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  • Address: 1569 Sloat Boulevard, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94132
  • Phone: (415) 213-1600

arroyo grande real estate

HEARTFELT THANKS FOR A GREAT 2018!

HEARTFELT THANKS FOR A GREAT 2018!

As the hustle, bustle and chaotic pace of the holidays continues, we want to just take a moment to stop and express our heartfelt gratitude and reflect on what you, our treasured customers and Hometown Realty Team mean to us!

TO OUR CUSTOMERS

Here at C21 Hometown Realty, it is our privilege to help you make one of the most important decisions you will make. It’s not just about a property or a house, it’s about helping you find a home where we hope your family builds wonderful, lifelong memories filled with love, laughter and joy! Thank you for trusting us and we value not only your business, but the many cherished friendships we have made along the way.

TO OUR HOMETOWN REALTY TEAM

C21 Hometown Realty is truly blessed to have the hardest working, most caring real estate professionals on the Central Coast!  We want to say “thank you” for going above and beyond and taking extra special care of our valued customers whom we can now call friends.  You are the heart and soul of our team and we treasure each of you as part of our Hometown Realty family!  Thank you for your unwavering professionalism and dedication, you continue to inspire us.

2018 HIGHLIGHTS

It’s hard to believe it’s time to say goodbye to 2018, but we are so THANKFUL for a great year!  Here are just some of the highlights:

  • C21 Corporate Rebranding – new contemporary update of the C21 Brand to assure customer relevance for upcoming generations.
  • Zillow Partnership – strategic alliance of market powerhouses, Zillow and C21 Hometown Realty, providing an incomparable competitive edge to agents and customers.
  • Cartus Relocation Program – closed double the amount of transactions.
  • In-House Realty/Quicken Loans – large increase in traffic and customer leads.
  • Touchpoint In-House Marketing Agency – increased traffic and development of website, social media, digital media and individual agent consulting.

Happy holidays  and we look forward to a tremendous 2019!

About CENTURY 21 Hometown Realty – Hometown Realty is the leading real estate firm on the central coast of California with offices spanning Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo county offering expert agents and convenient locations

TRUE AMERICANA MEANS BIG BUSINESS FOR CENTRAL COAST

It’s Mid-State Fair time here on the Central Coast! A timeless tradition of true Americana, celebrating our heritage of agriculture, arts, crafts, competitions and show-stopping entertainment. Bright lights, carnival rides, fair food, exhibits and top-name entertainers were just some of the reasons that a record-breaking 430,000 guests made the trek to Paso Robles in 2017.

If the entertainment line-up is a top indicator for guest attendance, 2018 will be on track to deliver large Fair audiences once again. The free concert stage is hosting well-known artists such as Crystal Gayle, Monte Mills, Kris Kristofferson, Bear Market Riot, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and newer artists For King & Country and recent winner of The Voice, Cassadee Pope. The main stage will light up each night with stars such as Florida Georgia Line, Pitbull, Demi Lovato, Gabriel Iglesias, ZZ Top, Tim McGraw with Faith Hill and Luke Bryan.

In addition to the draw of America’s top entertainers, Mid-State Fair offers great family entertainment with Livestock Competitions, Horse Shows, Petting Zoo, Country Finals Rodeo, Robotics for Kids, Tractor Races, Youth Performances and a newly revamped Carnival. The Mid-State Fair offers great entertainment value for the low admission price of $8-$12. If you will be attending multiple days, the Season Pass is the way to go, just $30 for children 6-12 and $60 for Adults offering admission everyday to the fairgrounds.

Not only do Central Coast residents flock to this event but it attracts huge crowds from all around the state. That means big dollars and big business for the area, especially Paso Robles. Hotels, motels and restaurants feel the biggest impact but even retail stores benefit from the tens of millions of dollars the Mid-State Fair brings to the community each year.

Housing Crisis Ends in San Luis Obispo County

It is very difficult to be quick to call the beginning or the end of any type of major economic cycle while it is happening. But it is pretty easy to call it when it is over. This 10 year report by CoreLogic shows the depth of the housing crisis in one of our central coast zip codes, 93420.

Distressed Property for 93420As you can see, the slope of the housing tragedy for too many homeowners has largely dissipated at the same pace. It is interesting to note that the Auction rates, REO rates, and short sale rates were pretty steady though out the entire cycle. A short sale is when the homeowner and the bank agree to sell the property for a price below the loan value. REO and Auctions are mostly a result of a bank foreclosing on a property or a homeowner’s strategic default.

For most homeowners who have stayed in their property through the crisis, the value of homes have returned to 2006 prices. Indeed, today’s home market sees home prices continuing to rise as a result of demand outpacing supply. There has been very little new home building in our county but our population continues to grow. This market is also influenced by the global demand for California property. The central coast offers the most value and highest quality lifestyle in the state (or as many magazines suggest, the best place to live in the nation!).

Be sure to check out the community pages to find out what is happening in the housing market where you live.

Great Time to Buy 4000 to 5000 sq ft

Sometimes strange economics apply to home pricing. For a variety of reasons, home buyers may find better value in a market at certain price points. In 2014, home values for properties have gone up significantly per square foot when the property iis between 2000 and 2500 square feet. Properties that are in the 2500 to 3000 square foot size have remained pretty steady in pricing over the past year.

Homes in the 3000 to 4000 square foot range saw a seasonal dip in the first quarter of 2014, but rebounded sharply in the second quarter of the year. At the higher end of the pricing spectrum, home prices for 4000 to 5000 square foot homes have actually declined in pricing over the past year – making that segment an excellent value.

Luxury homes over 5000 square feet have remained quite constant. These properties tend to include significant mitigating features like spectacular views or acreage that play a role in stabilizing home values.

Below is a chart that illustrates these trends. Click the graph to enlarge the view

Arroyo_Grande_Real_Estate_-_CENTURY_21_Hometown_CENTURY_21_Hometown

CENTURY 21 Hometown Ventures Ranks as One of Nation’s Top-Producing Brokerage Firms in RISMedia’s Power Broker Report

CENTURY 21 Hometown Ventures Ranks as One of Nation’s Top-Producing Brokerage Firms in RISMedia’s Power Broker Report

(RISMedia-Norwalk, CT)— With the record books now closed for 2013, Power Brokers are pleased to weigh in on the real estate market’s second solid year of recovery. In 2013, brokers across the country paid witness to many key indicators of the housing market’s gradual return to normal, heading toward a balance that we haven’t seen since before the boom years.

This welcome balance is reflected in the statistics generated by RISMedia’s 26th Annual Power Broker Survey, the real estate industry’s preeminent report ranking the nation’s top real estate firms. According to survey results, this year’s more than 1,000 responding brokers reported a collective $896,865,166,104 in sales volume for 2013 and a total of 3,165,310 closed transactions—that’s an increase of more than $125 billion in sales volume and more than 175,000 transactions over 2012.

Each April, RISMedia highlights the Top 500 of these firms in its annual Power Broker Survey. Included in this year’s report, CENTURY 21 Hometown Ventures, headquartered in Arroyo Grande, CA, ranked number 458 with 1,597 transaction sides closed last year and a total sales volume of $540,221,316.

Now in its 26th year, the Power Broker Survey has long honored the incredible business feats of remarkable real estate leaders—and brokerage firms—who continue to shape our industry.

RISMedia President & CEO John Featherston congratulated CENTURY 21 Hometown Ventures for their prestigious ranking in this year’s survey. “The firms represented are the nation’s most elite brokerage firms serving literally millions of consumers with their real estate needs,” Featherston said. “2013 was a turnaround year for real estate firms across the country, as consumer confidence in housing returned and buyers flooded back into the marketplace. But there are many challenges ahead for brokers and agents, from low inventory to lingering economic uncertainty. Discerning real estate consumers will look to proven real estate professionals to help guide them toward the best decision. Being included in the Power Broker Report validates your firm’s reputation as a trusted resource for today’s homebuyers and sellers.”

RISMedia’s Annual Power Broker Report ranks firms by closed transactions and sales volume for 2013. The Top 500 rankings appear in the April 2014 issue of Real Estate magazine and online at rismedia.com. The complete ranking of all firms that meet the criteria will be available in the 2014 Power Broker Report publication, available both digitally and in print this summer.

RISMedia’s 26th Annual Power Broker Report & Survey is based on results garnered from a survey distributed via

Most Expensive Properties For Sale in San Luis Obsipo County

Arroyo Grande Luxury HomeNext weekend, the Young President’s Organization will be having an event here is San Luis Obsipo County. It will be hosted by Ed Stevens, CEO of Shopatron, one of the county’s largest private companies with more than 100 employees, and a member of YPO. To be eligible for YPO, you must be under the age of 45 and the CEO of a company that has more than 50 employees, has a payroll that exceeds $1mm, have revenue of at least $8M, and be valued above $10M. In other words, these are the young successful leaders of our nation.

As part of their visit to the coast, they will be learning about the local wine industry and the lifestyle of San Luis Obispo County. They are sure to be inspired by the regions glorious ocean vistas discretely contained backed by mountain backdrops and the rolling hills planted with the worlds best wine, fruit, and vegetables. We are truly blessed to call San Luis Obsipo our home. As part of the tour, these YPO executives will be provided with area real estate information provided by Century 21 Hometown. Here are the 3 most posh properties that are available for sale in San Luis Obsipo County.

1. $21,850,000 – 591 Hi Mountain Road, Arroyo Grande. Rancho Arroyo Grande Vineyards. Stunning vineyard estate with about 230 Acres planted with Vines, Olives. View It here

2. $19,995,000 – 8383 Lone Palm Drive, Cambria, CA. Casa Pacifica – If you want to live like the Hearst family, you may want to consider this ocean front property offering 1000 feet of sandy beach. View It here.

3. $9,000,000 – 5225 Buena Vista Drive, Paso Robles, CA – This ranch offers nearly 350 acres of vineyards and orchards. Nearly 100 acres are planted for wine grapes, about 125 acres planted for pistachios, about 40 acres of pomegranates, and about 50 acres cleared and ready to plant your dream of deliciousness. View it Here.

4. $6,500,000 – 678 Sheehy Road, Nipomo, CA – Spectacular home approx. 8,806 sq.ft. with loads of amenities and features for those seeking the very best. The property is a total of approx. 22.8 acres. There is nearly 20 mile panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Central Coast and surrounding rolling hills. There is an orchard with approx. 987 avacado and 481 lemon trees room left over for a vineyard! View it here.

Remember, Century 21 Hometown Realty has offices though out the central coast from Ventura County to San Luis Obispo county with more than 300 REALTORS(r) ready to serve you. We also have a Ranch and Vineyard division, a group of agents who offer a depth of understanding on areas of California Tax Law, Water, and other critical areas of these speciality properties that are critical to understand.

 

We need more listings

Our company has grown from 100 agents to more than 300 over the past few years. You have probably see more Century 21 Hometown Yard Signs than any other local company. We have had to open offices in nearly every town on the central coast to support the growth. Century 21 Hometown Realty is currently working with more than 850 buyers company wide. There are only 994 listings available – which means that there is only about a month of inventory available. Please contact one of our offices or agents today if you can refer us to anyone looking to sell their home.List your home for sale with Century 21 Hometown Realty

Specifically, we are looking for homes with the following criteria

South County San Luis Obispo: 3 bedroom price from 300,000 to 550,000.

San Luis Obispo: Any property that can be rented. We have investors looking for rental units to fill demand for rental housing.

Atascadero and Paso Robles: Land suitable for new home building.

Santa Maria: Condos, Duplexes, or 2 bedroom starter homes.

Arroyo Grande or Edna Valley: Luxury Homes – 3500 to 6000 sq ft or lots suitable for new homes.

Feel free to pass this along to anyone you know who may have an interest in selling their home.

Is the list price the sales price

Arroyo Grande Homes for SaleCentury 21 Hometown Realty has 300 properties for sale in company inventory today. There are about 1000 single family homes listed in the region. The top 10 brokerages in CCRMLS combined to sell about 400 homes. Century 21 Hometown sold around 100. By all accounts, the county only has two to three months of inventory. If you are searching for a home in a specific town or for a specific price, you will find that your selection is very low. For example, there are only 12 Single Family Homes priced between $350,000 and $450,000 at the time of this article. If you have your hopes on a three bedroom, two car garage and a fireplace, there are only 4.

The issue of low inventory is that it puts upward pressure on pricing. As you can imaging, if there are 20 families looking for the type of home that only has 4 matches, offers typically come in at or above the list price. You would think that if you make a cash offer with no contingencies and agree to pay list price for a home, the seller can’t say no. A recent court case says otherwise.
RealPro, Inc. v. Smith Residual Co., LLC (2012)

In RealPro, Inc. v. Smith Residual Co., the seller placed a desirable lot of land on the market. An aggressive buyer quickly offered to purchase the lot exactly as listed – all cash without any contingencies. Upon receipt of the buyer’s offer, the seller countered at a higher price. Negotiations broke down and the buyer walked away.

The buyer’s agent filed a lawsuit against the seller claiming that the seller is compelled by the listing agreement to sell the home at the price offered. The buyer’s agent reasoned that the seller unreasonably refused a buyer who seemed to match the seller’s original criteria. The court rejected this argument.

Exclusive Listing Agreements

When you list a home with Century 21 Hometown Realty or any other brokerage, you enter into an Exclusive Listing Agreement. Every ELA includes a section for your agent to enter a minimum list price for the property. However, this is more of a marketing authorization by the seller and less of a minimum sales threshold. Most form ELA’s have the clause “…or at other terms acceptable by the Seller” immediately following the space for the list price. This allows the agreement to remain valid if the property sells above or below listing price because the sale was on “other terms acceptable to the Seller.”

In RealPro, the court found that the buyer’s agent had not produced an offer that was “acceptable to the seller.”

Therefore, homebuyers should never expect that the initial list price is binding on the seller. Listing agreements simply authorize the listing agent to market the property and solicit offers for the benefit of the seller. The terms assented to by the seller in the purchase agreement are the acceptable terms which obligate payment to the real estate agents.

Homebuyer Tips

The best thing that you can do to increase the likelihood of getting your offer accepted is to get pre-qualified for a mortgage. Century 21 Hometown Realty has an affiliated mortgage partner in Prime Lending.

List your home with Century 21

Century 21 Hometown has more buyers than properties for sale today. If you do not know a Century 21 Hometown Agent already, please feel free to call any of our offices and ask for the office manager. The office managers’ name is listed under each of our offices. Select the Meet our Agents link along side any office listed here.

Top 10 Area Brokerages by Unit Volume in July

Top Central Coast Real Estate Brokers
CCRMLS July 2012

How Interest Rates impact the housing market

Here in California, buying a home or other property is a factor of loan affordability. Today, we see a lot of “cash buyers” in the market – but that simply means that they have already arranged financing. In this borrowing home ownership economy, the interest rates play a very significant role in the value of homes. The national economic recovery in America has reached every part of the economy except for jobs and housing. The good news for Californians is that home prices in Bakersfield and on the Central Coast have stabilized or began to rise again. Every listing on C21home.com has a handy mortgage calculator which will allow you to estimate how much you can afford. Be sure to take advantage of low home loan interest rates while they last. It is a great time to lock in a low rate for a 30 year mortgage. There is a chart below that shows you why.

Century 21 Hometown Realty CEO Jack Hardy shared a story yesterday. Jack and Shelia Hardy were at a listing presentation in Grover Beach where the homeowner felt like their home was valued in the low $600’s. It is common for homeowners to think that their homes are worth more than buyers are willing to pay today. Each homeowner has recent memory of an even higher home value 5 or 6 years ago. But the fact remains that we have seen 20% to 40% drops in some home values over the past few years. It is a heartfelt loss. But things are looking up. Homes that were selling in the low $500,000 range in Berry Gardens are now fetching prices in the mid to upper $5s. “We are seeing a lift in home prices in many areas of the Central Coast and Bakersfield,” says Hardy.

Grover Beach Home Values
Grover Beach Home Values, look at neighborhood details on any listing for market stats

 

The housing market is an uncertain place unless you take a long term view. In the long run, buying a home is not like buying a car. If you own your home long enough, population growth and housing demand will increase its value. If you are both buying and selling a home, you always have a balanced transaction. The buying and selling power are equal. If you sell high, you buy high. If you sell low, you buy low.

Here are a few tips that can help you prepare to buy or sell your home.

1. Look into financing options first. Century 21 Hometown Realty offers mortgage support through Prime Lending. They have local loan officers who will be happy to walk you through the financing process. If you choose Prime Lending or other mortgage company, there should be no application or consulting fees to see where you stand.

2. Keep a close watch on interest rates. The risk associated with your loan is what determines your interest rate. There are many factors including the bank’s cost of funds (Federal Bank Interest Rates), your credit rating, and the loan to value ratio on the property you purchase. Even a small difference in interest rate can make the difference in thousands of dollars in purchasing power. Here is a chart to help you understand this.

 

Buying power and interest rates

 

Here are the current interest rate trends as published by the National Associaton of REALTORS

interest rate trends

Goodness in Skydiving and Real Estate

Skydive Pismo BeachCentury 21 real estate agents have recently been on adventures to expand their personal courage and promote local charities. It is partially personal mission and partially component of the Century 21 mission of “Smarter, Bolder, Faster.” Recently, the Arroyo Grande Relay For Life, a chapter of the American Cancer Society has been the benefactor.

Anne McCracken, veteran Century 21 Hometown real estate agent is also a cancer survivor. She and fellow Century 21 agent Crystal Cowart are co-chairs for Relay for Life. Over the past few weeks, they have been jumping out of planes to raise money for cancer research. Other Century 21 Hometown agents joining the effort include Nancy Tucker, David Hubbel, Michelle Adney, and Hubbel team assistant, Andrianna Burbank.

“It was bucket list stuff because I lived through cancer” says McCracken. “As a survivor, I personally understand that the support for the American Cancer Society in fighting such a terrible disease is the greatest gift that I can give back to humanity.”

Anne has sold real estate for 8 years. Before that she was the Manager of Silverado Tours for 14 years. McCracken was also employed with the Lucia Mar school district for 11 years. Real Estate became a natural evolution in McCraken’s career. “My mom was an agent so I grew up as the child of a REALTOR.” Her brother is also a real estate broker and REALTOR. “I love the people I work with and have purchased and sold many homes for myself,” says McCraken.

For McCraken, Century 21 Hometown Realty has the size, training, support, and collaborative environment that allows her to specialize in residential real estate. McCraken is an agent on the Hubbel Team with 3 other agents. The Hubbel team is ranked #8 team in the Nation for Century 21.

To raise money for Relay for life, McCraken and others flew out of Oceano Airport and parachuted into a landing area at sea venture beach. The flight took them up to 10,000 feet and had everyone the opportunity to take in the majestic view. The skydiving company managing the event was Skydive Pismo Beach.

Each Century 21 agent did a Tandem dive with a certified instructor. Skydive Pismo beach has master instructors on staff with more than 2500 jumps. Giving that kind of control to another person was akin to giving control and faith to your doctors. Buyers and Sellers are in some way putting that level of control in their agent.

Safe landing, weather it is in real state, skydiving, or in cancer survival is the greatest possible outcome that keeps McCraken coming back for more.

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