David Bergman's Real Estate Blog » David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor

Mega Mansions in the United States

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:35:39 +0000

Big is back – article in the Wall Street Journal. We see this to some degree in the Silicon Valley, Atherton, Los Altos Hills, Woodside area – but Most new estates are 10,000 to 30,000 square feet – with the average new estate probabbly just below 15,000 square feet (total square footage). Read more at the link above to hear the National perspective according to the WSJ. There are restrictions – sometimes financial and sometimes governmental (zoning, etc) on house size. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203824904577213634206073476.html#slide/1

Facebook effect on Real Estate

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:02:01 +0000

Will the Facebook IPO have an effect on the luxury home market?

It’s already been happening. Shares of Facebook and other non-public companies have been traded in the secondary market – so we have already seen buyers trading their Facebook shares (and employee/shareholders of other private companies) and buying real estate. After a company goes public – there is a lockup period – where shares are “locked up” for a time period – many times 180 days. They cannot sell them.

Multiple offers are the standard in Palo Alto, certain homes in Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, Mountain View, and Menlo Park. The upper end of the market – that being over $10 million is moving in Atherton. In 2011 the largest sale in Atherton was over $50 million. At least 8 properties priced over 10 million sold in addition to that big one in 2011. Builders in Atherton are building $10 million, $20 million dollar homes to sell to this year (commonly called spec homes) – there will be about 8-10 homes for sale in Atherton priced over $10 million in the next few months. There is a large market of homes that are for sale but not visible to the general public (off market). You have to work with an agent connected to that off market network to find the “off market homes”. The Los Altos Hills Luxury market has not been as strong as Atherton. There was the $100 million sale in 2011 but other than that not a lot of estates have sold. There are bargains in Los Altos Hills right now – and I would expect the Los Altos Hills Luxury Market to tighten in the next 6 months.

Woodside had 3 sales over 10 million in 2011.

The luxury market – Sellers and buyers want their privacy respected. The expectation is that all players in the transaction will respect that.

Another sold Estate in Los Gatos, CA

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:52:47 +0000

Another sold estate in Los Gatos. This one sold for $11.5 million. Good sign for the luxury market. Main House was about 13,000 square feet and has great views.

Hong Kong Home Prices increase at incredible rate

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:39:48 +0000

But there are concerns that the market in Hong Kong is changing. Sales in September fell 14%. Read this article from the Wall Street Journal for more:

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/12/01/hong-kong-home-prices-rising-fast/

IPO’s and luxury home sales

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:57:45 +0000

The Silicon Valley real estate market will be impacted by coming IPO’s. I keep a list on my desktop of the hottest ones – with Facebook rumored as coming soon – the luxury real estate market will see increased demand for estates in Silicon Valley. Demand is strong now in select markets – and there are only so many large estates in the Bay Area. We will likely see the areas with the highest market demand sell first – and that demand will leak over to other areas. There have recently been significant sales in the Bay Area of estates – both on and off market. Here is the article that primed this blog post:

http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analysis/investors-prepare-facebook-s-ipo

CAP rates are improving

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:46:36 +0000

Commercial real estate capitalization rates have been found to be good indicators of expected returns in commercial properties. Recent declines in these cap rates appear to be signaling a commercial real estate rebound, indicating improved investor expectations of price growth in the market. Movements in national cap rates are the predominant drivers of changes in cap rates in local markets. Therefore, the anticipated commercial real estate rebound is likely to be widespread across many metropolitan areas. http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2011/el2011-29.html

Los Altos Median price – last 30 days as of August 15, 2011

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:57:29 +0000

27 single family homes closed escrow in the last 30 days in Los Altos, California. The median sale price was $1,695,000. The average home size was 2,397 square feet on a 12,349 square foot lot. This is information from the MLS – non MLS sales are not reflected in this data.

Los Altos Hills Median price – last 30 days as of August 15, 2011

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:53:17 +0000

7 homes closed escrow in the last 30 days in Los Altos Hills, California. The median sale price was $2,575,000. The average home size was 3,369 square feet on 1.25 acres. This is information from the MLS – non MLS sales are not reflected in this data.

Los Altos Hills Median price – last 30 days as of August 8, 2011

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:19:14 +0000

12 homes closed escrow in the last 30 days in Los Altos Hills, California. The median sale price was $2,600,000. The average home size was 3,688 square feet on 1.26 acres. This is information from the MLS – non MLS sales are not reflected in this data.

Adobe Animal Hospital building on First Street is no more

David Bergman, CRS, Broker Realtor — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:17:02 +0000

In the 70′s my family used to lead our horses to Adobe Animal hospital on First Street in downtown Los Altos. Today the building was demolished to make way for new housing. Here is a string of photos of the tower demolition today 6/22/11.