The sun was shining in Marin today and the temperature was a balmy 72 degrees. The state of the real estate market is not balmy or hot, but should have many looking at the numbers and thinking whether they should sit on the side lines for a few more months. As I have said many times Marin is made up of many micro real estate climates so it is important to look at each community to the signs of the strength or weakness of that particular market. Here are some of the highlights of the Marin Real Estate market for the week.

There are 884 single family homes actively being marketed by real estate brokerage companies, which do not include a small percentage being marketed privately and those for sale by owners. Of these homes 178 are in contract with buyers which represent 20 % of the total. As an index for Marin overall anything 20% or less is a balanced market leaning towards a buyer’s market. The other number to look at is the Average Days on Market (ADOM). This tells you how long it has taken a home on the average to go “Hard” with the buyer. Going hard meaning that the buyer has released all of their due diligence contingencies and is awaiting closing. The ADOM for those active lisitngs was 85.

The ADOM for homes in the following price points are as follows:

Up to $1,000,000                       79

$1,000,000 to $1,500,000          78

$1,501,000 to $2,500,000          84

$2,501,000 to $3.000, 000         99

$3,001,000 and above              122

The ADOM for homes sold from January 1, 2007 to October 31, 2007 is 70. My estimation is that days on market that are shown on the MLS are 30% less than actual, as once a home is listed and then removed from the MLS for at least 30 days the days on market resets to zero./p>

You should expect to allocate 90 to 120 days, or more depending on the location of the home, to close escrow once you put your home on the market assuming you are realistic about the price and that the house shows well. If you would like more information about specific areas of Marin please email or call me at 415-297-9000.