Monthly Archives: April 2012

Pssst….Dreyfus Properties’ Private Listing Service is at work behind the scenes

Mike Dreyfus was recently interviewed for a feature story in the Palo Alto Weekly about Palo Alto’s private market — “super-secret, super high-end houses for sale,” as The Weekly put it. Mike has been attuned to the growing need among high net worth home owners who want to sell their homes, but don’t want the hassles of a public sale or their privacy infringed. To meet this need, Dreyfus Properties has developed the Private Listing Service (PLS). The PLS offers unique luxury homes directly to qualified agents and potential buyers, bypassing public media and the MLS.

Unlike other real estate companies, we can reach qualified buyers through our proprietary mail lists, personal contacts and network of qualified agents – all under strict controls, without public announcement. A specially designated team directly under the managing agent’s supervision implements the marketing and handles all the sensitive paperwork. The managing agent, using his deep local market knowledge, works with home owners to set valuations.

Menlo Park/Atherton Broker’s Tour Musings and Highlights

Yesterdays Broker’s Tour was an improvment over the past few weeks with several properties in Central Menlo Park and the County area touring for the first time.  Homes on Stanford, Sterling and Politzer are perfect “starter” homes for famililes wanting to be in the Menlo Park or Las Lomitas school districts and for those needing larger properties, Windsor Way with 3285 SF was a nice addition to our low inventory.   

Preparing my new listing in Menlo Park

We are in the process of preparing 743 17th Avenune for sale.  It’s a darling 2 bed/1 bath home in the N. Fair Oaks area.  

This home will be listed in the $600K range.  There are 2 other listings on the market in the neighborhood – 721 14th Ave is listed for $678K and will sell today with 2 offers  and 650 16th Ave listed for $609K is active.

West Menlo Inventory

A few months ago, a client of mine said “I haven’t seen inventory this low in a long time!”  I had to do some research and what I found is this – 2 other times in the past 13 years, inventory was this low – soon after, it rose significantly.  My advice to you – “if you have been thinking of selling your home – call me!” 

Menlo Park Q3 2011 Stats and Neighborhoods Report

Menlo Park (west of 101) took a bit of a rest from a sizzling spring and summer as third quarter median prices dipped 8.8% off the 3rd Qtr 2010 and 6.6% off last quarter. Cautious buyers coupled with a 33% drop in inventory from the previous quarter caused the slowdown. In addition, Menlo Park moved closer to Palo Alto in the no-longer-a-bargain category, and anecdotally, we see Buyers checking out the weaker markets both north and south as options to paying full freight in Menlo Park.

Allied Arts
A preponderance of lower end deals dragged the numbers down for Allied Arts as the average dropped 5%. The median however performed nicely with a 15% increase from Q3 2011. Empty nesters coming into the neighborhood continue to put strong pressure on the demand side.

Alpine Road Area
One sale in this little corner of Menlo Park.

Central Menlo
Essentially flat from last quarter, Central Menlo shows a dip in the median of 9.5% from Q3 2010. Inventory, however is at its lowest point in the past 3 years and early sales in the 4th quarter point to all systems go.

Felton Gables
No sales in the third quarter for Felton Gables

Linfield Oaks
Only two sales so the entry level one at $1,025,000 messes with the numbers a bit. Still no inventory with a 13 days supply.

Menlo Oaks
In a flop from last quarter average prices dropped slightly while the median jumped up 21% from the same quarter last year. Buyers see value here and are driving the entry level higher.

Sharon Heights
Average and median prices rose over the previous quarter, but are still off 2010 numbers as the absence of sales at the higher end of the neighborhood continues to be reflected in the statistics. Inventory popped down a little, but remains high when compared to last year.

University Heights
After a good run, things leveled off in unincorporated Menlo Park. Sales remain solid and inventory even.

The Willows
Finally a breather in the Willows long bounce off the bottom. Sellers pushing their prices a bit much with dreams of facebook buyers may be causing some of the slow down.

Suburban Park/Flood Park
With the slow down in the Willows, the Flood Park area takes up the torch of hot neighborhood. Buyers looking for value and strong neighborhood dynamics drove the median up 19% over last year.