Kevin Boer

I'm a:	Real Estate Professional
Location:	Palo Alto
Web sites:	My blog

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About Me

You know that monkey on your back? You know, the one that keeps telling you to get off your lazy tush, stop stalling, stop over-analyzing the market, stop trying to find excuses...and just get out there and buy yourself a damn home already? Well, it's time to get that monkey off your back. Contact me and let's get the process started.

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Kevin Boer's Answers (62)

Real estate sales in palo alto in '08

Asked Mon Apr 28 2008, 18:01 by Marco - Palo Alto - Home Selling - 18 answers

Kevin Boer answered:

Thanks Marco. I'll look into the discrepancy. The MLS has pretty stiff fines for agents who consummate a transaction and don't record the details; the rationale behind them trying to do that is usually that the sellers don't want their neighbors to know what the sales price was. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what the rationale would be for posting fake sales -- unless there is some kind of giant conspiracy going on in Palo Alto. Unlikely. There's bound to be a more rational reason, but I simply don't know what that reason is right now. I'll look into this and post my answer here. - Tue May 13 2008, 11:33

It's extremely unlikely the 45 seemingly additional sales in the MLS are fictitious. To maintain such a conspiracy would involve four parties to each transaction keeping up appearances that the property sold when it fact it did not -- the buyer, the buyer's agent, the seller, and the seller's agent.

Still, the mystery remains and I'd love to get to the bottom of it. If Marco, the original questioner, is still reading this thread, could you let us know the following:

a) Where on DataQuick.com you ran the search. (I may be overlooking it, but I went there and it wasn't immediately obvious where the search feature was.)
b) What data parameters you were using? Was it all of 2007? Was it 2008 year to date? - Mon May 12 2008, 17:24

Marco -- Another answer for you. There are often discrepancies between MLS records and Data Quick records, which draw, I believe, from county records. However, I don't usually see discrepancies as large as the one you're pointing out, in which the MLS shows 51 transactions in particular date and price range, while Data Quick only shows 6.

The discrepancies that do exist are often due to home-owners who don't want their neighbors to know what their home sold for and so use various tricks to keep the county records from displaying that data. That may account for some of the discrepancy between 6 and 51, but certainly not all of it. I'll confess to being mystified at this stage. - Fri May 9 2008, 14:33

We may be comparing apples to oranges. Was the Merc talking about a drop in
a) The number of sales
b) The average or median sales price

Do you have a url for the article in question?

Re. DataQuick -- See comments thread in this post:
http://3oceansrealestate.com/blog/palo-alto-real-estate-pric…

Data Quick confuses EPA and PA, and counts condos. Given the carnage east of 101, if you throw those numbers in the mix, then the figures you're quoting may be correct. - Mon Apr 28 2008, 18:32

Trying to get my new listing on Trulia

Asked Fri May 9 2008, 19:03 by Linda S Gord… - San Francisco - Home Selling - 3 answers

Kevin Boer answered:

If your broker has a feed to Trulia, this will happen automatically. - Fri May 9 2008, 19:41

Is it true that the real estate mkt for SFH in Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos is red hot now? We

Asked Thu Apr 24 2008, 17:37 by Manvi - Palo Alto - Home Buying - 10 answers

Kevin Boer answered:

Re. Artur's point -- the "46% down" thingie was just too suspicious to be accurate! The only way you would get those numbers is if
a) You include East Palo Alto (EPA)
b) EPA has a surge of low-priced inventory

Both a) and b) are true and that's why you get the startling, but untrue, 46% down figure.

In fact, you won't find anywhere even in EPA where prices have gone down 46%! That number is purely a function of how the median works, and of how it can get skewed in particular markets. - Fri Apr 25 2008, 08:14

DQNews.com is normally a very good source of real estate data, and Artur's point below is well taken. In the particular case of Palo Alto, however, my experience is that DQNews is NOT a good source of real estate data.

Here's why: DQNews for some reason considers Palo Alto and East Palo Alto be the same city, even though they're distinctly different cities -- in fact, they're in different counties! Also, DQNews for some reason leaves out the two of the most expensive zip codes in Palo Alto.

For more on this apparent error in DQNews data, see the below article on my blog, especially comment thread. [shameless plug] - Thu Apr 24 2008, 22:56

P.S. If you want to buy a home in PA without competing with multiple other buyers, wait till the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There tend to be fewer buyers out there; the flip side, of course, is that there also tends to be lower inventory.

For whatever reason, buyers in PA seem to prefer to buy only when other buyers are also buying. - Thu Apr 24 2008, 18:07

While things are slower than they were in, say, 2005, many homes in that price range are indeed selling with multiple offers. Well presented and priced homes are still creating a feeding frenzy and attracting multiple offers. In 2005 these multiple offers would have come within the first week; now it's taking a bit longer to get them. The spring market is indeed here. - Thu Apr 24 2008, 18:02

What is the reason for so much price difference between?

Asked Thu Apr 24 2008, 17:30 by Manvi - Palo Alto - Home Buying - 5 answers

Kevin Boer answered:

Your agent should be able to provide the best guidance on these issues. Also, I would caution you against discussing your potential bidding strategy in a public forum such as this one. - Thu Apr 24 2008, 17:45

PRIOR SALES HISTORY on 2101 Camino a los Cerros, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Asked Wed Apr 23 2008, 15:08 by Vivian Johse… - Menlo Park - Home Selling - 2 answers

Kevin Boer answered:

I've done several transactions in that neighborhood...here's what records show for these properties:

2101 Camino a los Cerros
Sold in 2/2004 sold for $660K
Sold in 1/2007 for $1.15M

2001 Sharon Road
No sales history found

2007 Sharon Road
No sales history found

2021 Ashton
Sold in 5/2007 for $1.225M

Homes in West Menlo / the Alameda have generally weathered the recent storm fairly well, a testament to the good local schools, which is the main driver of property values in this area.

Hope this helps. - Wed Apr 23 2008, 16:27

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