Peter Nielsen

I'm passing this opportunity past my network before putting it on the MLS. It's a 1BR/1BA condo in Benicia that the owner bought in 2006 for $315,000. She is willing to sell it to an investor for $99,000 (pending approval from her lender, which I previously had at $115,000 earlier this year). She will then rent it back for $1100/mo, signing a 1-year or multi-year lease, with the option to buy it back at the (presumed) appreciated market price at some point in the future. So, it's a small income property investment with a built in tenant that will care for it as if it were her own, and probably buy it back when you're ready to move up to something larger.

Peter Nielsen 415-472-6243 Peter@MarinRealtyExperts.com for details.

If you had been following my blog posts earlier this year, you may have read my 15-part series as I documented the exceedingly frusrating process of doing a short sale for a client who was "under water" on a condo in Benicia, CA that she had purchased for $313,000 with zero down payment in 2006. After finding a buyer and months of negotiations with her lenders, she was offered a loan modification by her first mortgage lender, accepted it, and cancelled the sale. The lender offered payments, promising that if she made the payments for 3 months they would then offer her a permanent modification that she could afford. That, I though was the end of this saga.

The other day, though, I receieved a call from her, telling me that her second lender, who had also offered her a loan modification, was simply adding unpaid amounts to her balance, so she was getting further into debt with them, and today, she said that the first lender reneged on their promise and now are no longer willing to offer her a modification after all! Meanwhile, the value of the condo has dropped further -- from $115,000 to $100,000.

So, now she's back where she started in January and wants once again to do a short sale (and rent back from the buyer). I've sent her a new Listing Agreement and so the saga continues. Check back to see how the story unfolds...

Peter Nielsen, www.MarinRealtyExperts.com, 415-472-6243.

The Marin Independent Journal reported on Friday that MDA DataQuick numbers for August sales in Marin County showed a drop in the number of homes sold, but an increase in price from July. In August, there were 50 condo sales, with median price of $355,000 compared with 51 sales in July with a median price of $340,000. The $355,000 median price is up 4.4% for the month, but down 14.5% from a median of $415,000 in August of 2008.

There were 184 single family homes sold in August with a median price of $822,500, compared with 211 sales in July with a median price of $725,500. The $822,500 median price is up 13.4% from July and up 1.5% from the median of $810,000 reported in August of 2008.

It was also reported that distressed properties (short sales, pending foreclosures and bank sales) were 14% of all sales in the county, down from 16% in July and down from a peak of 26% in January of this year.

Peter Nielsen 415-472-6243. Peter@MarinRealtyExperts.com

I've been working with 2 first-time homebuyers and we keep running into multiple buyers that are bidding up prices well beyond the list price. Last week we offered $410,000 on a home in Petaluma (Sonoma County) that was listed for $389,000 and didn't get it. There were 14 offers.

Today, I learned that another client of mine didn't get a home in American Canyon (Napa county) for which we offered nearly 6% above the asking price, and there were 20 offers!

Maybe it is the fact that the $8000 federal tax credit will expire at the end of November, or maybe it's just that buyers are sensing that prices may have hit bottom, but for whatever reason, it seems, at least for some segments of the market, that the days of multiple offers and overbids are back!

This is the headline from a report published by Credit Suisse which surveys real estate agents across the country each month. As a contributor, I receive a copy of this 59 page report. Across the country, buyers are moving forward to take advantage of the first-time buyer tax credit. And in foreclosure-heavy markets, there continue to be multiple offers on foreclosure sales from investors.

For the San Franciso market, the August survey conclusions are 1) Traffic remains above agents' expectations 2) Prices are flat and incentives are higher and 3) there is less time needed to sell a home. There is a quote from one agent that says "There is a sense of buyer urgency due to the low inventory, rising interest rates, and people sensing the bottom of the market."

The tax credit of 10% of the purchase price of a home, up to $8,000 is scheduled to expire on November 30.

For more information, contact me, Peter Nielsen: Peter@MarinRealtyExperts.com.