Saratoga Villa sold in 11 days (photo fromwww.reil.com) 

 Often times someone will ask me: “Should I sell, don’t sell, purchase, don’t purchase?” “When is the best time for our Real Estate Market?”  Let us look at the real estate stat from the www.reil.com                 

The 2007 1^st Q  inventory: 3368; Closed sales: 2244; average days: 48 days; sold price $1 million. The 2008 1^st Q inventory:5522; Closed sales:1386; average days: 57days; sold price $988,720.It shows that the current inventory has a 70% dramatically increase from 1^st quarter 2007 to 1^st quarter 2008. The closed sales trend has a 20% dropped which has a steady drop and the average days on the market increased 20% and the average sold price has dropped 1.23%. If we use rate of selling it will takes 4 quarters to sell all.       The medium priced homes of Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, West San Jose, Sunnyvale and parts of Santa Clara, are still actively selling and often with multiple offers.  Properties with good schools are selling quickly with equity! The higher end homes like that 4 million dollars over 5000 square footage Saratoga villa in listed on Feb 27 2007 sold in 11 days for 3.75 millions with all cash. On the other hand, there is home at Cashdan Ct in Santa Clara.   It was sold July 2006 for $725K and January 2008 was on the market for $690K and now it is asked for $559K.  I think it is absolutely the best time to buy some of foreclosure homes which was much lower then one or two years. The current buyers have much better position to pick and choose. At the same time the sellers need to be more patient.

         Today I was invited by Catherine Chen from the State Farm Insurance office of Cupertino to the “Hats off to you!” community luncheon from the Quota Cupertino. Ms Trudi Wallace presented the 200 years of hats, caps, bonnets and more.  She collected those hats since age of four and has about a collection of 700 hats. Some of those hats are more than 200 years old. The presentation is informative and fun to see. Sarah Perez, Quota 12th District Governor in the black hat with turkey feathers that tied under the chin.  I also took one of someone modeling a cream-colored hat with flowers. A sheriff deputy modeled the bobby hat. The Islam fez was modeled by Cupertino City Councilman Orrin Mahoney. CUSD Superintendent Phil Quon modeled a sort of civil-war. I also like the large one she wears with feathers makes me feel like we are walking into the life of two hundred years ago. Mary-Ann Wallace was very kind to provide 6 photos of different hat.  Guests are welcome to wear hats. The food is catered by Outback restaurant , one of the

            The 1^st quarter of 2008 Cupertino reported 52 closed Single-Family Homes sales receiving 100.34 % of list price. These closings represented a median price of $1,185,000  and an average price of $1,271,490. There were 124 new listings on the market and current inventory is 65 homes for sale. t takes an average of 35 Days for a Cupertino Single-Family Homes on Market (DOM) and 45 Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM). The data is provided from Grace Keng of RE/MAX RES is a member of REInfoLink, (Santa Clara County Multiple Listing Service which maintains real estate transactions statistics of northern

               Cupertino Condo/Townhouses had 18 closed sales receiving 98.98% of list price! These closings represented a median price of $665.000 and an average price of $735.955. There were 39 new listings for the1st quarter of 2008 and the current inventory is 18 homes for sale.The

              Santa Clara County Condo/Townhouses had 495 closed sales receiving 98.19% of list price! These closings represented a median price of $547,624. There were 1845  new listings and it takes 60 days on the market to sell. It shows the real estate market is still very strong at the good schools areas like Cupertino, Santa Clara, Saratoga and

      I found this article is very interesting from the RE/MAX Time on line that a Hall of Fame member and a platinum agent Paul Pastore, with RE/MAX Elite in Chandler, Ariz. , he has become the master of the Top 10 lists (sorry, Mr. Letterman).

  1. Be casual, not serious, about selling.
A sage once quipped, “Money is only important when you don’t want something enough.” Real estate expert R.L. Brown said that if half of the 58,000 sellers in

2. Price it wrong.
A home properly priced is half sold. No amount of full-color ads, glossy fliers, multiple photos, virtual tours, agent luncheons, Goodyear blimps or pom-pom girls will compensate for a wrong, timid retail price.

3. Ignore your agent.
Attorneys believe if you represent yourself, you have a fool for a client. Doctors don’t self-diagnose. Professionals use professionals. Even though many people believe they’re experts on raising kids and real estate, full-time, career pros usually know what’s best. Listen to them very carefully.

 4. Micromanage the marketing.
If you sold cookware in college, carts in California, or carpeting in

6. Let Fido loose.
I recently entered a house and had two frisky, friendly black Labs run up to sniff me. Unfortunately, I had light-gray dress slacks on that day. Both wet stains lasted for hours. Until that day I didn’t realize dogs enjoyed chewing the tassels on expensive loafers.

7. Talk to the buyers.
Life gets lonely at times. Why not ask the buyers where they grew up? Or how much they qualify for. Tell them about the vacant rental next door. Maybe they could babysit next weekend! Why not share war stories, horror movies or meatloaf recipes?

8. Sell personal items.
Wow, maybe the buyers want to buy the patio furniture or rotary lawnmower. You have only four more boxes of Girl Scout cookies to sell. Why not ask for a donation for the March of Dimes, the Humane Society, the local PBS station? Remember the saying, “loose lips sink ships.”

9. Discount that smell.
My house doesn’t smell of pets, baby diapers, curry powder, garlic, fried fish, coconut incense, cigars, manure, mulch, dairy farms or low tide. The buyer must be confusing my castle with a tract home.

10. Dismiss feedback.
What do buyers know anyway? They can’t possibly mind my barbed wire fence, heavy-duty rebar, backyard bomb shelter, airport runway views, lights from the power plant, hum from the high-voltage lines, railroad tremors, scorpion skeletons, termite mud tubes and pet snakes. What are they thinking?

Now you know how to do to get the home sell.  

The road to home ownership fair 2008 will be an interesting event!Date: April 5^th Saturday 10 Am – 4 PM

Place: Santa Clara Convention Center

How to get there: Take light rail to the stop of the Great American Station

Who sponsor this: Santa Clara county association realtors, Mercury News and WaMu.

What you will get: home ownerahip related information from 80 information tables and 24 educational seminars

What you will learn: Steps to buy a home, home buying assistance programs, Credit counseling and repairs and how to avoid a foreclosure.