Broker Blog

Instructions for life: A month or so ago, I came across a twenty point list in my “Quotations” file that I think is pretty good. I don’t know where I got it, but I’d like to share five points in each of my next four blog updates.

I N S T R U C T I O N S F O R L I F E (3rd bunch)

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. Do all you can to create a tranquil, harmonious home.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

Wine Country Group Update for July, 2008: For July, 2008, The Wine Country Group’s closings were behind the rate of 2007, but ahead of the rate of 2006. The month was buoyed by 26 closings in our Sonoma Valley offices and 19 in our Napa office. New sales for the month were 37% ahead of July, 2007, and new listings were 50% ahead of July, ’07, so we should have strong months ahead.

We remain number one in market share in our Sonoma, Healdsburg and Cloverdale markets and we have now tripled our market share in the Napa Valley on a year over year basis. We have been extremely active in the REO (bank owned properties) market out of our Napa office. On a year to date basis, our closing are up nearly 5 times (nearly 500%) while our competitors based in Napa have seen their year to date year over year business fall an average of 25%. With the organizational and sales skills that we are building in this market, we look to hold onto our gains as the market transitions to a more traditional one over the next few years. In the meantime, we know that there are a lot more REO properties in the pipeline.

If you might have an interest in bank owned properties, you can visit our website: www.bankprops.net, which identifies our current available listings.

Updates to Property Websites: We remain committed to providing great professional websites for our listings at no cost to our agents. We are launching Phase 2 of our property websites with many great improvements on 9/1. Here is a sampling of the upgrades:
1. Significantly larger primary images – you know that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
2. No limit on the number of photos. We will keep a minimum of six, and we will not post photos that do not enhance the marketing. But, if you have twenty good photos – you can use them!
3. There are two new primary menu items: “Send to a Friend” and “Bookmark”. We hope that these will get viewers to use your websites more.
4. There is a built in “Flyer Maker” that will provide a default flyer if your Impact Marketing flyer is not yet available.
5. There are seven new templates to give you more choices for your “layout”. And, each comes in three color combinations – that gives you twenty one new options. You can migrate your existing website to a couple of these new templates.
6. There is a new “vertical photo” on the forms pages that gives you a great opportunity to use your vertical photo or crop a horizontal.

Once these enhancements are launched for the property websites, we will next make them for the agent websites. Stay tuned!

July, 2008 TrendGraphix Analysis: (Contact me for additional information and copies of the complete TrendGraphix reports – a Frank Howard Allen Realtors exclusive).

Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Napa County (807) was stable on a month to month basis, and is 11% below the inventory (906) at this time last year. New sales (109) and closed escrows (93) were well ahead of the pace of a year ago (61 and 67, respectively). There was also a strong increase from the 86 new sales that occurred in June, 2008. The sale of bank owned properties (REOs) is strongly influencing the current market. Of the 98 closed sales in July, 2008, over 50% of them were either bank owned, in foreclosure or “short sales” where the lender accepts less than full payment for their loan. In American Canyon, 26 of the 27 closed sales fell into the bank owned,/in foreclosure /short sale category. The good news in American Canyon is that there is just a 3.4 month supply of unsold inventory and prices have stabilized at about $170 per square foot. The City of Napa had 23 of the 61 closings in July in the bank owned/in foreclosure/short sale category which means that only one of the Up Valley sales were in this category. The median price of homes closed in the City of Napa for July was $450,000.

St. Helena/Up Valley Trends: New sales in the St. Helena/Up Valley market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville) were up from a month ago (June, 2008) when there were 4 new sales. In July, there were 11 new sales and 9 closings. This compares to 14 new sales and 14 closings in July, 07. Up Valley inventory of unsold homes stands at 175 homes in July, 13% higher than in July, ‘07. The market in Up Valley can still be described as “sluggish”.

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes for sale (2,283) in Sonoma County at the end of July was 11% lower than a year ago. New sales (394) in July, ‘08 were consistent with the last two months and were 20% ahead of the pace in July, ‘07 (328). Of the 395 closed sales in July, ’07, 241, or 61% were in the bank owned,/in foreclosure /short sale category. The median price of the homes closed in July, ’07 feel below $400,000 and equaled $286/sf – both four year lows. continued to drop as more REO (bank owned properties) sell and depress that figure. A year ago the median price of sold homes in the County was $600,000. Based on the current pace of sales, the inventory of unsold homes is under a 6 month supply compared to 13.9 months in January of this year.

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes for sale (206) in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) at the end of July ’08 was below that for the period of July, 2007 (222). There were 32 new sales for the month (compared to 27 a month ago and 27 in July ‘07). Of the 29 homes that closed in July ’08, 11 of them were in the bank owned,/in foreclosure /short sale category. This is 38% of the closings compared to a 61% figure for the overall county.

Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes for sale (111) leveled off in Healdsburg in July compared to 123 in June and was 26% higher than the 88 homes available in July, ‘07. New sales (9) and closed escrows (10) in July were 53% and 38% lower than in July, 2007, so it remains a sluggish market in Healdsburg. Of the 10 homes that closed in July ’08, 3 of them were in the bank owned,/in foreclosure /short sale category.

Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale (138) in Windsor at the end of July was consistent with the level over the past few months and was slightly lower than that of July a year ago (148). Sales were steady at 25 units compared to 22 a year ago. 15 of the 22 closings in July ’08 (68%) were in the bank owned,/in foreclosure /short sale category, so this is certainly impacting the Windsor market. The median price ($407,000) of closed homes and the average per square foot price ($235.00) remain stable over the last several months, but are behind what they were a year ago ($534,000 and $322/sf respectively).

Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Cloverdale (82) in July, 2008 climbed from 77 units a month ago, and remains well below the 107 units available at this time in July, 2007. New sales and closings are consistent over the past five months at 6 to 10 per month. Of the 9 homes that closed in July, 5 of them were in the bank owned,/in foreclosure /short sale category. The average price per square foot of homes that closed in July was stable at $223/sf.

CAR Publishes New Article on Deeds in Lieu of Foreclosure: 
C.A.R.'s Member Legal Services team has published a new legal article, "Deeds in Lieu of Foreclosure." A deed in lieu of foreclosure is a transfer of real property from the property owner to the lender. This process provides property owners with an alternative to a short sale or foreclosure.

This article can be found on the What's New and Legal Articles pages of the Legal section on C.A.R. Online (www.car.org), or go directly http://www.car.org/legal/2008articles/deed-in-lieu-foreclosure/.

Economic Overview – The following is from my investment advisor. I think it’s a pretty good summary: “While the broad market briefly broke below (7/10-16 and 7/28-29) the sideways trading range I mentioned in previous notes, it is now back into that range again. Economic data continues to support a slowing domestic and global economy that should let inflation abate, particularly now that the commodities have sold off sharply--lower oil is like a tax rebate. This sideways action could continue into next year as we work through the extra supply of real estate, and continue to write down the overleveraged financings in the mortgage, credit card and other debt markets”.

Education: NorBar has some great education programs coming up including GRI and SRES courses. Log on to http://www.norbarrealtor.com/ and scroll down to “Seminars and Classes” to check the schedule.

Realtors can be a thoughtful group: “The Montreal Gazette reports the winner of a $3.6 million lotto - almost a year ago - has finally come forward.
The winner is a 24-year-old real estate agent Peter Dushop, who said he knew he had won but didn't want to claim the prize until he had thought through how it would affect him and the people around him.
Had he waited three weeks longer, his prize would have expired unclaimed. As it is, the newspaper calculated he had lost almost $100,000 in interest on the money.”

And, of course, he was smart enough to redeem the prize before it’s expiration. I don’t really believe in the various lotteries, but good luck to Peter in the next phase of his life.

Closings:   Darlene Riddle of our Healdsburg office, Richard Hurst of our Cloverdale office and Holly Evans-White of our St. Helena office each celebrated their first closings with Frank Howard Allen Realtors - the Wine Country Group in the past two weeks.  Wishing them many more!

The following agents also enjoyed closings between 7/28 and 8/14: Diane Harris and Deke DeKay (Healdsburg); Leo Merle (Sonoma); Diane Litchfield (Sonoma); Bill Streett (Sonoma); Steve and Marla Ericson (St. Helena); Greg McCaw (Sonoma); Susan Irvine (Sonoma); Sheila Deignan (Sonoma); Lisa Albertson (Sonoma); Sheila Kelly (Napa); Alicia Robledo (Sonoma); Herb Heil (Sonoma); Faeli Vyn (Napa); Kendra Martin (Sonoma) and Bob Beckstrom (St. Helena). The following agents closed two sides during this period: Linda Alioto (St. Helena); Isaac Raboy (Sonoma); Corrie Sterbentz (Sonoma); David Barker (Napa) and Mike Caselli (Sonoma). Cheri Stanley of our Napa office and Doug Del Fava and Susan Parker of our Kenwood office closed three transactions during this period. And, Daniel Casabonne of our Sonoma office closed four sides duruing this period.  Well done, and congratulations to all!