Bob Bredel

You are correct. On the elementary school level, Roy Cloud and Clifford are the only high ranking Redwood City Schools. If you move into a home that is covered by the boundaries of one of these two schools, you will be fine. The Sequoia Union High School District covers Redwood City. Most of the residences in Redwood City will be assigned to either Sequoia or Woodside. Both leave a lot to be desired, but are making improvements. You also have the ability to transfer to any of the Sequoia Union High Schools if space permits and the district grants the transfer. Carlmont and Menlo Atherton have decent reputations as public high schools.

For private elementary schools, St. Pius and Mt Carmel are the most notable choices in Redwood City. St. Charles in San Carlos also has many students who are Redwood City residents. - Sat Oct 27 2007, 13:25

Hi there,

I am a realtor with ReMax and do quite a bit of business in the San Mateo area. First, looking at the recent sales statistics for Sunnybrae, 14 homes haves sold in that particular area in the last 6 months. Of those 14 sales, 7 have sold above the asking price. The remaining 7 have sold within 2% of the list price. So it is an area that is not only holding its prices, but perhaps slightly exceeding the appreciation rates in other comparable neighborhoods.

Over the past three years I have moved three families into Sunnybrae. I still speak with them and none have ever mentioned any type of concern with crime.

Hope this helps! - Fri Sep 7 2007, 12:43

Beautiful. Some of the best weather in the United States. South of the fog and marine layer of San Francisco, north of the high summer temperatures of the Valley, located just east of the hills bordering the Pacific Ocean. You would be hard pressed to beat it. - Mon Aug 13 2007, 15:36

Selecting a realtor can seem like an overwhelming task. Currently, there are over 21,000 realtors in the Bay Area. How do you know which one is best for you? First, the types of questions to ask your realtor will somewhat depend on if you are on the listing side or buying side. Below are 5 key areas to cover when interviewing a realtor to list your home.

LISTING AGENT INTERVIEW

(1) Go Local. First, make sure that the overwhelming majority of your prospective agent’s transactions are done locally, i.e. mid-peninsula (It would help if he or she specialized only in a few cities, San Carlos being one of them). I would never use a realtor who was not a local realtor. Local realtors know the market better, have better connections and are much more likely to sell your home at a price and with terms that are agreeable to you. When prospective buyers’ agents see a phone number starting with (916) or (510), for example, they know that if their clients were to put an offer on that particular home, there is a higher likelihood that the transaction is going to be very difficult. Agents from out of the area will be unfamiliar with our local forms and disclosure requirements. Additionally, their firm will not have a proven and trusted track record with San Carlos sales. In other words, if you list your home with an out of area agent, you may risk losing a percentage of traffic through your home. Often times, out of area agents are family members or close friends of the sellers conducting their services as a reduced cost. The better way to handle this situation is for sellers to have their out of area agent refer the sale to a local agent who will agree to compensate that out of area agent a referral fee. Most referral fees are about 25% of the total list commission.

(2) Explanation of CMA. A CMA or Current Market Analysis is what a realtor will use to help decide an offer price for your home. During your interview the realtor should be able to give you a comprehensive CMA for your home. Handing you a bunch of comparables at the interview is is NOT a CMA. I would view this as the sign of a lazy realtor. If he or she is this lazy prior to the home going on the market, you can imagine what you will get once your home actually gets to market. A solid CMA examines price per square foot, comparables, area trends, inventory, pending sales, overall market conditions and characteristics unique to your property. The CMA should be succinct and ultimately arrive at a limited price range for your home.

(3) Services. Superior realtors will come to an interview with their CMA, Referral Contacts, and an Offer of Services nicely packaged in an interview binder for your review. Just what types of services should you demand for your realtor aside from the normal MLS listing, open houses and flyers? In short, you should be very demanding. In San Carlos the majority of homes are selling for over a million dollars and your listing agent is most likely charging you close to 6% (split with the buyer’s agent) for the sale. You should expect most, if not all, of the services to be compensated by your agent. I always spell out all of the services I will pay for out of my own pocket, on paper, as part of my listing presentation so that there is no ambiguity over who is paying for what. For instance I always pay for most of the staging (up to a certain length of time) or a home rearrangement if staging is not necessary, a house cleaning, yard clean up, self-catered open houses, inspection reports, high-end flyers, photography, virtual tours and more.

(4) Negotiating the Commission. Most homes in San Carlos have a list commission of between 5-6%. This commission is then split with the buyer’s agent. While commissions are negotiable, most very good San Carlos agents will not go below 5%, because they are worth it. If you were to interview a number of agents you would inevitably get one agent who would cut the list commission down to 4% or possibly even lower. Beware of these discount agents. Even though many of them advertise themselves as “full service” you are likely to get “discounted service”. My advice is to hire a top San Carlos agent and agree to the 5-6% commission. They should more than make up the difference of the discount agent’s prospective commission. The top San Carlos agent’s knowledge, local connections and work ethic will justify their commission.

(5) Experience. Always ask the prospective agent for a list of their last 12 month’s production. Again, a good agent will have this list prepared and will have it as part of their listing presentation to you at the interview. Ask for a list of references of sellers who have listed their home with your prospective agent within the last 12 months. Call the references. - Thu Aug 9 2007, 07:23

San Carlos has slowly turned into one of the hottest markets in the Bay Area. Its small, hometown feel, outstanding schools, community events, thriving downtown and prime mid-peninsula location has made it competitive for buyers looking to move into San Carlos. Unfortunately, this “competition” has made buyers more susceptible to making careless mistakes.

(1) Permits. Without a doubt, the most common mistake can be summed up in the following quote, “The agent advertised the house as a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. Later we found out that we only have a permitted 2 bedroom, 1 bath home.” Welcome to the wonderful world of unpermitted construction. San Carlos is filled with them. Many times a listing agent will rely on the word of an appraiser or the owner themselves when determining how many bedrooms and baths are permitted in the home. Agents are not supposed to advertise rooms that are not permitted, without stating that they are, in fact, not permitted. In other words, you can’t advertise to sell what you don’t have. Unfortunately, some listing agents will not do their due diligence on the records prior to listing the home for sale. The result is usually a lawsuit well after the transaction has closed when the buyers realize that they are stuck with unpermitted rooms. When representing buyers I make it a habit to check the city and county records prior to the transaction closing. In just the last year I have discovered two of the San Carlos homes my buyers wished to purchase were not permitted, as advertised by the listing agent. Bottom-line, insist that your agent check the permitted bedrooms and bathrooms prior to closing your transaction. The sooner the better.

(2) Schools. San Carlos is well known for outstanding elementary schools. Buyers assume that, for instance, moving into the White Oaks area, will guarantee them a spot at White Oaks Elementary. Unfortunately, moving in to a particular area in San Carlos does not guarantee your child’s placement in your property’s designated school. You may not have realized it, but when you were signing all of your disclosure paperwork to purchase your home, you most likely signed a disclaimer warning about possible impacted schools within San Mateo County. While the overcrowding at particular schools has not been a major problem in San Carlos for the last few years, it could be again soon. The other major issue facing San Carlos residents with high school age kids is the Sequoia vs. Carlmont issue. Both schools are run by the Sequoia Union High School District. Many high school age students in San Carlos have successfully applied for intra-district transfers to Carlmont in recent years. Making this transfer may not be so easy in coming years. In June the District stated that a lottery system may be implemented in order to cap the number of transfers and even out the numbers at both schools. http://www.sanmateodailynews.com/article/2007-6-29-rwc-enrollment

(3) Home Inspections. San Carlos is filled with homes which are 50-60 years old, some of which have very little updating. The most common problems experienced in San Carlos homes are wet/damp crawl spaces, outdated electrical systems and moisture intrusion into the structure due to stucco extending below the ground line. It is very easy to get wrapped up in bidding on a home in a hot market. The problem is that some buyers start to lose track of the immediate improvement needs of the home and instead focus most of their attention on the competitive offer for the home. The bottom-line is that purchasing a 60-year-old home with very little updating is going to require an immediate home improvement fund. This home improvement fund should be factored into each buyers’ finances when considering a home with minimal updating in San Carlos. - Wed Aug 8 2007, 21:18