McKae Properties Real Estate Market Commentary

 Two places I enjoyed living in my youth was New York and San Francisco, or "The City" as it was called.   Lord Toynbee wrote the HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.     So have no fear.  What we see happening will create opportunities   New York went Bankrupt and the US bailed them out with muni bonds referred to as Big Mac's  For Municipal Assitant Corporation.  New York cleaned up their act and it became the destination spot of the world.  Have no fear it will happen again. The same is for San Francisco.  I came there in 1983 bought a flat in Pacific Heights out of foreclosure and fixed it up and 11 months later sold it for $110,000 more and bought in Woodside at same sales price of SF but $225,000 less than list.  The place in SF is worth more now than the place in Woodside. New York is a repeat of last weeks article on SF: 56% fewer sales compare to a year ago, 30.8 months of supply and 11.3% discount from list.  West Chelsea built a high end boutique condo known as the Getty an

 Some time ago I stated that the Stock Market and the Real Estate Market are related.  They move together on a longer term basis.  Looking back at that comment had me wondering why we are seeing a strong report on housing price increases nationally and how that relates to our Silicon Valley Market. To summarise the inconsistencies I can say that we are in a perfect storm situation.  It is not a buyer's market nor a seller's market.  The perfect market where sale prices are stagnant and buyers do not fight with other buyers in over bidding the home of their choice.  Pushing prices too high puts transactions at risk as lenders and appraisers are under pressure from a risk standpoint and homes do not pass.  The seller is now faced with putting the home back on the market and having to deal with a property that must cut prices to sell. In our present situation we are in a situation where there have been a record number of price cuts on a weekly basis.  Generally speaking for the Si

The San Jose Mercury News recently wrote that the Bay Area home prices continue to rise, in the face of a pandemic. WOW!  That was hard for me to fathom.  All I experienced are price cuts and selective demand.  The Ultra Luxury Market is soft. Sales occur below list and many tie the sale to a recent cut.  This Monday there were 56 price cuts in Woodside, Atherton, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Menlo Park and Portola Valley.  Palo Alto was the greatest hit with price cuts from 7-11%.  Two cities saw price to list increases.  they were Menlo Park and Los Altos.  The other took hits. The article goes on to say that the "median" sales price for an existing home rose 3.4% from last years "median" of $925000!  WAIT A SECOND!  $925,000?  Okay, where in our Silicon Valley is there a home for sale for $925,000?  When they went into various counties the number became a bit more realistic.  San Mateo median is $1.65 million.  I live in Farm Hill Estates.  The only $1.65 million sol