Val Vandervort

Hello my name is Val Vandervort, a San Carlos listing agent, who focuses on making sure her clients don’t give away any of their money and negotiates on her clients’ behalf to get them the highest possible price. Is there anything more important than the highest possible price when it comes to selling what is probably your biggest asset?

My focus as an agent has always been on consumer education because unfortunately, I’m amazed quiet often by the lack of attention on the marketing of properties by other San Carlos listing agents. By not doing some of the things that I do when I list a San Carlos property, these other agents are missing the opportunity for their listing to present itself at its best and possibly miss out on the opportunity to be shown to a potential buyer. And recently, I have really been noticing that some agents are giving away their clients money without even thinking about it. I’ve walked into properties and had agents tell me they think the list price is too high, giving me the opportunity to bring in a low offer from my buyer and have confidence that the listing agent will work on the seller to accept my offer.

As a San Carlos listing agent, I am very deliberate in everything I say to other agents and to buyers so that I do NOT give away any of my clients’ money. Isn’t this just what an agent is to do when they get hired to represent a seller?

In addition to negotiating the highest possible price as a San Carlos listing agent, my other top priority is to market the heck out of your property. Forty-percent of buyers find their home through their agent, so marketing to agents is of upmost importance. Another 35% of buyers find their home on the internet, so providing maximum exposure for my sellers’ properties on the internet is something I focus on and work on improving all of the time.

If you are thinking about selling your San Carlos home, I encourage you to reach out to me to discuss how I get my sellers the highest possible price and how I market properties. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by getting some additional insight and consumer education about what goes into selling a home in San Carlos.

I can be reached at 650-740-6025.

Take good care,

Val Vandervort

It was a typical week in the Springtime San Carlos real estate market with good activity in new homes coming on the market - 10 of them - and a good amount of sales - 8 of those. There are currently 63 single family homes on the market in San Carlos.

The 10 homes that got listed in San Carlos this week were:
973 Cherry St - $539,900 - 2/1 - 980 sq ft
2647 San Carlos Ave - $793,000 - 4/4 - 2,500 sq ft
163 Ruby Ave - $799,000 - 3/1.5 - 1,250 sq ft
260 Beverly Dr - $799,950 - 2/2 - 1,416 sq ft
45 Shelford Av - $839,000 - 3/2.5 - 1,440 sq ft
132 Garnet Av - $1,110.000 - 4/3 - 2,268 sq ft
3211 Melendy Dr - $1,149,000 - 3/2.5 - 2,830 sq ft
19 Anchor Ln - $1,299,000 - 6!!!/4 - 3,650 sq ft - not often that you see a 6 bedroom house come up in San Carlos
204 Exeter Av - $1,349,000 - 4/3.5 - 3,450 sq ft
169 Glasgow Ln - $1,388,000 - 4/3 - 2,510 sq ft

There were 8 homes that sold (got into contract) this week in San Carlos. They had an average days on market (DOM) of 53 days. However, if you take 104 Winding Way, which had been on the market for 332 days out of the average, then the average DOM becomes 14! That is a rocking and rolling real estate market! The homes that sold were:
104 Winding Way - $749,000 - 3/2 - 1,320 sq ft - 332 DOM
731 Cordilleras Av - $849,000 - 3/2 - 1,540 sq ft - 13 DOM
1392 Oakhurst Av - $849,950 - 3/1.5 - 1,420 sq ft - 41 DOM
1617 Belmont Av - $869,000 - 3/2 - 1,350 sq ft - 8 DOM
15 Madera Av - $890,000 - 4/3.5 - 2,790 sq ft - 6 DOM
416 Pearl Av - $898,000 - 3/2 - 1,703 sq ft - 12 DOM
760 Knoll Dr - $1,050,000 - 3/1.5 - 1,820 sq ft - 12 DOM
1817 Greenwood Av - $1,160,000 - 4/3 - 2,400 sq ft - 8 DOM

There were 4 homes that closed escrow in the last week in San Carlos. They are:
31 Molton Av - LP $765,000 - SP $770,000 - 3/2 - 1,290 sq ft
790 Buckland Av - LP $1,099,000 - SP $1,012,500 - 4/3 - 1,965 sq ft
202 Timothy Dr - LP $1,149,000 - SP $1,149,000 - 4/2.5 - 2,350 sq ft
2433 Melendy Dr - $1,288,000 - SP $1,270,000 - 4/3.5 - 2,520 sq ft

That's it for now from Val Vandervort the San Carlos real estate data gal!

A fitting image for the first week in December and because there was just one house that got listed in San Carlos last week. It is that time of year, when there is so very little that comes up on the market. Thankfully, there is some accumulated inventory for our December buyers in San Carlos to choose from. For those of you out buying, we currently have 55 single family homes on the market in San Carlos. A year ago, we were at 66. Quite a bit of a difference.

The one house that listed last week in San Carlos was:
21 Coleman Ct - $1,299,000 - 5/3 - 2,200 sq ft - This is a really great house: cul-de-sac, fairly open floor plan, views AND usable yard, and cool wine room.

There were 4 homes that sold last week in San Carlos. They had an average of 36 days on the market (DOM). The lucky San Carlos sellers were:
2232 Howard Av - $1,388,000 - 4/3 - 2,380 sq ft - 52 DOM
34 Hilltop Dr - $839,950 - 3/2 - 1,880 sq ft - 52 DOM (yep, same as the one above)
1621 Cordilleras Av - $825,000 - 3/2 - 1,580 sq ft - 13 DOM
770 Neal Av - $499,000 - 2/1 - 630 sq ft - 26 DOM

There were 3 homes that closed escrow last week in San Carlos:
576 Dartmouth Av - LP $749,950 - SP $710,000 - 3/2 - 1,330 sq ft
1190 Alameda de las Pulgas - LP $749,000 - SP $650,000 - 2/1 - 1,010 sq ft
1619 Gover Ln- LP $1,049,000 - SP $1,005,000 - 3/2 - 1,640 sq ft

Just a side note about the market: multiple offers are still out there for homes that are priced well and are a good product.

That's it for now from Val, the San Carlos Real Estate Data Gal!

It is interesting because it is feeling as though we are experiencing a slowing in the San Carlos real estate market, but the absorption rate numbers for the month of October in San Carlos were good. However, inventory is relatively high at 68 single family homes on the market in San Carlos. A year ago we had about 10 fewer homes on the market in San Carlos. My impression is that buyers are sitting on the sidelines right now and that there are going to be many that activate in the beginning of 2011, making for an active market in the early part of the year that will continue on through the typical busy Spring market. Buyers who buy between now and the end of the year are going to score deals that those who delay until the new year are not going to get. That's my prediction.

You say "stop predicting Val and give me the numbers"? Here they are..
28 single family homes listed in San Carlos in October
23 single family homes sold in San Carlos in October

That's it for now from Val, the San Carlos real estate data gal!

Although the market is feeling soft, the San Carlos real estate absorption rate for September 2010 was pretty good. For single family homes in San Carlos, there were 39 that listed during the month of September 2010. During that same period, there were 26 homes that went pending in San Carlos. So that is an absorption rate of 66.7%. For the month of August, the absorption rate for San Carlos was considerably higher at 88.9%. But still that 66.7% is not bad.

If you are thinking of buying, oh my, is it a good time. There is a lot of competition in the market and buyers are not pulling the trigger. It can't be interest rates that are keeping them on the sidelines because they are killer. And the stock market is cooking right now! All of the buyers I'm working with and talking to are not expressing concern about their jobs. I'm thinking that the feeling is that the real estate market may worsen, so no need to do anything now because it might get even better for buyers.

This is an interesting tidbit that came in yesterday from Rick Turley, the president for Coldwell Banker for the San Francisco Bay Area...
"In Woodside, the local market is alive and has had a clear renaissance. Four homes have sold in Woodside in the last 10 days all over $6 million – and three of them had multiple offers. This is a stunning development since we have had just four sales over $6 mil in the last 12 months. Big money is getting confident, our local manager says."

So if big money is getting confident, what is happening to just normal money? Will it become more confident too? I remember saying in the Spring of 2009 that if I didn't already own a house in San Carlos, I would buy one and that ended up being the time when our market bottomed out. I again, have that feeling. I keep hearing buy, buy, buy in the back of my mind. This time period may also develop into being a bottom and those who ended up pulling the trigger will look back and smile with pride that they took the brave leap when no one else was doing it!

That's it for now from Val, the San Carlos real estate data gal!