Go Between
The other night, while I was working on a crossword puzzle, I came across an interesting clue. It was “Go between”. The word was five letters long and began with an “a”. As you might guess, the answer was “agent”. It gave me pause to think of our activities as real estate agents, and I think it’s a pretty apt description.
We are the “go between” between our client’s desires and their reality. If our client is a buyer, we are taking their expressed dreams and helping them to find a place that will hold them. If our client is a seller, we are working with the changes in their lives motivating them to sell and helping them to achieve their goals. We are the “go between”.
I always express that we are helping our clients with transitions that involve how they live and work and that we are in the “Transition Management” business. As our clients go through their transitions, we are the “go between” that deals with the real estate part of the equation.
So, the next time that someone asks me what I do for a living, I’m going to say “I’m a Go Between” and see what kind of reaction I get. Have fun!
Wine Country Group Results for April 2012:
The Wine Country Group had 72 closings this April compared to 65 in March 2011. Our dollar volume was $43.1 million compared to $32.3 million last year. These are both record amounts for a month of April going back to 2005. Our Sebastopol office led our offices with 20 closings while the Santa Rosa and Healdsburg offices had 17. The Healdsburg office led in dollar volume, however, with $112 million in sales. Sebastopol had $70 million in sales and Santa Rosa achieved $50 million. Our average closing sales price was $563,893 comparing to $436,529 a year ago, so that’s an improvement of 29% in average sales price. It is the highest average selling price for the month of April going back to April 2008. Our escrow openings totaled 72 units compared to 69 last year and we had 36 new listings compared to 44 a year ago. Listings are still lagging.
The Wine Country Group currently has 95 pending sales with a value of $54 million dollars which is consistent with the pending dollar volume over the past twelve months. We have 188 active listings with a value of $150 million dollars. That’s an average listing price of $798,000.
The Wine Country Group currently enjoys number one market share (in either (or both) units and dollar volume) in our Cloverdale, Healdsburg, and Sebastopol markets. We are the second largest real estate firm in the North Bay based on the last twelve months of dollar volume of sales.
April, 2012 – Wine Country Market Analysis
Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (990) in Sonoma County at the end of April was 55% lower than last year (2,207) and 4% lower than the supply last month (1,032). This is the first time that the inventory of available homes in the County has fallen below 1,000 units since March 2005, seven years ago. The decline in inventory reversed itself in both Napa and Marin Counties in April, but did not do so yet in Sonoma County. New sales in April (702) were 31% ahead of the pace in April 2011 (537) and they were 10% ahead of the pace of last month (640). This is the highest level of sales for any month since June 2005. There is only a 1.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – a continuing indication of what we would normally call a strong “seller’s market”. The median price of homes closed in April in Sonoma County was $324,000 and was 8% higher than homes sold a year ago. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 18% of the available inventory (continuing to decrease), 49% of new sales (a lower percentage than last month) and 44% of closings for the month. There is only a one half months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace. The median price of the distressed homes sold in the month was $260,000, 8% ahead of last year.
Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (39) at the end of April 2012 was 49% below that of a year ago (76) and was equal to the inventory last month (37). Sales for the month of April (18) were 20% ahead of the pace of a year ago (15) and were 10% below of the new sales reported last month (20). There is a 2.2 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales. 18% of the inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 50% of the new sales and 36% of the closings for the month are distressed properties.
Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (72) in Healdsburg at the end of April was down 48% from that of last year (139) and slightly below that of last month (78). Inventory has leveled off since the first of the year. New sales (22) were up 57% from the 14 new sales in April 2011 and down 24% from the 29 sales last month. There is a 3.3 months supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace. Only 4% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 23% of the new sales were distressed properties and 19% of the closings were distressed properties. There is a 0.8 months supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties. These are the lowest ratios of distressed properties in all of Wine Country.
Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (93) in Petaluma at the end of April was 64% lower than a year ago (255) and was 19% higher than the supply last month (78). New sales in April (68) were 3% lower than that of the pace in April 2011 (70) and they were 17% lower than the pace of last month (82). Petaluma is the only area in Wine Country with lower sales year over year. Still, there is only a 1.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 16% of the available inventory, 51% of new sales and 52% of closings for the month.
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (320) in Santa Rosa at the end of April was 61% lower than a year ago (810) and 6% lower than the supply last month (342). This is the lowest level of inventory in Santa Rosa since January 2005. New sales in March (309) were 34% ahead of the pace in April 2011 (230) and they were 18% ahead of the pace of last month (262). New sales equaled inventory, creating a one months supply of available homes. This is the highest level of new sales for Santa Rosa for any month since June 2005. The median price of homes closed in April in Santa Rosa was $281,000 compared to $265,000 a year ago – an increase of 6%. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 25% of the available inventory, 54% of new sales and 48% of closings for the month. There is only one half months supply of distressed properties available.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (71) in Sebastopol at the end of April was 40% lower than that of April 2011 (119) and it was 8% lower than that of last month (77). There were 37 new sales for the month. This is 37% ahead of the pace of a year ago (27) and 48% ahead of the pace of the last month. This is the highest rate of sales for Sebastopol for any month since June 2006. There is a 1.9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties represent 11% of the inventory, 27% of the new sales for the month and 13% of the closings. There is just 0.8 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (137) at the end of April in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 49% from the month of April 2011 (269). It was slightly lower than a month ago (141). There were 64 new sales for the month. That is 23% higher than that of a year ago (52) and 12% ahead of that of last month (57). This is the highest level of new sales in the Sonoma Valley since May 2005. There is currently a 2.1 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in April represent 11% of the inventory, 38% of the new sales and 41% of the closings. The impact of distressed sales on the market continues to decline and there is only a 0.6% months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Windsor (34) at the end of April was 69% lower than the inventory (111) in April 2011 and was 28% below the 47 units available last month. This is the lowest inventory in Windsor since February 2005. There were 53 new sales of homes and condominiums in Windsor in April, which is 56% higher than the 34 sales in April of 2011 and 9% lower than the sales last month (58). There is just 0.6 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace making Windsor the “tightest” market in all of Wine Country. 32% of the available inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) while 49% of the new sales and 57% of the closings for the month are distressed properties. The market seems to be rapidly absorbing all distressed properties that come on the market each month.
Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale at the end of April in Napa County (464) was 42% below the inventory (800) at this time last year and was 5% higher than the inventory in March (441). The decline in inventory has reversed after eight months. New sales (191) were 31% ahead of the pace of a year ago (148) and equal to that of last month (189). The months of inventory available at the current sales pace is 2.4 months. The median price of homes closed ($343,000) was 11% higher than the median price of a year ago ($310,000). 15% of the current listings in Napa County are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 52% of the new sales and 41% of the closed sales for the month are distressed properties. There is only a 0.7 months supply of distressed properties on the market based on the current sales pace.
The City of Napa figures generally mirror the County figures. The inventory (278) is off 41.8% from a year ago (478). New sales (118) are 30% ahead of a year ago and 6% below that of last month (126). There is 2.4 months of available inventory at the current sales pace. The median price for homes closed in Napa in the month of March was $329,000, just 1% ahead of a year ago ($325,000) and generally in trend with the prices over the past twelve months. The City has similar ratios with regard to the impact of distressed properties on the market. There is only a 0.7 months supply of distressed properties.
St. Helena/Up Valley Trends: The St. Helena/Up Valley market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville), inventory at the end of March was 149 units, down 33% from 223 a year ago and up slightly from last month (142). There were 34 new sales in the month of April compared to 19 in April of last year and 23 in March. This is the highest level of new sales in the Up Valley since July 2005. It is heartening to see the upper end market responding after such a long drought. Just 9% of the inventory consists of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 26% (9) of the new sales for the month were distressed properties and 29% of the closed sales were distressed properties. These are lower ratios than all other Wine Country markets except Healdsburg.
Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from April 1 to April 30, 2012:
In our Cloverdale office, Ron and Jane Pavelka had one closing.
In our Healdsburg office: Ann Amtower had three closings; Bernie Curley and Deke Dekay and Diane Harris had two closings each; Penelope La Montagne, Linda Farwell, Maria Avila, Michael Downes, Dee Grohmann, Beth Bruno, Perry Hardin, Kent Mitchell, Tom Lawrence, Debby Hendershot, Carol Lexa, Judy Csimma and Gina Cleaver each had a closing.
In our Napa office: Rianne Pasquariello enjoyed a closing.
In our Petaluma office: Karen Karlow enjoyed two closings; Shawn Macaulay, Patty Moore, Charlotte Minahan and Ellen Lesher each had a closing.
In our Santa Rosa offices: Carlos Rivas of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate had a very busy month closing eleven leases; Larry Tristano and Charles Himes enjoyed four closings; Donald Hamilton enjoyed three transactions; Tommy Apostilides, Cheri Johnke, and Deborah Gray had two closings; and Jim Famini, Jeff Bounsall, Sandy Swallow, Christine Hamilton, Jane Duggan and Jill Rake each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Lori Sacco, Gloria Epperson, Sandy Mays, William Kent, Pauline Pellini and Doug Schaeffer and Cary Fargo had two closings each; Laurie Parris, Deborah Melancon, Cheryl Ellis, Pam Buda, Jeanne Woods, Sarah Hylton, Lindsey and Gary Kennedy, Richard Petersen, Bill Cole, Chris Nelson, Kristine Downing and Monty Delozier each had a closing.
In our Sonoma office: Sheila Deignan enjoyed three closings; Joyce Davison, Diane Litchfield and Cece Hugo each had two closings; Michael Crain, Herb Heil, Diane Krause, Tish Thames and Sue Simon each had a closing.
And, in our St. Helena office: Linda Alioto and Liz Manfree each had a closing for this period.
Congratulations to all!