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Reliable Communication; Intelligent Marketing; Extensive Networking; Expert Negotiation; Hands-on Management; Streamlined Escrows; One Hundred Years of Experience; Quick Sales = Happy Clients.

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Training:  Next Legal Update Date is: Tuesday, November 3, San Rafael

NorBAR is sponsoring trainings on the new RPA to be released in November. Look for trainings in your local area and we will look into bringing a resource into our offices to cover the topics.

BAREIS Photo Contest: I know that you are all talented photographers. You can get your photo on the BAREIS home page and earn a free month of dues if you submit a winning photo. Deadline is this Weds., Oct. 20 at 5 pm, so get those photos to sabrina@norcalmls.com.

Wine Country Group Summary for September, 2009:

We closed 210 transaction sides in the 3rd Q of 2009, more than in any 3rd Q since 2005 when we closed 212. This is 16% more than we closed in the 3rd Q 2008 (181). The dollar volume was 5% below the volume last year due to the lower average prices of our transactions. On the positive side looking ahead, the average asking price ($855,000) of our 229 listings as of October 12 was 5% higher than this time a year ago – and inventory is actually ahead of a year ago at 229 listings compared to 207. This is ahead of the general market conditions where inventory is lower year over year in our markets.

Our September results were strong month over month and year over year and our pending sales as of 10/12/09 (129) are 46% ahead of that of a year ago. Accounting for lower price points, the current dollar volume of our pending sales ($65M) is just 14% ahead of a year ago ($57M).

We remain solidly number one in market share in our Sonoma Valley, Healdsburg and Cloverdale markets. In the past twelve months, we closed 2.4 times the number of transactions as our nearest competitors in our Sonoma office. We increased our market share in Sonoma for the first nine months of this year to 28.4% compared to 25.5% a year ago. Our Healdsburg office has increased it’s market share for the first nine months of the year to 26.5% from 19.4% for the first nine months of 2008.

Our Napa & St. Helena offices have generated a 29% increase in transaction sides (197) for the first nine months of 2009 compared to 2008. We are continuing to grow our Napa Valley business at a healthy pace. We respect the hard work that all of our agents are doing in these tough times to help us to remain market leaders.

September, 2009 - Market Analysis

Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale at the end of September in Napa County (614) was 29% below the inventory (867) at this time last year and it was equal to the inventory last month. New sales (149) were a whopping 62% ahead of the pace a year ago. The average price per square foot of the homes closed in September remained the same as last month, $263.00 per sf, a steady increase since February when the per square foot price was $201.00. The county in general is down to 4.1 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. American Canyon has just one months supply of inventory and the town of Napa has 3.9 months – so it is Up Valley Napa County that has an overhang of inventory. 30% of the available inventory in the county is located “Up Valley” at the end of September.

St. Helena/Up Valley Trends: The St. Helena/Up Valley market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville), had an inventory of 184 units at the end of September. This compares with 165 at the end of September, 2008. Sales for the month (16) remained at the level of last month and were well ahead of the 4 sales that posted in September, ‘08. Perhaps the market is starting to finally warm up. Unlike our other Wine Country markets, inventory is up 12 % from a year ago, but it has decreased over the past three months. Up Valley available listings represent 30% percent of the overall Napa County inventory – an unusual occurrence.

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1,393) in Sonoma County at the end of September was 42% lower than a year ago. New sales (594) in September were 13% ahead of the pace in September, 2008 and equal to that of last month. The median price of homes closed in September in Sonoma County was $325,000, equal to that of a month ago and 6% lower than a year ago. Based on the current sales pace, there is only a 2.3 month supply of inventory, either an indication of a pending sellers market, or, more likely, a slowing of the sales pace.

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (191) in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) at the end of September was 19% below that for September, 2008 and is equal to the inventory of last month. There were 39 new sales for the month (compared to 43 a month ago and 25 in September, ‘08).

Healdsburg Trends: New sales (18) in September remained at a relatively high level and similar to the sales pace (15) a year ago. The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (101) in Healdsburg at the end of September was slightly below that of last month (109) and it was 11% below the available inventory (113) in September, ‘08. This compares to inventory that is 42% lower in the County overall. The Healdsburg market continues to show signs of rebounding.

Cloverdale Trends: Sales in Cloverdale for the month of September (14) weakened from the month earlier when there were 25 sales and was about equal with the 13 sales in September of 2008. The inventory of homes for sale in Cloverdale (36) at the end of September, 2009 is about equal to that of last month and it was 58% lower than a year ago. There remains only a 2.6 month supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the homes sold in Cloverdale in the month of September dropped to $278,000 from $345,000 in August, but it was higher than the $275,000 median price of homes closed in September, ’08. The median price of homes sold in Cloverdale has bounced around from a low of $200,000 to a high of $345,000 in the last twelve months, but this is the first month where we have seen year over year increase in the median price of sold homes in any of the markets that we serve in the Wine Country.

Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Windsor (51) at the end of September was remarkably less than the number of new sales in the market in September which was 54. Inventory is 62% lower than a year ago and sales are 103% ahead of a year ago. The current status of the market is less than one month supply of inventory. Prices have stabilized at slightly over $200 per square foot. It remains interesting that there were new sales of 35 units, 33 units and 35 units in May, June and July of this year, but there were closings of only 30 units, 19 units and 24 units in July, August and September. So, we are either having delays in financing – which seems pretty prevalent at this time – or, there are a lot of distressed sales which can take longer to close, or we are having a lot of cancellations.

Solano County: Since we have closed 81 homes in Solano County this year so far, we keep an eye on the trends there as well. Inventory is down to 711 units – 74% lower than in September ’08. New sales for the month of September totaled 748 units – 31% higher than last year. This creates just a one month supply of inventory at the current sales pace. The average price per square foot of closed homes for the month was $130.00, up each month from the low of $119.00/sf registered in April of this year.

Please contact me for additional information and copies of the complete TrendGraphix reports.

Closings: Congratulations to Charlie Laughlin of our Napa office who had his first closing with FHA-WCG during this recent period. He also served ably on the Legal Update agent panel this morning! The following agents also had closings from 9/14 to 10/09. There were a lot of them – which is a good thing!

Randy Haak, Glen Ellen; Corrie Sterbentz, Sonoma; Ann Amtower, Healdsburg; Dee Grohmann, Healdsburg; Bill Streett, Sonoma; Faeli Vyn, Napa; Barbara Sommerville, Sonoma; Deke Dekay and Diane Harris, Healdsburg; Dan Gallagher, Sonoma; Carol Lexa, Healdsburg; Lark Raymond, Napa; Gina Clyde, Sonoma/Healdsburg; Dave Reynolds, Healdsburg; Linda Alioto, St. Helena; Jana Jones, Healdsburg; Hank Lane, Healdsburg; Susan Montgomery, Healdsburg; Helaine Forte, Napa; and Patty Keiser, Glen Ellen.

The following agents had two closings over the past month: Mara Kahn, Sonoma; and Herb Heil, Sonoma.

The following agents had three closings in the past thirty days: Erick Rothfeld, Sonoma; Lisa Albertson, Sonoma and Erin George, Sonoma.

Cheri Stanley of our Napa Office had four closings.

Mike Caselli and Daniel Casabonne of our Sonoma Office and David Barker of our Napa office each had six closings for this period.

Jane and Ron Pavelka based in Cloverdale had seven closings for this period and, to cap it off, Doug Del Fava and Susan Parker of our Kenwood office.had a whopping fourteen closings in the past month – over three a week – something to strive for!

Well done by all and congratulations!