About Santa Cruz County, CA

HOMES FOR SALE IN SANTA CRUZ UNDER $500,000

A few years ago if a buyer wanted to buy a home in Santa Cruz under $500,000, I would have had a hard time finding them a decent home. Times have changed. There are many really nice homes for sale in Santa Cruz under $500,000. In fact, there are about 180 homes for sale under $500,000 right now in Santa Cruz. You can go here to see a current list of HOMES FOR SALE IN SANTA CRUZ UNDER $500,000

HOMES FOR SALE IN SANTA CRUZ UNDER $500,000

If you are a first time home buyer in Santa Cruz, not only are prices lower and there are more homes for sale under $500,000, interest rates are at record lows too which will make a big difference in your monthly payment. You can even find homes for sale under $300,000 in Santa Cruz county. These homes under $300k will mostly be in San Lorenzo Valley and Watsonville areas but there are some in Aptos and Santa Cruz too.

When your are looking at homes for sale in Santa Cruz under $500,000, chances are that you will be touring some foreclosures and short sales. These distressed sales can sell for a big discount, but be very diligent in your inspections when buying a short sale or foreclosure. Read my article for tips about Buying a bank owned home in Santa Cruz, there are things to watch out for.

I am an experienced Santa Cruz Realtor and have helped many buyers purchase short sales and foreclosures. Contact me for more information about what is for sale in Santa Cruz under $500,000 or go here to see a current list of SANTA CRUZ HOMES UNDER $500,000

COLDWELL BANKER - SANTA CRUZ - REAL ESTATE AGENT - (831) 419-9345

I am happy to announce that I have recently joined forces with Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz. Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz is one of the most respected companies in the area with a plethora of experience combined with innovative marketing techniques - Coldwell Banker a real powerhouse in the Santa Cruz County Real Estate Market.

COLDWELL BANKER - SANTA CRUZ - REAL ESTATE AGENT (831) 419-9345

Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz is located at 824 B Mission St, Santa Cruz , CA - (831) 419-9345 - on the Westside near UCSC and West Cliff Dr. Coldwell Banker has 2 other office locations in Santa Cruz County for added convenience for our clients. There is a Coldwell Banker - Aptos office on Soquel Dr and a Coldwell Banker - Capitola office on 41st Avenue.

For home sellers, Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz will market and expose your home to the greatest amount of people possible thought our Coldwell Banker International network, online website networking partners (we feature your home on over 350 leading real estate websites!) and local advertising in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Homes Magazine and Coastal Homes Magazine. As a Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz real estate agent, I use the power of the Coldwell Banker network combined with local Santa Cruz advertising and knowledge to create a powerful and dynamic marketing strategy for your property.

Curious about the value of your Santa Cruz home? Fill out this Santa Cruz Property Valuation form, and a Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz real estate agent will contact you with an estimate of your home's value.

For luxury home sellers, Coldwell Banker Previews - Santa Cruz offers a special marketing program for high-end homes and estates in Santa Cruz county. Your luxury home will be marketed locally and internationally, generating the most possible exposure for your property. The Coldwell Banker Previews magazine will showcase the best features of your home thousands of luxury home buyers.

For Home Buyers - Coldwell Banker Santa Cruz - will make the home buying process a pleasant and stress-free experience. If you are a first time buyer or you haven't bought a home in many years, a Coldwell Banker Realtor will take the time to really explain the process to you and take the mystery out of buying a home. Real Estate is constantly changing and in a market with short sales and foreclosures you need to know about new trends in Santa Cruz real estate. Your Santa Cruz Coldwell Banker real estate agent will make sure you know about new homes for sale as soon as they are listed and provide your with email updates so that you know about these homes as soon as we do.

Fill out this Santa Cruz Home Search form and a Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz real estate agent will get to work right away to find you a home and email you homes for sale, including foreclosures and short sales if you are interested in those properties.

Coldwell Banker - Santa Cruz is committed to providing the highest level of service to home sellers and buyers with an emphasis on integrity. Call (831) 419-9345 to get started on selling or buying your next home.

Today represents the opportunity of a lifetime for real estate investment. One only needs to study the wealthiest people in the world to know how to capitalize on timing. Warren Buffet recently pointed out that when everyone else is selling is the time to buy.

In Santa Cruz County home prices and interest rates are at historic lows. Never has the affordability index been greater in our adult lifetime. Affordability translates to the ability to purchase a home and this is represented by the percentage of a median family's income consumed by the median mortgage. Nationally in 1981 a mortgage represented 36% of a family's income, today the national percentage is 15% of the family's income. This affordability combined with low prices and low interest rates is known as a "Buyer's Market" and a buyer's market is defined as the time to buy. It is not the time to kick the tires or to wait hoping the market will go lower. The waiting is over.

Now is the time to capitalize on the low prices and low interest rates which make Santa Cruz homes more affordable than ever. In August 2010 inventory of single family homes for sale in Santa Cruz County was 1102, in August of 2011 it was 1014 which represents an 8% decline. In August of 2010 we sold 150 homes countywide and in August 2011 sales of single family residences increased to 164 which represented a 9% increase in sales. So our inventory has decreased and our sales have increased. The average price of a Santa Cruz County home decreased from $578,159. to $557,810. and the median price decreased from $522,500. To $490,000 when comparing to August 2011 to August 2010.

For years I have advised my home buying clients to wait to buy unless they planned to hold their home for 10+ years. I also previously advised my home selling clients to sell quickly if they had to sell since the market showed all indications of decreasing in value for years. Agents used to say that we need a crystal ball to know what the market will do in the future but the years from 2005 until now have had such obvious economic indicators that only a person living under a rock would not have seen the signs leading to the continual decline we have experienced as a result of stalled sales and ballooned inventory through these years of lending issues, short sales, REOs, phantom inventory, high unemployment and numerous other blows to the real estate market and to the economy.

While the national economy has a ways to go, the Silicon Valley economy is on the upswing and historically our market follows the Silicon Valley market due to the nature of our bedroom community. In other good news we now have 6.18 months of inventory of single family homes currently on the market and 6 months represents a balanced market.

Fun stuff to do in Boulder Creek

February 11^th: This weekend, the town merchants are “putting out.” … Putting their merchandise out on the streets that is, in the manner of a street fair. There will be a raffle, crafts demonstrations, discounts, and Valentines’ gift ideas. These street fairs occur on the 2^nd Saturday of every month…

February 14^th - Valentines Day - this coming Tuesday

Take your loved one for a Valentines’ Dinner – 4pm to 10pm at Boulder Creek’s legendary Scopazzi’s Restaurant 338-6441

and consider coming back to help celebrate their 100th year in business at the end of April...details soon :) http://www.scopazzisrestaurant.com/

February 18^th – Windy Hill – Bluegrass at Joe’s Bar

These guys appear at venues like Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, Amnesia in San Francisco... 338-3417

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joes-Bar/132408613439331?ref=ts&sk=wall

February 19th - SLV Water District History - 3pm at the Senior Center in Ben Lomond Admission/Donation $5 per family - details 338-8382 - sponsored by Terry Vierra of Century 21 Showcase REALTORS.

February 25^th – Flea Market at Junction park – hosted by Boulder Creek Parks and Recreation District 338-4144

ALL MONTH:

SHOP LOCAL BC Hardware- say Hi to Doug and Ann Marie - featuring a February sale on Stanley Shop Vac ($17.95) - 338-3866

Great coffee, baked goods and bagels at Jenna Sues /Dessert First 338-7008http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenna-Sues-Cafe/110143085713000?sk=info

Winter clearance sale at Plumline Vintage – boots, sweaters and more 338-2701http://www.facebook.com/PLUMLINEVINTAGE?sk=info

BC Liquors – where the prices are good, the wine selection is awesome, and the clerks provide off beat humor 338-6448

Boulder Creek Brewery – Live Bluegrass Thursdays and Sunday nights - http://www.facebook.com/bouldercreekbrewery

Crab Feed - Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department Annual Fundraiser

March 3^rd at 6pm at the BC Firehouse on HWY 9

Hurry to make your reservation: there will only be 200 tickets sold!

$45 tickets sold only in advance – call extension 338-7222 extension 29

Call/text/e-mail me to post your upcoming events anywhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Graph is between Aug 2011 and Jan 2012
Property Class includes- 'Single Family Residential', 'Townhouse/Condo’
Area is '44 Capitola'
Results calculated from approximately 130 Listings

Capitola Real Estate Market Update - For the last 6 months, the Capitola Real Estate market held under 7 months of unsold inventory indicating a strong seller’s market. In January 2012 the inventory increased to 57 single family homes with only 2 sold units. This sky-rocketed the unsold inventory to 28.5 months from December’s 6.2 months, indicating a transition to a strong buyer’s market.

So what does months of unsold inventory mean and why is it important to follow? To understand Capitola’s unsold inventory, we take the total number of listed homes available and divide by the number of homes sold per month in the area. This is the best determinant of a real estate market’s health. A stable market maintains a 7-9 month supply of available homes. Under 7 months indicates a seller’s market while over 9 months indicates a buyer’s market.

We won’t know until next month if this is the sign of an unhealthy market or a numerical anomaly caused by the end of the calendar year. A 28.5 month’s supply of real estate inventory for Capitola could drop prices further and open up more opportunity for home buyers in Capitola, CA.

Month Months of Unsold Inventory
Aug 2011 4.5
Sep 2011 6.0
Oct 2011 4.1
Nov 2011 6.5
Dec 2011 6.2
Jan 2012 28.5