Bad Pics, A Few More

I just can’t resist doing a few more bad real estate pictures - because they’re there.

Just to be clear, bad real estate pictures is not my original idea. Athol claims that right. That’s all right by me because she posts one picture a day, and there are just too many for her to keep up with. I won’t be doing a series, and I’ll try to make this my last post on the topic, but, as stated before, there are just too many, and new pictures are coming up all the time.

Hot Topic: Real Estate Listing Pictures

I had a new listing last week to get on the MLS, so I took some pictures. I get nervous about pictures because I’m not a photographer, so I run everything through a photo editor program and hope to get the best exposed and cropped piece of the house that I can. It turns out there are a lot of really bad real estate pictures posted around the internet. Once I discovered that, I looked with interest at the bad picture postings – and I’m very relieved to say that no Team Patereau photos were posted!

There’s a great blog posting about Rules for Real Estate Photography, and I think it is good information for me, an agent, as well as you – a seller/potential seller. If you’re a buyer/potential buyer, get what you can from the photos, but plan on visiting the home before you make your final decision.

The rules state that not every room is “photographable.” Bedrooms without any architectural interest, just square rooms with the seller’s furniture, don’t make good photo statements about the house. The only thing they show is what the seller has done with the room, and all that stuff is going to move with the seller.

Same goes for bathrooms, but even more so. However, the author, Athol, states in Rule Nine of Good Real Estate Photos, “Show that it’s not nasty.” Bathrooms are very difficult to photograph because they are small, confined rooms with great big mirrors to reflect the flash, or the reflection of the photographer with a camera in their face. If I can get around the mirror thing, I’ll put in a bathroom picture, but I have to say I really don’t like to do it. After I’ve got a good Front, Close-Up Front, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Kitchen, Back, Another Back, possibly the Master Bedroom, and any Special Feature, then, and only then, will put in a Bathroom picture. But, I’ll never, and I mean never, put in a picture of a bathroom with the toilet lid up. It never ceases to shock me when I see an MLS picture of a bathroom with the toilet lid up.

Here are some bad pictures from currently "Active" Gilroy listings, in the specific category of my pet peeve, "Open Toilet Lid."

There were many more bad pictures, but I've spent enough time on this. I assure you that if you choose me for your agent, I will not post a bad picture. I will take plenty of them, I just won't post them.

STATS - You Know You Love Them

Our good friend Sam, at Chicago Title, keeps us abreast of real estate numbers in Gilroy. She sent me the following info:

• The good news is sales were up in May from April. The not so good news is inventory is continuing to climb.



• In South County, which includes Gilroy and Morgan Hill, we ended May with 34 sales of single family homes and 1 condo/town home sale in Gilroy and 40 single family homes and 10 condos/town homes in Morgan Hill sold.



• May ended with 411 listings of single family homes and 36 Condo/Town homes in Gilroy where Morgan Hill finished the month with 268 Single Family Homes and 32 Condo/Town home listings.



• The Average Days on the Market jumped in Gilroy for single family homes from 94 in April to 105 in May. Condo/town homes are at 72 days on the market for May with only 1 condo/town home sold in May and no condo/town home sales in April.
  


• Morgan Hill’s single family homes days on market decreased from 81 in April to 65 in May and Condo/town homes decreased from 132 days on market in April to 77 in May.



• Overall days on the market have decreased countywide. The closer to Silicon Valley the better the market conditions.
  

Here’s the complete report.

Intensely Local Market Indicators

As I was scanning/reading another real estate blog I came across an article at CNNMoney.com that addressed a big worry for every homeowner right now, “Has the real estate market hit bottom?”

The article states, “Because housing markets are intensely local, it won't do much good to check national figures. Instead, stay alert to leading indicators of recovery in your local market…”
The Indicators are:

1. Inventory is declining – That would mean that there are less houses currently on the market than there were last month, the month before, last year, etc. In Gilroy there aren’t.


2. Houses are selling faster than they used to – That would mean that the average “Days on the Market” number is lower for a category of property than it was last month, the month before, last year, etc. In Gilroy, it’s not.


3. Sellers are acting less desperate – That would mean they lowered the list price, they held open their house both Saturday and Sunday for several months straight, they paid closing costs, they did all inspections, all repairs, and paid HOA for up to a year. In Gilroy, the signs of desperation are growing, not decreasing.
   

I don’t have to tell you what that means, but I will: In Gilroy our market is not through “normalizing.”

Latest Listings in Gilroy, Wednesday Version

I looked with particular interest at the newest listings in Gilroy for the last few days. It just so happends that one of those new listings is by Team Patereau! We listed 1244 Blacksmith Drive. It's a great listing because it shows beautifully, screaming "Professionally Decorated!" and it's priced very aggressively. Those are the kinds of listings we all want nowadays.

Here's the rest of the crowd:

As always, if you or a friend or family member is interested in seeing any of these properties, please call Team Patereau.

Call Me

Friday is the day many people start to try to figure out how they are going to do all of the things they scheduled for the week-end. Let’s assume, because you are here, that you are not fully booked, and that your are, in fact, looking for real estate in Gilroy and trying to figure out what’s new on the market so you can take a look. There are two things you can do at this point:

1. Call me. I’ll talk to you about what you want and what you qualify for, and I’ll arrange a targeted, specific tour for you.


2. Check out the New Listings In Gilroy This Week Chart below. All of the newest listings in Gilroy for the last week are listed. There are 30-ish new listings! Your work is to eliminate the things you are not interested in, narrowing down the list. Once you have picked what you want, you need to go by and see the properties. Some of them will have Open House time either Saturday or Sunday. Which day are you going to drive around? Some won’t have Open House scheduled this week, but may have something in the future. If they are not going to be open you will need to make an appointment to see them. At this point you can call the listing agents and wait for their callbacks so that you can set an appointment for seeing that property, then move on to the next. OR, you could go back to Step 1 above.
   

Reminder: Buyers don’t pay for the services of a Real Estate Agent. The Seller pays the commission when the property sells.

As long as you don’t have to pay for the great service you receive from a Real Estate Agent, what’s keeping you from using one?

Apricots with Real Estate

Today is Thursday, and this week it’s my day off. Team Patereau (Rick and I) are headed over the mountain (Pacheco Pass) to visit my very best friend from high school, Sue, and her husband, Anthony, in Turlock. They have a place in the country and on it they have many fruit trees. This visit we are picking apricots. I look forward to eating fresh, tree-ripened, room-temperature apricots. We’re also going to get enough to take to our daughter to make apricot jam.

There are many recipes for apricots, and many more for apricot jams. Dorothy McNett is a local chef and her recipe for microwave apricot jam looks like one that I could do if I ever did apricot jam. (I’m pretty sure there’s a kitchen in my house, I’m just not sure where it is.)

Can’t think of a tie in: Apricots with Real Estate. Tomorrow’s another day.

The Price is Right

There’s a lot of information out there today about how bad the real estate market is. However, in Gilroy, and at Intero, where my license is parked, deals are being done. Besides new listings going on the board almost every day, there are actual sales. Here’s a list of the Single Family Homes that went into escrow during the week of June 11 – 18, 2007. (That’s a Monday to Monday week, because that’s how we do it in real estate.)

I have included the Original List Price of the property, as well as the Current List Price. A majority of the properties had price reductions before they sold.

I have also included the number of Days on the Market. It took a long time to sell many of these properties, but when the price got right, the property sold.

New Sales, 6/11-6/18/2007
Gilroy CA
Single Family Homes

7045 Yorktown Drive, Gilroy
Original List Price: $730,000
Current List Price: $635,000
Days on the Market: 302

1142 Del Oro Way, Gilroy
Original List Price: $620,000
Current List Price: $575,000
Days on the Market: 217

2325 Olea Court, Gilroy
Original List Price: $1,389,000
Current List Price: $1,358,960
Days on the Market: 134

1476 Senegal Court, Gilroy
Original List Price: $810,000
Current List Price: $725,000
Days on the Market: 112

1321 Fernwood Lane, Gilroy
Original List Price: $648,998
Current List Price: $599,995
Days on the Market: 97

7200 Princevalle, Gilroy
Original List Price: $580,000
Current List Price: $570,000
Days on the Market: 78

1131 Mariposa St., Gilroy
Original List Price: $629,000
Current List Price: $629,000
Days on the Market: 72

1414 Casablanca Circle, Gilroy
Original List Price: $875,000
Current List Price: $849,950
Days on the Market: 32

2585 Sunflower Circle, Gilroy
Original List Price: $1,599,999
Current List Price: $1,599,999
Days on the Market: 5

2530 Muirfield Way, Gilroy
Original List Price: $1,234,875
Current List Price: $1,234,875
Days on the Market: 51

3855 Canada Rd., Gilroy
Original List Price: $1,265,000
Current List Price: $1,199,000
Days on the Market: 88

8742 Foxglove Court, Gilroy
Original List Price: $1,270,000
Current List Price: $1,270,000
Days on the Market: 76

Gino Blefari, the President of Intero Real Estate Services, tells agents, if a property has been listed and everything has been done to tell the world about it, and it hasn’t sold – then it’s about the price.

Every property will sell if The Price Is Right!

June Gloom – NOT!

A friend of mine has lived in the beautiful seaside city of Aptos for many years. She talks about how wonderful it is to live there, with the implication that Gilroy, where I live, is not as wonderful. I saw her just the last week and she referred to several wonderful things about Aptos, and I mentioned that I was cold and should have brought a heavier jacket for our meeting in Aptos. The term, “June Gloom,” came up when she explained that locals have a term of endearment for the foggy, gloomy weather that the seacoast cities experience in June.

As I was driving home to sunny – yes, it could even be termed hot – Gilroy, I thought about the time of year and the state of the real estate market (because I’m always thinking about the state of the real estate market!). Check out the statistics below and you will see that residential sales are happening. It’s not at the same pace as a year or two ago, but homes get bought and sold, even in markets considered to be “down” by the media.

June 2007

Single Family Homes

New Listings: 109

Current Inventory: 411

Closed Sales: 34

Average Days on Market: 76

Median Sales Price: $710,000

% to List Price: 97.54%

Total Sales Volume: $29,504,800

If your next question is, “How much has the market gone down in the last year?” or “If I didn’t sell/buy last year, what did I miss?” here’s the answer:

June 2006
Single Family Homes
New Listings: 144
Current Inventory: 276
Closed Sales: 45
Average Days on Market: 39

Median Sales Price: $765,000
% to List Price: 98.83%
Total Sales Volume: $36,486,799

Let’s go back one more year, just for the heck of it:

June 2005

Single Family Homes

New Listings: 90

Current Inventory: 149

Closed Sales: 70

Average Days on Market: 17
Median Sales Price: $703,500

% to List Price: 101.13%

Total Sales Volume: $53,616,388

What does it mean?

• There’s no June Gloom here.


• Homes were bought and sold in June.


• Things change.


• If you need to buy, BUY!


• If you need to sell, SELL!


• Get an experienced agent in your area (in Gilroy, “Me, Me, Me!”) to help you figure out the price for the market TODAY.

When it gets too hot for you in Gilroy in the coming months, feel free to drive 20 minutes to the June/July/August Gloom!

Picture of June Gloom credited to: http://www.andrewburke.ca/ajlb/viewBlog.php.

Back at it - Blogging, that is

Team Patereau attended a Blogging seminar today. We're re-committed to the new format for the Internet, and for Real Estate. Watch for regular postings!