Rohnert Park, CA

Three months ago, I ruled the world. My strong buyers could pick up any Sonoma County property they wanted for good discounts off the list price. I still have great buyers, but finding a property to offer on is tough. Harder still is going up against as many as a dozen other buyers...in two days after a listing hits the market. This is going on in many places, but the ground zero for vanishing inventory and a seller's market is Rohnert Park.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't know if that applies to pictures of words. It's the best I can do to show the situation in Rohnert Park, both for REO properties and open market sales. The screen capture below is for a Hot Sheet. For my readers who aren't real estate professionals, the Hot Sheet is a snapshot designed to show what's going on right now. Most often it would be used to see all the new listings in the past day or week. In this case I stretched the Hot Sheet back a full 30 days to look at single family homes under $325,000 in Rohnert Park. I chose the price since several of my buyers want to stay under that number to keep their monthly payments comparable to renting (around $1,500 per month).

The bottom line is that of the 13 listings showing up on the Hot Sheet, ten are contingent sales and three are already gone. Taken. Absorbed. Bought. Ripped from my grasping hands. No leftovers saved for me. None of the houses listed in the last 30 days are available. However you want to put it, the sellers in this market are getting lots of offers and buyers are getting lots of grief. If this sounds like complaining, it is. But I don't really mean it.

In the real world, I loudly celebrate the return of an acutal real estate market where buyers and sellers cooperate to determine fair market values for their property. We haven't had an actual real estate market since the bubble burst and REO properties flooded onto the market in record numbers. Is this seller's market here to stay? I don't think anybody can say for certain, but along with my other posts talking about market bottoms earlier in the year, this is one more confirmation that we are moving back into familiar territory. I think everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that the worst might be over.

Rohnert Park & Cotati, Sonoma County CA April 2009 Market Snapshot

My current monthly market statistics & conditions report for the Rohnert Park & Cotati Market Area of Northern California Real Estate follows. This report includes sales stats for April 2009 as well as what is currently (as of May 24) listed in the Rohnert Park & Cotati residential real estate market. Residential meaning, Single Family Homes, Condo's as well as Farms/Ranches. This month I am changing this up a bit by dividing out the detached single family homes from the condo market.

As of Today May 24, 2009 the Rohnert Park/Cotati CA Market Area has:

191 Listings:

115 Are Single Family Home with List Price Range of $159,900 - $1,499,000

Average List Price $382,929 * Median List Price $349,900

21 are Bank Owned aka REO/Foreclosed properties & 62 are Short Sales

76 Are Condo Listings with a List Price Range of $94,500 - $334,900

Average List Price of $164,594 * Median List Price of $158,500

24 are Bank Owned aka REO/Foreclosed properties & 42 are Short Sales

110 of the Listings Are In Escrow in "Contingent" status:

66 being Single Family Homes List Price Range $199,000 - $639,950

Average List Price $329,811 * Median List Price $322,000

Of these 66, 8 are Bank Owned & are Short Sales 48

44 are Condo's with a List Price Range of $94,500 - $334,900

Average List Price of $158,173 * Median List Price of $158,500

Of these 44, 9 are Bank Owned & 32 are Short Sales

28 of the Listings In Escrow are in the "Pending" status i.e. All Contingencies have been removed

19 are Single Family Homes List Price Range $199,900 - $465,000

Average List Price $ 330,337 * Median List Price $ 309,900

Of these 19, 9 are Bank Owned & 6 are Short Sales

9 are Condo's with a List Price Range of $104,900 - $284,500

Average List Price of $163,000 * Median List Price of $149,000

Of these 9, 3 are Bank Owned & 2 are Short Sales

48 Listings Sold i.e. Closed Escrow During the month of April 2009:

31 being Single Family Homes Selling for 98.46% of List Price

List Price Range $129,900 - $599,000 * Selling Price Range $135,000 - $562,500

Average List Price $320,332 * Average Selling Price $315,401

Median List Price $320,000 * Median Selling Price $305,000

Of these 31, 15 were Bank Owned & 8 were Short Sales

17 Were Condo's That Sold for 96.02% of List Price

List Price $85,500 - $225,000 & Selling Price of $85,500 - $206,000

Average List Price $160,200 * Average Selling Price $153,831

Median List Price $160,000 * Median Selling Price $150,000

Of the 17, 8 were Bank Owned & 8 were Short Sales

For quite some time now the Rohnert Park/Cotati market has been heavily weighted with bank owned/REO's (foreclosed homes) and short sale listings. This market isfollowing suit with a majority of the rest of the county having be a larger number of short sales in escrow but the numbers generally turn around when we count the closed escrows. Since the Bank Owned inventory has been bought up and not as many coming on the market we are seeing a higher percentage of available short sale listings. We believe that the trend of a heavy short sale market will continue but that we should start to see a bit more inventory of Bank Owned listings coming on the market in the not too distant future.

What Does All This Mean?

Currently we have 191 listings, we have been consistently selling approx 48 listings a month, at this rate Rohnert Park/Cotati has about 4 months of inventory. As we break these numbers out further, we have about a 1.6 month inventory of Bank Owned homes and a 13 month inventory of Short Sales.

Upon Request I am happy to adjust these stats to a more specific neighborhood within the Rohnert Park/Cotati area or to your own criteria such as certain number of bedrooms and bath or single level to name a few.

Lynn Bowen

Domaine Real Estate

Sebastopol Ca

707-695-3814 Lynn@DomaineRE.com

www.LynnBowenRealEstate.com

Interested in what's selling in the Rohnert Park California Real Estate market and for what price? Following are the stats for the March 2009 market as well as what is currently available in the residential real estate market. Residential meaning, Single Family Homes as well as Condos & Farms/Ranches.

As of Today April 17, 2009 Rohnert Park CA currently has the following:

160 Active Listings:

List Price Range $85,500 - $589,000

Average List Price $251,203

Median List Price $231,450

Of these 160 listings, 50 are Bank Owned aka REO or Foreclosed properties & 85 are Short Sales

89 Listings In Escrow in "Contingent" status:

List Price Range $85,5000 - $550,000

Average List Price $243,066

Median List Price $229,000

Of these 89, 19 are Bank Owned & 57 are Short Sales

23 Listings In Escrow in the "Pending" status i.e. All Contingencies have been removed:

List Price Range $99,000 - $439,900

Average List Price $285,326

Median List Price $241,748

Of these 23, 15 are Bank Owned & 9 are Short Sales

35 Listings Sold i.e. Closed Escrow During the month of March 2009:

List Price Range $94,620 - $475,000 * Selling Price Range $70,000 - $450,000

Average List Price $259,223 * Average Selling Price $252,387

Median List Price $254,900 * Median Selling price $250,000

Of these 35 listings, 24 were Bank Owned & 5 were Short Sales

Rohnert Park follows suit with a good amount of the rest of Sonoma County with being heavily saturated with bank owned (foreclosed homes) and short sale listings. Often there will be a larger number of short sales that go in to escrow but in the end they do not always end up as closed sales. The bank owned/REO's are generally much more likely to end with a finalized sale. The Short Sales that do close escrow and transfer title to a new owner can take several months to do so from the date that the original offer was written.

It is not uncommon for well priced Rohnert Park listings to generate multiple offers and can end up selling for above the current list price.

What Do All The Numbers Mean?

With the currently available 160 listings and sales consistently closing approximately 40 listings a month, Rohnert Park has an Absorption Rate of 4 months of inventory which is down by 1 month since mid February. If I break these numbers out further, we have a 2 month inventory of Bank Owned homes (also down by 1 ¼ months) and a 13 1/2 month inventory of Short Sales which is dramatically up by 5 months). All in all this is showing us that the available inventory as a whole & in the Bank Owned market is decreasing but in the short sale market the inventory has grown significantly.

Have I Missed An Important Piece of Information You Were Hoping To Find?

Upon Request I am happy to further drill down these stats to more specific Rohnert Park neighborhoods or other areas of the county..

Please come back mid month May for April market stats.

Happy Trails.

Interested in what's selling in the Rohnert Park California Real Estate market and for what prices? Following are the stats for the January 2009 market as well as what is currently available in the residential real estate market. Residential meaning, Single Family Homes as well as Condos & Farms/Ranches.

As of Today February 28, 2009 Rohnert Park CA currently has the following:

169 Active Listings:

List Price Range $94,620 - $589,000

Average List Price $263,592

Median List Price $254,900

Of these 169 listings, 61 are Bank Owned aka REO or Foreclosure properties & 85 are Short Sales

79 Listings In Escrow in "Contingent" status:

List Price Range $94,620 - $550,000

Average List Price $270,893

Median List Price $259,000

Of these 79, 21 are Bank Owned & 49 are Short Sales

23 Listings In Escrow in the "Pending" status i.e. All Contingencies have been removed:

List Price Range $119,900 - $445,000

Average List Price $285,326

Median List Price $279,000

Of these 23, 21 are Bank Owned & 0 are Short Sales

32 Listings Sold i.e. Closed Escrow During the month of January 2009:

List Price Range $125,000 - $475,000 * Selling Price Range $115,000 - $426,000

Average List Price $256,362 * Average Selling Price $252,044

Median List Price $247,400 * Median Selling price $249,950

Of these 32 listings, 23 were Bank Owned & 6 were Short Sales

Rohnert Park follows suit with a good amount of the rest of Sonoma County by being heavily loaded with bank owned (foreclosed homes) and short sale listings. Often there will be a larger number of short sales that go in to escrow but in the end they do not always end up as closed sales. The bank owned/REO's are generally much more likely to end with a finalized sale.

It is not uncommon for well priced Rohnert Park listings to generate multiple offers and can end up selling for above the current list price.

What Do All The Numbers Mean?

With the currently available 169 active listings and sales consistently closing approximately 34 listings a month, Rohnert Park has an Absorption Rate of just under 5 months of inventory. If I break these numbers out further, we have a 3 ¼ month inventory of Bank Owned homes and a 5 1/2 month inventory of Short Sales.

Have I Missed An Important Piece of Information You Were Hoping To Find?

Upon Request I am happy to further drill down these stats to more specific Rohnert Park neighborhoods or other areas of the county..

Please come back mid month March for the February stats.