Monthly Archives: May 2012

Top 5 Lesser Known Empty Nester Neighborhoods on the Peninsula

I’m sharing my top five picks for empty nester neighborhoods that are affordable alternatives to Palo Alto. More and more empty nesters want to happily live out the rest of their lives right here, by unlocking the equity from their Palo Alto home, and buying a modest home nearby at a good value. They don’t want to relocate to a retirement Shangri La where nobody knows their name.

Recently, some clients of mine wanted to cash out of their Palo Alto Home, downsize — and stay local. “Where do we go?” they asked me. “Our life, our friends, our community is here.” Where could they remain close to their social ecosystem, enjoy the same livability and cultural activities, and get some bang for their buck without paying the Palo Alto premium? Plus, they’d heard stories about low inventory and multiple offers from Palo Alto to Burlingame. Was it even possible to find a quality neighborhood without high prices?

YES! There are several up-and-coming neighborhoods that are great picks for empty nesters, who no longer have to think about putting kids in schools. I’ve ranked my favorite lesser-known neighborhoods by median price, average price per square foot and available inventory. Here is the inside track on my top five undiscovered areas that fit the bill for empty nesters:

1. Farm Hill Estates/Cordilleras Heights (Redwood City)
Inventory Year-to-date*: 58
Median Sale Price: $957,000
Average price per square foot: $518

Up in the hills off 280, Farm Hills Estates offers the Portola Valley feel without Portola Valley prices. Many hillside homes have views of the bay. Residents enjoy country living – streets with no sidewalks, neighbors with chickens. Upscale new construction sells at a discount to more mainstream areas. This neighborhood along Farm Hill Boulevard enjoys bigger homes on larger lots than most. Homes on the south side of Farm Hill Boulevard rival Sharon Heights in quality, size and location.

2. High School Acres (Edgewood Park) (Redwood City)
Inventory YTD*: 38
Median Sale Price: $855,000
Average price per square foot: $523

This neighborhood reminds me of Crescent Park, with winding, tree-lined streets and mix of substantial 3000+ square foot homes on lots of an acre or more, alongside 2000 square foot homes on quarter acre lots. Its main artery has the same feel as University Avenue – big, beautiful homes, with more modest homes surrounding it – but without the constant traffic of University Avenue. It’s minutes from Palo Alto and Menlo Park. People love the revitalized downtown of Redwood City. Both retirees and families are moving to Redwood, recognizing the good buys available here. A charming 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, 1,680 sq ft on a 6,500 square foot lot, recently sold here for $920,000.

3. Downtown Mountain View
Inventory YTD*: 18
Median Sale Price: $1,027,000
Average price per square foot: $659

Mountain View’s charming downtown living appeals to a mix of empty nesters and young families – the walk to Castro Street, the local library, and the Farmer’s Market on Sundays. The average home downtown is 1500 square feet, and prices are roughly $1M to $1.5 million. While homes here are selling over list price, the price per square foot is considerably less than Menlo Park and Palo Alto. It’s still a great value, even though the market here is somewhat competitive.

4. Horgan Ranch (Redwood City)
Inventory YTD*: 33 listings
Median Sale Price: $688,000
Average price per square foot: $462

Horgan Ranch sits right next to Atherton, between Selby Lane and Woodside road, from El Camino to Alameda. Orchards once covered this land, and mini-farms with little houses on big lots that have been transformed over the years into more modern homes, with bigger lots than average. You can buy a nice single family home for under $1.5M in Horgan Ranch. Being close to downtown Menlo Park makes it feel like you haven’t even moved, because you’re still in town.

5. Sharon Heights (Menlo Park)
Inventory YTD*: 11 listings
Median Sale Price: $718,000
Average price per square foot: $516

Sharon Heights in Menlo Park is filled with large townhouses that feel like single family living. A 2000 to 3000 square foot townhouse affords you the space that doesn’t feel like downsizing, and allows you to lock the door and forget about your house for months at a time. In moving to Sharon Heights, residents are exchanging their primetime Palo Alto schools for pretty views of the bay. This neighborhood is much less competitive and price per square foot is reasonable.

*Inventory year-to-date includes all listings (sold, sale pending, and active), from January 1 through April 10, 2012.

Mike interviewed on Bloomberg TV

Mike Dreyfus was interviewed today on Bloomberg TV. Here are some highlights from Mike’s interview:  

Our market is back, and it’s moving. Palo Alto has been the center of these runs we’ve had. The reason is that Palo Alto is what younger buyers like. it’s our urban heart, it’s the center of the Silicon Valley, there’s businesses, there’s great schools and great restaurants. This surge is similar to the run we had with the dot com and Google in the early 2000s. But the advances in our real estate market are much broader than Facebook. It’s very healthy because it’s about jobs, not just Facebook but other tech companies that are hiring. Those great fundamentals drive our local real estate market  .

Sellers have waited around to sell their houses for the Facebook IPO, which has created a bit of a supply problem. As a real estate community, we’re happy it’s over. We want to get back to the great fundamentals that drive our real estate market

Where companies go public, new listing service makes real estate private

We have launched the Dreyfus Properties Private Listing Service, the first ever service designed to market luxury homes for sale while shielding them from public view. With homes in the most desirable parts of Palo Alto selling for north of $10 million, buyers and sellers are worried that information on their home could become the next viral online sensation.

Unlike public multiple listing services, the new Dreyfus Private Listing Service (PLS) offers luxury homes directly to qualified agents and potential buyers, bypassing public media, multiple listing services, and websites such as Zillow and Redfin.

“The information elite really don’t want everyone to have this information,” said Dreyfus CEO Michael Dreyfus. “Google’s great, but not when it tells the world exactly where your bedroom is.” The Dreyfus Private Listing Service directly contacts buyers who have had recent wealth events, as well as creating websites and mailers that hide identifying details.

People who list their home publicly have learned the hard way that there can be immense downside to broadcasting their wealth. Once a client gets his name on a piece of real estate, there’s no way of making that dollar amount and that address private again. Valley entrepreneurs have complex attitudes towards their newfound wealth. While they are proud of what they’ve accomplished, they do not want to be seen as different from the rest of their community. Their style is, on average, far more Warren Buffet than Donald Trump. Letting the world know they paid $11 million for their tastefully landscaped home is not an enticing prospect.

Will this shift mark a change in the culture of Silicon Valley, where the movers and shakers realize there’s a downside to sharing more and more information? As Dreyfus says, “Sharing your favorite restaurant with your friends is not the same as having them look at your financial statements, or inviting them into your master bath.”

Our private market service has received favorable reviews in Fortune/CNN and The Palo Alto Weekly.

To learn more about how the Dreyfus Private Listing Service is keeping real estate private in the place where companies are going public, please contact Marissa Myers, Director of Marketing, Dreyfus Properties (650.930.6807)

New Dreyfus Properties website!

We are excited to announce the release of our new Dreyfus Properties website! We are transitioning to a new, more powerful property search and housing stats experience that is now available on Dreyfusproperties.com.

Instant Updates: Get email about new listings and price drops within 5 minutes. Dreyfus built Instant Updates to immediately alert home-buyers about new listings and price drops. Now, five minutes after a real estate agent lists a home for sale, folks using Dreyfus Properties to search for listings will get an email alert. Users of other major real estate websites have to wait until the next day. Giving our clients an extra day is a crucial competitive advantage in our hot real estate market.

Real-time MLS stats on pricing and inventory: See the market is moving in real time. Our stats are pulled from the MLS, giving you a real time snapshot of the market. Other major stats services rely on list price data, which does not accurately reflect our market action, where homes regularly sell over list price.

Exclusive MLS content: The new website provides access to MLS content, such as Sold properties and Pending sales. Such information is only available to Dreyfus clients.

Welcome, Peter and Chris!

We are excited to welcome Chris Iverson and Peter Giovannotto to Dreyfus Properties!

Chris Iverson brings deep experience in the Stanford real estate market, assisting both incoming faculty recruits in learning our area and finding homes, and helping campus residents sell their homes when it is time to leave, giving him a unique view of both sides of the complex Stanford micro-market. Chris also has developed a niche in aiding people in transitioning from their homes to senior living communities, and advising clients on real estate investments.

Chris joined Dreyfus because of its deep local involvement and real-time monitoring of the area’s homes that are available both publicly and privately, and intimate knowledge of our area’s neighborhoods and micro-neighborhoods. “Compared to traditional large brokerages, it’s like moving from the Navy to a SEAL team. This team of highly coordinated specialists work together to make impossible outcomes for our clients possible,” Chris said.

Chris is also an avid cyclist with an encyclopedic knowledge of quiet country roads in Woodside, La Honda and out near the coast.

Peter Giovannotto is a Palo Alto native whose family runs a large apartment management company in Palo Alto. He is a wizard with competitive pricing strategies, and has helped many buyers into homes, despite tight inventory. Peter is an up-and-coming dynamo who runs a business book club, hones his skills in a Business Persuasion class and Toastmasters, cycles, and serves as Assistant Scoutmaster for Palo Alto’s Troop 14. Peter will be featured in an upcoming episode of House Hunters, so tune in for a special Palo Alto episode of House Hunters on May 11!

The Facebook Effect, From Supply to Demand?

As we approach the golden IPO moment, I though I’d take the time to address the “Facebook Effect” on our local market. Despite the breathless proclamations by real estate agents and hopeful sellers about dramatic price increases due to Facebook buyers with money falling out of their pockets, the reality of our recent market rise has been lack of supply and not a surge in demand. Sellers are waiting to sell, and they are waiting because they think prices are going up. And, they think prices are going up because of Facebook.

So here we are at the golden moment, and the big question is: does the Facebook-affected lack of supply, turn into a Facebook-affected increase in demand? Well, yes — oh, and no.

On the yes side, there is a lot of money about to be made by a lot of people, both in and out of Facebook, who live locally. Also, there is a pent-up demand for home purchases after the ’08 crash, particularly move-up purchases by locals. Money plus desire equals rising prices. Yes, more supply can dent that, but it’s hard to deny that disposable income suddenly appearing in our always tight inventory market is not going to affect local housing prices in a positive way.

On the no side, the list is a little longer. Lock-ups and secondary lock-ups will even out the impact of the sudden dollars, as the cash realization is spread out over years rather than grabbed in a moment. Second, with a company average age of 26, the majority of Facebookers are not exactly your typical home buyer profile. They have a bit of traveling and playing to do before they settle down. Third, and more interesting than the rest, is Gen Y’s borderline indifference to material things and putting on a show. These young adults are refreshingly more about the journey than the end. When they do buy, they are much more likely to buy enough house, not a lot of house.

So what do you do if you want to sell or want to buy? I’m happy to advocate a self-serving “do both now.” Current local economic trends make it pretty tough to look a buyer in the eye and tell them prices are going to reverse any time soon. In 22 years of luxury real estate experience, I’ve never seen a market start a recovery and immediately turn around and dive. Residential real estate trends tend to be four to five years, both up and down. So, if you have decided you want to live here and you find the right house, do it now.

On the sell side, it’s more about risk analysis. You know the market is hot as a pistol and you can get a head-turning price for your house. Appreciation in luxury real estate usually occurs quickly, in big jumps and then usually zigs and zags, up and down before the next correction. The big jump has happened, and buyers are now on the ropes. So, do you want to take the risk of even a slight drop in exchange for 2% to 5% more next year? Also, possible capital gains changes next year and the ability to take your money into softer markets almost everywhere else right now are factors encouraging a sell today.

2012 Q1 Market Commentary

Palo Alto

The first quarter of 2012 saw our usual Palo Alto leap, with the median sale price jumping 18%. The hot part of the market was the lower part, reflected in a lesser 4% increase in the average. That could be as much about lack of inventory, particularly high-end inventory, as much as a hot entry level. That being said, North Palo Alto’s entry-level neighborhood (Green Gables) and South PA’s entry level neighborhood (South Palo Alto) lead the hit parade with 28% and 25% increases in average sale price. Multiple offers were back in vogue and the market continues to have a strong relocation presence, making move-in houses the hot ticket.

Menlo Park

After a robust end of the year, West Menlo Park kept right on cooking with a 9% increase in median sales price. Menlo Park as a whole was flat due to the continued downward pull of the east Menlo Park inventory, as the sub-prime troubles continue to be a drag. Hot spots were Central Menlo and the University Heights/County area, which had impressive double digit year over year gains. Sharon Heights also took a significant jump as buyers flocked to relative bargains in the neighborhood.

Atherton

Atherton showed a 3% gain over last year, but anecdotally we can tell you that it is hot hot hot. That heat continues to be at the upper end ($10,000,000+) part of the market, with mid-range homes continuing to struggle. The high end heat is evidence by not just big ticket sales, but more by an extremely active teardown market. Lot sales in the $4,000,0000 to $5,000,000 are actually $10,000,000 plus purchase once the house is built and the landscaping is in. West Atherton has been particularly hot with lot prices jumping as much as 30% over last year.

Portola Valley & Woodside

The overall numbers for our rural gems are pretty even, but the back story is the prime neighborhoods are hopping, with Central Portola Valley and Central Woodside posting 21% and 35% gains over last year. Entry level in these neighborhoods and large lots or view lots are selling briskly and at new premiums. A good sign for the future is a surge in interest in new construction by end-users, always a vote of confidence for the market.