Palo Alto Off Market Sales, Why Are They Increasing?

Palo Alto Off Market Sales, Why Are They Increasing?

As you all know, off market sales are increasing in all cities along the Peninsula and especially in areas such as Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Atherton, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.  There are many reasons and each seller and agent might have a different opinion on why they want to choose to sell their home off market instead of thru the MLS.  One reason that is being discussed frequently is the surge in popularity with the IDX sites, such as Trulia, Zillow, Red Fin etc.  Many agents are choosing not to syndicate their listings or even keep the home off market because of how those sites operate.  They are very informative for the consumer and have great information, however, the downside is that they are using our listings to sell advertising.  They are making millions of dollars off of agents advertising and hard work, while the agents typically don’t get anything in return.  It would be great to see some statistics on how many people actually buy a house because they saw it on Zillow or Trulia, but those statistics don’t exist.  So, the thinking is that 99% of the people who visit the sites aren’t making a purchase based on seeing the home on the site, but typically get the info from their agent.

Many agents don’t like it because the online sites charge other agents to put their picture/ad next to our listing so the consumer believes the advertised agent is really the listing agent.  So, agents who do a lot of business and get high end listings don’t always want somebody else’s picture next to their multi million dollar listing, so they are choosing to keep the home off market.

Is this the reason for the surge in off market listings in the area?  Who knows, but it’s one reason that the IDX sites are the center of discussion as the various MLS’s are hearing complaints from their members and the MLS’s are losing control of their listing data.  The future of these sights are unknown, but anybody who goes on them quite a bit also knows the information they provide is not always accurate nor up to date.  The only place buyers can get the real information is from their real estate agents, and that won’t change no matter what happens to the popularity of the online sites.  Do you use the various sites and have you ever made a purchase based on seeing it on Trulia or Zillow?

 

Atherton Estate on Market by Car Dealership Mogul

Atherton Estate on Market by Car Dealership Mogul

Local celebrity car dealership president lists his Atherton 5BD custom home for $15.8M.  The home is beautifully designed and built with lots of custom features, a guest house and pool.  It is one of the best built homes you will see as they have spared no expense in getting the home customized to their liking.  Bernard L. Magnussen and Sandra R. Magnussen are the sellers and their homes is a five-bedroom, 4.5-bath home at 390 Stevick Drive in Atherton.

The 8,111-square-foot home in West of Alameda was built in 2008. It is located in the Polhemus Manor subdivision.

Bernard Magnussen is the president of Magnussen Dealership Group, an automotive dealership in Northern California with corporate offices in Menlo Park.

If you want more information on this home, please contact me and I can set you up with the listing agent.

 

Off Market Home For Sale in Menlo Park

Off Market Home For Sale in Menlo Park

There is a nice home for sale that is off market and in the Sharon Park area of Menlo Park.  The house has been remodeled extensively and has 3,804 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths and is located on a single level.  The home was remodeled in 2010 and they have put in wonderful fixtures, decor, appliances and overall designer touches throughout.  It’s in the Los Lomitas school district and the price is $3,895,000.

Off market listings are very common these days and probably 30% of deals being completed in our area are off market. Off market homes are the secret talk of the town as the bigger agencies have more of them in hand than do the smaller brokerages.

If you are interested to know more about this listing or other off market listings and are not represented by an agent, please give me a call or send me an email and I can help you find homes before they hit the market.

 

May 2012 Real Estate Sales Figures for Atherton

May 2012 Real Estate Sales Figures for Atherton

Luxury Real Estate along the Peninsula continued to show increases across the board for the month of May 2012 compared to May 2011.  Everybody knows that prices have been on the rise partly due to the Facebook effect and the number of buyers that are out there looking.  Atherton is an area not usually associated with the young, mainly single, group of buyers from Facebook as they are looking more towards Palo Alto or the urban living of the City.  So, when you see sales figures for Atherton rise, it’s a good sign for overall growth of the area and jobs growing, companies making money and international buyers still coming to the area.

The average list price for May 2012 in Atherton was $6,732,000 and last year the average list price for May was $4,389,000.  That’s a 53% increase from year to year.  The more important number, average sales price, was $5,303,000 this May and $4,420,000 last May, an increase this year of 19%.  Both years had a total of 7 sales for the month (on market sales) and this year had 23 new listings in May compared to 16 last year, an increase of 43%.  The average price per square foot this year hit the 4 digit mark with an average of $1,092 while last year had an average for the month of $882 per square foot.

I’ll keep an eye on the sales, let me know if you would like me to send you automatic updates of closed sales or anything else that might be of interest to you.

Palo Alto Real Estate Stats for May, 2012

Palo Alto Real Estate Stats for May, 2012

All the key numbers for Palo Alto real estate were up for the month of May 2012 compared to the same month a year ago.  The average list price in May 2012 was $2,359,000, which is up 37% from last years number of $1,721,000. The average sales price was up 21% as the average for this past month was $1,955,000 compared to $1,613,000 a year ago.   That is a huge jump for a one year period and shows the strength of luxury real estate in the area.  There has been a good six months of Facebook secondary market money out there buying homes, so that could be a good reason for the jump.

There was a total of 56 sales for the month that took an average of 16 days to sell.  Last year was 55 sales with an average of 21 days to sell.

There is some signs of relief as there were 75 new listings for the month compared to 58 a year ago, an increase of 29%. Buyer are finally getting some options to look at as inventory is at about 2.3 months of supply.  These next two months will be interesting to watch as there is still a lot of multiple bids happening, but will it still occur as much now that there is more inventory.  My gut tells me it will on the right homes, but not everybody will enjoy the multiple offer situations.

I’ll put out a video tonight that shows all the stats, check back later.

 

My Contact Information

Gary Kurtz
949.565.5201
gkurtz@homgroup.com
BRE# 01710776

Kathy Kurtz
714.394.2676
kathyk213@aol.com
BRE# 01876966

HOM Sotheby's International Realty
1200 Newport Center Drive, # 100
Newport Beach, CA 92660

949.565.5201 (cell)
949.478.7769 (office)
650.796.5507 (Silicon Valley #)

Contact me now with any questions:
gkurtz@homgroup.com

Kurtz Real Estate Group




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