Fran Gatti - Realtor®, RDCPro®, Crescent City CA Real Estate

The current state of the real estate market in Crescent City, CA.

I had an email today from a client who has her home listed with me asking about the current state of the real estate market in Crescent City. My client's home is priced in the high $200,000's, a price range that isn't hopping right now in the Crescent City real estate market, but she is reading about the increase in sales throughout the state and U.S. and asked the following:

Thanks Fran, hope you have a speedy recovery. I know in the outside world things are moving along nicely. What do you think the future holds for the Crescent City real estate market?

Here is my answer to that question and what I think we can expect for the near future.

• 30 homes have sold since 8/1/09 in the Crescent City/Del Norte County real estate market and only 5 of those have been over $250,000 (about 17%).
  
  
• The lower price range is moving because there is still 100% financing available in that segment of the Crescent City real estate market (USDA GRH program) and purchasers who have been priced out of the market until now are jumping in. I think that segment will continue to move as long as this financing remains available.
  
  
• The brisk real estate sales we are seeing elsewhere throughout the state of California are bolstered by investors with cash (we are seeing that in Crescent City too; I've written 3 cash offers in the last few weeks), who are peeved at 1% return on their investment with their banks. However, the investor's are looking for a positive cash flow and are purchasing "deals," mostly under $250,000, but some are purchasing 2^nd homes with a view of the ocean or river (homes priced above $500,000).
  
  
• Your home is a step-up home for most buyers, which means they have to sell their home to purchase one that's a step-up from what they currently own. There is not much financing for these types of purchases right now. This, along with consumers being scared to step-up to a higher house payment, state employees (our largest employer in Crescent City/Del Norte County real estate market) afraid they may have wages cut further or lose their job all together, makes it really tough for your price range.

Your home is competing with brand new construction in the Harbor View and Redwood West subdivisions. Both are lovely subdivisions with brand new homes priced below $300,000. In order to obtain an offer in this market in that price range, there has to be a lot of showings, and in order to have a lot of showings, homes have to be very competitively priced.

I hope this helps,

Fran

The median price for homes sold in the Crescent City real estate market since August 1, 2009 is $193,000. Lower priced homes are receiving multiple offers and selling quickly, but homes over $250,000 need to be very competitively priced to sell in a timely manner.

With high inventory in this price range and stiff competition for a smaller segment of buyers, proper pricing is more important than ever.

I expect this to continue until the state of California gives their employees a feeling of stability by giving back the 15% pay cut and until banks resume loaning money again. 99% of the loans for real estate sold in the Crescent City real estate market since 8/1/09 was USDA Guaranteed Rural Housing or FHA.

Please call me if you are looking for a local lender who is well versed in both these programs and who gives prompt and courteous service. Finding a reputable lender and a good loan program that will comfortably fit your situation is the first step in finding a home.

Thank you for stopping by.

Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home located in Crescent City, CA at 962 Third Street is a wonderful place to find a unique gift or that special something for your home.

Owned and operated by Sheri Johnston, Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home is the place to go for kitchen, bath and garden items that you will not find elsewhere.

I am a proponent of purchasing locally to support my community. I frequently purchase closing gifts for my clients at Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home, but I purchase items for my home as well.

Sheri sells a ceramic bowl set that comes with a large size pasta bowl and four smaller bowls all with bright colors that go with just about any decor. The set of 5 bowls is less than $50 but looks like it cost quite a bit more. It is one of my favorite closing gifts because the bowls are so bright and cheery and everyone loves them.

Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home also has a large selection of unique glass in a variety of sizes: goblets, wine glasses, Margarita glasses and more. This glassware comes in many colors that are sure to match your color scheme.

Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home has a nice selection of candles, soaps, lotions, and diffuzers for the home and bath as well as selected accent furniture pieces that would complement any room.

Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home sells locally made items. I purchased my favorite pair of earrings at Sheri's store that were made by a local artist.

Sheri is more than happy to order you something if she runs out (like my bowls) and she will call you when your items come in. Sheri is also great at helping her customers pick that perfect gift for a specific occasion. She gift wraps your items (free of charge) and has a lovely selection of custom made cards for all occasions.

Located in the heart of Crescent City's downtown area next to Tomasini's Enoteca Restaurant, Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home is what a local business should be, exclusive items, quality workmanship at a reasonable price, locally made jewelry and more, and great customer service with a smile.

Crescent City has a bustling, thriving downtown area that has many stores that feature locally made items and unique, one-of-a-kind items; every Wednesday is the downtown Farmer's Market from 3:00 to 5:00.

Come check out Johnston's Gift-Garden-Home and tell Sheri Fran sent you!

Crescent City/Del Norte County Market Report for August 2009 - Sales are down from July, but still looking good.

Active listings are up to 278 and 19 residential listings sold in August, giving us an *absorption rate of approximately 15 months, which is not bad when you consider we have had months in the last 12 month period with an absorption rate of over 3 years!

The federal tax incentive, low prices and REO's are spurring on first time home buyers and investors with cash for the summer's end flurry of buying our market is currently experiencing. As every year, now is our busy time and closings in October will probably be very good, but don't expect that to last. November closings will no doubt drop off as they historically do every year. Who wants to move during Thanksgiving or Christmas? That's right, no one does.

Here is the market at a glance:

As you can see, the under $200,000 price range is still going crazy with investors and first time home buyers jumping in taking advantage of low prices, good interest rates (several of my clients locked with 5.5% in August), the $8000 tax credit that expires on December 1st (escrow has to close by that date to get the credit) and anxious sellers who are more negotiable than ever with the slow season looming in the not-to-distant future.

I would like to blow my offices horn for a moment and show you the sales per agent ratio for the leading offices in Del Norte County for August 2009:

1. RE/MAX Coastal Redwoods - 1.6 sales per agent (5 agents)
2. Bayside Realty - .9 sales per agent (8 agents)
3. North Woods Realty - .8 sales per agent (8 agents)
4. Century 21 - .7 sales per agent (7 agents)
5. Investment Realty - .6 sales per agent (5 agents)
6. Ming Tree - .4 sales per agent (12 agents)

RE/MAX Coastal Redwoods didn't just have one good month. Here are 2009 totals so far:

1. Bayside - 7.13 sales per agent for 2009
2. RE/MAX Coastal Redwoods - 5.8 sales per agent for 2009
3. Century 21- 4 .29 sales per agent for 2009
4. Ming Tree - 4.16 sales per agent for 2009
5. Investment Realty - 3.8 sale per agent
6. North Woods Realty - 3.5 sales per agent for 2009

RE/MAX Coastal Redwoods has only been in existence for approximately 3 years, so why are we doing so much business in comparison to offices that are well-established and have been around for 20+ years? We work hard for you! We want you to be happy and we want you to refer us to your friends and family; our excellent customer service shows in our stats.

Out of the 9 listings that have sold in 2009 with a sales price over $400,000, 6 of those 9 listings have been RE/MAX Coastal Redwoods listings and 4 of those have been mine. I am a full time agent who works 5 days a week (usually more) to find you the perfect home or find your home the perfect buyer. Why would you go anywhere else for your real estate needs?

* Absorption rate is the rate is would take to sell all current listings at the current rate of sales, in this case 278 active listings at the rate of 19 listings sold each month.

Low Appraisals are killing escrows - I had my second escrow in one week bite the dust because of a low appraisal.

In one instance, I was not surprised with the low appraised value and prepared my buyer for the prospect. In the other instance, I was TOTALLY SHOCKED. It came in WAY under what seemed reasonable. I follow our market closely, watch our stats, keep abreast of sales, and work diligently at making sure we will get appraised value when I price a listing, but sometimes you can do everything right and it still isn't enough (as in this case).

Times are tough in the real estate industry and getting the purchase price and appraised value to match up can be a challenge in this current market.

If you are selling your home and you haven't talked to your agent or reviewed your list price in a few months, now may be a good time to do so. Prices have fallen, even in the last few months and if your home can't get past the appraisal, you're wasting precious time.

If you are an agent, better price it right or you will have a mess on your hands, however, even if you price it right, tell your buyers and sellers that the escrow is still a huge river to cross. In both my canceled escrows, to their credit, both agents did all they could (and so did I) to save the deal, but sometimes there are obstacles that can't be overcome.

Let's hope that the pendulum swings back from the ultra conservative appraisal land we have gone to and that we reach a middle ground that sells homes and doesn't put banks in jeopardy.

If you have any questions about buying or selling real estate in Del Norte County, give me a call. I will give you an honest answer and base what I have to say on sound market research of all pertinent data.

I am here to assist you with all your Crescent City and Del Norte County real estate needs. Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment.

Interactive Map of U.S. Foreclosure Rates by County -

Here is a very cool map that shows foreclosure actions by county in comparison to the number of properties in a county.

There are two other maps as well. One that shows Unemployment Rates and another that shows Median household Income.

I would like to thank my Facebook pal, Karen Corchoran of RE/MAX for finding this map on the NPR website.

It's hard to see how anyone can paint an optimistic picture of our economy with foreclosure rates increasing every month, but some economists are doing just that.

I keep an updated list of Del Norte County foreclosures that are listed on our MLS and also have a Foreclosure Alert Servicewhere you can receive new foreclosure listings and price reductions in your email inbox the second they come on the MLS. Click here to sign up for this free service.

NEW LISTING TODAY: Walk to ocean/beach, 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom home for $95,900. Call me today for more information.

If you have any questions about buying or selling real estate in Del Norte County, give me a call. I will give you an honest answer and base what I have to say on sound market research of all pertinent data.

I am here to assist you with all your Crescent City and Del Norte County real estate needs. Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment.