Coastal Real Estate and Lifestyles

Pacifica sellers were rewarded with lots of buyer activity last month.  Do we call it the spring bump?  pent up demand? first time home buyer tax credits?  feeling that we’ve hit a bottom here? or all of the above…

Accepted offers jumped 41% in March from the prior month.

Of ALL pending listings, not just new March pendings:

• 6 are Pending Release - average list price $417,000 - 83% are short sale or REO

• 14 are Pending Show - average list price $615,000 - 28% are short sale or REO

• 20 are Pending - average list price $497,000 - 70% are short sale or REO

I’ve noticed that short sale listings will change status immediately to any of the 3 statuses.  Therefore, I wouldn’t call this a turn-around in the market, even a short term one, with over 50% (23 out of 40) pendings identified here as either short sale or bank-owned (REO).

Market activity does appear to be increasing in Pacifica, even if it is too soon to call it a “trend” this spring season.  However…we are quite pleased to notice that March 2009 had the most accepted offers within in the last year.  March had 29 accepted offers with an inventory of 73 single family homes.  A year ago in March 2008, there were 20 accepted offers with an inventory of 97 single family homes.

One reason for continued uncertainty is the short sale process.  An accepted offer (accepted by the homeowner/seller) is usually needed to open a file at the bank in the loss mitigation department.  The listing agent may list the property for a low price in order to generate an offer; then while it sits in one of the pending statuses in the MLS, the listing agent is working to keep that offer viable.

We’ll be watching to see if most of these accepted offers close escrow during their scheduled dates of mostly April and May.

These two neighborhoods are in the south-east portion of Pacifica.  Some of the streets in these neighborhoods offer beautiful views, either ocean, canyon, or bridge (the new one at the Devil’s Slide Tunnel).  Park Pacifica neighborhood, also known as “the back of the valley” is one of the warmer areas of Pacifica and the San Mateo County coast.

This shows MLS (San Mateo County) statistics for the months from February 2008 to February 2009, inventory at that time, closed sales during that month, average continuous days on market, and the average sale price, or the sale price of the property if there was only one closing.

Sun Valley/Linda Mar/Pacifica CA market activity:  Except for 2 sales in February, there have been no closed sales since September 2008.  Average sale price in February 2009 was $580,000 with 4 months of inventory.

Park Pacifica/Linda Mar/Pacifica, CA market activity:  The last closed sale was in December 2008.  There is no “average” since there has only been one or no sales per month since July 2008.  Eleven months of inventory.

As of this writing there are 3 “pending show”, and 2 “pending” in these neighborhoods according to the MLS under areas #652 for Sun Valley and #653 for Park Pacifica.  One of the “pending” properties is a short sale that as of a couple days ago was not yet approved by the bank as a short sale but is expected to be approved within a few days.  This shows that the market is moving again.

 In the area you will find:

 Sanchez Adobe Park - on the National Register of Historic Sites

 Frontierland Park - a great place for a family or playgroup outing.

 Sanchez Art Center - a non-profit organization devoted to creating community through art.

 San Pedro Valley Park - terrific hiking and walking trails.

 More about PACIFICA here.

I was pleased to see a beautiful photo of the Pacifica coastline on the front page of the SF Chronicle’s Real Estate Section.  Dana Perrigan’s cover story about Pacifica, CA highlights its small-town feel, unique character and proximity to San Francisco.

View Larger Map

With Daly City to the north, Millbrae and San Bruno to the east, and Montara to the south, its 38,000 residents (as of U.S. Census 2000) enjoy easy access along with a healthy dose of recreation.  Yes, it’s a cooler climate than more inland areas of the peninsula, but as the article states, sunnier than non-residents might think.  As locals already know, micro-climates are distinct throughout the various neighorhoods along the entire coastside.

An additional point worth mentioning is Pacifica’s schools.  Pacifica offers good school choices, including a home school support system within the District.

City of Pacifica

Pacifica homes for sale in Pro.MLSlistings.com - July 27, 2008

Here are a couple archived articles about Pacifica from this site, Coastside Real Estate and Lifestyles. 

 Pacifica Trends Then and Now

Median Prices and Hyper-Local Trend Watch