What Makes an Amazing Ocean View?

We are lucky to live in an area that has Ocean View properties. Some have "peeks" of the ocean, others a horizon view, while only a few select homes have what I would call AMAZING Ocean Views.

Here's my criteria a home needs to have an AMAZING Panoramic Ocean View.

1) Elevation
The higher a home, the better the panoramic view. You get a completely different view with a home at 100 feet above sea level vs. 150 feet. To have an amazing view, a home should be over 250 feet above sea level.

2) Unobstructed View
There are homes with high elevation who have an ocean view ruined by power poles and/or cables that go right through the view. An amazing view is one that doesn't have any obstructions in them. Besides power cables, trees and the neighbor homes can also block a view.

3) Large View Decks
If I had an amazing ocean view, I'd want a deck big enough where I (and my guests) can really enjoy it.

4) Plenty to see with a zoom lens, telescope, or spotting scope
I'd want the ability to watch surfers, see the waves break, look for whales, birds, and whatever else is interesting. Here's an article that describes the different scopes

5) Wake Up to an Ocean View
The Master Bedroom should have a ocean view that I can see while laying in bed.

Ok, maybe it was easy to create the above list since I took some photos tonite of an upcoming listing with the best Ocean View I've seen in a long time from a home.

Following are a couple panorama photos I took today. Daytime and after sunset (click thumbnail for larger photo). What a beautiful night in Morro Bay!







Stay tuned...we'll have more info about this listing very soon!

6-month Median Home Prices

Here is a median home price comparison between 1st Half of 2009 vs. 1st Half of 2008.

Central Coast MLS Statistics - June 2009 - Residential

June 2009
Includes SLO County + Santa Maria/Orcutt
(Last months data is also included - June (May)

New Listings - 623 (564)
Back on Market - 253 (260)
Price Changes -591 (618)
Contingent - 487 (245)
Pendings - 467 (526)
Solds - 445 (364)
Expireds - 276 (235)
Inactives/Withdrawns - 179 (433)

From these statistics, it looks like June was not a great month for Home Sellers. Pending Sales dropped over 10% compared to May's sales activity. New Listings jumped over 10% too which should make an impact on inventory levels. I'll be running the inventory reports later to see where each city stands.

Templeton Listing is Pending Sale!

After just 8 days on the market, our Templeton listing (www.756Forest.com) is Pending Sale. In that period of time, our property website received 631 unique visitors and we had 7 offers submitted.

I told you all that it wouldn't last on the market for long!

Don't Miss Out This Time!

The Buyer for this home was unable to close escrow so it's back on the market. Don't miss out on this ocean view home this time around!

See details, photos, and video at

www.1330CostaDelSol.com

Oregon Eagles

My wife and I endured a 13 hour car ride from Oregon today to get back to the good ole' Central Coast. I think we're getting used to long car rides since it wasn't that bad.

I took a bunch of photos of our stay at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge in Oregon. We went on a 104 mile jet boat ride on the Rogue river on Sunday which is where we saw this pair of eagles sitting in a tree.

Surf's Up in Morro Bay

(submitted by one of our North Coast Agents)

On a perfect day- you will see them spotted all along the coast.
Just north of the rock is where I often find what I think of as the experienced surfers. Whether or not the waves are actually higher and more intense near the rock- I don't know, however, they certainly look more dramatic as they crash over it. Another favorite area is just off the Morro Strand State park - possibly became of it's easy access. And not to be forgotten- Cayucos pier, just 6 miles north of the rock, is another great location for surfers and surfing viewers alike.

Wall Street Journal Article on California Home Prices

The Wall Street Journal echoed the Realtor Association report that California median home prices were on the upswing in this article. They did say that one explanation to the higher median home prices was that fewer foreclosures were being sold, which typically have lower median home prices.

June is the end of the 2nd quarter so I'll be doing quarterly median home price reports for each city after the end of this month. Hopefully, this data and the other reports I do can shed some light on how our local real estate market is doing.

Greetings from I-5

I moved my oldest daughter up to Seattle and my wife and I are now on our way back to the good ole' Central Coast. We're zooming down I-5 in Washington approaching the Oregon border. I'm using my blackberry connected to my laptop right now and this method of connecting to the Internet has worked well the entire trip. There's been ample cell coverage on I-5 whenever I've wanted to connect. I pay Verizon $29/month for the service and I can cancel and start it up again whenever I want (no monthly/yearly commitment!). Lots better than the USB modem I used to have with them that costs $39/month and has a yearly commitment.

We're going to stop at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge on the Rogue river in Southern Oregon to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary which we're really looking forward to. We also don't have the U-Haul trailer attached to the back which is making the trip go a lot faster already!

North Coast Projects Update

Los Osos

Construction of the sewer project is now scheduled to begin in 2010 and to be completedby 2012. The property owner assessment, which can be paid out over 20 years, will not be applied to the property tax bills until December of 2010.

Morro Bay/Cayucos

The upgrade of the existing sewer system that services Morro Bay and Cayucos is to be completed by 2014.

Cambria

The de-salinization project has received $2.4 million dollars from the
national stimulus package.

This information was provided by representatives of San Luis Obispo
County, the City of Morro Bay and the CCSD, Cambria Community Service
District at our last bi-monthly Realtor meeting in Morro Bay.

New Templeton 4 Bedroom Listing

Our last four listings sold within 2 weeks of going on the market and this new Templeton listing is yet another premier home from the Keith Byrd Team. 4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms and priced at $329,900 with lots of upgrades and remodels. This home is MOVE-IN ready!

Check out the property website. 17 photos plus our exclusive Fly-Through Video in High Definition.

www.756Forest.com

Light, Bright and Airy Home Staging Tips

Summer Selling Tips! Here are some tips that I teach all of my clients to keep in mind during the summer months.

• If its hot where you live, leave the A/C on for showings - at a nice comfortable temperature, not too hot and not too cold!
• Make sure you groom your yard! Keep all flowers and grass nicely trimmed and living if at all possible!
• Spread bark chips around plants, it looks more manicured and it helps conserve water.
• Make sure to ventilate your home during the cool hours of the day, so that your home smell doesn't get stagnant.
• Make sure that your house can always be "show ready" in 2 hours or less.
• Keep spider webs and bugs under control.
• Clean your windows.
• Showcase your views!
• Water house plants a little more often- dead house plants are not buyer friendly!

Happy Home Selling! To contact me directly, please email me at: shannon@LightBrightandAiry.com or check out my website at www.LightBrightandAiry.com

I Liked the Hangover Movie

I went and saw the movie Hangover on Friday and then saw it again with my wife on Saturday. Of all the movies I've seen lately, this one was worth it. Laughed all the way through (both times!). I think it's going to be one of those that I can watch over and over again on DVD.

New Status Field Added to Property Details

Recently, our MLS added a new field to our data file called Status and I believe we are the only Central Coast real estate website to display this info for properties. When you display the details for a property, you'll now see "StatusType" displayed at the end of the list under "Additional Features".

The possible choices for StatusType are:

Active
Contingent
Contingent REO
Contingent SS (Short Sale)

Active means that the property is on the market with no accepted offers.

Contingent means that there is an accepted offer but it is contingent on something else happening (usually a property the Buyer has that has to sell first). Someone else can submit an offer on a contingent property and if the Seller likes the new offer better, they can allow the first Buyer an opportunity to remove their contingency. If they can't/won't, the Seller can cancel the first offer and accept the new offer.

Contingent REO is used at the time the bank/asset manager gives a verbal acceptance. The property is then changed to Pending when the listing agent receives a fully executed purchase contract. When a property goes to Pending status, it no longer appears on the MLS Search.

Contingent-SS is used at the time the seller signs a purchase contract for a Short Sale listing. It's changed to Pending when the listing agent receives written short sale lender approval.

The StatusType field is particularly useful in Short Sales because banks can take months to respond to submitted purchase contracts.

We will be enhancing our REO and Short Sale Listing Reports to indicate the Status of these properties on the report as well.

Median Home Price Article

As I predicted earlier this month, I read an article yesterday about the median home price in SLO County increasing that didn't mention anything about a lower percentage of REO homes (with much lower median home prices) as being a reason.

Another article about the median home prices going up in SF and LA did include that more higher-end homes selling in May was the reason for this.

"The jump was attributed to an increase in sales of homes financed by "jumbo" mortgages above $417,000. Sales of homes requiring jumbo mortgages accounted for 25.5 percent of the Bay Area's home sales in May, the highest since October."

Auctions Revisited

I heard through the grapevine that someone might try to generate interest in listings that aren't selling by listing them at a low price on the MLS and classifying them as an auction. The idea is to get offers but the Seller can reject all of them if they are not what the Seller wants, even if they are way above what the list price is on the MLS.

If you're a Seller and considering something like this you'll want to be careful when using the MLS. If you put your home on the MLS at a price and another agent brings in an offer from a Buyer at that list price, the Seller may be liable to pay the Buyer Agent a commission even if you don't take that offer. The minimum that will happen is that you'll make a lot of Buyers and Buyer Agents unhappy that they are wasting their time putting offers together that the Seller won't consider taking.

If a home isn't selling, there are reasons for that. Trying a marketing gimmick using the MLS isn't the route I'd take. I'd identify the reasons why it isn't selling and fix those things.

Interesting REO Opportunities

A couple REOs came on the market recently in SLO County neighorhoods that haven't had that many. Check out our New Listings report. The REOs have the city name in blue.

Mid-month MLS Stats Check

Through yesterday (15th) for SLO County:

New Residential Listings - 214
Pending - 142
Back on Market - 99


The following table lists the homes that have gone Pending Sale in SLO County since June 1st.

73 Percent of California Foreclosures Delayed

According to Foreclosure Radar's May 2009 California Report, Lendors have voluntarily delayed 73% of scheduled foreclosures.

Download and read their PDF report here

Guadalupe Restaurant On Short List

The Far Western Tavern in Guadalupe is on Sunset Magazines "Top 10 Barbecues in the West". I've never been there but will plan on checking it out sometime this summer!

Go to the Far Western website

Tire Pros - SLO

I want to give a shout out to Tire Pros on Higuera in San Luis Obispo (by Smart and Final). I took my daughters shopping in downtown SLO today and noticed my tire pressure warning light was on my new Prius. Turns out there was a nail in one of my back tires. I stopped by Tire Pros and they fixed it within the time they said it would take them. They also wouldn't accept payment for the flat fix and just asked me to remember them when I needed tires.

Thanks Tire Pros!

Cuesta/Stewart Title Sued by 400 investors

The Tribune just posted an article on their website about a suit against Cuesta Title (Stewart Title) by 400 investors alleging they aided Hurst Financial in a Ponzi scheme.

Read the article here

Flood of Foreclosures

For a few months now, there has been talk that the banks have been holding off putting foreclosures(REOs) on the market and that there will be a flood of them "coming soon". I've been monitoring some Realtor message boards and agents around the country have yet to see indication that the banks are (or soon are) releasing the flood. Some think the banks won't release a ton of them at once which will just drive down prices yet again which wouldn't be a good business decision for the banks. Maybe they are waiting to see if inventory levels decrease before releasing them?

If you monitor our New Listings report, you'll see that we do have REOs (the ones with the city name in blue) coming on the market but they've been pretty constant.

Not sure what the answer is....

A Selling Service that SELLS Homes!

Our Listing Service we launched in April is proving to do something few agents are able to do these days....sell homes! Our listing service focuses on:

1. Great presentation (photography, video, 2 custom property websites)
2. Great exposure (announced on our blog, posted on our MLS search which is displayed over 12,000 times a day, and other ways we have to get listings seen by Buyers!)
3. Pricing it right (market value)

Here's our track record:

271 Pondersosa, Nipomo- 2 days on market, sold for $20K over asking price
(271Ponderosa.com)

2525 Lupine Canyon, Avila Beach - 3 days on market, sold for asking price
(2525LupineCanyon.com)

1330 Costa Del Sol, Pismo Beach - 12 days on market, Pending Sale
(1330CostaDelSol.com)

128 Flag Way, Paso Robles - 7 days on market, Pending Sale
(128Flag.com)

Stay tuned...we've got a great property in Templeton coming on the market soon.

If you're interested in selling, give us a call and you can interview us and we can preview your property and tell you what we can do to sell your home. We won't tell you things just to get you to sign a listing agreement. You'll also get TWO Realtors working to sell your home. I (Keith) handle the marketing and one of my local expert agents handles the rest of the transaction. Our goal is to get as much money in your pocket!

It's easy to evaluate a Realtor's listing service. Compare the photography and presentation of the home against other Realtor's listings on the market. You can also Google the property address of a home on the market and see what shows up.

The property websites for our listings average over 200 visitors the first week they go on the market. I know of no other listing service that can provide this level of exposure so if getting your home in front of Buyer's is important to you, give us a call!

Prank Phone Call Causes Damage to SLO Hotel

There is someone prank calling hotels and getting them to set off fire sprinklers, sound an alarm or bust windows.

Of the 8 cases reported nationwide, one happened at the Confort Inn and Suites in San Luis Obispo causing major damage when the fire sprinklers were activated.

Read the entire article here

Home Auctions

You've probably heard about auctions that happen on the courthouse steps before some properties go into foreclosure. These are risky in that you buy them as-is, with no guarantees that there is a clear title so you may also be buying some debt associated with the home. Plus, you need to have the cash to buy them.

I've been getting emails lately advertising another type of home auction by a local auction company. Reading the fine print, here's some things I found interesting.

- The winning bid pays a 10% "Buyers Premium" over the accepted bid price. While they don't say it, it's like the Buyer is paying a 10% commission.

- You need to give them a 10% deposit within 48 hours.

- There are no inspection contingencies like the 17-day one you typically negotiate in the purchase contract. You're buying the home as-is so doing a pest or home inspection after the bid will only tell the Buyer how much more they will need to spend. They do say this though "Go to at least one of the property previews and inspect the property before bidding."

- There are no finance or appraisal contingencies. If the Buyer can't get a loan in time to close within 30 days, sounds like you may lose the 10% deposit.

- The seller determines the reserve for the auction which Bidders don't know about.
All they tell you is if your bid met the reserve.

- The seller doesn't even have to take the high bid. All the auction does is present the highest bid to the seller for final approval.

Goodbye High School, Hello College!

My youngest 2 daughters graduated from high school tonite (my youngest graduated a year early). One is headed to UC Santa Cruz, the other to Chico State. My oldest is finishing up her BS in psychology this year and then is going to pursue medical school in Seattle. Here's a photo of me and my 4 treasures!

Our New High-water Mark for MLS Searches

The following is a screen capture of a graph that I get from one of my MLS searches. This shows the number of page views over the last 30 days. A page view is counted when someone performs a MLS search and when they view a property detail page.

Yesterday (the 10th), we exceeded 15,000 MLS Search page views in a single day!!

I can also view details on what is currently being searched. As of a few minutes ago, there were 5 of you searching on the site but that's not unusual. I can go view the stats and find one or more people searching the MLS at any given time throughout the day and most of the night. Searches usually don't slow down until after midnight.

2008 SLO County Assessor Report

The 2008 report from the San Luis Obispo County Assessor is now available online. You can download the PDF report here.

Mac Book for College

With two of my daughters graduating from high school tomorrow, it's time to get them ready to go to college. For a graduation gift, I promised both of them a laptop. One of my daughters wanted a Mac, the other didn't really care.

I've been looking at Mac's and seeing what educational promotions the college bookstores were having that they are going to attend. I ended up buying 2 Mac Books yesterday from the downtown SLO Mac store and thought I'd share this in case any of you are looking for a good deal on a Mac.

The Mac store will honor educational pricing and promotions. All you need to do is show them a school ID or the acceptance letter. Two days ago, Apple announced some new Mac Books so the one's they are replacing have gone down in price.

We ended up getting the 13" Mac Book with aluminum case. It was $1299, lowered to $1099 as of yesterday. It also had a $100 educational discount which brought it down to $999. They also have $100 rebates on printers so if you get a $99 printer, you'll get that back in the rebate so it's really close to a free printer (tax brings it over $100).

In addition, they have a promotion that if you buy a Mac for college, you get a free IPod Touch (actually it's any IPOD you want). This too is a rebate so you'll pay the tax on the $229 IPod Touch.

What's nice about the Mac Store is that the guy helping us filled out the rebate info online for us so we left without having to remember to do that.

So, a MacBook, an IPod Touch, and a printer for a total cost around $1050. Not bad!