The House Down The Block Sold For How Much Again?

April sales figures for Marin are in, showing that the local market is still weaker than last year. In other words, there were fewer sales (147 vs. 212 in April 2007) at slightly lower prices ($1.02 million was the median vs. $1.08 million) after houses sat on the market for more days (75 vs. 56).

That said, 31 houses in Marin sold above their asking prices. What did those houses have in common? Some were well-priced, others were brand-new, some had one-of-a-kind locations. A lot of them you read about here first, because they caught our eye for one of the above reasons. Here's a comprehensive list:

Corte Madera
390 Prince Royal: asked 1,495,000 and sold for $1,515,000
5 Alta: asked $1,225,000 and sold for $1,275,000
14 Portola: asked $799,000 and sold for $820,000
Greenbrae
18 Via Cheparro: asked $2,495,000 and sold for $2,550,000
23 Gretchen: asked $1,550,000 and sold for $1,600,000
Kentfield
421 Woodland: asked $2,895,000 and sold for $3,325,000
23 Bridge: asked $1,495,000 and sold for $1,500,000
Larkspur
3 Crystal Creek: asked $1,399,900 and sold for $1,437,580
39 Cornell: asked $1,095,000 and sold for $1,136,000
Mill Valley
111 Locust: asked $3,395,000 and sold for $3,750,000
6 Tartan: asked $2,395,000 and sold for $2,520,000
890 Chamberlain: asked $1,350,000 and sold for $1,400,000
30 Juanita: asked $1,050,000 and sold for $1,095,000
Novato
156 Montego: asked $534,900 and sold for $571,000
318 Grandview: asked $489,000 and sold for $500,000
1103 Simmons: asked $469,900 and sold for $495,000
2418 Center: asked $459,900 and sold for $476,000
1430 Elm: asked $264,900 and sold for $315,000
409 Fernbridge: asked $299,000 and sold for $305,000
San Anselmo
190 San Francisco: asked $759,000 and sold for $850,000
9 Kenrick: asked $799,000 and sold for $819,000
180 Creek: asked $729,000 and sold for $800,000
San Rafael
21 Santa Margarita: asked $1,125,000 and sold for $1,200,000
31 Bonnie Brae: asked $959,000 and sold for $1,000,000 2518
Las Gallinas: asked $599,900 and sold for $638,000
33 Jefferson: asked $475,000 and sold for $495,000
20 Miraflores: asked $405,000 and sold for $481,000
Tiburon
85 Spring: asked $3,649,000 and sold for $3,890,000
334 Blackfield: asked $2,625,000 and sold for $2,675,000
1496 Vistazo: asked $1,595,000 and sold for $1,680,000
104 Howard: asked $1,425,000 and sold for $1,471,420

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Why Is This Man Smiling If His Company Just Lost $1.8 Million On A Tiburon Mansion?

Maybe because it was his mansion?

The Italian-style villa at 3650 Paradise Drive cost Edward Mueller $8.3 million a few years back, and it came with bay views, beach access, a wine cellar, a bar and a large limestone veranda.

But then the former Williams-Sonoma exec got hired in August to be Qwest Communications' CEO and moved from Marin to Denver; Qwest bought the house for $8.9 million in September.

Qwest listed it for $9.95 million—but ended up selling it for $7.5 million in December. According to today's Wall Street Journal:

Qwest ... reaped only $7.1 million after closing costs and commissions when it sold in December, the latest proxy statement says.

The moral of the story:


If you want to sell your house above market value, get hired by Qwest, which "promises to buy the residence of any transferred employee at the vice-president level and above if the home remains unsold for 60 days," the Journal noted.

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Got $1.1 million? Buy a Starter House in Mill Valley

You can get get "vintage charm" and "character" and 1,094 square feet of living space if you buy this brand-new $1.099 million Mill Valley listing. No, that's not a typo and yes, it does work out to $1,004.57 per square foot. Nice-looking kitchen, no?

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Breaking: Houses Selling Above Asking

Remember that house at 111 Locust Street, Mill Valley (see here)? The asking price was $3.395 million. Our sources say it closed yesterday after getting three offers. Price: $3.75 million.

Meanwhile, 55 Buena Vista Avenue, a remolded three-BR stucco house in a flat, sunny walk-to-town location, got at least two offers in under a week. The house, which was listed for $1.749 million (1,800 square feet), is already in escrow. Let us know if it also sold above asking.

Mill Valley: Bizarro World.

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Same House, Lower Price

Back on the market in Mill Valley is a recently renovated house at 45 Laverne ($2.35 million for 2,753 sq ft, 4BR plus office, 3.5BA). Last fall, when we first heard this modern house located behind Whole Foods in Homestead Valley was for sale, the owner was asking $2.5 million. More of the scoop:

According to Zillow, where the owners posted more details about the 1951 house, a major remodel was completed three years ago. Improvements include: a new roof, new siding, four newly renovated bathrooms, a kitchen remodel and a two-story addition. Oh, and also a sauna and steam room.

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New Listings: $1.7 Million In Southern Marin

Somebody took a finger out of the dike. More than 60 new southern Marin listings have come on the market in the past week, and here's a sampling of the kind of kitchen you can get for $1.7-$1.75 million:


279 Riviera Dr., San Rafael: $1.749 m, 4 BR, 3BA, 3,347 sq ft ($523 per sq ft)

314 Kent Ave., Kentfield: $1.7 m, 5BR, 4BA, 2,200 sq ft ($773 per sq ft)

2 Overhill Rd., Mill Valley: $1.749 m, 4BR, 3.5B, 2,515 sq ft ($695 per sq ft)

55 Buena Vista Ave., Mill Valley: $1.7495 m, 3BR, 2B, 1,800 sq ft ($972 per sq ft)

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California Scene: Inventory Up, Asking Prices Not

HousingTracker looks at asking prices and inventory in more than 50 metro areas around the country. So, how are things in San Francisco? Um, bad:


Last week, the supply of listings increased in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and San Jose but down (bright spot!) in Riverside and Sacramento. Inventory stayed the same in L.A. As for asking prices, they dropped or stayed the same in all those markets.

In San Francisco, the market closest to Marin, the 12-month trend looks like this:

Trend	04/21/2008	1 month	3 month	6 month	12 month
Median Price	$521,000	+0.2%	-0.8%	-10.9%	-13.5%
Inventory	18,072	+5.5%	+19.5%	-3.9%	+28.1%

The takeaway message remains the same: It's not a good time to sell, so don't put your house on the market if you don't have to.

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Back On The Market

Among this week's "new" southern Marin listings are two houses that were on the market last fall. Trying again (one at a reduced asking price, one not) are:

18 MIRABEL: This $3.85 million house, perched on a ridge above downtown Mill Valley, is exquisitely sited. Not only does it have dead-on Mt. Tam views, it also offers a good-enough-for-a-spy perch to keep track of what's happening below you in town. Why didn't it sell last fall? Well, with only three bedrooms, the dramatic '70s modern style of the house may not appeal to everyone (although we'd move into it in a heartbeat). Also, upkeep. All those miles and miles and miles (it seemed) of boxwood hedges won't clip themselves twice a year.

77 MARGUERITE: This vintage Klyce house (COMING NEXT WEEK: What Exactly Is A Klyce House?) situated in Mill Valley's Middle Ridge neighborhood is back on the market with a price chop, reduced from $2.195 million to $2.075 million. Nice floorplan, sweet yard (we were particularly fond of the well-established rose garden and the blowsy lilac at the bottom of the hill), but no master bath. Laundry is in the garage.

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"X" Out The Ex-Urb: Shorten Your Commute

Here's an interesting piece from BusinessWeek that correlates rising gas prices with declining home values. If everybody in your town is commuting an hour to work, you may have experienced a steep drop in home prices:

Take Murrieta, Calif., incorporated in 1991. The population of Murrieta more the doubled to 100,000 over the past eight years, as residents traded hour-long commutes to San Diego or Orange County, Calif. for newly built mini-mansions at lower prices. In the past year though home prices in Murrieta fell 31% to a median $329,000.

[Photo credit: Sfgate]

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How To Get Multiple Offers: Anatomy Of A Successful Sale

When we published a list yesterday of all the sellers in Marin who sold their houses above the asking prices last month, it raised a lot of questions. Well, one question, mainly: How did they manage that?

Easy. They did everything right. Of course, you can too. Here's a blueprint to follow, a case study of how the owners of one Mill Valley house flawlessly played their hand and got $1.835 million for a house they listed at $1.795 million:

1. LOCATION, OF COURSE. The 1,021 sq ft bungalow (built in 1946) that the owners bought in 2005 at 74 Nelson (for $850,000) may have been situated on one of the more modest blocks in Mill Valley's family-trendy Sycamore Park neighborhood, but it had one exceptional plus: the lot is adjacent to a popular vest-pocket neighborhood park. It's also an easy walk to Park Elementary School, Mill Valley Middle School and Tamalpais High School.

2. GET THE RIGHT ARCHITECT. Barbara Chambers, one of Marin's most versatile architects, designed a new, slightly bigger two-story house (1,200 sq ft) that somehow managed to incorporate an open first-floor floorplan, three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a second-floor family room into that relatively small amount of space. The result was a house sited ingeniously on the lot, facing the street but with a "front" entry on the side of the building.

The exterior, in fact, greatly resembles Chambers' own, larger house a few blocks away, with a two-car garage topped by window boxes facing the street. (See photo, right)

3. KNOW YOUR MARKET. The new floorplan, with three second-floor bedrooms that opened off a central family room, was ideal for a young family. So was the gate in the backyard fence that leads directly to the park and playground behind the property. The Sunday open house a few days after 74 Nelson went on the market attracted a steady stream of young couples, prospective buyers in SUVs outfitted with infant seats.

3. THE PRICE IS RIGHT. The sellers priced 74 Nelson, in mint condition, at $1.795 million, significantly lower than the recent sale prices of two other slightly larger, and lived in, houses a few blocks away—81 Sycamore (sold for $2.185 million in November 2007) and 95 Sycamore (sold for $2.3 million, also in November 2007). Within days of the Sunday open house, they entertained multiple offers. In the end, the house sold for $40,000 above asking, after a mere 31 days on the market at a time when 74 days on the market is the average in Marin.

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A Tale of Two Counties

While there's no denying that the real estate crisis is hurting Marin along with the rest of the country—the county's foreclosure rate doubled in the past year, for instance—there's also evidence that an unusually high percentage of listings still are selling above their asking prices. In March, for instance, 12 percent of the 134 houses and condos sold for prices higher than asking. Those listings also sold much faster—after an average of 21 days on the market—than the typical Marin listing, which was on the market for 74 days. Here's a look at those 16 sales by location:



In Corte Madera, two sales:

4 Wildflower, asking price $1,089,000, sold for $1,112,000 (102.1%)
438 Oakdale asking $850,000, sold for $885,000 (104.1%)

In Fairfax:

43 Bay , asking $939,000, sold for $950,000 (101.2%)

In Mill Valley, four sales:

171 Elinor, asking $2,368,000, sold for $2,430,000 (102.6%)
74 Nelson, asking $1,795,000, sold for $1,835,000 (102.2%)
111 Stanford, asking $1,595,000, sold for $1,600,000 (100.3%)
78 Marguerite, asking $899,000 sold for $975,000 (108.5)

In Novato, two sales:

801 Sutro, asking $470,999, sold for $480,000 (101.9%)
27 Lakeview, asking $279,000, sold for $290,000 (103.9%)

In Ross:

5 Madera, asking $2,595,000, sold for $2,800,000 (107.9%)

In San Rafael, three sales:

14 Westwood, asking $889,000, sold for $905,000 (101.8%)
106 Plymouth, asking $649,000, sold for $659,000 (101.5%)
25 Wharf, asking $336,900, sold for $342,000 (101.5%)

In Sausalito:

1 Willow, asking $889,000, sold for $890,000 (100.1%)

In Tiburon, two sales:

143 Gilmartin, asking $4,795,000, sold for $4,800,000 (100.1%)
1837 Centro West, asking $1,250,000, sold for $1,357,000 (108.6%)

COMING TOMORROW
How They Do It: An Inside Look At The Techniques One Marin Seller Used To Get Multiple Offers

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Welcome To The Neighborhood

After barely a week on the market, a $3.395 million Mill Valley house at 111 Locust Ave.—yes, the one with the new two-story garage that some neighbors would have preferred not to see built—is in contract. Will the sale price will set a new record for Sycamore Park? Last year, 50 Walnut (3,850 sq ft) went for $2.936m; an oldie at 35 Sycamore Ave. (3,876 sq ft) went for $3.1 million.

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Price Choppers: More Tales of Marin's Most Motivated Sellers

With one of last week's price choppers already in contract (we're referring to 171 Stanford in Mill Valley, where the seller cut the price from $849,000 to $795,000), we figured it was time to toss some fresh meat into the water. Here are some sellers who've reduced their asking prices:


Stinson Beach: There are only 325 lots in the Seadrift neighborhood, an exclusive enclave we've always thought exhibited great optimism, built on that spit of land that juts so trustingly out into the ocean at the end of Stinson Beach. The price of one older oceanfront property on the market since October, at 234 Seadrift Rd., has been cut from $3.6 million to $3.3 million. Depending on whom you ask, it either has ocean views or partial ocean views. Either way, they're better than our views. To give you some perspective, the seller of the house down the road at 296 Seadrift Rd., listed at $6.2 million last July, is sitting firm.

Mill Valley: A block or so over from the Stanford listing we discussed earlier, on another of those streets named after colleges, 222 Princeton has Bay views, 3BR, 2BA and a price cut, from $1.275m to $1.175m.

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Two, Two, Two Houses In One

The neighbors find more reasons than there are trees to hate the house you're building in Mill Valley—any house. In the case of this pricey new Sycamore Park listing (a just-completed $3.395 million Dutch Colonial-style home at 111 Locust Ave.), the offending feature was a detached, two-story building with a rental unit in the backyard.

A one-story garage would have been fine. But a two-story rental cottage would "tower over our rental cottage," one neighbor wrote in an email message to the city planning department. That was just the beginning.



The owners went to city hall to make an impassioned speech about the house. And about how their family was looking forward to living in the neighborhood. As for that two-story garage/apartment? A perfect place to house grandparents.

With the wisdom of Solomon, the planning commission ruled that a slightly shorter version of the garage could be built. It also asked the owners to investigate whether "prehistoric resources" were buried on the property. (They weren't, according to an archaeological survey.) And finally, it asked the owners to paint the trim a tasteful color. (The city approved linen white.)

We don't know which of these requirements, if any, put the owners over the edge. But they decided to leave the neighborhood after all. Which is why this lovely house is on the market.

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Historic Schwingers' Pad for Sale

We were surprised and a little excited—in a good way—to see that the old Swiss Club recently went on the market. (Asking price is $4.995 million.)

Anyone who's hiked Mt. Tam and put in around the Mountain Home Inn in Mill Valley has surely seen it: a sprawling, wooden chalet that, until a few years ago, had the words "Swiss Club" on its door. We figured it for some kind of Alpine hiking club (was excellent European beer on tap inside?) but we didn't know anyone who was a member, or even anyone who knew a member. Since the "For Sale" sign has stimulated recent discussions about the place, we figured it was a good time to head over to the library to investigate.

All we can say is: Who knew Swiss immigrants were such schwingers?


It turns out that there were many Swiss saloons in San Francisco in the early 1900s. Homesick for the Alps, many expats enjoyed taking the ferry to Sausalito and hiking to Mill Valley. Armed with pickaxes and shovels, they began clearing a path on the hillside—so they could haul a sled full of construction materials up the grade, and build a clubhouse. (The path would later become Edgewood Avenue.)

They raised a house in 1920 and dubbed it Schweizer Verein Tell—or Swiss Club Tell—after the apple-shooting, 15th century Swiss hero, William Tell. After the building slid downhill in a big storm, they rebuilt and that house is the one you see today.

For the first few decades of its existence, the Swiss Club Tell hosted parties and picnics and housed "a certain piece of equipment which was able to produce some kind of a liquid which looked to the uninitiated like holy water," according to reminiscences from early members. "But it was of much greater proof. It is said that those mountain waters supplied the necessary spirit in various Swiss saloons in the city."

During the Great Depression, "the club decided to open its doors for those few unfortunate enough to have lost their job and with it their place to live."

By the 1950s, the place was swinging. Or more accurately, schwinging: "There was a major gathering every month, including a Fastnacht dance, a March festival, a Hobo ball in April, a Mayfest and a Summer dance....They held several Schwingfests."

More Unusual Houses: The Flying Saucer of Chattanooga

Fast forward to the 50th anniversary gala in 1970, when both San Francisco's Swiss Gymnastic Club and Swiss Singing Club (practices were every Thursday at 8 p.m., all welcome) sent their congratulations. These were the days of raucous yodeling contests and dancing to Al Fassler's Swiss Orchestra.

Eventually, however, the club fell on hard times; the property was sold and, in the 1990s, the neighbors strenuously opposed the new owner's plan to connect the property to the city's sewers. He won on sanitary grounds. When the place sold in 2004, it fetched $2.75 million.


According to the current listing, $4.995 million buys you a "main lodge and three charming guest cottages...dramatically restored with character and attention to detail. The grounds are breathtakingly beautiful, with approximately 65,000 sq ft. of sun-drenched redwoods, lawns and private stone patios."

This time around, we're taking up a collection to buy it. We'll revive the yodeling contests.

[See related 2002 San Francisco Chronicle post]

[Photo credit: Swiss Club Tell file]

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BREAKING: That Little House On Park Sold

Less than a week after it went on the market, the "contemporary, urban chic, oh-so-close to town" $1.129 million house at 19 Park Ave. in Mill Valley is under contract. Now you see why we urged you to go see it fast. More on this breaking story as it develops.

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On the Market: Walk to Death Row

It's historic. It's on the water. It's one of Marin's tiniest close-knit enclaves, with about 40 houses and a 10-unit condo complex. Oh yeah, and its Main Street dead ends at the gates to San Quentin State Prison.

We're talking about Point San Quentin Village, and we're willing to bet it's the only place in Larkspur where you can get spectacular views for $1.26 million:


A new listing in the community boasts 3BR, BA, access to two beaches and the sort of one-of-a-kind location that Marin Magazine recently described succinctly as being walk-to-jail, since it's just a few yards away from "the massive medium-security San Quentin State Prison, home to more than 5,000 inmates—the road dead-ends (possibly a poor choice of words) at the prison’s main gate."

Possibly.

[Photo credit: University of California]

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Price Choppers: Marin's Most Motivated Sellers

A friend asked what we were going to write about today and we answered, "Sellers in southern Marin who have dropped their asking prices," and then the friend said, "Is that a joke? Or do people actually do that here?" Short answer is yes, they do. All the time. Long answer is:

GOLF COURSE VIEW: After being on the market less than three weeks, the owners of 10 Country Club Drive in Mill Valley cut the asking price from $3.495 million to $3.195 million, for 3,200 square feet in a sunny location. Best feature: the wraparound deck and outdoor fireplace. Why the price cut? Somebody must have noticed that 72 Cypress, another view house that came on the market the same day, has a much lower asking price -- $2.3 million -- for a slightly bigger house. Granted, Cypress is in shade for much of the day.

ONE YEAR LATER: An "utterly charming, remodeled Sleepy Hollow home on a 27,000 sq ft lot" that went on the market more than a year ago asking $1.25 million is now for sale for $1.239 million. Does this mean the seller might actually be willing to settle for $1.238 million? Would $1.237 million be an insult?

WORTH A LOOK: After nearly two months on the market, 171 Stanford Ave.'s asking price is down from $849k to $795k. Zillow estimates the Mill Valley house is worth $820k and that all its nearest neighbors on the view side of the street are worth more.

[Photo credit: Dreammoods)

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BREAKING: That House On Throckmorton Sold

Barely a week after the brokers' open house—you remember how we were so excited about the live piano player and the shrimp platter— the Mill Valley house with the perfect Mayberry location at 445 Throckmorton (5+BR, asking price $3.489 million) is in contract. More on this developing story as details unfold.

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Parallel Universe: Noe Valley Apparently Didn't Get The Memo

Today, as we continued to obsess over this week's news that the real estate market tanked badly in January, we heard a story that sounded so bizarre we thought at first it came from the Twilight Zone.

"We keep trying to buy something, but then we get outbid," said a friend of ours who lives in San Francisco and who drove north over the Golden Gate Bridge to have lunch with us today. "Each weekend we keep running into the same people at open houses. I feel like I'm starting to get to know them."

Apparently, all those people are looking for the same thing as our friend and his wife: a condo in the $1.1-$1.3 million price range in San Francisco's Noe Valley, the hip-to-be-a-family-with-one-or-possibly-two-kids neighborhood where, if this wild tale is to be believed, multiple offers and bidding wars are still common.

Freshly bruised from a failed attempt to buy a 4BR condo on Church (a 2,283-square-foot Zephyr listing, with an asking price of $1.199 million), our friend had a haunted look in his eyes. "We were one of six who bid," he said. "And we came in No. 2."

"Who got the condo in the end?" we asked gently.

"Somebody who bid $1.31," he said. "We thought we had it, but they came in with a no-contingency offer and agreed to close in fourteen days. The owners had already moved out, and they just wanted the cash fast."

"Weird," we said, although frankly we would have taken the cash fast, too.

"You'll get the next one," we said (as if we knew the first thing about what's going on in the San Francisco real estate market). "It must have been a fluke."

Or was it? Is there some secret, robust real-estate market hiding out in plain sight in San Francisco?

[Photo credit: Historic Noe Valley street scene by way of Noevalues.com]

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