Hot New Listings | May 25, 2007

Weekly feature highlighting the top new listings in Marin. Here is the best of the week...

• 12 Geary Ave, Kentfield - $2.85MM
  Built 2007, brand new custom home with breathtaking
  views. More Info >>



• 2 Somerset Ln, Mill Valley - $995K
  Cute remodeled 1950's ranch-style in a sweet
  neighborhood. More Info >>



• 121 Circle Rd, San Rafael - $2.695MM
  Custom built 5-bedroom home on over 1-acre of
  landscaped grounds. More Info >>

The homeownership dream

From 2000 to 2006, the average homeowner saw the value of his house jump by more than 50%. Many homeowners doubled, tripled and even quadrupled their wealth in just 5 years because of exploding real estate values. Indeed, plenty of experts will tell you what we've experienced over the last few years was just a ‘bubble’ that's going to pop any minute now. Others insist that whether it was a boom or a bubble, it's over. According to them, it’s now too late to get in on the party. Well, I’m here to tell you the homeownership dream is no fantasy. Homeowners have been getting rich off their real estate for years, and they will continue to do so in the future.

According to statistics compiled by the National Association of Realtors, U.S. real estate values have been going up steadily for 4 decades. Nationally, appreciation has averaged 6.3% a year since 1965. Marin County has averaged 8.3% a year in the same period. According to Freddie Mac, since 1950 U.S. house prices have never experienced a year-to-year decline nationally. Compare that to the S&P 500 with no less than a dozen down years in the same period, or the market for U.S. Treasury bonds which has fallen in 17 of the last 55 years.

Of course, just because home prices have been rising for the last half-century doesn't mean they're going to continue doing so. Obviously, no investment goes up in a straight line forever. But real estate's phenomenal track record is hard to beat, and most experts believe that homeownership is one of the best ways to invest your money over the long term. Remember, as long as you're alive you have to live somewhere, and so does everyone else you know.

Marin median home price hits $1MM mark

Somewhere out there, there's a world where housing prices are flaccid, real estate is rotting on the market and homeowners are watching equity evaporate like the morning dew. And then there is the alternate universe that is Marin County.

The median price of a single-family home in Marin was $1,010,000 in April - breaking the $1 million barrier for the first time and shattering the previous record of $973,000 in April 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based research firm.

Marin is the first county in California to pass the $1 million single-family home median - the point at which half the homes sold for more money and half for less. In addition, Marin was the only county in the Bay Area where sales of detached homes increased from April 2006 to April 2007. Marin home-owners sold 254 detached houses last month, up from 250 the previous April - while the overall nine-county Bay Area posted a 20 percent decline. "It's a world unto itself," said DataQuick analyst John Karevoll. "Marin dances to its own tune. It always has." Read More >> [Marin IJ]

Hot New Listings | May 11, 2007

Weekly feature highlighting the top new listings in Marin. Here is the best of the week...

• 12 Windward Rd, Belvedere - $4.295MM
  Wurster designed Belvedere Lagoon home remodeled
  in 2000. More Info >>



• 907 Bolinas Rd, Fairfax - $1.395MM
  Stunning contemporary home high above Fairfax.
  More Info >>



• 125 Marion Ave, Mill Valley - $2.95MM
  Mill Valley gem on 1/3 acre with view of Mt Tam.
  More Info >>

Market Summary | April 2007

April was a record-breaking month for the Marin housing market. The median price for a single-family home hit a new record of $1,075,000 breaking the $1MM mark for the first time.

Here's a quick snapshot from our newsletter with a summary of the market trends for April...