This house is listed for what?

 

I went on tour in Palo Alto today. Friday is Broker Tour day for Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View. Today I just went to Palo Alto. It has been a interesting year for Palo Alto, a city whose homeowners and realtors have been very slow to grasp the concept that we are not immune to the down turn in real estate. One of the problems has been that there have been very few distressed properties in Palo Alto. In 2009 there have only been 4 foreclosed single family homes, and a few short sales. Without those forces driving down Palo Alto comps sellers were left with only the voices of the buyers, and those buyers have been in no mood to buy a house that had not adjusted to the “new price points.” At first, a lot of sellers just took their homes off the market if they could not get the price they wanted. They figured things would get better later. But recently homes have been coming on the market that reflect the 20% loss in value that really has come to Palo Alto. Today on tour, which admittedly was a small tour as the inventory is shrinking in Palo Alto, I did not once say to myself incredulously “This house is listed for what?”

 

It may be only a moment in time, but today I felt as if buyers, sellers, and realtors seem to be on the same page here.