Wine Country And Horses

Well they have been out in force even in the rain, but it is sure a lot more fun to look at property when the sun is shining.  Our local Coldwell Banker Santa Rosa office had 23 open escrows last week which is a noticeable post-Super Bowl bump perhaps.   In a “normal” market we average 20-30 escrows a week opened but December and January were down under 20 for the most part.

Marian Bennett in Coastal San Mateo county notes a similar trend in a recent post: ”They came from the Frenchman’s Creek neighborhood, Fremont, San Francisco, Sonoma, even southern California…tired of waiting for the bottom to hit, or starting the spring house-hunting…and many checking out our coastside communities on one of our “10″ days on my subjective weather meter.”    Even in the rain two weeks ago, I had buyers come from all over the Bay Area to view a lovely Sebastopol country property I was holding open.   Buyers who may feel like Redfin employee Susan Brady–a self-confessed mid-Peninsula resident with Sonoma Country property aspirations, on the outside looking in.

If you want to see that same property in the sunshine so that you can appreciate the fabulous 360 degree views in a typical Sebastopol mini-farm setting on nearly 2 acres at the end of a peaceful country lane, please come see me tomorrow, February 17  at 5611 Hessel Avenue in Sebastopol, Ca 95472 from 1 pm to 4pm.   This  property is listed by my friend Izetta Feeny, and is extremely well-priced at $725,000.  See you there!

 5611 Hessel Avenue, Sebastopol  Open House this Sunday 2/17 from 1 to 4 pm.

I felt a bit non-plussed when the Santa Rosa Press Democrat posted a very gloomy (yet again) outlook on our local real estate market, indicating the low level of sales (167) for the month of January and the year to year drop in the median price.   Sobering facts indeed and at first glance my previous post, Sonoma County Market May be Picking up in 2008 , made me feel that I might be perceived as having the typical realtor Pollyanna view of the market.  How embarrassing!   However, if you read my post closely you will note that I mentioned that the number of PENDING sales (266)  is up higher than any month since last July just before the subprime mess hit the fan.   So perhaps there is a glimmer of hope after all. It is also interesting that the PD failed to mention a month to month increase of nearly $50,000 in the median home price for the county.  Of course month to month numbers are not really as telling as year over year comparisons, but you can be sure they would have mentioned it had the price gone DOWN on a month to month basis.