Kevin McGinnis- Marin County Real Estate CA Realtor

Multiple offers. Overbids. Properties being snapped up the same day they are listed for sale. Remember those days in Marin County real estate? They're baaaaack!

As of this writing, 47% of all homes (single-family residences and condominiums) on the market in Novato are in escrow. If you break that down even further, out of all 100 condominiums currently listed for sale in Novato, 56 of them (56%) are in escrow.

If you look at single-family homes in Novato priced less than $500,000, 68% on the market have an accepted offer to purchase and are in escrow.

This is astonishing because this time last year, just 26% of all homes and condos in Novato were in escrow. As a result of this robust market, we have just 355 homes and condos available here, compared with 457 a year ago.

What's causing this turn in the market? Prices of course! In May, 2008, the average price for a single-family home sold in Novato was $814,762. Fast forward to May, 2009 and that average has fallen to $564,770. That translates to a 30% drop in average prices year-over-year!

That sharp drop in prices has pitted first-time home buyers against investors stepping back into the market and is resulting in most homes in this price range selling with multiple offers.

Even homes in the pricier end of the market are moving. A bank-owned home in the Pointe Marin area of Novato, for example, priced at $1,125,000 sold recently with 7 offers.

Please contact Kevin McGinnis directly for more information. (415) 725-1911 or kmcginnis@fhallen.com

Visit www.BestHomesMarin.com for Marin Real Estate home searches and information. Visit www.BestHomesNovato.com for a comprehensive Novato neighborhood breakdown with maps, home listings and more.

(All information and statistics in this release are from Bay Area Real Estate Information Services, Inc. and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed.)

Marin County Foreclosures List - Condos and Single Family Homes For Sale

"Your complete source for Marin foreclosure listings."

JUNE 18, 2009

Please click this link to view ALL bank-owned (REO) properties currently on the MLS. These are "active" status and listed as available for purchase. This includes everything available, from condos to single family homes to luxury properties.

MARIN COUNTY FORECLOSURES: SINGLE FAMILY HOMES (16 total)

What's new today:

• 2 new listings (111 Montezuma Ave in Forest Knolls $449,900; 1404 Elm Ct in Novato $249,000)
• 1 price reduction (131 Jamaica St. in Tiburon $1,275,000)
• 1 into escrow (500 Adrian Way in San Rafael $354,900)

MARIN COUNTY FORECLOSURES: CONDOS AND TOWNHOMES (20 total)

What's new today:

• 2 new listings (50 Sonoma St #17 in San Rafael $154,900; 16 Oliva Dr. C in Novato $182,300)
• 1 price reduction (1558 Center Rd. #10 in Novato $138,000)
• 1 into escrow (110 Oliva Ct E in Novato $205,000)

TO SEE any of these properties, or for more information, please contact Kevin by phone or email:

kmcginnis@fhallen.com or (415) 725-1911

Also.. to search ALL HOMES for free... go to BestHomesMarin.com

The developers who are redesigning Northgate Mall in San Rafael revealed today four more restaurants that will serve up food in the near future: Tomatina, BJ's Brewhouse, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread.

All four restaurants have signed leases to open at the new Northgate as part of the center's dramatic redesign.

Tomatina, which serves homemade pizza, pasta and salads, is a local Bay Area favorite and Northgate will be its 6th location. It will be the only Marin County location to date.

"Northgate shoppers have asked for great dining options, and that's what we're delivering." said Kim Choukalas, vice president, leasing, for Macerich, the owner and developer of Northgate. "BJ's Brewhouse and Tomatina both will be premier gathering spots for groups of friends and families alike, while Chipotle and Panera Bread will offer healthy fast-casual dining for those on the go."

New restaurants at the redeveloped Northgate, including BJ's Brewhouse, plan to open with the new center beginning in fall 2009; additional restaurants and retailers will open at the property throughout 2010.

Before today, officials at Northgate have announced six restaurants coming or returning to the new Northgate: Roadside BBQ, See's Candies, Sbarro, Subway, Combo King and Wetzel's Pretzels. Applebee's has remained open during the mall renovation.

Here's a brief description of the newly announced restaurants:

Tomatina serves up fresh homemade pizza, pasta and salads in a family atmosphere. All doughs, dressings and sauces are made from scratch. Tomatina has been part of the Bay Area community since being developed by Chef Michael Chiarello in 1998. Chiarello has since moved on to become a Food Network and Fine Living Chef, has written numerous cookbooks and filmed several cooking series concentrating on entertaining.

BJ's Brewhouse serves quality food and fresh, handcrafted beers in a casual, high energy atmosphere. BJ's restaurants offer an innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrees and desserts. Quality, flavor, value, moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the BJ's experience. The company operates several microbreweries which produce and distribute BJ's critically acclaimed handcrafted beers throughout the chain

Chipotle Mexican Grill, one of the first "fast casual" restaurant concepts, offers gourmet burritos and other delicious Mexican meals and is known for its chunky guacamole, large burritos, and assembly line production. Chipotle operates more than 830 restaurants around the country, and was the first national restaurant company to serve exclusively naturally raised chicken.

Panera Bread bakery-cafes, another fast casual concept, bring the tradition of freshly baked artisan bread to neighborhoods, selling breads, sandwiches, soups, salads, bakery items, and organic foods. Operating 1,264 company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafes in 40 states and in Canada, Panera Bread was named number one in several categories of Zagat's 2007 fast-food chains survey.

For more Marin County resources and information, please visit www.BestHomesMarin.com

((SCROLL DOWN for *all* bank-owned/foreclosure listings by area))

**Marin County HOTSHEET: Novato and San Rafael Homes $499,000-$700,000**

The $500,000-$700,000 is hot right now in Marin County, especially in Novato and San Rafael. Buyers are finally coming out to pick up some great values. We're providing the only up-to-date listings for homes in this price range in Novato and San Rafael.

These are all AVAILABLE homes. We've weeded out the ones in escrow. These include "regular" sales as well as foreclosure and short sales.

JUNE 9, 2009

Check out our new All-Novato website with the most complete Novato neighborhood information: www.BestHomesNovato.com

ALL NOVATO SINGLE FAMILY HOMES, $500,000-$700,000 (Total: 27)

What's new today:

• 1 new listing (45 Raposa Vista $590,000)
• 1 back on market (5 Almond Ct. $550,000)

---------------Search ALL homes and FORECLOSURES at www.besthomesmarin.com-------------------

ALL SAN RAFAEL SINGLE FAMILY HOMES, $500,000-$700,000 (Total: 31)

What's new today:

• 4 price reductions (2150 Elderberry Ln. $675,000; 1 Jones Pl. $599,000; 15 Dellwood Ct. $646,900; 142 Villa Ave. $624,999)
• 6 into escrow (134 Golden Hinde Bl. $599,000; 2425 5th Ave. $519,000; 24 Baypoint Dr. $624,000; 122 Du Bois St. $629,000; 105 Boxwood Dr. $699,000; 39 Mt. Tallac Ct. $599,900)

TO SEE any of these properties, or for more information, please contact Kevin McGinnis at kmcginnis@fhallen.com or at (415) 725-1911. Search ALL homes at www.besthomesmarin.com

Home buyers are snapping up an increasing number of Novato properties. In fact, almost half of all homes for sale are now in escrow.* What's more? In the hottest segment of all (single family homes under $500,000), 73% of homes are now in escrow. That's a 27% jump from just last month, and no segment has reached this level since October 2006.

It's interesting to see the shift that has taken place over the past two or three years. Let's look at the week of October 11, 2006. At that time, there were only three homes for sale below $500,000. Today, there are 60. We haven't seen that amount of (so-called) 'affordable' inventory in Novato since late 2001.

Buyers are realizing this. The lower end of the market is attracting many investors as well as first-time buyers who are taking advantage of historically low interest rates, relatively low prices and government incentives. But it's not just the $500,000 and below segment that is thriving. Homes priced between $500,000 and $700,000 are cooking too. As you can see in the chart, the number of pending home sales between $600,000-$700,000 jumped 52% since last month. Even the long-struggling $800,000-$999,999 segment saw a sharp increase in buyer activity.

For all the buyer activity, though, price - and not emotion - is still king. In general, today's buyers are absolutely unwilling to pay what they perceive is too much for a property, even when competing with multiple offers. Here is some evidence: In the last 30 days (in the $0-$500,000 segment), homes that were priced well when they came on the market, and subsequently sold within 60 days, sold for 100.32% of their asking price. Gone are the emotion-driven overbids of 2003-2006/7.

Inventory has really dipped in Novato. In late April, there were a total of 336 units (single family and condos) on the market. Now, there are 248. However, the next wave of foreclosures is expected to start hitting the market in about 2 weeks and should continue through the rest of the year (the moratorium some banks had on foreclosures ended May 1st and the first homes are working their way through the system.)

So, while I don't expect prices to dip in the segments where we've been seeing the most buyer activity, there should be more homes from which to choose.

For more information or to see any Marin County homes, contact me at kmcginnis@fhallen.com or (415) 725-1911. Search all homes at www.BestHomesMarin.com or www.BestHomesNovato.com

*stats are from the week of June 3, 2009. Source is BAREIS. Information has not been verified.