Sonoma County Market Update | Q4 2021
Sonoma County Market Update: It's our pleasure to bring you the Corcoran 2021 Q4 Real Estate Market Report. Flip through this album depicting real estate sales stats town by town and county wide! Even though we're well on our way to a busy market in 2022, it's important to pause and reflect on how the last quarter provides context for the housing market trends we see today in Sonoma County. Here is a quick recap. Sales activity remained steadfast in Q4. Sales did slow down a bit over the holidays, which is a typical seasonal pattern. The median home price reached $769,000, which was a 9.9% year-over-year increase. Overall, we ended 2021 with solid growth (exceeding predictions) for Sonoma County real estate and the promise of another fruitful year ahead. Some of the hottest local markets right now include: Sebastopol (29.9% median price increase!), Sonoma & Healdsburg! Throughout the county home prices saw significant price appreciation although unit sales were down when compared to 2020. Sonoma County Market Update | Q4 Market Highlights: >>>VIEW THE FULL MARKET REPORT<<< Home prices continued to trend upward in most Sonoma County communities as inventory constraints remain. For example, year-over-year prices in Sonoma exponentially increased in the fourth quarter to a median sales price of $1.2 million (+42.4% increase year over year). Sebastopol and Sonoma were tied for the highest median sales price in the county at $1.2 million. What To Expect This Year...
5 Less Famous Sonoma County Towns Where You Can Find Your Dream Wine Country Home
If you are looking to move to the wine country, here are some lesser know communities in Sonoma County which may contain your dream home. ...
Wine Country and Bicycles
Thank you to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat for this photo. Click on it and you can see a nice slideshow of yesterday's Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California with Captions that identify the various spots in West Sonoma County on the 118 mile route. One of the commentators yesterday stated that the route competed with some of the best in the grand European cycling tours for scenic beauty and complexity. Tomorrow we will be back to our regular real estate programming, even as the Tour continues throughout California, working it's way down to LA. Stay tuned and here how the real estate market is red hot! [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="800" caption="Wine Country and Bicycles Amgen Tour of California Peleton along Occidental Road in Sonoma County Stage 1"][/caption]...
Amgen Tour of California Winding its Way through Santa Rosa and Sonoma's West County Today!
I have been having fun today following the progress of the breakaway group and peleton on Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California . A bunch of us from the block were able to walk to the corner and watch the tour go by this morning! Big stuff for a sleepy country neighborhood! You can keep up with their progress on an app which is handy because it shows it on the map in real time. It is a big deal in Santa Rosa this week but the riders are travelling through a big chunk of West County from Windsor, Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Occidental, Monte Rio, Cazadero, down the Sonoma Coast and back over Coleman Valley Road to Occidental and finishing later today in downtown Santa Rosa! There are some pretty steep but short climbs in Cazadero on King Ridge and then heading down to Highway 1. One of the most spectacularly beautiful roads anywhere in the world is Coleman Valley Road coming up from the coast highway back in to Occidental. Truly amazing coastal views and then you climb back up in to the redwoods! Besides redwoods, some of the commentators on the app have suggested the riders stop at the numerous Russian River Wineries they are passing, but as far as I know they are saving that for later! I'l have some video later but this picture of some of my neighbors will have to do for now! [caption id="attachment_1525" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Watching the Amgen Tour of California Stage 1 in West Sonoma County May 13, 2012"][/caption]...
Horses and Wine Country
When I started to ride seriously as an adult, my Hanoverian/Thoroughbred cross Reilly and I trained with Sarah Sheehy, Terry Church and Siri Larssen, all in either Marin County or Sonoma county at the time. I have stayed in touch with them over the years and just received word of an updated website, Natural Sporthorse.com which links them all together and promotes Natural horsemanship, inspired by Tom Dorrance and others, for the disciplines of hunters, jumpers and dressage. The purpose is to develop a partnership with your horse based upon improving the rider's balance and feel so as to allow the horse to develop their utmost potential in a sound, healthy and natural way. There are many practitioners of natural horsemanship in Sonoma county. Natural Sporthorse links to some of the best and has links to many other resources as well. Worth a visit! ...
Inventory, Inventory: Who's got the Country property inventory?
Help! There is not enough country property for sale in Sonoma County. I have buyers and very little to show them at the moment. Sebastopol, Healdsburg and the Valley of the Moon in particular are very low on new country real estate for sale. A really lovely piece of land with two legal units in an estate setting between Graton and Forestville just went into escrow with multiple offers. A charming farmhouse with two studio buildings and a small horse setup privately situated just 5 minutes outside of Sebastopol is in contract with multiple offers. An all cash buyer, rumor has it, plopped down nearly 2 million in cash (pending inspections) for a GORGEOUS 20 acre piece with a classic coastal home and large studio building within a week of entering the market. I think sellers are hunkering down due to the negativity in the press and uncertainty and fear in the economy. But well-priced, well marketed and properly prepared homes in Sonoma County, particularly country property, will sell quickly. There are a lot of buyers out there who have gotten off the (classic 3 rail wood board) fence who are looking for new homes or weekend getaways. If you have a country property in Sonoma County that you want to sell, please contact me for a free market analysis!...
Finding great real estate deals requires a laser beam approach
I enjoy looking at market statistics for the Sonoma County real estate market. As a realtor and full time professional in the market, I look to statistics to confirm or enlighten me vis a vis my own perceptions. I also know the damage that can result from a broad brush focus on statistics. Witness the overall drop in Santa Rosa real estate values year over year of over 15%. (according to Zillow) Not only Zillow but lenders use this sort of data to tar any Santa Rosa home, when the truth is the hardest hit have been the large tracts of entry level inventory that Sonoma County communities such as Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park/Cotati and Windsor have. These communities have the highest preponderance of entry level single-family tract homes which were hardest hit by the sub-prime crisis. All of these communities have some wonderful country properties, vineyard properties and horse farms which will be negatively impacted from a lender's eye in terms of valuation, relative to equivalent properties in Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Kenwood, Glen Ellen and Sonoma. They could be equally or more scenic, have oodles of wine country juice but are harder hit from a statistical eye. That is why the laser beam approach is best when you are actively in the market for real estate, or are planning to sell a property for that matter. As my colleague in coastal San Mateo county, Marian Bennett said recently, "Coastside real estate is very “location specificâ€. Trends can be information but they are not the whole picture if you are ACTIVELY in the market. In our office alone, 2 homes sold within hours of being listed last week. Part of that may be heading into the spring buying time and/or the seller had the golden triangle (my phrase) of Location, Price, and Presentation. "...