Bernard’s Danville Real Estate Blog

2444 Camino De Jugar, San Ramon

The Very Best of Twin Creeks View

Twin Creeks is one of San Ramon’s most popular neighborhoods and Twin Creeks View is the “Jewel In The Crown” of Twin Creeks. Homes here have significantly more appeal than those in the rest of Twin Creeks, most of them being situated on much larger lots, with 3-car garages and with secluded yards offering a high level of privacy.

This single storey floor plan is one of the most popular in the area, and this particular home has had countless improvements made in recent years including a comprehensive kitchen remodel, which now features granite countertops over maple shaker-style cabinetry, inset lighting and high quality stainless steel appliances. The bathrooms have all been remodeled to a high standard, and the master bath has a large frameless walk-in shower with designer ceramic tile. The windows have been replaced with high efficiency dual-pane units and paneled doors have replaced the original ones.

Outside, the home is set in an elevated position behind a beautifully landscaped front garden with a lawn and a variety of well-established plants and shrubs. A wide driveway leading to a 3-car garage and there is also additional parking to the left hand side. At the rear is an expansive, completely private yard with large concrete patio and a lawn that is bordered by a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees.

Homes of this quality are rarely offered for sale in Twin Creeks View and this is an outstanding opportunity for a discerning buyer to acquire a home that is absolutely move-in ready in one of San Ramon’s most desirable neighborhoods.

Twin Creeks is one of San Ramon’s most popular neighborhoods and benefits from excellent schools and easy access to shopping, restaurants, local parks, the freeway network and Bishop Ranch office park.

Offered For Sale at $920,000

Call Bernard Gibbons on (925) 997-1585 for more details or to arrrange a private showing

316 Cindy Court, San Ramon

There are many homes for sale in San Ramon at present at this point in time but few have the combined location, condition, general appeal and price as this attractive 3 bedroom 2 bath 1980s rancher.

316 Cindy Court is situated on a large flat lot on a quiet court in San Ramon’s popular Town & Country neighborhood. Light, bright and airy, it has a great floor plan with good-sized roooms including formal living and dining rooms and a family room with a feature brick fireplace.

The home is set in attractive lawned gardens with many established trees and shrubs. The back yard is particularly attractive and secluded with a sparkling pool and covered patio area for outside entertaining.

This is one of San Ramon’s most convenient locations, being in easy reach of all grades of school, freeways, shopping and Bishop Ranch office park.

Offered For Sale at only $595,000

Call Bernard Gibbons on (925) 997-1585 for more details or to arrrange a private showing.

Many parts of the Bay Area, and in particular, the San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda, historically do much better than much of the country when real estate appreciation is considered.

Unfortunately, because prices increased so much and so quickly, they had further to fall and the resulting impact was devastating for many. Recently, however, the rate of decrease has slowed significantly in our area, and this is despite the negative effect on home values caused by many short sales and bank owned foreclosures that have been dumped on the market.

Evidence of Improvement

The economists tend to look at real estate on a national level and one figure they give a lot of credence to as a meaningful indicator is the “Pending Home Sales Index”. Last month this rose 5.3% nationwide, which is a significant amount. More importantly, it rose in every region of the country.

Now note that this is an index that considers numbers of transactions, not total value of transactions.

You Can’t Expect To Buy At The Bottom

What can be inferred from these numbers is that buyers now believe that home prices are not likely to fall much further, so they have the confidence to write offers and buy homes. Of course there will always be some buyers who are planning to “buy at the bottom” but the only problem with that strategy is that you can only identify “The Bottom” after you have passed it and prices are on the increase.

Possible Improvements In The Market

It will surely soon be apparent to most buyers and sellers that prices are really so close to the bottom that it makes no difference and as buyers become more active, this will encourage more potential sellers to list their homes for sale. The likely effect is that there will continue to be a wide choice of homes to buy for the next few months but as we approach the Holiday season, many of the sellers who have not been successful in agreeing a sale will take their homes off the market. From Thanksgiving onward, it is quite possible that there will be a shortage of homes to buy. The wild card in this reasoning is that we don’t know how many people will be forced to sell their homes or have them foreclosed. These are not discretionary activities and a sudden increase of numbers of homes for sale will certainly keep prices down.

What Will The New Year Bring?

As we enter 2009, I foresee that there will be many buyers who are poised to take action. If the majority of those sellers who took their homes off the market in late 2008 decide to re-list them for sale in January, the balance between buyers and sellers should be at a reasonable equilibrium and we can expect to see stable home prices throughout the year. If, on the other hand, sellers do not take such immediate action, and there are more buyers than homes available (a situation I have seen on numerous occasions at the start of a year), home prices are likely to rise. This is simply the economics of supply and demand.

Note that my thoughts only relate directly to the affluent San Ramon Valley and Lamorinda here. In other areas, not too far distant, there will continue to be a glut of homes on the market for some time to come because the numbers are already so astronomical. In these areas prices will stay low and may even decline further with more foreclosures etc.

2007 and 2008 have been stressful years for many homeowners, particularly those who bought their homes within the last couple of years. The vast majority of these are doing fine, even though they have seen the equity in their homes decreasing but the people who bought homes with little or no down payment and those who borrowed money on the basis of “stated income” just because they could not otherwise qualify are those that got into trouble.

Many of these people have been forced into “short sales” and others have been foreclosed on. The reaction of lenders, who many believe are largely responsible for this mess any way, was to suddenly decide that they didn’t really want to lend to anybody with less than 30% down so loans became hard to get.

The Good News

Now there are signs that things are getting better. From June 1st, Fanny Mae scrapped its “Declining Markets” policy which effectively meant that the largest available loans to most people was 90%. Now with 95% loans available again, first-time buyers can qualify for a loan, thus stimulating the market from the bottom.

The increase in conforming loan limits in March is also just starting to have an effect. $417,000 was the previous limit for lower cost conforming loans but now, with the limit at $729,750, buyers can get a first loan up to that figure at a low interest rate, topping it up with a second loan for the balance of financing needed, rather than take out a large, expensive, jumbo loan.

Higher limits for FHA loans are also starting to have an impact. With just 3% down a home buyer, even with less than stellar credit, can qualify to buy with a loan up to $729,750.

The Market Will Recover

All of this is helping to move the real estate market towards recovery. And it will recover. Fully. A new study from the Joint Center For Housing Studies of Harvard University finds the country poised to see an increase in housing demand over the next decade. The reason? Our population is growing.

From 2010 to 2020 the population will grow by an average of more than 1.4 million people per year. That is a lot of growth.

And note that this is a nationwide study. If you look at Danville or San Ramon for example, you will see that we almost always have a buoyant housing market.

Our Market Is Resilient

Even now, with all the talk of doom and gloom, there is less than a 6 month supply of homes for sale based on the latest figures. 3-6 months supply is generally considered a neutral market. Less than 3 months is a sellers’ market and over 6 months is a buyers’ market. You can find a buyers market in Brentwood or Pittsburg or Antioch or even Concord but you won’t find it here. That’s why our prices have stopped plummeting. Sure there are some low priced homes to be found but they are mostly bank owned foreclosures, many of which are in pretty bad shape. An increasing number of the rest are selling above list price and with multiple offers.
All of the above has to be good news for the real estate market and home owners as a whole.

Soon, things will get back to normal with moderate 2-4% annual increases in value backed by sensible lending policies.

Situated across from the KFC and just inside the San Ramon border, Incontro Ristorante is a relative newcomer to the San Ramon restaurant scene and located as it is, in premises that has seen a multitude of restaurants fail, it seemed that opening yet another Italian restaurant was a brave move.

But owners Gianni Bartoletti and Luigi Troccoli obviously knew what they were doing. Incontro was an immediate hit with San Ramon foodies and if you want to eat here at the weekend, you better call a couple of days ahead for a reservation. This place is popular.

Incontro has an ambience that equals the best in the area, very reminiscent of a quality restaurant in Europe. This, combined with authentic, well prepared Italian food and attentive but unobtrusive service is the secret of its success.

Sylvia and I recently visited Incontro on a Tuesday evening in June. On entering, we immediately got a feeling that this was a cut above the average San Ramon restaurant. The combination of attractive surrounding with wood paneling and subtle pale yellow walls and a quiet buzz, even though only a few tables were occupied, was very encouraging.

For an appetizer, we shared the house salad - baby spinach with bell pepper, goats cheese, toasted almonds and a balsamic vinaigrette. This was the perfect appetizer and one portion was just about right to share.

Moving on to our main courses, Sylvia had  a flatiron steak with a port wine sauce which came with sweet and sour onions. The texture was firm, rather than chewy and the flavor of everything was superb. I went for the pan seared duck breast which was served with an Italian grape must reduction. Possibly served a little too pink for some people, this is exactly how duck breast should be in my opinion and this is one of the best I have ever tasted. It was absolutely outstanding. We accompanied this with an excellent bottle of Verdicchio from their predominately Italian wine list.

Now as regular readers know, we don’t often do dessert but we made an exception in this case having spotted a Panna Cotta on the dessert menu. Italians seem to understand desserts better than most. For those who don’t know, Panna Cotta is an eggless Italian vanilla custard and in this instance it was served with a wild cherry preserve. This is not an overly sweet dessert but the flavors are just phenomenal. The perfect end to an excellent meal.

Try it and you’ll like it! We will be back. Find out more at their web site at www.IncontroSanRamon.com.

Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You Read In The Newspapers

The press continue to spread doom and gloom regarding the housing market, and there is little doubt that in many parts of the country, even many parts of the Bay Area, there is much cause for concern. The problem is that these reports always focus on large areas. It is not very relevant to tell a home owner in San Ramon or Danville how much home prices have eroded in Northern California. Your home is not located in Northern California. It is in a San Ramon or Danville. Even which part of the city can sometimes make a difference.

Real Estate Is Local

This is a phrase that is often quoted by real estate professionals and for very good reason. Take a look at the chart at the foot of the page. This has been generated from accurate data and it clearly shows how sale prices of a typical 4 bedroom 1800 to 2500 square foot home have been affected over the past year. By taking just the typical family home into account we get a much more realistic picture than when we consider overall averages. To make it even more meaningful, rather than just look at the whole of the East Bay, or even the San Ramon Valley, I have broken it down by location. This is the true picture and it could certainly affect your decision to buy or sell sooner, rather than waiting until later.

You will see that I have not covered everywhere here. In Alamo and Pleasant Hill, for example, there is insufficient data to show meaningful results. Other areas have been excluded because they are not in my main service areas. It is immediately apparent that some of our local markets are very resilient compared to others. Certainly some locations have suffered more than others. Average prices have fallen by 16% in east San Ramon for example. Most of the volume here is in Windemere and many of the sales are distress sales - homes that have been foreclosed and then sold by the banks at bargain prices. Banks don’t want to own homes!

In complete contrast to this are areas like Danville, Pleasanton and the west of San Ramon, where, although prices have fallen, the decrease over the past 12 months is only 4-5%. And look at Lamorinda. I have grouped together the towns of Orinda, Moraga and Lafayette because the demographics are similar and in order to have sufficient numbers of sales to provide meaningful results. Over the 12 month period under consideration, Lamorinda values have actually risen slightly. Of course there are fewer distress sales here.

Does This Mean Its A Good Time To Buy Or Sell Now?

So what can we say about these figures? We still don’t have enough data to say that we have “passed the bottom”, although it seems likely that we have done so in some locations, most obviously Lamorinda.

Danville, Pleasanton and the west side of San Ramon also look to be in good shape, particularly taking the relatively small decline in prices there into consideration. Walnut Creek also looks like it may be stabilizing although it would be nice to have a little more data here.
But just consider the actual price reductions again. With such relatively small losses in Pleasanton, Danville and western San Ramon, any further losses are likely to be minimal, so if you want to buy in these areas, why would you wait?

If you are moving within the immediate area, and you are both buying and selling in the same town, with so much choice and low interest rates, now is a great time to do so. I would advise finding a buyer for your home first if possible, as then you know exactly how much you can budget for your next home. Even with no home to sell, if I had been sitting on the fence for the past few months, I would make my move now. Even if prices fall further, any saving in price will most likely be taken up with higher monthly payments as the Fed has indicated that rate cuts are now at an end. There is only one way for rates to go from here.  Also remember that while there is plenty of inventory, sellers are more motivated to accept a lower price for their home. When the supply of homes starts to reduce, you can certainly expect to pay more for your home.

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
Received on 2/29/08

Parties Jointly Announce Settlement of SROG’s Lawsuit Against the City of San Ramon, Challenging the City’s Approval of the San Ramon City Center Project

The City of San Ramon, Sunset Development Company, and San Ramon for Open Government (“SROG”) jointly announced the settlement of SROG’s lawsuit against the City, challenging its approval of the San Ramon City Center Project and the accompanying Environmental Impact Report.  The City Center Project, which was unanimously approved by the City Council in December, will feature a new City Hall, library, transit center and police headquarters, along with residential living, office space, retail, and entertainment components.  The settlement agreement will also result in SROG dropping two referendum petitions it has been circulating to challenge development agreement amendments for the Project. 

SROG had sued the City alleging that the approval violated the California Environmental Quality Act and the City’s 2020 General Plan.  The settlement calls for Sunset and the City to make a number of changes to the project, including: reducing the heights of the project’s tallest buildings to no more than ninety feet (resulting in reducing the office buildings from seven to six stories), reducing the condominium buildings adjoining the Iron Horse Trail to a maximum of seven stories, and taking several steps to reduce the project’s traffic and air quality impacts. 

The project changes also include reducing the project’s total office space and associated parking by almost fifteen percent, expanding the three-year trial free shuttle program to cover both the City Center and the rest of Bishop Ranch, scheduling express shuttle buses to and from BART for both AM and PM commute hours.  In addition, the City and Sunset will support a pedestrian/bicycle-accessible flyover crossing busy Bollinger Canyon Road at the Iron Horse Trail.

The settlement also requires all City Center buildings to be “LEED – Silver” certified – a high level “green building” standard that promotes sustainability and will reduce the project’s environmental footprint.

Along with the project changes, the settlement commits the City to moving forward with enacting a local ordinance requiring that any future buildings outside of City Center in excess of five stories go on the ballot for voter approval.

SROG spokesperson Jim Gibbon stated, “We were concerned that this project, while desirable in some respects, was going to overload city streets, block out regional views, and set a bad precedent for the future.  While the changes that Sunset and the City have agreed to do not fully address all the issues that prompted the lawsuit and the referendum petitions, we think that the changes do make it a much better project.”

Sunset’s President, Alex Mehran, is pleased that the project will move forward on schedule.  “We have always felt we have proposed a project that the citizens of San Ramon want to see happen.  We’re pleased that this settlement will allow the project to move forward on schedule and San Ramon will realize its longstanding goal of having a downtown.”

San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson echoed the City’s satisfaction with the settlement.  “We think this settlement is a win for everyone concerned, especially the people of San Ramon, who will get the City Center they have wanted for so long.”