Archive for Contra Costa Real Estate News – Page 2

Will Danville CA Real Estate Be Among the First To Emerge From the Foreclosure Crisis?

4 March 2011

Danville CA Real Estate Recovers

Danville California, the upscale East Bay community located south of Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County, provides a slightly different view of the foreclosure and short sale crisis than many of the other communities nearby.

Certainly, Danville CA real estate has been impacted by a large portion of bank owned foreclosure homes for sale competing with the traditional home sales on the local real estate market, but not to the same degree.

While Concord has over 50% of its homes for sale as bank owned properties, Danville joins Walnut Creek as much less impacted that their larger, lower priced neighbor to the north.

Currently, of all the Danville single family homes for sale, less than 30% are bank owned homes.

And while the bank owned inventory of homes in Danville is rising slightly, the trend of homes being brought into bank inventory of homes has been trending downward since late 2009.

But the biggest difference in Danville homes for sale when compared to Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Lafayette is the price segment of the market that is affected.

Take a look at the graph below and you will find that it is the more expensive homes – the million dollar homes and above – that are most affected by the real estate foreclosure crisis.

 

 

a graph showing home foreclosure activity in Danville California

Danville Foreclosure Activity by Market Value

Before you say that there are more million dollar homes in Danville to begin with, let me point out that Lafayette and even Walnut Creek also has a large share of million dollar homes, too, but with different results.

In addition, when we look at the Danville median home sales prices by quarter, we find the number to be around $850,000 for the entire 2010 year.

 

a graph showing Danville Median Prices of Homes Sold - courtesy of ForeclosureRadar

Danville California Median Price of Homes Sold - courtesy of ForeclosureRadar

While there is certainly a large number of Danville foreclosure homes represented in that price range, an even larger number is shown in the million dollar plus Danville home market.

In the neighboring communities of Walnut Creek and Concord, most of the activity is focused in the lower price ranges, although Walnut Creek shows a broader base of foreclosure activity.

Are Danville million dollar homes the last part of the market to see the bulk of foreclosure and short sale activity?  Does the small number of Danville homes for sale in the lower price ranges predict that the Danville homes for sale market will be among the first to emerge from the foreclosure glut in central Contra Costa County as new buyers enter the market?

We will keep a watchful eye on these trends as the Spring market comes into bloom!

 

See Danville Foreclosure Homes for sale

See ALL Danville homes for sale currently on the market 

 

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Lafayette Real Estate Market Trend

24 February 2011

Lafayette Real Estate Market Trend reports show that, as the nation continues to struggle through the worst real estate and financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Lafayette California real estate market continues to improve.

Take a look at the Supply/ Demand graph below, which charts Lafayette homes for sale and Lafayette condos and townhomes for sale versus the number of homes sold in Lafayette over the past three years.

Lafayette Real Estate Market Trend – Supply and Demand

Lafayette Real Estate Report - Supply v Demand

Both the Lafayette homes for sale (Supply) and the Lafayette homes sold (Demand) have shown a steady increase over the past three years

We can see a steady rise in the number of Lafayette residential homes for sale, but we can also see that these homes fed an increasing home buyer appetite, a good sign for the Lafayette CA real estate market as a whole.

Even more promising is the fact that the number of bank owned homes for sale, or “repo homes” as they are sometimes called, are down from their highs in Q2 2009 and have remained relatively flat throughout 2010.  The latest home sales figures for the last quarter of 2010 show that Lafayette foreclosure homes for sale are taking a larger market share of the overall Lafayette real estate market.

This could be a sign that Lafayette home buyers see these properties as bargains and are snapping them up and taking them off the market.

Since the last quarter of 2007, Lafayette home sales have increased 38%.  Typically, there is an increase in home sales from the last quarter of the previous year to the first quarter of the next, and this seasonal housing sales trend continues to the summer months.

Another important gauge of real estate market activity in Lafayette are the number of Lafayette homes for sale that went into contract.  Over the same period, Q4 2007 to Q4 2010, there has been an increase of 42% in market activity.

It should be noted, however, that the number of expired listings in Lafayette has also increased. A much smaller number of those homes for sale were bank-owned repo homes, suggesting that individual sellers were less realistic about home values that the typically more pragmatic banks.

With great schools, moderate weather, and close proximity to large employment centers such as San Francisco and Oakland, Lafayette has always been one of the most desireable East Bay Area communities.  Let’s hope these upward trends continue in our next Lafayette Real Estate Market Trends report.

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East Bay Foreclosures – February 2011

19 February 2011

East Bay Foreclosures - February 2011 shows California’s East Bay, as with the rest of the nation, has been clearly impacted by large numbers of foreclosure homes for sale.

Here we take a closer look at the magnitude of foreclosure homes and pre-foreclosure actions in Contra Costa County and Alameda County.  First, let’s look at the filings of foreclosure action in Contra Costa County:

East Bay Foreclosures - February 2011

Contra Costa County Foreclosure Filings

The East Bay Foreclosure Report for February 2011 shows a steady decline of foreclosure action until 2009

Notices of Default, the notification banks use to tell homeowners that they are in serious jeopardy of having their homes foreclosed on unless they bring their late payments current, seem to have come down dramatically since the highs of the first quarter of 2009.  Throughout 2010, the numbers of homes receiving these pre-foreclosure notices has remained relatively flat.

Notices of Sale, the notification banks use to tell the homeowner that there home is scheduled for sale on the Courthouse steps – or “Foreclosure Sale Notices” as they are someties called – have risen slightly over the third quarter of 2010 but are still lower than the one year ago.

Alameda County, the adjoining East Bay county, has similar results:


Alameda County Foreclosure Filings

Here we see a similar trend in reductions from the highs of Q1 2009 for Notices of Default.  However, the Notices of Sale have continued to drop throughout 2010.

Now let’s take a look at Foreclosure Inventories for both Alameda County and Contra Costa - bank-owned homes (or REO properties), pre-foreclosure homes, and homes scheduled for foreclosure sale:

Contra Costa County Foreclosure Inventories

Alameda County Foreclosure Inventories

As you can see, both Alameda County and Contra Costa County show similar trends – numbers of bank-owned homes have risen a little, homes scheduled for foreclosure sale have dropped slightly, and numbers of pre-foreclosure homes are about the same throughout 2010.

These bank-owned homes – or REO homes – will undoubtedly be returned to the local housing market as foreclosure homes for sale and marketed by brokers on the MLS.  The homes scheduled for sale will probably be short-sale homes sold by their owners, taken back by the bank, or sold to third-party investors on the Courthouse steps.

One way or another, they will be added to the current inventory and remain a stumbling block to any real home value appreciation until they are absorbed into the housing market.

It should be noted that, although the numbers for Alameda County and Contra Costa County foreclosure properties are similar, their percentage of the total homes in each county are rather different.  Alameda County has over 60% more homes than Contra Costa County, making Contra Costa foreclosure homes a larger portion of the total homes in that county.

In our next report on East Bay Foreclosures, we will look at which segment of California’s East Bay real estate market is most affected.

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Walnut Creek Foreclosures – February 2011

16 February 2011

Walnut Creek foreclosures have accounted for about 25% of the total market of sold properties over he past two years.

However, in January 2011, the precentage of Walnut Creek foreclosure homes - sometimes referred to as “Walnut Creek repo homes” - jumped to over 50% of the homes sold in Walnut Creek!

As the graph shows below, Walnut Creek foreclosures  – more specifically the homes that have had Notices of Default filed - have stubbornly maintained the same level throughout the past year after retreating from a high in mid 2009.

Walnut Creek Foreclosures  – February 2011 Report 

Notices of Sale, a precursor to a sale on the courthouse steps, have also shown a steady rise over the past two years.

Walnut Creek Foreclosures Filing

Foreclosure Filings for Walnut Creek Califonrnia, February 2011

As the next graph shows, there appears to be a disconnect between the Walnut Creek foreclosure homes purchased by third-parties, which has actually decreased, and the cancellations of foreclosure and the Walnut Creek repo homes.  Some good news in this graph might be the indication that banks are more willing to work with the current homeowners in Walnut Creek facing foreclosure as witnessed by the increase of cancellations of sale.

The homes in Walnut Creek taken back by the bank will no doubt re-appear in the form as a foreclosure listing in the near future – increasing the supply of Walnut Creek homes for sale on the real estate market.


Outcomes of Foreclosure Sales in Walnut Creek California

Outcomes of Foreclosure Sales in Walnut Creek California

In the next graph, we find Walnut Creek foreclosure homes entering the market, or about to enter the market, are appearing in ever increasing numbers.

Walnut Creek Foreclosures Inventories

Foreclosure Inventories for Walnut Creek California

With this large number of foreclosure homes in Walnut Creek commanding a larger share of the market overall, it is difficult to imagine and real appreciation due to the traditional engine of under-supply.

It seems that Walnut Creek foreclosurese will continue to be a major force in the local real estate market for months to come.

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Contra Costa Real Estate -What Buyers Are Really Buying

8 June 2010

Contra Costa Real Estate : Every year, the National Association of Realtors spends thousands of dollars on studies to figure out the answer to this question, “What do home buyers want?”

I could have told them over a fresh bear-claw and a cup of coffee.  And I’ll tell you for free!

Buyers buy to provide for their family’s happiness and security, access to local or community amenities, and proximity to employment.

When California Highways 680 and 580 widened and crossed each other in the late 80’s, it turned what was once weedy rolling hills into a huge Real Estate development project.  Homes were built by the thousands, turning sleepy little Pleasanton and the attending communities of San Ramon, Dublin, and Livermore into boom towns.  In only a few years time, this area grew into massive housing projects and large shopping centers, built to tend to the needs of the new population.

Why did they want to live there all of a sudden?

Because these new, wider freeways shortened the commute to San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland.  There is an old adage in Real Estate that goes “Drive ‘til you qualify!” This area became, almost overnight, a commuter suburb of those employment centers.  Before this, it was simply too far to drive.

Why people are buying Contra Costa real estate

Why do people sell their souls to live in a 60 year-old tar-and-gravel-roofed house in Lafayette when they can have a larger, newer home for a third of the price elsewhere?

Because Lafayette has some of the best schools in the nation and very low crime.

Why has Pleasant Hill suddenly awakened from being a sleepy little wide spot in the road to a viable alternative to neighboring Concord and Walnut Creek?

The addition of a downtown shopping area, reclaimed from an area of auto repair, contractor, and cabinet shops has added the shopping amenities that the city needed to be able to take itself seriously.  It provides a community identity and enhanced quality of life for the local residents.  Suddenly, it is “cool” to live in Pleasant Hill!

You can add-on and remodel until you are blue on the thumb, but you will NEVER be able to add those three intangibles.

Buyers describe the home they just purchased as a X bedroom, Y bathroom, Z square foot home…

But what they really wanted was as much of those three things in the third paragraph as they can afford. That explains why Contra Costa real estate is in big demand.

Click here to read about how “Curb Appeal” affects your decision of which home to buy.

Click here to find your “Dream Home”!

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View From The Top in Happy Valley Lafayette

8 May 2010

Happy Valley Lafayette – I hope I look this good when I’m 71 years old!  I hope I have this much going for me when I reach that ripe old age, too!  This pre-WWII beauty is really something, even at this age.

1093 Upper Happy Valley Road, Lafayette is one of those old-money, “only the right people”-kind of homes that let’s you know you have finally made it.

Who cares how many bedrooms or bathrooms (’4″ and “4″, if you must know!) it has or how big the lot happens to be (16,100 ”eat-your-heart-out” square feet of landscaped and stone-pathed elegance).

And don’t bother me with wondering how much living space it has (3598 for you accountants out there) – THIS IS UPPER HAPPY VALLEY!

Blah-blah-blah pro-level kitchen, Jacuzzi, wine cellar, etc., etc.

Just look at the photos and find a way to get the money.

Congratulations – You made it!

Please note: This listing is active as of May 6, 2010.  If you are viewing it after that date, it may be pending or sold and will not show.

However, if you would like more information on this home, or if you would like to see the LATEST listings in Contra Costa County, please contact me at mailto: Bob@RobertLilley.comand I will happy to send an update directly to you!

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 40464847 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

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