 2006.
As always, if you’d like stats for your particular town or price segment feel free to drop us a line at info@sfnorth.com.
If you’re looking for a good place to get some friends together for a picnic in Marin, then look no further than the Lake Lagunitas Picnic Area, just eight minutes from downtown Fairfax. The kids can go fishing, play in the creek, or ride their bikes around in the parking lot. We like to bring our mt. bikes and ride around the lake with the whole family. We also like this spot because it’s set in a redwood grove with lots of shade, and has good sized picnic tables with large bbq/grill areas.
We usually reserve the large tables and grills when we know it’s a large group, but if you’re just going with a couple of families you might not need to reserve in advance as there are almost always enough tables to go around. A good hike is to make a loop with the kids around the lake…it takes about 30 minutes. In the summer when it gets hot this is the perfect place to hang out in the shade and be with friends. I have to say it’s one of the most beautiful places in Marin.
The picnic area is at the end of the road adjacent to the parking lot. You’ll find directions and info on reservations here.
Time to look at the stats now that the April data is in. Inventory ticked up from March as expected, but is still substantially lower than it has been in April the last few years. These charts are for all single family homes in Marin County under 2 millon dollars.
Pendings (the number of homes going into escrow) have remained pretty constant from March, but months supply has ticked up a little because of the increased inventory. The market still feels more active than it has in a while, and we’re hearing the same from other agents, though it’s not across the board. Interest level in properties coming on still varies quite a bit depending on the nature of the home, how realistic the price is, and of course the location.
In 2010 we saw a lot of activity in the early part of the year, and then a decline from the beginning of Summer through the holidays. It’ll be interesting to see if this year things stay more consistent and if this feeling that the Marin market is heating up continues. As always feel free to drop us an email at info@sfnorth.com if you’d like stats for your particular area or price range.
There’s a real feeling of renewed activity in the Marin real estate market so far this year, and we’re seeing more multiple offers than we’ve seen in some time. One Kentfield property listed by an agent in our office received eight offers last week, and that’s not an isolated case. Many homes are getting multiple offers, and others have been selling before most buyers even get a chance to view them, either before actually hitting MLS or before the Sunday open house.
Now this is certainly not what’s happening across the board. There are still plenty of homes sitting on the market, and we’re still seeing price reductions in many cases. But in the more popular areas, homes that have a lot of the features most buyers are looking for–and that are priced correctly–are getting a lot of activity. We’re not back to the way things were at the height of the crazy market in 2005, where even less desirable homes were selling fast and for too much money, but we haven’t felt this level of competition for good homes in years. We’ll have to wait and see how much this is function of the time of year and a low supply, or if it keeps up through the rest of 2011.
Here’s a look at the months of inventory based on pending listings for single family homes under $2 million in Marin, meaning how many months it would take to sell all the homes currently on the market based on the rate at which they’re going into escrow. It was down to 3.3 months supply in March, which was 11.4% lower than the supply one year ago, and 43.3% lower than March 2009. The numbers for April will be out soon and I’m guessing they’ll further reflect the increasing activity and relatively lean supply, but I’ll post some charts when they’re available to give a better picture.
If you’d like market info and stats for your specific area of Marin or price range feel free to email me at gcrowe@sfnorth.com.