Mid Year Market Update/January 2009-June 2009

The Pleasanton Real Estate Market has seen a surge of activity in sales of single family homes.  The 2^nd quarter of 2009 ended with 205 sales, the highest number of quarterly sales activity since the 2^nd quarter of 2007. Sales for the quarter were up 114% over the 1^st quarter of this year. 

At the same time the inventory of homes for sale is trending downward.  Normally inventory tends to increase on a seasonal basis between the 1^st and 2^nd quarter.  This year the inventory has dropped from 237 homes for sale at the end of the 1^st quarter to 213 homes at the end of the 2^nd quarter.   As of this writing (7/29/2009) the inventory level has dropped to 186 while sales for the month of July has reached 75 with two days remaining in the month.

For the 2^nd quarter short sales and REO properties represented a significant percentage of the total sales with short sales coming in at 36 or 18% of the total of 205 and REO properties coming in at 15 or 17% of the total of 205.  Combined distress sales accounted for 25% of the total sales activity.  For the month of July that percentage is down to 19%.  Of the current inventory of available homes for sale (186) there are 14 showing as short sales and 2 as REO sales for a combined total of 9%.  The number of distress sales appears to be shrinking for the moment.

Our listing at 4153 Walnut Drive in downtown Pleasanton has just been reduced in price.

The new price is $935,000.

Construction of this beautiful home was completed earlier this summer.

Click here to take a virtual tour of this home.

Or contact us by phone or email for a private showing.

Title insurance is one of the elements of purchasing or refinancing a home that is often confusing to buyers and homeowners. “Title” is the legal right to the possession of property.

Tile insurance is required by the lender. It protects the lender against issues that may not show up on the land records, but which may present themselves down the road. Buyers and homeowners may purchase an owner’s policy which protects the homeowner from these same issues. For example, there may be unpaid tax liens on the property which could potentially cause a homeowner some difficulties without a title insurance policy in place.

If you are refinancing your home, the lender will require a new lender’s title policy. Even if you refinance with the same lender, the existing policy terminates with the payoff of that mortgage. In addition, the lender wants to be protected from title issues that may have arisen since you purchased the property. In this situation, you may receive a discount on the cost of the title insurance policy, but be sure to ask.

Two of our downtown Pleasanton listings have just been reduced in price.

655 Neal Street in Pleasanton has just been reduced in price to $685,000.

Visit www.655neal.com to see all the beautiful upgrades the current owners have added to the home.

Also, 4153 Walnut Drive just off Main Street is now listed at $974,000.

Visit www.4153walnutdrive.comto take a tour of this newly constructed home in one of Pleasanton’s most desirable neighborhoods.