Alameda, CA

Current market report in Alameda CA

Here's a quick review of where we are as of this writing in terms of residential properties (regular sales, foreclosures and short sales) Active listings - 134 (low inventory!) Median price - $594,000 Average days on market - 60 Listings under contract - 96 Median price - $479,450 Average days on market - 46 Listings sold since January 1, 2009 - 202 Median price - $555,000 Average days on market - 50 Foreclosures --- In spite of what some Alamedans think, Alameda CA has been affected by the economic downturn, albeit not quite as badly as other cities. Nonetheless, we have our share of foreclosures and short sales. Out of total listings, here's what it looks like for foreclosures: Active listings - 12 Median price - $338,500 Average days on market - 61 Listings under contract - 11 Median price - $338,500 Average days on market - 40 Listings sold - 30 or 15% of total sales to date Median price - $466,625 Average days on market 41 Short Sales ---- Are short sales moving? Some are moving very slowly, and very painfully.Properties that have more than one loan may be ignored unless the lender is the same. We hear horror stories of properties in contract for nearly 90 days on short sales with 2 loans. The junior lien holders dig in their heels and don't approve the short sales, which leads to foreclosures and trashed credit scores. Out of total listings, here's the picture for the short sales:

Active listings - 15
Listings under contract - 25

Listings sold - 14 or 7% of total
Average days on market for sold short sales - 83 days

Since I won the Magnetic Lenses to give my pocket digital camera wide-angle capability, I happily logged on and ordered it. Even if I had to pay for it, it may be worth it, for only $39.95! I had to check it out.

Simple to use lenses for use on multiple cameras

PROS: Definitely gave me greater depth. Easy to mount -- magnetic ring with adhesive attaches to outer rim of lens. And lens adheres to the ring and stays there! Lightweight lens.

CON: Visible rounded corners have to be cropped. Need to make allowances for what will be cropped out. More time spent cropping!

UPDATE: A Magnetic Lenses support person name Josh made a simple recommendation that solves this problem: Zoom in just a tad until the corners disappear. You will still have a good wide-angle picture photo. And indeed, it worked!

UPDATE: Found a Youtube video using Magnetic Lenses on a camcorder, and comparing it with the manufacturer (Sony)'s own lenses for that specific camcorder. You can use Magnetic Lenses with your Flip, too! As the Magnetic lens guy says, just zoom in a tad and the round corners wll disappear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6s7cOr6084

UPDATE November 2009: Some folks who ordered their Magnetic Lenses report that they have not received their lenses, nor can they get through to anyone at the company for a resolution.

Photo without magnetic lens

Photo with magnetic lens

Photo, cropped

MORE BEFORE/AFTER CROPPING. I also tried interior shots. I hate those pictures where all one can get is a picture of a corner of the room. This one I took from one end and managed to get more room in the picture. If I use this, I will definitely have to look at it from the point of view of how much i need to crop from the picture so that it looks presentable.

OR, as the Magnetic Lens' Josh said, just zoom in a tad....this gets rid of the rounded corners without losing too much of the photo. It works!

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Wide Angle Lens for your Point-and-Shoot digital camera for only $39.95

Yes. Not having permits is a deal-breaker. Believe it!

It happens again and again. We find a lovely home. Client loves it. We write an offer. We look into the remodeling, expansion, improvements.

Then we discover the work was done without permits.

"But they were done by professionals." Uh-huh. If they were professionals, they would have known to get permits, and then to have them finaled by the inspector.

"But they just changed appliances and the counter top." Uh-huh. Are the appliances EXACTLY the same? Were new electrical outlets and wiring required?

"The seller doesn't want to get the permits. The sale is AS IS." Then it's bye-bye. Let's move on.

This just happened to me. My buyer loved LOVED the house. Made an offer on the spot. We got the disclosures, and lo and behold, we find out that many of the improvements were done without permits. Although they pulled a permit to re-roof, that permit expired, and was not re-issued, much less finaled.

When I talked to the seller's agent, she said that the seller prefers to sell as is, and would rather not go back and get permits issued and have inspectors approve them.

Sadly, we have to withdraw.

Not having permits is a deal-breaker. Believe it!

RELATED INFO

Ignorance is not always bliss, especially when it comes to getting permits for home alterations

Alameda Electrical Requirements for Kitchen Permits

It's an adage: "The first offer is almost always the best offer." Many REALTORS attest to this, and many of us have experienced it.

LEAPING LIZARDS! WHY dont/won't more people believe it?

CONVINCE ME!

I haven't been a REALTOR as long as some of you have been, but very recently, I've experienced this first hand. It's mind-boggling that it's a challenge to convincingly validate to sellers why there is a lot of truth in this.

Today, I am thinking about this adage again because I just submitted an offer a day after the listing came on the market. My seller has been looking for a while. He knows what he wants. And we don't want to waste time. We wrote for over list price with aggressive terms: no buyer inspections, 40% down payment, 3% initial deposit, AS IS. Sellers decided to wait until next week before they look at our offer.

WHY?

Isn't this house for sale? I brought a ready, willing and able buyer. If they weren't ready to look at offers, they shouldn't have activated it for sale on the MLS.

Why are we back to setting offer dates again?

RECENT EXPERIENCES (in less than a year)

• Early this year, I listed a bungalow. The same day I also told my buyers about the property. One couple instantly liked it and wrote an all cash offer. My seller accepted. Although more offers came in later in the week, the one we picked as a back-up had to withdraw because of job loss. My seller was thrilled he went with the all cash offer.
• My buyers submitted an offer on a 4-plex. But we were told the seller wanted to wait a few more days. They generated 5 offers, and picked one. They didn't even counter ours. Later, when it closed, I found out that the property sold for $20K less than what we offered. So I asked how come our offer wasn't accepted although we had aggressive terms --- 20% down, AS IS --- and our offer was higher. Turns out that after the buyers did inspections, they requested for a lot of credits and repairs. At that time, the sellers were so tired of the back-and-forth negotiation that they gave in and settled for a lower price.
• I listed a fixer. It immediately generated an offer. The owner's son thought they may get more offers if they waited a couple more days. It did generate offers, but for less. By the time they thought they should have accepted the first offer, the buyer had moved on. The property sat unsold while the siblings argued among themselves. They finally took it off the market.
• On another listing, we received a really good offer, but it was less than what the seller wanted. She turned it down. Another offer came in. She turned that down. Finally, we got into contract --- for the same price as the first offer. Had she accepted the first offer, we would have closed escrow two months ago!

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First offer is almost always the best offer ---- how true is this?

Alameda CA has always enchanted me. And now that I live here, I continue to enjoy the small-town charm. I've never lived in a place (besides San Francisco) where there are so many delightful Victorians.

Yesterday, I needed cheering up....so I drove around, snapping pictures (from my car) of some of the homes and architectural details that caught my eye. Thought I'd share a few.

After taking these pictures (and a few others) I felt better ---- immediately! I will keep my camera handy and take more HAPPY pictures. Geez, I LOVE THIS ISLAND CITY!