Both San Marino and South Pasadena Voters Approve Taxes to Support Schools

On May 5, residents of San Marino passed a $795 annual property tax to support its public schools. A similar measure was passed in South Pasadena this month in which parcel owners will pay a $288 annual tax to raise about $2 million a year for the school system.

By passing these measures, residents acknowledged the importance of sustaining high-quality public education in their cities. A main reason many residents move to San Marino and South Pasadena is for the quality of the public education that the cities provide.

In recent times, with the down economy many families have chosen to remove their children from high tuition private schools, invest in San Marino real estate and use the public school system. These families pay a premium up front, but end up saving in the long run, especially those households with multiple children.

It's Snowing in San Marino!

Lacy Park is transformed into a winter wonderland of snow and sledding every year on Snow Day. The event features activities for the entire family to enjoy. Forty tons of snow are delivered for children to make snowmen, throw snowballs and sled down ramps. Food, rides, a children’s craft fair and pony rides are also among the day’s highlights.

Stately Traditional in San Marino

This elegant traditional home is centrally located in San Marino; within walking distance to schools, downtown and the new library.  It features five bedrooms (four upstairs), three bathrooms plus powder room, formal dining room, living room, family room with glass doors leading to a large flat grassy yard and bonus room. A perfect family home. Coming soon.

Beautiful Mediterranean Home, Coming Soon!

A beautiful two story Mediterranean home situated on a large (12,250 sq.ft.) lot on one of the most desirable streets in San Marino… within walking distance to Valentine elementary school, Huntington middle school and the new San Marino library.

The home features: four bedrooms, three baths, gracious step down living room with fireplace, elegant formal dining room, “New” gourmet kitchen is a cook’s delight with breakfast room, spacious “Great” room with fireplace and large picture window overlooking the pool. French doors open to the rose gardens, pool, and loggia … and a two car detached garage with outdoor pool bathroom.

An abundance of architectural detailing together with professionally landscaped front and rear gardens, grassy area, covered loggia off the formal living room … add to the ambience and livability of this exquisite San Marino residence.

Coming the first week of November, 2008.

It's a Great time to Buy

With interest rates near historic lows and home prices declining in some areas, homes are more affordable than we have seen in several years.  In addition agency and FHA Jumbo loans to $729,750 will be gone on Dec 31st, replaced by new agency conforming and FHA limit of $625,500 beginning Jan 1, 2009.  

Multiple Offers are Alive and Well

During the hay day of California real estate, it was a common occurrence for properties to have multiple offers and to sell well above their listing price. Many people believed that those days were well gone, but in San Marino, we are seeing a resurgence of multiple offers at 100K’s above the listing price.

This property, which we represented the seller, at 2890 Monterey Road, San Marino was listed at 1,850,000. The property has 4BR, 3BA 3,208 sqft on a 13,909 sqft lot. We received five offers on the property, four at asking price or above, with the accepted offer being over 100,000 over asking.

This property, which we represented the successful buyer, at 843 Santa Anita, San Marino, is listed at 1,288,000. The property features 3BR, 2BA, 2,430 sqft on a large 16,016 sqft lot. This property received 27 offers, 20 over asking with many of them 200k over asking.

Although these properties do not represent the majority, it does show that if the house is priced right, and has desirable characteristics, buyers are still willing to pay well above asking price. When involved in multiple offers, it is tremendously important that you are represented by a knowledgeable, experienced and respected agent. As in many cases, the offer that is accepted isn't the highest offer. Sellers and their agents take into account many factors that as a whole represent the overall strength of the offer that will attribute to a successful and smooth completion of escrow.

A combination of factors are influencing the strong market in San Marino but I will focus on two main factors: the public schools system and the weak US dollar. With its #1 API ranking in the state, the San Marino Public School system plays a tremendous role in the strength of the housing market. Having grown up in San Marino, and matriculated from K thru 12 in the San Marino School system, I have many childhood friends who are now moving back to San Marino for its school system. Their reasoning is simple, by using public schools, their children can receive the same quality education as private schools, while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. A friend named Charles, who went to private school in Pasadena, said he calculated that he would save 400,000 in tuition fees by sending his kids to San Marino Schools, so the premium placed on the property he is interested in San Marino, 200k above the home he is interested in Sierra Madre, is well worth it by Charles’ reasoning. The second factor is the weakness in the US dollar. We are seeing a surge of foreign buyers who are buying for investments, secondary residences and primary residences. Whereas in the past, foreign buyers where mainly from Asian, with the current strength of the euro, we are experiencing a surge of European buyers. These buyers are often all cash buyers, or take small loans, so the crunch in the lending market tends not to affect them.

For a link to school data: including demographics, enrollment and graduation stats, please visit the links section of our website.

How does the current real estate market in San Marino compare to last year's market?

We get this question a lot. People want to know how the market is behaving compared to 2007. From speaking with buyers and sellers, it seems the average person's inclination is to believe that the market was much stronger last year, with houses spending less time on the market and selling for a lot more above their asking price when compared to this year. Although many external factors effect how the market behaves, let's strictly look at the numbers and extrapolate from there.

We are going to compare data from the period of 01/01/2007 thru 04/30/2007 with data from the same period in 2008. The following is the 2007 data: (click to enlarge)

The data to focus on is: Listing Count: 44, Average Sales Price: $1,582,709, Average Days on the Market: 50 and Average Sales Price/Listing Price Percentage: 98.65%.

Now let's look at the 2008 data for the same time period: (click to enlarge)

Listing Count: 24, Average Sales Price: $1,528,490, Average Days on the Market: 34 and Average Sales Price/Listing Price Percentage: 100.07%.

So in summation, during our time period: In 2008 there have been 20 fewer listings than 2007, the average sales price has been $53,130 less than that of 2007, the average listing in 2008 has stayed on the market 16 days less than one in 2007 and the average SP/LP% is 1.42% greater in 2008 than it was in 2007.

So what do these numbers tell us? They seem to suggest that the market is basically unchanged for San Marino home sales. The one caveat being that we have been seeing less inventory this year, especially in the beginning of the year; and, because of this, homes are selling faster, an average of 16 days faster. Although the average sales price in 2008 is $53,130 less than 2007, if you remove the highest and lowest sales for each year, the average sales price computes to 1,517,480 for 2007 and 1,516,130 for 2008, a difference of only 1,350 dollars.

Thanks for reading this analysis, hopefully it was helpful. Next week we look at the market in Pasadena.