Coastal Real Estate and Lifestyles

When you think about “lifestyle”, do you also think of security?  Or is that something you take for granted?  It is woven into the services we provide for our clients.  You don’t have security when you rent…you already know your home is not yours. 

“Since home in a lot of ways means security for us, taking that away can be highly stressful for people”, according to San Mateo County area Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, Padma Ali, “mainly children.  They are not equipped to handle family stress surrounding a foreclosure.  Parents can play an important role in lessening the impact of losing their home.” 

As a parent, sometimes our own stress can take attention away from our children and we may miss important signs from them.  Padma offers these tips and suggestions if you or someone you know may be facing a move due to financial stress:

Children express stress in different ways. Some signs for parents to note…

1. Acting out at home or in school.
2. If your child is beginning to withdraw socially at home or school.
3. Grades dropping.

A few ways to help are…

1. Talk to your child. Don’t underestimate their intelligence to comprehend complex situations.  They will do better if they are kept in the loop.  Keep their age in consideration while talking to them about complex issues such as finances.
2. Reassure them that they are taken care of and that they don’t need to worry about money or their safety.

3. Get them help with school counselors or therapists to help them cope with the changes.

Our communities here on the San Mateo County Coastside are not seeing similar levels of foreclosure activity that is occurring in other parts of California and the Country.  However, our area is certainly not immune to homeowners facing financial challenges, and we are seeing some short sales and REO sales.  In my experience, I find children want to know that their family will still be together, even if they have to move - for whatever reason.

Related article:

Foreclosures take an emotional toll on many homeowners - USA Today

As a follow up to the June 14, 2008 post about the Half Moon Bay Coastside single family homes market, here’s a look at what’s going on in the Condo market:

Inventory - It won’t be accurate to take the same format as I used for single family homes.  Due to the very small market it won’t show much:

• May 07 - 9 months of inventory; 1 sale ($620,000)
• January 08 - 11 months; 0 sales
• May 08 - 14 months; 1 sale ($489,000)

Sales did occur in other months; I’ll present the information by condo development.  There are no condominiums in Moss Beach or Montara; there was no activity in El Granada.  Therefore this is only for Half Moon Bay.  Nineteen condo sales occurred from May 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008.

5 in Cypress Cove - average SP $721,600 (3 3br; 2 2br)
3 in Ocean Corners - average SP $543,000 (1 3br; 2 2br)
4 in Amesport Landing - average SP $475,250 (all 2 br)
7 in Pilarcitos Park - average SP $445,000 (1 3br; 6 2br)

As of today, there are 4 pending with an average list price of $443,500.

There are now 8 active condo listings with an average list price of $538,000.

This Altos graph shows the listing trends for the local condo market and why it’s important to know the specifics of the quartile you’re researching before pricing your condo for sale or making a purchase offer.

To learn more about Half Moon Bay area condos, check out this archived post.

This is a very local and locally-loved event.  I certainly appreciated our own small town fireworks display more when it wasn’t there…funny how that happens.  The year I read in the Review that the fireworks weren’t going to happen because there wasn’t enough money in the coffer, in 2006, some of us (me!) may have taken for granted that the lights would magically appear in the sky each year on July 4th!  Last year the show was awesome!

I don’t know when it started, but now the local chapter of the American Legion organizes fundraisers each year to raise money for our local fireworks displays.  Here’s the local celebrations and fundraiser activities that I know about:

Friday July 4th, 2008:

• Ol’ Fashion Fourth of July Parade, historic downtown Main Street, Half Moon Bay, 12 noon

(this is a photo I took from a few years ago of one of the floats!  Notice the blue sky, which we’re treated to on some..not all..4ths.)

• Town picnic, American Legion Post 474, 470 Capistrano Rd., Princeton, 1 p.m.
• Fireworks, Princeton Harbor at Sunset . . . definitely ON this year according to Bob Resch, Chairman, ALCF, and Owner, Princeton Welding.

Saturday, July 5th, 2008:

American Legion’s Commitment to Coastside Fireworks

http://www.americanlegioncoastsidefireworks.org/

Tips for enjoying the fireworks on San Mateo County coast’s Princeton Harbor:

Walk to viewing distance if possible.  Parking along Highway 1 near Surfer’s Beach/El Granada is usually prohibited.  Bring flashlight, blankets or folding chairs, binoculars if you want, a neighbor or two.  Bring or wear layers…the ocean is right in front of you.  Remember to keep the pets in a safe and secure place.

The harbor view homeowners (mainly in lower El Granada, (El Granada) Highlands and Miramar) need only set up chairs on the deck or porch for the best seats.  If you find you must have one of these homes in the short or long term, you can do an area search of these neighborhoods. 

Sometimes the sky is clear and sometimes we’re watching the light show through the fog.  You might ask, why would you sit there in the cold and watch fireworks covered in fog??  You’d have to be a local to understand that one!

As we head into the peak season for many buyers and sellers, here’s a clear view of a buyers’ market for the San Mateo County coastal communities of Half Moon Bay, El Granada, Moss Beach and Montara.  In addition to the locals watching, out of area agents who have clients wanting a second home near San Francisco, or a beach house in northern California should take notice of this area:

• May 2007 had 4.8 months of inventory (this is our norm)
• January 2008 had 10.4 months of inventory
• May 2008 had 8.8 months of inventory

 Median Sales Prices for Coastside single family homes:

• May 2007 - $955,000 from 19 sales
• January 2008 - $1,050,000 from 9 sales
• May 2008 - $760,000 from 16 sales

Graph showing May 2007 through May 2008: 
Coastside real estate single family homes for sale vs. closed sales by month from May 2007 to May 2008

What I’m seeing firsthand:  Buyers are negotiating or watching for the right property to make their move.  Many buyers are also getting pre-qualifed before viewing properties.  Sellers are beginning to take this market correction seriously, and are doing more to prepare their homes.  For example, instead of just getting the inspection reports done, many sellers are completing the work that was identified in the reports.  Overall,  I’m seeing activity build with lots of consulting going on.

Just learned about this very handy tool yesterday from our Advertising Coordinator, Gene Wilkins.  She was the first to broadcast that Highway 92 had been closed yesterday afternoon within seconds of its happening.  She had gotten a notice from SMCAlert, a system that broadcasts road, earthquake, weather, and other emergency situations.  Here’s a snippet from the FAQ…

Emergency Situations:

• Notify employees, and/or citizens of the location of the nearest emergency shelter, available bed space, hours of operation during a crisis;
• Notify employees/citizens of available evacuation routes during an emergency;
• Activate special teams within the community, based upon an event

Precautionary Warnings:

• Severe weather warnings;
• Change in the Homeland Security Advisory System terror alert level
• Pre-cautionary evacuation order if on high alert  

So I signed up too.  You can activate your notices on up to two cell phones and two email addresses.  It’s free, however, standard text messaging rates apply here.

This can be a huge time saver for those of us who travel Highways 92 & 1 on a regular basis - especially in our line of work!  Up until now I would turn on KCBS AM radio to wait for the traffic report “on the eights”.  You can configure how you receive these notices, but I set it up so that I received them on my Treo since I’m in the car so much.

Meeting someone for dinner or a property showing?  Picking up kids from school?  Medical or other appointment over the hill?  Now you can get the quick “heads up” to take another route if necessary.  For client meetings that may be delayed, this is a very useful, professional tool.

Note:  Just added this link to my website under “Emergency Preparedness”.

Since the new cell phone laws go into effect on July 1, I’ve been keeping new technology, Twitter, on the horizon ready to jump on - at least in some minor capacity - at some point.  Now may be that time.  However, I guess I’m not alone…as I tried to log in a minute ago, here’s the message I received…

Now I know why, having just scanned one of my favorite sites, Transparent Real Estate.  I can usually find what’s really going on at TransparentRE.  Here’s apparently why Twitter may be down now from Pat Kitano’s post of 5/26/08:

“Twitter.com isn’t actually the primary recipient of its web traffic, Larry Dignan @ ZDNet says 90% of Twitter traffic are its API calls. On the negative side, Twitter now has famous network down times because too many users are accessing Tweeter via those applications.”

I keep up to date on new technologies from my internet marketing gurus, Pat Kitano and Kevin Boer at 3 Oceans Real Estate.  Thanks to you both for helping us stay at the top of our game!  I plan on joining the Real Estate Connect 2008 Twitter group - which will be my first experience with real-time communication with colleagues while at a conference.  Talk about being connected.  Here’s some specifics from the Inman site:

Hope to connect with you at the Inman event next month.

CHP Wireless Telephone Laws FAQ - Effective July 1, 2008

I was heading home tonight after previewing properties in Daly City for my client around 6 p.m.  I’d been noticing the blast of pink wildflowers on the Montara bluffs for a few weeks and decided to finally take a picture. 

This is southside of Devil’s Slide (Highway 1) view of Montara. 

 I turned around to take this picture - the road and view I had just passed:

If I’m traveling north for any reason, I’ll travel via Devil’s Slide and enjoy the scenic views…along with the tunnel construction for the time being…  I’ll take this route to get to Pacifica, San Bruno, the airport (SFO), South SF, Daly City, San Francisco, and Marin.

Yes, we’re spoiled!