Today was the first of two days that 400 people are spending at Canada College in Redwood City talking about housing choices in San Mateo County. These people were randomly chosen to participate in a dialogue about affordable housing, who it's for and what it means. The idea for this, Threshold2008, is to empower citizens in the serious decision processes our local governments are going to go through this year and open the dialogue on housing.
The participants are divided into 26 groups each
Easter is just around the corner and with that comes Easter Egg Hunts! The first San Mateo County easter egg hunt takes place this coming weekend on Saturday, March 15th. Head over to Orange memorial Park's Picnic Shelter on Orange Avenue in South San Francisco to take part. It's the 61st Annual Easter Egg Hunt and children from pre-school to 3rd grade (8 years old) can take part. It will take place rain or shine. If your child is under 3, the Easter Bunny will hand out treats and easter eggs to them. There will be
It's been a while since I posted any information about the Burlingame real estate market. Altos Research sends me reports weekly on all of the seven sister cities we cover but frankly the market has been so slow it hasn't been worthwhile posting these until now. Spring has sprung. We are beginning to see listings come onto the market, and lots and lots of people are out looking at homes. Hopefully, to buy them. Burlingame only had 38 homes for sale last week. It's gotten better this week - a whopping 41! Shoot off the rockets, we're off to a good start! Seriously folks, that's not a lot of houses for sale, is it?
Let's look at what Altos told me on Monday. The median price for all houses listed in the city of Burlingame, was $1,360,500. Prices have held over the past weeks. The average price was only a little above the median - it was $1,363,509. We even have one house for sale at $735,000 which is something we have not seen for a long, long time. Like most places in San Mateo County, the average days on the market has jumped considerably, to 92. We shouldn't complain about that since that's pretty normal for real estate sales in previous years and is downright short for some areas in the country.
Houses aren't really big here, not too many Mega Mansions, so average square footage is a reasonable 1900, or so, and that's with a 3 bedroom 2 bath home around 68 years old. Likely it's been redone recently, with new kitchen and bathrooms. Garages are usually only 1 car. These are old homes, remember?
What we are seeing is the higher priced homes sell faster. There's less pressure on the buyer at higher priced levels for loan qualifications.
The price per square foot on a house in Burlingame has plateaued and remained pretty much steady since September. Sure there were peaks and valleys but not the way it once was. That's good for buyers but we are still talking about $700 per square foot!
Burlingame house prices have dropped dramatically in the past two years, as this chart shows so well. Prices dipped a bit last week but not enough to make it an indicator of things to come.
Since we have some new listings this week, and prices are higher with them, next week's data will show this.
What does it mean to you, as a buyer or home owner in Burlingame? Does it say that we, the Realtors in the community, can't price a home property and now they're staying on the market longer? No, of course not. The market has changed and people are taking their time. There is money to lend but you had better be able to qualify and substantiate your qualifications. Nothing new here -- it's just like the old days when you had to do that.
In my mind, when a house costs as much as it does around here, the buyer needs to take their time and research the neighborhood. The pressure is just not as great as it was to write that offer immediately. As I have written before, we are still seeing some multiple offers but not many, and the house must be unusual to garner them.
Burlingame is still one of the prettiest cities on the Peninsula. It has great schools, a wonderful community, good shopping, and an easy commute north to the City or south to the Valley. What more could you want? Many people compare Burlingame to Palo Alto in feel. It's sure a better value than Palo Alto.
If you'd like to see this report in full contact me and I'll be happy to send it to you. We have these for Millbrae, Hillsborough, San Mateo, Foster City, Belmont and San Carlos.
I truly never thought I'd ever see the day ever again. FHA loans available for purchasing a property in San Mateo County. Fantasy Island has finally met the rest of the country and buyers can apply for a conforming loan. But, only through the end of 2008, so if you are really thinking about buying a house in our County, now is the time to strike!
FHA loans are normal almost everywhere else in the country. But of course, what we sell for $900,000 here you'd spend $250,000 almost any where else. Now you can get a conforming loan for $729,750. If you have some money to put down, like the $180,000 you should have to have 20% skin in the game, you'll qualify! Whoo Hoo! Who would have ever thought? Certainly not me.
Real Estate was the engine driving the economy, and real estate in Burlingame was no exception to this. We can't go a single day without some one telling us that this is the worst real estate market ever. Is it, really? Yes, of course it is in many places in the country. The Detroit area is in a depression. Stockton and SanBernardino are sure close. San Mateo County is nothing like that. We still have
What is it that is holding you back from listing your house and moving up to that new one you've been dreaming about? There's money to lend at low interest rates. There are people out there ready to buy, and Burlingame is a happening place with great schools, a vibrant downtown, and an easy commute to the City or Valley. So, please tell me, why won't you list your house? What are you afraid of?
Right now there are only 39 houses for sale in all of Burlingame. Prices range from a top of $2.895 Million for a 5500 square foot house down to $735,000 for a small cottage. We do have an increase in the number of houses for sale from last month's 28. So I do have hope that we might begin to see more homes come on to the market. If you want to move to Burlingame it's a great time to do it. We haven't seen a house priced in the $700,000's for several years!
The house receiving multiple offers last week wasn't in Burlingame, it was in San Carlos and it saw 13 offers. This is just like what went on several years ago and will likely reoccur in Burlngame, too, unless we see more houses come on the market. There are a lot of people out therecoveting our community. Let's help them settle here! Okay?
This CA native likes nothing better than to assist people in buying and selling their property. The San Francisco Peninsula is one of the nicest places on this earth to live and share. DRE#01343201
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2009 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
