Population: 57,146

Size: 16.5 square miles

Annual operating budget: $73 million

Number of dwellings: 19,000

Median home price, June 2005: $987,500

CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Al Boro and council members Cyr Miller, Barbara Heller, Paul Cohen and Gary Phillips. The council meets at 8 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of the month at City Hall.

City Hall: City Manager Ken Nordhoff, 485-3070; Community Development Director Bob Brown, 485-3090; Public Works Director Andrew Preston, 485-3355; Community Services Director Carlene McCart, 485-3340; City Clerk Jeanne Leoncini, 485-3065; Special Events Coordinator Brian Auger 485-3465; City Attorney Gary Ragghianti, 485-3080. City Hall is at 1400 Fifth Ave.

Police: Police Chief, 485-3009, oversees a 125-member police department. Headquarters: City Hall, 1400 Fifth Ave.

Fire: Fire Chief John Montenero, 485-3304, oversees a 89-member firefighting force that also provides paramedic services. Headquarters: 1039 C St.

Library: The library, 485-3323, is at 1100 E St. It is open Monday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Sundays.

Chamber of Commerce: CEO Tallia Hart, 454-4163. Headquarters: 817 Mission Ave.

Schools: San Rafael high school and elementary schools Superintendent Laura Alvarenga, 492-3233. Headquarters: 310 Nova Albion Way. Also: Dixie School District Superintendent Thomas Lohwasser, 380 Nova Albion Way, 492-3700.

Garbage service: Marin Sanitary Service, 1050 Andersen Drive, San Rafael, 456-2601.

Population: 9,100

Size: 4 square miles, plus tidelands

Annual budget: $21.6 million

Number of households: 3,776

Median home price, June 2005: $1,155,000

Town Hall: Town Manager Jay Tashiro, 927-5050; Town Clerk Christine Green, 927-5086; David Bracken, director of Public Works and Town Engineer, 927-5057; Director of Parks and Recreation Jacqueline Branch, 927-5072; Town Attorney Jeffrey Walter, 927-5050; George Warman Jr., finance director, town treasurer and director of Administrative Services, 927-5055; Bob Pendoley, Director of Planning, 927-5050.

Police: Twin Cities Police Chief Phil Green oversees a 44-member department that also serves Larkspur. The police headquarters, at 250 Doherty Drive in Larkspur, can be reached at 927-5150.

Fire: Director of Emergency Services Robert Fox oversees a 20-member fire department based at 342 Tamalpais Drive. Phone: 927-5082.

Library: The library, at 707 Meadowsweet Drive, can be reached at 924-3515 for circulation, 924-6444 for reference and 924-6382 for children’s services. The hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The library is closed Friday.

Chamber of Commerce: 129 Corte Madera Town Center, 924-0441.

Schools: The Larkspur School District includes Hall Middle School in Larkspur and Neil Cummins Elementary School in Corte Madera. Superintendent Bob Cone has announced his retirement. A replacement has yet to be named. District offices are located at 230 Doherty Drive and can be contacted by calling, 927-6960. Redwood High School, part of the Tamalpais-Union School District, is at 395 Doherty Drive in Larkspur. Principal Nancy Neu can be reached at 924-6200.

Garbage: Mill Valley Refuse, 112 Front St., San Rafael. Phone: 457-9760.

Population: 2,125

Size: 1 square mile

Annual budget: $6.2 million

Number of dwellings: 1,059

Median home price, June 2006: $2,531,256

City Council: Mayor John Telischak, Vice Mayor Jerry Butler and Councilmembers James Berg, Barbara Morrison and Dr. Thomas Cromwell. The council meets the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 450 San Rafael Ave. City Hotlines

City Hall:City Manager George Rodericks, Planning Manager Pierce MacDonald, Public Works Director and City Engineer Bob Branz, and City Attorney Rob Epstein can all be reached at 435-3838. Belvedere-Tiburon Recreation Department Director Bruce Mulder, 435-4355. City Hall is at 450 San Rafael Ave. It is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30p.m. Closed Friday.

Police: Chief Mark Campbell, 435-3266 or 435-2611, oversees a seven-member police department. Headquarters: 450 San Rafael Ave.

Fire: Chief Richard Pearce heads the Tiburon Fire Protection District, 435-7200, and oversees 19 firefighters and 20 volunteers. The district also provides paramedic services. Headquarters: 1679 Tiburon Blvd.

Library: The library, 789-2665, is at 1501 Tiburon Blvd. It is open Monday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

Chamber of Commerce: Executive Manager Georgia Kirchmaier, 435-5633. Headquarters: 96-B Main St.

Schools: Superintendent Christine Carter, 381-1112. Headquarters: 277-A Karen Way.

Garbage service: Mill Valley Refuse Service, 457-9760.

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.

Credit crunch slams California home prices, sales
Single-family existing-home sales plummet 39% in September
Friday, October 26, 2007Inman News

The sales rate of previously owned single-family homes fell 38.9 percent in September compared to the same month last year, while the median price declined 4.7 percent and the months’ supply bloated to 16.6 months, the California Association of Realtors reported today.

Colleen Badagliacco, association president, said in a statement that the year-over-year drop in median price — the first in more than 10 years — “was mainly the result of the credit or liquidity crunch, which also drove sales below the 300,000 mark.”

She also stated that California relies more heavily on jumbo loans, which are loans above a federally established conforming loan limit of $417,000, than many other states because home prices in the state typically exceed that amount.

“This speaks to the need to raise the conforming loan limit in higher-cost states like California to more accurately reflect the cost of housing,” she stated.

The national sales rate of single-family resale homes hit its lowest level in about 10 years in September, the National Association of Realtors reported this week, and fell 19.8 percent compared to September 2006. Also, the median U.S. single-family resale home price dropped 4.9 percent year-over-year in September, NAR reported.

Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, said in a statement, “While the entry-level portion of the market has been adversely affected by the subprime situation and tighter underwriting standards for much of this year, the high end of the market also saw a decline in sales, as even well-qualified buyers were affected by the lack of funds available for jumbo loans.”

Sales of previously owned single-family detached homes in the state reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 271,590 in September, the association reported, compared with a rate of 444,780 sales in September 2006.

This rate is a projection of a monthly total over a 12-month period, adjusted to account for seasonal fluctuations in sales activity.

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California was $530,830 in September, compared with $557,150 for that month last year.

The Unsold Inventory Index, a measure of the months needed to deplete the supply of for-sale homes based on the sales rate for a given month, skyrocketed from 6.4 months in September 2006 to 16.6 months in September 2007. A supply of six months is generally considered to indicate a buyer’s market.

Thirty-year fixed-mortgage interest rates averaged 6.38 percent in September, compared with 6.4 percent in September 2006, according to Freddie Mac, while adjustable mortgage interest rates averaged 5.66 percent in September compared with 5.56 percent for that month in 2006.

The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 57.2 days in September, compared with 54 days for the same period a year ago, the California association reported.

Association statistics on single-family home sales and prices are based on a survey of about 90 Realtor associations throughout the state, and condo data is based on a survey of about 60 associations.

A separate report, based on local statistics gathered by the statewide association and real estate research company DataQuick Information Systems, found that 83.7 percent — or 239 of 289 cities and communities — had falling or level median home prices in September compared to the same month last year.

That report tracks all types of home sales, including sales of new and resale single-family homes and condos.

The 10 California cities and communities tracked in the report with the lowest median home prices in September include: Barstow, $163,000; North Highlands, $178,500; Ridgecrest, $180,000; Joshua Tree, $182,500; Yucca Valley, $200,000; Porterville, $202,500; Tulare, $224,000; Madera, $236,250; Crestline, $240,000; and Tehachapi, $243,750.

The 10 cities and communities tracked in the report with the highest median home prices in September include: Newport Beach, $1.44 million; Los Gatos, $1.23 million; Cupertino, $1.05 million; Danville, $1 million; Redondo Beach, $847,500; San Clemente, $830,000; Yorba Linda, $825,000; Arcadia, $805,000; San Rafael, $797,500; and Santa Monica, $796,500.

The 10 cities and communities with the largest decline in median home prices from September 2006 to September 2007 include: North Highlands, down 33.9 percent; Oakdale, down 33.8 percent; Arroyo Grande, down 29.8 percent; Patterson, down 29 percent; Los Banos, down 28 percent; Merced, down 27.8 percent; Spring Valley, down 26.5 percent; Elk Grove, down 25.6 percent; Ceres, down 25 percent; and Santa Ana, down 24.7 percent.

The 10 cities and communities with the greatest median home price increases in September compared with the same period a year ago were: Tustin, up 19.7 percent; Los Angeles, 18.2 percent; Arcadia, 14.2 percent; Carlsbad, 11.1 percent; Laguna Niguel, 10.1 percent; Diamond Bar, 8.7 percent; Cupertino, 8.4 percent; Redondo Beach, 8 percent; Reedley, 7.1 percent; and Newport Beach, up 6.3 percent.

Merced, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, El Dorado, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties had median-price declines above 15 percent in September compared to September 2006, according to the report.

Santa Clara County had the highest year-over-year median-price gain in September, at 3.4 percent. Other counties tracked by the report with price gains include Marin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Contra Costa counties.

Statewide

Calif. (single-family) (Stats are as follows 1. Median price 2. % change in prioce from prior year 3. % change in sales units fron prior year)
1. $530,830
2. -4.70%
3.-38.90%

Calif. (condo)
$405,360
-4.60%
-31.10%

Region

Central Valley
NA
NA
NA

High Desert
$271,940
-17.40%
-62.70%

Los Angeles
$569,390
-2.80%
-38.40%

Monterey Region
$722,500
-0.50%
-38.30%

Monterey County
$690,000
1.50%
-41.70%

Santa Cruz County
$712,500
-5.00%
-34.30%

Northern California
$383,330
-3.60%
-31.50%

Northern Wine Country
$551,680
-9.90%
-40.90%

Orange County
$673,770
-4.60%
-32.90%

Palm Springs/Lower Desert
$346,080
0.60%
-33.60%

Riverside/San Bernardino
$356,510
-12.50%
-47.70%

Sacramento
$325,550
-11.90%
-38.90%

San Diego
$560,840
-5.60%
-36.40%

San Francisco Bay
$702,240
-5.00%
-45.60%

San Luis Obispo
$519,740
-9.10%
-35.00%

Santa Barbara County
$678,570
0.80%
-31.10%

Santa Barbara South Coast
$1,667,500
55.10%
-27.30%

North Santa Barbara County
$367,860
-17.60%
-34.10%

Santa Clara
$848,950
10.40%
-39.30%

Ventura
$681,820
-0.70%
-47.30%

Source: California Association of Realtors, based on data for single-family resale homes.

Sales results for Marin as of 10-15-07 per BAREIS multiple listing data is as follows:

Prices have not really declined here in Marin. What has declined is the number of sales as well as the percentage of homes under contract. As you can see from the numbers the average sales price has increased over the prior month as well as the prior year. The strongest segment of the market is the “luxury Market” those homes over $2 million. Buyers are still making offers on good properties.

The following table as of October 15 gives you the details:

The percentage pending is the percentage of those homes that are in contract with a buyer where all contingencies have been removed. Therefore, there is a high probablity that the house will close escrow and the sale will be consummated. When the percent pending reached 20% to 25% we have a balanced market bewteen buyers and sellers. As you can see not many communities are balanced. We have many more cities that are in a buyers market.

Vision Real Estate has been the top search results for Marin Real Estate and Marin County Real Estate for Google and Yahoo now for the past 5 years.  We provide the most up to date information on the state of the market in Marin County.  We have school statistics, demographic information, buyers and sellers guides and precisie infomation on the prices of homes in all of the Marin communities. Click on “Marin Report” to get the latest information on Marin County real estate prices and Subscribe to the monthly newsletter free of charge.

All U.S. interest rates have broken lower. The mortgage-defining 10-year T-note is trading at 4.4 percent, down from 4.7 percent last week, but mortgages will be slow to follow. Even agency loans are stuck in credit fear, but are likely to approach 6 percent soon.

Fed-defining short-term rates have dived almost a half-percent, a sure sign of renewed credit panic. A Fed cut on Halloween, doubtful on Monday, is now a sure thing.

What the hell happened so fast?

(As I recite developing misery, a note on morale to people near real estate markets, civilians and pros: Bad news is the only way for us to get the lower rates that our markets need. As Mom said, keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole.)

The market sea-change has been driven by a change in awareness, not data. A one-week pop in new claims for unemployment insurance may turn into a trend, but is not yet; and anyone surprised by the new report of plunging in sales of new homes has been vacationing on another planet.

Since the August Crunch, global markets have been lost in the exuberance of cash pouring in from oil and trade, behaving like a bunch of teenage boys with elevated expectations for Saturday’s dates, misunderstanding the real distance of hand from promised land. American economy weak, its rates going down … Sell dollars! Buy euros! Rupees! Buy oil! Gold! Commodity anything! We don’t need America to buy exports — the world has de-coupled! Buy stocks, stocks, stocks, here there everywhere!

Finally, two months after the initial grip of the Crunch, the word is out: There is no relaxation at all. We are in a two-part systemic event: Several trillion dollars’ worth of trash lies where it was, value and ultimate disposition unknown; and worse, the impaired holders have dramatically reduced extension of new credit.

Reported losses at financial institutions, at first thought to be overstated (”kitchen sink” write-offs) are not. More will come. The institutional embarrassment is a greater impediment to new credit than the numbers: The losses are formal confessions by management and directors of personal incompetence. That’ll make you risk-averse.

PMI and MGIC, mortgage insurers who avoided the worst of the mortgage party by shrinking their market share — that’s what they said — announced huge losses.

The best black comedy: Citi led a parade of giant banks to the Treasury, trying for official blessing to keep $400 billion in off-balance-sheet trash from being forced back on (where it belongs) or into disorderly liquidation (Eeeeek! Might find out what it’s really worth!). Why Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson let them in the building is beyond me. He loaned them a conference room and bought sandwiches (day-old, I hope), and the bankers left without even a lipstick-on-a-pig deal among themselves.

Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke delivered his best speech in office, a somber affair acknowledging the reinforcing-spiral risk in a credit meltdown, using the same phrase as Vice-Chair Donald Kohn last week: “… Tighter credit could presage a broader weakening in economic conditions that would be difficult to arrest.”

After the speech, in Q&A, asked about the structured-finance deals presently evaporating, he said this: “I’d like to know what those damn things are worth.” The next day, John Mack, CEO of Morgan, volunteered, “It will take at least a year” to come up with proper valuations.

We don’t have a year without new credit, and there is no way to restore the supply of new credit without recognition and breakup of the dead-loss clog. I’m sure Mack would like to defer loss recognition indefinitely, but his remark indicates abject failure as a public steward, joined by his senior colleagues on The Street.

For all the awareness displayed this week by Bernanke and Paulson, they have not presented a single useful idea. Gentlemen, it is time to grasp the nettle: Force the sale or adequate capitalization of this stuff; if the losses are too big for markets or capital to absorb, get on with loss isolation by government guarantee.

Lou Barnes is a mortgage broker and nationally syndicated columnist based in Boulder, Colo. He can be reached at lbarnes@boulderwest.com.

If you’re a seller be patient, price your house agressively and hire an experienced real estate professional . The number of units sold to date ( to October 20, 2007 ) as compared to last year has declined by almost 9.7%. The number of units for single family homes has declined 6.2% but condominium sales have declined 21%. The interesting news is that the average sales price has maintined its base from the prior year and in some cases has increased. There appears to be a flight to safety in Marin where the communities with close commutes to the city and high Marin test scores are keeping prices high.

Below are the average prices for single family homes in some marin markets as of October 15, 2007:

The market has some similarities to the market of the early 1990’s when rates were high– except now rates are still historically low. Buyers are sitting it out now until they feel a pressing need to pull the trigger and buy that house. Pricing remains the key with some towns and neighborhoods still remaining active with multiple offers. You are always free to call me for advise at 415-297-9000.