patrick.net

On a local level, we were driving around Stevens Creek Blvd in Crapertino last weekend running errands. The number of open house signs at all the major intersections was impressive. I think 5-6 alone at DeAnza Blvd alone. Also, we went to a couple of OH's in the neighborhood we're eventually planning to buy in, Portola Valley. Lot's of OH signs there, and at the 2 places we checked out - there was only 1 other family total, with 2 very bored realtors sitting on their butts. I hear the high end market, despite the mythical "Google Effect" is deathly slow, and our observations were definitely in agreement with this.

The full faith and credit of the U.S. government lie behind these home loans. If the homeowners go broke in an economic crash, they default.

No, debt holders will be just paid back in devalued dollars. Isn't the printing press great?

Peter P Says:

No, debt holders will be just paid back in devalued dollars. Isn’t the printing press great?

So you're blaming Gutenberg for inflation?

20488 STEVENS CREEK BL, Condotino - I wonder how many units in this condo building are flipper owned. There are a bunch of them on the mlslistings.com right now.

"Come on Lunarpark, that is not even a 40% increase year/year."

We will get there! Patience.

What I'm seeing is much of the same since February. The same exact houses are still for sale, and from what I can tell, there's quite a few neighbors that are making mad dashes to repair their homes for what I assume will be more homes added to the stagnant inventory.
I feel pretty confident is believing that the crash is set up now and now things will really start to happen. Alameda is one of the safest areas in the bay. If nothing is selling here, then I can only assume things will be worse elsewhere.

20488 STEVENS CREEK BL, Condotino - I wonder how many units in this condo building are flipper owned. There are a bunch of them on the mlslistings.com right now.

You mean Verona Apartments?

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Cupertino-Verona-Apartments-Pricing.html

If it gets such low ratings as an apartment complex... what is it after the conversion?

BTW, the complex does not have much light at 9pm. Odd.

"If it gets such low ratings as an apartment complex… what is it after the conversion?"

Why do they have rental rates listed for 2006? Are some of these units still apartments?

Oh I hear you! Every Wed. our little paper comes out w/RE section and we see our dollar going further all the time. So we’ve now passed on listings that “were ideal” just 6 months ago!

Yes, last year we would be thinking: perhaps a condo in a so-so neighborhood is not that bad.

This year: this newer SFH looks fine, but the feng shui is not good, see ya.

Nevermind, total blonde moment.

CB Says:

The inventory is actually decreasing because the 550 Moreland project in Santa Clara by the Prometheus company has been canceled, instantly removing 461 units of “luxury condominum” off the market.

I wouldn't say inventory is decreasing based on this. First, units from a yet-to-begin project doesn't count in current inventory. Second, it's not clear at all if the "loss" of 461 units will be offset at all by an equal or greater number of other units coming on just from the usual sources of various people and developers putting stuff on the market.

On a related note, though, did anyone see the article in the Chronic-le about the Rincon Hill condos? $500K-$2M units to live at the on ramp to the Bay Bridge. I wonder what fools plan to live there.

Why do they have rental rates listed for 2006? Are some of these units still apartments?

Don't know. I guess residents can still stay through the leases.

Peter P,

You got a "problem" with using a thread graphic, or what?

- doesn't
+ don't

The inventory is actually decreasing because the 550 Moreland project in Santa Clara by the Prometheus company has been canceled, instantly removing 461 units of “luxury condominum” off the market.

Inventory that never was.

They called it luxury condo. I asked them whether there will be turndown service. They did not know what I was talking about.

You got a “problem” with using a thread graphic, or what?

I am just lazy. :)

WW2,

Man, something about your outlook has changed over the last couple of days. Good for you! You're seeing the blood, I mean 'light' at the end of the tunnel! Isn't it great? I can't speak to the BA directly but if you are showing growth in inventory that is fantastic.

Peter P,

You know it is just that damn simple! Last year my wife and I would pour over listings and try to figure out how to 'shoe horn' our lives into them and now if it doesn't fit like a glove, turn the page. Next!

The other irony about the Prometheus development being cancelled - who the heck decided to call that company Prometheus? ie, the sleaziest of them all in Greek mythology???

You know it is just that damn simple! Last year my wife and I would pour over listings and try to figure out how to ’shoe horn’ our lives into them and now if it doesn’t fit like a glove, turn the page. Next!

Very true indeed.

Dinor,
I have to be realistic. I don't think me and my wife who make 85k combined will ever be able to afford any kind of home that would be close to what we would consider to our standards here, but I do firmly believe that the BA is now on the tipping point for severe reductions. I am glad I will be around to witness it.

Will there be demand for "luxury" apartments outside Google's orb of influence?

I remember 550 Moreland has rather spacious floorplans.

They claimed they will keep the property value up by managing this mixed unit in a A-1 level whatever that means.

Free steak sauce?

WW2,

Judge Schmells: "You know I'm no slouch myself"

Ty Webb: "Don't sell yourself short Judge, you're a tremendous slouch"

*From the movie "Caddyshack"

O.K then, would you admit that things are about to get as juicy as they are going to get in a long, long time?

Dinor,
I was never a fan of soap operas, but what we're about to see will be highly entertaining.

You got a “problem” with using a thread graphic, or what?

I am just lazy.

Mr. P,

Since you are admittedly "motivation-challenged" on the thread graphic subject (kudos for your honesty, btw), I have taken the liberty of procuring a topic-appropriate image on your behalf:

i.e., "Spring bounce" = "dead cat bounce"
Please post this at your leisure, sir. :-)

WW2,

Soap Opera? HD and LOW are already feeling the pinch. The only time I hear housing related stocks mentioned any more is for "candidates to short" lists!

"As the ARM Resets"

"The Young and the FB's"

"One Payment to Live"

"General Hysteria"

"Santa Barbara"

HARM, can you help me resample it to a smaller size. Thanks! :)

Peter P,

Click the "Edit" link (only visible to you) under the thread text on the main page.

Insert this line above your body text:

oops --my tags didn't post. Anyway, it looks like you got it already --thanks!

I know this is yesterday's news to those who follow Ben's blog daily, but the Sacramento Bee just coined a new term that absolutely *must* be added to our Housing Bubble Glossary:

http://www.sacbee.com/content/homes/re_news/story/14267623p-15079236c.html

"Repartments": Condo conversions that have been converted right back to apartments, leaving recent buyers completely screwed (and surrounded by JBRs).

"Like pennys in a pickle jar, so are the values of homes draining slowly away... in the homes of the housing bubble.." arg! I was never good at spur of the moment comedy..

Spring bounce topic and not yet one SFMLS troll comment? Quite frankly I sense a disturbing lack of work ethic on the part of our PRIME troll. Must be counting its equity.

Inventory situations in South Bay is bad, but we need to see more price reductions. Some new listings come out with outrageous pricing, the owner FBs must be extrapolating 04/05 pricing growth for another 5 years to reach the asking price.

One thing to watch on the way down is definitely inventory. When I was looking around in 93, South Bay inventory was not way up, it was bulging a bit but generally ok. Right now fringe towns like Gilroy and Morgan Hill, and even Evergreen inventory is getting ridiculous.

I think we should all add KBE to our names.

KB (Homes) Executive?

There might be a few more homes on the market in Noe Valley, but then again, there might not. According to the Noe Valley Voice, 12 homes sold in April this year, compared with 12 last year. Here are the nitty gritties from Alexander Clark's excellent newsletter:

Address Neighborhood BD BA SQFT $/SQFT Sold Date List $ Sold $ SP%LP
470 Day St Noe Valley 2 1 1805 $642.66 5/31/2006 $1,149,000 $1,160,000 100.96 %
4529 25th St Noe Valley 3 2 1400 $767.86 5/25/2006 $1,090,000 $1,075,000 98.62 %
1485 Sanchez St Noe Valley 5 2 1500 $600.00 5/22/2006 $799,000 $900,000 112.64 %
239 Valley St Noe Valley 2 1 1050 $856.19 5/24/2006 $899,000 $899,000 100.00 %
1606 Castro St Noe Valley 3 2.50 2461 $711.09 6/2/2006 $1,749,000 $1,750,000 100.06 %
76 Homestead Noe Valley 2 2 1800 $793.33 5/22/2006 $1,295,000 $1,428,000 110.27 %
3945 25th St Noe Valley 2 1 1128 $1,077.13 5/24/2006 $1,095,000 $1,215,000 110.96 %
4250 23rd St Noe Valley 5 3.50 3382 $709.64 5/12/2006 $2,149,000 $2,400,000 111.68 %
903 Sanchez St Noe Valley 3 2 1944 $694.44 6/2/2006 $1,250,000 $1,350,000 108.00 %
579 Elizabeth St Noe Valley 3 2.50 1945 $826.22 6/9/2006 $1,375,000 $1,607,000 116.87 %
766 27th St Noe Valley 3 2 1735 $1,037.46 5/25/2006 $1,500,000 $1,800,000 120.00 %
3739 26th St Noe Valley 3 1 1130 $902.65 5/12/2006 $1,020,000 $1,020,000 100.00 %
1519 Noe St Noe Valley 2 1 0 Infinity 6/5/2006 $799,000 $865,000 108.26 %
Average 3 1.9 1773 $801.60 $1,280,833 $1,383,667 107.51 %

Hmm, not sure how that is going to come out after formatting. Anyway, the bottom line is $801/sq ft (compared to $750/sq ft last year) and the average home going for 107% of asking. So 5% YoY appreciation, which is way down but still doesn't qualify as actually flat yet. Just for grins, I tried zillowing all those properties and found that zillow actually did a pretty good job on them: 4 estimates were too low, 3 were too high and one was on the mark ($1 off actually). The odd thing was that zillow tended to be too high on the smaller properties and too low on the larger ones. Who the heck would pay $2.35M to live in Noe Valley?!?! The amount of money still sloshing around just astonishes me sometimes.

brightc asked,

If there is no crash, there’s at least a 20% correction in the Bay Area housing market. Is that wishful thinking, or it’s entirely a plausible scenario?

brightc, this is what I am predicting and that puts me as the one of the most bullish regular posters here. So I think pretty much all of us would consider that plausible.

Sorry Sir Fur, is that trollalishious enough for you? I am not trying to troll, just present objective data. Obtained from a Realtwhore though, so take it for what that is worth.

How do you guys make those little trademark (TM) symbols anyway? Do you cut and paste them?

newsfreak Says:
Imagine if we still communicated by pidgeons ferrying little notes back and forth or the Pony Express.
One must admit Gutenburg is not honored enough.

and don't forget to thank Al Gore for inventing the Internet...

Wow, Noe Valley is $800/sqft? Must be a nice place.

Then I guess San Mateo is not that bad at $600/sqft.

Different Sean, do you sleep at all?

have a read of this:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/boeb/boeb03.htm

sirs were pretty disposable in days of old when knights were bold, unfortunate occupational hazard...