Author: Pam Buda

Glen Ellen's Got a New Star

[caption id="attachment_1776" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="The New Kid in Town: Glen Ellen Star Restaurant"][/caption] Yesterday morning I went over to Glen Ellen to check out some new country properties on the Sonoma Broker Tour. As agents we hold our new listings open so that the agent community can preview the new inventory without having to make an appointment. We just show up. Ideally refreshments are provided Sometimes there is a drawing for a bottle of wine or a gift certificate. Yesterday I was able to look at two beautiful new country property listings in Glen Ellen and also to check out the hottest new restaurant in town. Glen Ellen must have one of the highest ratios of restaurants to business establishments of just about anywhere, and now there's a new spot to check out. We ran in to look at the menu--it is only open for dinner. Looks promising. And here is a link to Heather Irwin's first look review in Bite Club, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat foodie blog. Oh, and those new listings were pretty interesting too. The first is on 26 acres on Enterprise Road.  It has a rambling country house with nice views of the surrounding countryside and the horse pasture below the property.  This really is a "Wine Country and Horses" property as it also has a several acre zinfandel vineyard.  You can ride in to Jack London State Park and come home and sip wine from your own property afterwards.  Not a bad combination.  The house was very comfortable with beautiful old wide plank floors and woodwork with a lot of character.  The master suite had some of the best views on the property.  If you want my opinion on the asking price of $4.2 Million, please call me to discuss. [idx-listing mlsnumber="21213674" showfeatures="true" showlocation="true"] The other property is on Chauvet Road and you could easily walk to the Glen Ellen Market or any of the MANY good restaurants in town. You could also get up in to Jack London pretty easily from here as Chauvet runs in to London Ranch Road.  I should do a post on Jack London State Park as it is easily one of the most beautiful and interesting places in Sonoma County, whether you bring your horses or hike or drive in. This particular new listing on Chauvet will probably sell very quickly because it is the type of country property that will strongly appeal to someone...

Higher Asking Prices for Homes in Many San Francisco Bay Area Communities

[caption id="attachment_1770" align="alignleft" width="636" caption="A map showing higher per square foot asking prices in certain Bay Area communities"][/caption]Over the last few weeks I have posted a lot about home sales market statistics for Sonoma County. The reason is not to be gratuitously geeky, but to provide some data, and some context for what appears to be a solidifying shift in the real estate market in Sonoma County and throughout the SF Bay Area. There is a lot I am planning to share on this subject but for now, I would just like to publish the graphic by John Blanchard and the San Francisco Chronicle from Sunday, June 3, 2012. It is based upon data from Zillow, the real estate portal, and shows a color-coded heat map of asking prices by square foot throughout the Bay Area, including Sonoma County. In certain key markets asking prices per square foot are anywhere from ten to even twenty or thirty percent above last year's figures. Why? Because there is almost NO inventory available for all the home-buyers out there. You can see on this map that Sonoma County communities such as Healdsburg and the Valley of the Moon corridor are at the higher end of these ranges. Newly pending sales are at a many year high now, and inventory in Sonoma County may be reaching an all time low. More about this in future posts. ...

Homes for Sale Inventory Drops 37% while Sonoma Home Sales Rise 21% as of May 31, 2012

[caption id="attachment_1762" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Drastically Reduced Inventory and and Increase in Home Sales Contnues as of May 31, 2012"][/caption] In May I posted a lot about Sonoma County homes sales statistics. Now it is June 1 and I was curious to see what the May sales figures had to say. Last year at this time there were 3,043 homes for sale in Sonoma County. As of May 31, 2012 there are only 1,902 (!) homes for sale here, a 37% drop in inventory. Last year 434 homes sales were completed in the month of May. This year, 524 home sales were completed, an increase of 21%. This supply and demand chart is one of the most telling for market statistics. As the supply curve drops it begins to converge with the demand curve, which has been steadily rising. When the curve converges that means prices may rise. I recently attended a gathering of about 200 realtors for a business planning conference in San Diego. The consensus there was that prices are coming up. Most analysts predict a modest increase of 3-5% nationwide. Prices seem to be rising in some of the hardest hit markets such as Las Vegas and Florida. Many Bay Area markets are sizzling hot and overbids are rampant. The Sonoma County home sales numbers seem to confirm this trend. What do you think? Last year...

Facilities or Fundamentals? What are the Top Things to Consider When Buying Horse Property in Sonoma County?

[caption id="attachment_1757" align="alignleft" width="300"] Roses line the path to this Sonoma County barn[/caption] In my post earlier today I talked about the two factors driving most horse property buyers I have met in Sonoma County. I related my own experience buying my own horse property here, and I pointed out a new listing yesterday that fit the bill on both accounts:  dialed in facilities well thought out from a horse-owner (and of course HORSE) viewpoint, plus beautiful wine country bonuses--panoramic views, one of the most popular Sebastopol locations, and a good southerly route for San Francisco Bay Area commuters. This has sparked some conversations with other horse property clients and friends of mine.  I just spoke with one who said that her thinking evolved as she searched for property. In the beginning she thought it was about finding the right set of horse improvements, such as barn, fencing and arena.  Over time (and working with me I might add), her thinking evolved.  She began to realize that location, setting, proper soils and drainage were all paramount, not to mention adequate space for her horses.   Those were non-negotiable.  Facilities she could add.  And she has! The further advantage of putting in your own facilities is that you can design them as you wish, for your horses' needs.  No need to adapt to someone else's vision.  Plus horse improvements depreciate rapidly, so the condition of the improvements should be carefully evnaluated. I have seen lots of properties advertised as having arenas which are nothing more than a rectangular fenced area. I have seen covered arenas advertised that had no footing.   Horse fencing advertised that is not safe for horses, etc. As we further talked though we discussed some cases in which buying existing improvement can make sense. Obviously if they are in great shape and match your needs, then it is cheaper to buy them already installed.  Something which can cost several hundred thousand dollars such as a covered or indoor arena loses that value once installed and a seller will rarely recoup it these days, so you might as a buyer have a good opportunity to get a very nice arena at a good savings. So you can make a case in either direction.  One thing to consider in buying (or selling!) a horse property is that it makes sense to work with a realtor who knows horses and horse property so you can...

Is it Sonoma County Horse Property? Or is it Horse-Able? What matters most to you?

[caption id="attachment_1740" align="alignleft" width="300"]Grazing at Home Next to a Russian River Valley Vineyard"] [idx-listing mlsnumber="21212955" showall="true"[/caption]I have been working on "how-to" series this month. How to Buy Country Property? What you need to know about Water and Country Property. Last but most definitely not least is "How to" buy horse property in the wine country? This blog is called Wine Country and Horses after all. I thought it would be a pretty straightforward matter until I started talking to my clients who have purchased horse property through me, until I realized there was one basic point to consider before getting in to the details. When you buy your horse property, what is most important to you as you search? A. The land, location (including trail access), setting and house? B. The fencing, barn and arena, if any? I realize that my clients tend to fall in to one of the two camps. I personally was in the first camp. The setting and location and to a lesser extent the house were paramout to me. I would have loved to find a property that also had a barn and fencing but that was secondary. I had to find the right place first for the horses and me. For the right price I could buy the property and put the improvements in as I saw fit. When I was looking for my place in 1999, I saw one house in Sebastopol that didn't do too much for me, but the neighboring property had a nicely put together arena, fencing and a barn. If that one had been for sale at the time I might have bought it. [caption id="attachment_1752" align="alignleft" width="300"] Arena with a View[/caption] Guess what? It came on the market yesterday. Here is a link to the listing. If you want a combination of a true wine country Sebastopol location, PLUS dialed in horse facilities: a six stall MD Barn with paddocks off the stalls on one side, trailer parking and a bunch of pasture turnout linking barn and a nice arena with proper drainage and footing, here you go. I have seen most of the horse properties, or horse-able properties in Sonoma County. IF you want to learn more, please call or email me. [idx-listing mlsnumber="21212955" showfeatures="true" showlocation="true"]...

Detailed Luxury Home and Ranch Report for Sonoma County Home Sales

Sonoma County Million Dollar Plus Home and Ranch Sales Report through April 2012 Here is the detailed set of tables and charts looking at the sales statistics for million dollar plus homes and ranches in Sonoma County. It would be difficult to break this data down and look at trends in the rate of sales in different communities such as Healdsburg or Sonoma since the sample size is so small. That is why we so often look at the county as a whole. Typically the most desirable locations will see the quickest rebound and highest activity. Good sales activity doesn't mean sellers can overprice their properties and hope to be successful, but they can be more positive about bringing well-presented and well-priced properties to market, because the buyers are out there. Trends of note--the number of expired listings has declined steadily over the last year. During the depths of the market downturn many properties were pulled off the market when they didn't sell. A lower rate of expired listings is obviously coupled with a higher rate of newly open contracts and closed sales. While we may have had some price declines in this segment as recently as 2011, all the signs point to stabilizing prices and possible modest price appreciation in the years ahead. All data is pulled from the BAREIS Multiple Listing Association. That is, it is provided by the various brokerages in the county from their actual listing sales data....

Wine Country Busman's Holiday: Visiting the "Other" Wine Country in Napa

I had a great time with family and friends on Memorial Day.  What did we do?  We visited the other wine country.  We headed to Napa (the city of) for the afternoon.  Since I live and work primarily in Sonoma County, it is fun to have a getaway in the wine country!    Downtown Napa is quite pretty, and the city and county of Napa are working to increase tourism there.  It doesn't hurt that a whole raft of excellent restaurants are walkable downtown:  Celadon, Angele, Ubuntu (on sabbatical?) and others.  We had a great lunch at Angele, sitting outdoors right on the Napa River.  Angele is a collaboration from Claude Rouas, legendary for L'Etoile on Nob Hill in San Francisco, Auberge de Soleil, further north in Rutherford (one of the most stunningly beautiful settings I have seen for a restaurant) and more recently, Redd in Yountville.  The restaurant is built in an old ship chandlery, right downtown, and a great spot for a delicious but casual lunch or dinner. After lunch we walked a mile or so over to the Oxbow Market and I have a new (for me)  foodie destination for a quick meal or snack when I am in the area.  I would actually drive out of my way to stop here.  Oxbow is a wine country spin on the concept of the Ferry Plaza Marketplace in SF, bringing together food and wine from seafood to ice cream, wine to cheese, charcuterie to fine coffee and more.  Most of the products are locally sourced or from local vendors, following the locavore trend. Anyway, I didn't intend to write a PR puff piece for Napa.  It is just that I live driving over the county line, and feeling like I am on an instant vacation!   Back to your regularly scheduled Sonoma County programming shortly!  ...

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery in Sebastopol

Sonoma Hort (www.sonomahort.com) is a must see but only if you love beauty and lots of flowers, in this case, masses of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, hostas and more, all on 8 acres in South Sebastopol.  The second owners have had it since the seventies and it is a retail/wholesale nursery masquerading as an amazing park, with 1.5 miles of trails winding through it, a pond and a meadow and altogether enough picnic tables and benches to have a lovely meal or snack (Just make sure you take all your leftovers with you.)  Sonoma Hort is just one of many truly special gardens and large scale nurseries which make Sonoma County such a wonderful place to be. ...

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