Marin Real Estate Blog

Where is Santa Tonight?  

When we went and visited my husband;s dad in L.A. many years ago, image my 6 year's old son's excitement when the pilot reported that he saw blinking lights in front of the plane and beard some faint bells.  It was all he could think of the entier flight.

It got even better when he woke up at Pop's house the next morning, Santa visited and left tons of presents after a long flight. He could not wait telling people about how the pilot saw Santa. That was magic for him.

Going to Pop's house for Christmas is still one of our family traditions.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a wonderful, prosperous, healthy 2008!  

Best Wishes!
Sylvia

Desirable, cozy, end unit, two bedrooms, one bath, updated townhome located in charming tree-lined Lanham Village in South Novato.   Updated Kitchen with granite counter opens to Living room.  New carpet, tile floor, simulated wood floor. paint.  Great commute to the city and east bay.  Air conditioner, community garden. High owner occupant rate.

Wall Street Journal (12/21/07) said foreclosure filing for November surged 68% from a year ago, but dropped 10% from October (first double digit monthly decrease since April 2006).  RealtyTrac showed foreclosure filings for October zoomed 94% from a year ago but rose a modest 2% from September.

Does the modest sequential rise from September and then the double digit decrease from October; coupled with the recent Bush Bailout announcement, indicated that foreclosure activities overall might have peaked?  

Bush recently also signed into law the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 which will do away with the tax on homeowners who have mortgage debt forgiven in a short sale, refinance, or in a deed in lieu of foreclosure.   

Can this combined be a great New Years News for 2008?  I have also seen houses going into escrow, slowly but steadily during the past month.  Do the buyers finally tired of waiting and decide this might be as good a time to get a great deal as ever?   

Southern Marin has held steady and Novato has slowed down and has been seeing decreases in value during the past few months.  With the above news, I will be watching the market closely for sign of recovery! 

Happy Holidays and Wish You All a GREAT 2008!

Best, Sylvia

Extra spacisous, large three bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 baths home located in South Novat next to secluded hillside.  The house is a PUD where you own the land the house sits on.  Dning and living combination.  Large kitchen with breakfast bar and side door opens to large patio.   In Tranquil Hillside Village - very difficult to find - easy commute to the City and East Bay.   

$679000 Best Price! Pleasant Valley,Designer Upgrade Large Yard. OPEN SUN 1-4 (novato)

Sylvia Barry | www.FirstMarinHomes.com | (415) 717-0293 2584 Center Road, Novato, CA NEW PRICE! Pleasant Valley Charmer, Shows Like a Model. Upgrades. Large Yard. Great Schools 3 Bdrm Single Family House offered at $679,000 Year Built 1965 Sq Footage 1,362 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 0 partial Floors Unspecified Parking Unspecified Lot Size 9,350 sqft HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION Immaculate, charming Pleasant Valley home shows like a model. Great curb appeal. Pride of Ownership through and through. Everything is in the details of this elegantly updated home.   A popular 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, single story home has a formal living room, dining room and family room with cozy brick fireplace. Sliders from the dining room open to a large backyard. Master suite with updated master bathroom. Two other bedrooms are generally sized. Gorgeously remodeled second bathroom has deep, soothing Jettub. Updated kitchen with tile counters, spotlights and gas stove. Large hillside backyard has a brick BBQ and an oversize, covered patio for outdoor entertainment. Gleaming hardwood floors, crown moldings, double pane windows and tasteful designer colors throughout. Gorgeous views of distant hills from the living room and front bedroom. Award winning schools. Close to O'Hare Park, Stafford Lake, Mt. Burdell Open Space, Health Club and shopping. Hiking and biking trails abound! see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES Central heat Fireplace Hardwood floor Tile floor Family room Living room Dining room Dishwasher Refrigerator Stove/Oven Washer Dryer Laundry area - garage Yard ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Seller contact info: Sylvia Barry, Realtor, ePRO Your Trusted Marin Realtor http://www.2584centerroad.com/ http://firstmarinhomes.com/ sylvia@FirstMarinHomes.com (415) 717-0293 For sale by agent/broker Equal Opportunity Housing Posted: Oct 7, 2007, 9:20am PDT

A Bay Area Colleague posted a note on Trulia talking about the Bloomberg Article where it says that "The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes unexpectly rose for a second month in October, providing a rate piece of good news for the housing industry."  

This is exactly what I have been seeing and saying for the past two months - I am in Marin, my current listings are in Novato, the north most town in Marin; Novato market trails slightly behind Southern Marin due to longer commute to the City. 

I have had veyr healty open houses during the past two months, and quite a few 'real' buyers came through my open houses with many parents, friends, cousins, etc looking for their kids, friends, cousins, etc.

I think people have been waiting for a long time and are ready to buy. I just put two houses in escrow, the agent next to me have three offers (and more coming) on his short sale property that's been on market for about 1 week at near market price, and another realtor in my Rotary club has 3 offers on her house after many months.

My take is that for Marin, the housing market outlook for next year is good.

So, I was blogging on Active Rain; one of my favorite real estate blog sites other than Trulia Voices; I checked out Paul Slaybaugh's blog on Active Rain.  Paul is one of my favoriate Realtors on both sites as he gives great insight on real estate. 

Anyway, Paul provided a gerat link to relieve stress How to DeStress   I thought this can be a great tool for the buyers and sellers as a self-defense in today's real estate market, whether it's in Marin or Sonoma counties. 

Take a look, have a good laugh, and destress!

Always have fun in what you are doing and enjoy the biggest financial adventure of your life.  When you relax, that's when you can make the best decision in today's market.

Best, Sylvia

To Preserve north Novato, Marin, CA - we went to bat at the City Design Planning Workshop, and WE WON!!! 

Although I live in the immediate area, but I  got involved in San Marin Improvement Association (in Novato, CA) three years ago because of my son's high school wanted to be more community minded.  I was on the San Marin Site Leadership team in charge of PR plan and that's one of the steps we decided to take.  A small organization / watchdog for a pretty large neighborhood.   

I only attended the meetings to start with and tried to get the high school involved in what SMIA is doing (Halloween Parade, Easter Egg Hunt, etc).  Then I started to get more involved.  A recent notice was brought to my attention where it said a developer who bought an empty lot right in the middle of San Marin is planning to built a 2 story (36+ ft), 9500+sf, right against curb building in the middle of San Marin.  This is just totally agatinst the neighborhood charisteristics.  The developer bought the lot knowing the historical problems with the neighborhood's opposition on building on this lot and decided to build this medical / dental building (even had prospects) in just a few months, sell the building and then leave town.

Well, San Marin is flanked by Mt. Burdell which sloped down to San Marin Valley; with gorgeous, famous Marin views, luxury to middle class homes (not what you would envision as outrages homes but the ones that are understand, with great view of the beautiful Marin setting and just user friend homes).  A giant modern building just does not fit with the neighborhood.

As SMIA, we tried to work with the developers and gave them our input about what we thought of their plan, but after a couple half hearted attempts, they decided to go with the original plan as the others are not 'profitable' for them.

I went to my first ever design review workshop with city of Novato.  I would speak and was a bit nervous as I really do not this to happen.  The neighbors came out in support and the Novato City Planners; knowing how the local landscape / environment is and how the citizen feel about the issue, soundly rejected the proposal from the outside developers!  What were the developers thinking when they bought the lot, they are seasoned developers also!

Yes, Round One.  I was so happy coming home - what a wonderful feeling

:-))