Spring is here which is usually the tradional time for buyers and sellers in Marin to move quickly of their real estate activities. Marin sales remain strong and ahead of last year. Median sales prices in most communities in Marin have increased or at lease not fallen by appreciable amounts. This cannot be said for the rest of the housing market in most areas of the United States. Marin County with its small supply of homes and hardly any new construction has a steady built in demand for homes that will buck most of the national trends.

Here are some of the average Sales prices of Single Family homes in Marin County as of March, 2008:

I thought some data and trends would be helpful on the state of the market in Marin. I have done some analysis and below are the average and median prices of homes sold in the bay area from January 1, 2008 through May 15, 2008. The number of units sold to date are down around 35% from same time last year.

If you should have any questions on this data feel free to drop me a line at rparks@visionrealtors.com or call me at 415-297-9000.

It is Thursday June 5, 2008 here in Sunny Marin County and the market has appreciably picked up in the last few weeks. Mill Valley, Tiburon, Larkspur and Greenbrae have shown increased activity. Many buyers are interested in writing offers and getting into contract on homes when in the past they were sitting on the sidelines.

In addition to the Marin County being more active on the buy side there is also increased activity on homes that are in the following categories:

ºBank Owned in Marin

ºPre- Foreclosure in Marin

ºAuctions in Marin

Here are some of the stats to give you an idea of what is going on in the foreclosures and short sale arena:

As of June 5, 2008 there are 748 homes in Marin in some state of financial distress. Of those 748 homes, 397 are in Pre- Foreclosure (a notice of default has been issued on the property for non-payment of the loan); 142 Properties waiting for auction and 209 Bank-owned. These homes in Marin are principally in San Rafael and Novato where the market has taken a sharp dive. A snap shot of homes in these troubled categories is as follows:

If you should have any questions on this data feel free to drop me a line at rparks@visionrealtors.com or call me at 415-297-9000.

The C.A.R. (California Association of Realtors) along with CSI (Costello & Sons Insurance) recently made an announcement that they have joined forces to create RERS (Real Estate Risk Services). The new company brings together a portion of the California Association of Realtors, which currently covers everything from workers’ comp to auto and home insurance. In addition, there will be no obligation risk analysis and an assessment for insurance needs for brokers and realtors.

CSI is looking forward to working with C.A.R. and believe that the goals of C.A.R. are the same as CSI’s. Their plan is to bring together their firms in California, numbering in the thousands, and have them under one umbrella. They also plan to start with a basic service and build on those services down the road.

CSI has already been named as one of the top 25 innovators in the United States insurance industry. Their home office is in Northern California and they specialize in personal insurance and real estate. Just a couple of months ago the Marin Green Business Program certified CSI as a green company, which was largely due to CSI’s business model of being a “paperless” company, by conducting most of its business through their website.