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Marin Real Estate News

Jul 10

Housing Density Update, Fairfax Rent Control Proposal and Novato Tour

By Fairfax Community News, Fairfax Real Estate News, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

I’m hopeful that all of you had a nice long holiday weekend! For those of you who left town, I hope your travels were safe. For those of you who stayed closer to home, I hope that the little secret of how nice Marin is when everyone leaves played itself out for you.

As for me, I stayed very close to the home base in Cascade Canyon. Lots of quiet time in the shade, and making the circuit between the pool, the refrigerator, and the grill. Ah, summer!

Speaking of summer, I continue to be involved in at least one death match multiple offer scenario every week. All the same buyers, week after week, competing over the same limited inventory. This is usually the quiet season, and it definitely feels that way with few new listings. But my goodness, when a nice one comes on, all the buyers are there waiting!

HOUSING DENSITY UPDATE

It is the quiet season at MAR, lots of people going on vacation, and the politics have gotten quiet as well. Last year at this time it was all-out war over Plan Bay Area, but blessedly this year there is no comparable, all encompassing issue. The density conversation goes on, however. Fairfax is having a town hall meeting next Saturday, July 12 at 1:00 to discuss its General Plan and with it the Housing Element…there is even a banner announcing it across Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

In Corte Madera, rather than face off with a jittery public closely monitoring density, the developer for the 1441 Casa Buena project scaled back his project from 138 unit to 48 townhomes. You can read about itHERE. Everyone in the neighborhood seems much happier with that number.

FAIRFAX RENT CONTROL PROPOSAL

Thanks to MAR member Diane Hoffman for bringing to my attention and to MAR’s attention the new development in Fairfax where Vice Mayor Larry Bragman is advocating for a rent control discussion in Fairfax. Marin County is currently without any local rent control ordinances, but right across both bridges rent control is alive and well in San Francisco and Berkeley. MAR is looking to learn more about Vice Mayor Bragman’s proposal, and we have alerted the California Apartment Association about this development (which they were not aware of). The matter was discussed at last week’s Town Council meeting, and will be discussed at the next meeting. Stay tuned.

SEWER LATERAL AND INCREASED ROSS VALLEY GRANT AMOUNT

The first “working group” meeting with Ross Valley Sanitary for their new point-of-sale later inspection program will be held this week, so I will report back next week on that matter.

Ross Valley Sanitary did contact me this week to try to get the word out about the increased funding and contribution limits for their lateral grant program. For many years, RVSD had a grant program that would pay 50% of the cost of a lateral replacement, up to $4,000, for a qualifying lateral. That grant was scaled back to $2,000 over the past couple of years. Good news, the program has been re-funded and the grant program is back to the old 50%/$4k level. For more info you can read about it HERE.

THE NOVATO TOUR

Finally, I want to talk about a subject for which I admit I could be better-educated: the Wednesday morning Novato buy/sell and tour. I have from time to time through the years come to the Novato Tour meeting, most often when I have a new listing to present. It’s always been a nice meeting, and it’s seemed to me that the meeting was useful. I’ve also been impressed with the cooperative team spirit among the Novato Tour attendees, and the community announcements and opportunities to give back to the community always seemed to be a step in the right direction.

Several times, I’ve wondered if we shouldn’t have a similar gathering in Central and Southern Marin.

Several weeks ago, without warning, I received three phone calls within a couple of days from members with feedback on the Novato Tour. The overwhelming message I received was that these members found it to not be useful, and poorly attended by Realtor members. Again, this was all news to me.

These members wondered if the useful life of the meeting had been exceeded. So I’m putting it out there to the membership, at least so I can discuss the matter with a level of knowledge:

Is the Novato Tour meeting useful, and a good use of everyone’s time?

While I have no real opinion on the subject, one pet peeve that I do have are the occasional new listings in Novato not being listed on the MLS broker tour, but being listed on the Novato Tour. I guess the simple answer to me is “go to the Novato Tour meeting” if I don’t want to miss some of those listings. But it’s not always convenient to get to the meeting.

My sense is that for many of you, the Novato tour is useful. For others, not as much.

MAR does not sponsor the Novato Tour meeting, so it will go on regardless of what MAR thinks. I’d just like to get a sense from membership about whether you like the tour as it is, or if you’d like to see it changed…or if you’d like to see it done away with.

I will report the findings of this admittedly unscientific poll back to the membership in the coming weeks.

That’s it for now. Stay cool, safe travels, and enjoy the summer season!

I wish you a safe and prosperous week.

Blaine Morris

2014 MAR President

Jun 16

SASM Vote Thursday Night, Sunny Hills Services Community Support and Gumballs, MAR Monday Memo 06/16/14

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

Happy Summer (yes, I know it’s not until Saturday, but I try to extend summer however I can!).  I love planning summer;  the most pressing decision for me is:  Which day will I be attending the Marin County Fair?  Huey Lewis on Wednesday 7/2?  The Wailers on Thursday 7/3?  Night Ranger on Saturday 7/5?  Or Joan Jett on Sunday 7/6?  It’s a spirited discussion in our household, with Heather voting for Joan Jett, and I’m pulling for Night Ranger.  I pointed out that we saw Joan Jett at the Marin fair only a couple of years ago…to which Heather says, “So?”  Maybe we’ll just go every day, but I have a feeling I know who will win this little argument…

New this week:  Gumballs.  Personal property gumballs.  More on that later…

Also:  Sewer lateral point of sale SASM board meeting this Thursday, to vote on draft legislation.  More on that later too.

At the MAR Installation last December, I devoted much of my speech to the subject of service.  Service to each other, to ourselves and to our community.  Both the Marin community at large and to the real estate community as well.  I encouraged each of us to give of ourselves in service.

To that end, this year we created the MAR Community Service Committee, one that I hope will continue long after my term as MAR President is finished.  Judy LeMarr and Jennifer Boesel graciously offered to be the co-chairs and launch this committee, and the group has been meeting for much of the year working to get this off the ground.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Image for Success last month.  MAR supported the Women’s Council of Realtors and a number of brokerages, and the response was terrific.  By collecting clothes and accessories, our real estate community supported Image for Success, a non-profit organization, who provides wardrobes for disenfranchised men, women, and children transitioning towards self-reliance and/ or success in their careers.

Our next venture is Sunny Hills Services and their Guardian Scholars program for former foster children.  It’s a travesty with the county foster children program, which pretty much dries up support for these kids when they turn 18.  Really, how many 18-year-olds are prepared to support themselves while they work on their education and position themselves for a successful future?  A travesty.

Sunny Hills Services provides support to these kids.   Here is a link to their website:  http://www.sunnyhillsservices.org/   Sunny Hills and College of Marin have created a program to help emancipated foster kids, 18-21, make an easier transition into adulthood by providing housing and education.  The young adults will live at the San Anselmo site and go to school at COM.

This is a 3 year program with the initial launch of 8 newly renovated units this summer- July/August-working up to 24 units in the 3 years.  Each young adult will have their own bedroom and will share a communal kitchen area and living room.  These young adults have never had anything of their own and it will be very special to have this fresh start.  The items should be new or furniture gently worn.  Bedding, mattresses- twin long, kitchen items for starting a new household.

You can review the “wish list” here.   If you’d like to participate, please call Anastasia at Sunny Hills Services at 415-457-3200 or contactus@sunnyhillsservices.org.  You can drop off, or they can arrange for pickup.  And they’re hoping to have this in place by July 1, so time is of the essence.

Thank you, MAR members, for supporting your community!

Now, on to the weekly sewer lateral update!  Super exciting stuff, I know!  Thanks to all of you who participated in MAR’s Red Alert to the leadership of the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin (SASM) last week.  Over 150 of you participated, which resulted in over 800 letters going out to the SASM Board and leadership.

SASM will be meeting on Thursday night to vote on adopting draft legislation mandating point of sale sewer lateral inspections for Mill Valley and the surrounding area.  MAR had invited SASM to meet with our Government Affairs committee prior to the vote.  They had not responded to that invitation until the Red Alert went out this week.  Late on Wednesday night, SASM contacted MAR CEO Andy Fegley and asked if they could come to last Friday’s committee meeting.  Of course, we cleared the agenda and had them in.

Attending the meeting were SASM President Lew Kious and Mill Valley City Manager Jim McCann.  As you might imagine, it was a super spirited meeting…  Mr. Kious and Mr. McCann were gracious enough to give MAR 90 minutes of their time, and they certainly got an earful.

They sure do sound intent on pushing this through.  MAR’s position is that if this is such an emergency and a public health matter, then the agency should come up with a 20-year plan that addresses the problem throughout the community, and not relying on the real estate community to do their implementation.  Frankly, by singling out property owners who are selling, they are discriminating against these very citizens.  If it’s a problem, it’s everyone’s problem, not just those who are selling their house.

We agree, it’s a big problem.  A public health crisis.  So why is it only getting addressed by those who are selling their house?  SASM needs a real plan, a holistic plan for the entire community.  I asked if the reason that there wasn’t a more comprehensive plan was because raising the rates to deal with it was not politically viable?  They didn’t really answer the question, but I got the strong impression that was the exact problem.

Doing point of sale inspections will take 47 years in Mill Valley for all the housing to turn over and to solve the problem.  I also pointed out that as a best practice most of the real estate community is already doing sewer lateral inspections.  Mandating it via point of sale is going to insert a bureaucracy into a process that’s already happening.

SASM claims it’s not a big deal, because the real estate transaction will be able to close, and the repair just needs to occur within 6 months.  We asked how long it would take for SASM to review the reports and lateral video to determine whether it’s a mandatory fix or not, and they did not know.  This means that there will be (1) a mandatory inspection and report; (2) a possible mandatory fix; and (3) a currently undefined turnaround on when SASM decides whether the repair needs to take place or not.

We explained to them that this loose end about SASM deciding whether the repair needs to take place will grind escrows to a halt while we all wait for the results of the bureaucratic review.  It’s a $5k, $10k, even $20k swing in the transaction that needs to be accounted for, and they were not sure how long it would take to get back to everyone on whether a fix is needed.

This is unacceptable.  SASM needs a real plan to fix this problem across the community.  MAR is strongly against point-of -sale as the solution.  I intend to attend the SASM board meeting this Thursday, and I encourage MAR members to do the same.

Enough on that.

Now, about those gumballs…  I was fortunate to put a lovely piece of property into escrow for a San Francisco family this past week.  They were overjoyed, it’s the perfect place for the couple and their 5-year-old son Oscar.  Oscar’s mom told him on Tuesday night that they had finally won out, and that they were going to be moving soon.  Oscar asked which house it was, and his mom told him.  “Is that the house with the gumball machine?” Oscar asked???  Yes, it’s the house with the gumball machine.  This house had an antique gumball machine in the garage with the much of the owner’s personal property.

Upon hearing of Oscar’s affection for the gumballs, the owner graciously offered to leave the gumball machine for Oscar.  As you might imagine, Oscar and his parents are thrilled, each for their own reasons.

Once again, that’s what it’s all about.

And that’s it for now!

I wish you a safe and prosperous week.

Blaine

Jun 09

RED ALERT – SASM, SPAWN/Turtle Island – Developers? MAR Monday Memo 06/09/14

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News, Regulations, Uncategorized

Good morning MAR members!

It was feeling very much like summer last Blaine Morris week, inventory-wise. After seeing a bit of an uptick in new listings as the spring wore on, the last couple of weeks have seemed much quieter for new properties on the market. While holding open a new listing of my own this past week, agents were coming in and bemoaning what they perceived as a bit of a slowdown in the market. I think it’s just the normal Marin summer breather. The good news is that buyers will face a little less competition if they do find a house they like.

Elections
I hope most of you got out and voted in last week’s exciting election. There were few surprises on the statewide level, but lots of intrigue locally. REALTOR®-supported candidates Marc Levine (Assembly), Mike McGuire (State Senate) and Damon Connelly (Supervisor in Marin District 1) all staged decisive wins last week. In Supervisor District 5, MAR member Toni Shroyer staged an impressive challenge to incumbent Judy Arnold. Shroyer conceded the race late Friday afternoon after updated results were released showing Arnold with the lead.

MAR CEO Andy Fegley, MAR Treasurer Arun Burrell and I made the rounds on election night, visiting the victory parties of both Marc Levine and Damon Connelly. I’d never done that before, and it was great to congratulate REALTOR® endorsed candidates. Connelly won outright, he’s the new Supervisor replacing Susan Adams in January, 2015. Assemblyman Levine now faces what looks to be an interesting race in the “Top 2” format. He will be facing Diane Conte, another Democratic candidate who narrowly beat out Republican Gregory Allen. Though Levine had a decisive first place showing, the November election will provide intrigue given the fact that Ms. Conte will be running to the left of Levine in progressive Marin and part of Sonoma County. Assemblyman Levine still has work to do.

Housing Density Bill AB1537 (Levine)
Speaking of Assemblyman Levine, his housing density bill AB1537 now moves to the Senate, where it will be heard in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. CAR has long been a supporter of the Chairman of that committee, Senator Mark DeSaulnier. Assemblyman Levine’s staff knows this, and MAR will continue to do what we can to advance this important bill. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Watch for MAR RED ALERT Later Today
On to the next matter, point-of-sale sewer lateral inspections. Surprisingly, MAR’s membership has been rather quiet on this subject, at least as it relates to feedback to me. Is this an important subject for you? The Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin (SASM) has its next board meeting a week from Thursday. It is our understanding that they will be taking up the issue of mandatory sewer lateral inspections at this meeting. That is why MAR is issuing a RED ALERT later today.

We are asking every member to answer this call for action to let SASM leadership know that a real plan is needed to address the needs of the community.

With point-of-sale, it will take 50 years to solve the problem. And the problem needs fixing today. All point-of-sale does is give the appearance of trying to do something, but it is not a real solution. All the sewer agencies, SASM, Ross Valley and all the rest need to come up with a real solution that will protect the communities before 2065, which is how long the point-of-sale solution will take. Point-of-sale simply will massively complicate the process of selling a home, initiating a public works project with every sale, tearing up the street on every sale. AND IT WON’T FIX THE PROBLEM FOR FIFTY YEARS.

MAR member and Corte Madera Councilman Bob Ravasio called me last week to make sure that MAR was on the right side of this issue. He spoke of the environmental consequences of the failed sewer system countywide. He said that something needs to be done. MAR couldn’t agree more. It’s just that point-of-sale lateral inspections is not the way to fix the problem. Bob conceded that Corte Madera has a 20-year plan in place to replace all the faulty sewer laterals throughout the town…and not a point-of- sale requirement. That’s EXACTLY the type of solution that MAR would like to see…a REAL plan.

SASM needs a real plan, and MAR and its members need to be vocal about this. Please make sure to answer the call for action in the RED ALERT coming to your inboxes later today.

MAR has invited SASM to meet with our Government Affairs Committee this Friday, but so far they’ve not responded.

SPAWN/Turtle Island-Developers?
One last thing: Did you know that SPAWN/Turtle Island, they of the San Geronimo Valley building moratorium, they of fierce opposition to the Marin
Countywide Streamside Conservation Ordinance, and they of protecting the San Geronimo Valley’s salmon population from “development” are now seeking to become the biggest developer in the San Geronimo Valley?

That’s right, you can read about it by clicking here.
I guess that’s what happens when you have millions of dollars in your bank account and can’t figure out what to do with it. According to Executive Director Todd Steiner they want to buy land and homes, restore the habitat, and return the homes to market with some sort of permanent environmental covenant. Funny, how the single biggest advocate for not being able to do anything with your property in the Valley now wants to buy and rehabilitate those very homes.

This is all very new, but certainly worth watching. Perhaps we will see a future where the only people who can buy and rehabilitate homes in the Valley are SPAWN themselves.

I couldn’t have made this up if I tried.

That’s it for now!

Blaine

Blaine Morris
2014 MAR President

Jun 04

Just Listed! 31 Porto Bello, San Rafael, $499,000

By Marin Real Estate News, San Rafael Real Estate News

31_porto_bello_san_rafael

Convenient Location and Waterfront Neighborhood

Pride of ownership and a super convenient central location await at this spacious townhome in the Porto Bello waterfront community.  The 2BR/2.5BA property includes an updated kitchen with granite countertops and newer appliances. All three bathroom also have granite countertops, newer fixtures and tile work. The large living room has a cozy fireplace and opens to a nicely landscaped private patio, perfect for indoor/outdoor living. The community has a pool and also features a boat dock.  Great light throughout, with vaulted ceilings in the large bedrooms. The unit has an oversized 1-car garage plus one additional assigned space.  Close to 101, Whole Foods, and Trader Joes.  Turnkey and move in ready. Everything you need for your active Marin lifestyle!

Offered at $499,000

May 27

Should You Include a Picture of the Buyer in a Offer Packet? MAR Monday Memo 05/27/14

By California Association of Realtors, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News

Good morning MAR members!

Safely back in Marin this week after spending two of the prior three weeks on the road…it’s good to be back home.  I was looking forward to a nice quiet three day weekend, but many of you responded with new listings this week!  Alas, our customers don’t care about three day weekends…other than the fact that they have an extra day to look at homes.  So back to showing and listing properties.

I’m going to find a quiet moment this weekend to honor those who have served our country…Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Coming from a certain generation, most everyone in my family from the generation before me served in the military.  My father Warren served in the Marine Corps in the Korean War, and both uncles on his side of the family served, Uncle Ray in Korea and Uncle Blaine in World War II.  My Grandfather Blaine served in Europe in World War I, nearly 100 years ago.  Plus my longtime stepfather Allen Coates was a full-bird Colonel in the Army, and he served in an artillery brigade in Korea.

I say all of this because it’s easy to forget the sacrifices made by those who came before us.  Take a little time this weekend to honor those who served our country.  And wish for a safe return home to those currently serving.  As President Lyndon Johnson said on this day in 1966 (my first Memorial Day as a 3 1/2-month-old!):  “On this Memorial Day, it is right for us to remember the living and the dead for whom the call of their country has meant much pain and sacrifice.”

Thank you to MAR member Chelsea Ialeggio for her feedback on pictures of buyers in offer packets.  One of her clients wanted to include a nine-page letter filled with pictures of the family with an offer.  These buyers shared that all their friends looking for homes were sharing similar letters and pictures.  Chelsea shared that she had been advised throughout her career to not include pictures, as it creates opportunities for possible discrimination concerns.

Letters are fine, but regarding pictures my response to Chelsea was that to my knowledge there was no part of the REALTOR Code of Ethics preventing this practice, and that it is more of a broker risk management issue.  I still feel that way.  Last Thursday, however, I asked MAR CEO Andy Fegley to find out CAR’s position on the matter.  Andy called June Barlow, CAR’s Chief Legal Counsel.  June just happened to have a conference call set up that afternoon with the entire CAR legal staff and agreed to pose the question.

After that call, here is what June came back with:  “I spoke with the hotline attorneys during their meeting and they confirmed that it is problematic from a fair housing perspective for real estate agents to participate in activities, such as including photos, that may put the seller in a position to discriminate or facilitate discrimination based on familial status or marital status or even race or other protected class.   Universally  we advise against it.  However, none of us knew of a specific bulletin or advisory that speaks to the issue about photos in particular, though that doesn’t mean one does not exist.  Regulation 2780 does list many variations of fair housing  violations that could cause one to lose a real estate license.   There are quite a few in there that may cover this activity.”

So, to repeat, as far as I know, it’s not against any specific REALTOR policy that we’ve been able to find, but my advice is to tread very carefully with this issue and speak to your broker about your company’s policy.  I know during my time in the business it has been against the policy of my brokers.

In the category of “odds and ends”,  I thought it would be useful to share some info from a presentation given a couple of weeks ago by CAR CEO Joel Singer in Sacramento during the mid-year meetings.

  • Joel compared the housing downturn we’re just emerging from as “just as bad as the Great Depression.”
  • The early years of the recovery were the strongest, and the current number of sales he is seeing is not performing as he would expect.
  • Appreciation is moderating.  There is a current “pause” in appreciation is due to the recent rise in interest rates, general economic components, and the fact that affordability has decreased statewide.
  • Inventory has improved but remains tight.  Inventory is essentially all existing homes; there are almost no new homes.
  • During the downturn, in California we lost a million households that “should exist”.  During the housing boom of the mid-2000s, “new household creation” peaked at 300,000 new households created annually.  During the downturn, “new household creation” bottomed out at 30,000 new households created annually.
  • California needs to “replace lost housing that should have been created over the past 5-6 years, but we are not doing so.”
  • The market is over-relying on investment sales.  Currently, statewide, 25% of sales are “investment sales”.  Normally, that figure is 6-10% of sales.  First-time buyers should be able to buy, but they can’t compete.  Demand is not a problem, but the share of first time buyers is alarming.  Pent-up demand is not resulting in sales.  There is nothing to sell them, and when there is, these first-time buyers are competing with investors with cash.
  • Along that line, the share of first-time-buyers should be higher than it is right now.  He would like to see it over 40%…even 50%.  At the current rate, which is around 38%, we are not seeing a healthy, “ladder-like” market
  • With all of that said, first-time-buyers remain our hope once again.  Millennials view homeownership as a positive thing at essentially the same rate as the Gen-X and Baby Boomer generations before them.  The level of student debt, however, is staggering, and is holding back Millennials from being able to buy.
  • The homeownership rate is dropping statewide.  In the US, the homeownership rate is 65.4%.  It’s in the mid-50%s right now in California.  He bemoaned the fact that in California we are nearly 50% renters.
  • There is political fallout as we become a renter society.  Low homeownership rates in San Francisco have a profound effect on public policy in SF, with homeowners being a small minority of the population.
  • And rents are continuing to go up because new homes are not being constructed…and the future demand for housing is not going to lessen.
  • The good news is that the attitudes of homeownership remain positive…but people continue to leave California over the cost of housing.  Young families, the Millennials, want to buy houses and participate in the California dream.  We need more supply.  In California, we need 165,000 new units of housing annually, which will create a balance of supply and demand.  We are currently only building 65,000 units, which is leaving us a staggering 100,000 units short.

So let’s all go find some more listings and do our part to improve these numbers!

I wish you a safe and prosperous week.

Blaine

 

 

 

 

May 19

NAR Meeting Update and Pre-Opened Escrows – MAR Monday Memo – 05/19/14

By Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Real Estate News, Regulations

Good morning MAR members!

Greetings from the nation’s capitol in Washington DC, where Kay Moore, Andy Fegley and I spent most of this week at the NAR mid-year meetings, which were recently renamed the REALTOR Party Convention.  Hot and muggy conditions greeted us to start the trip, followed up by torrential rains on Thursday night…complete with flash flood warnings.  It’s Friday afternoon and I’m starting this draft at the airport, waiting on the tarmac to take off, sitting in the airplane in runway jail and delayed for another 90 minutes…connecting thru Philadelphia, where last night’s weather has travelled…hopefully I’ve made it home by the time you read this.  And hoping that I don’t get to spend the night on the cold hard floor of the Philly airport.

Last week, we had a great MAR General Membership meeting, with featured speakers Sara Sutachan of CAR and MAR member Steve Dickason giving us timely market updates on Marin, California and the nation at large.  It seems that low inventory continues to be the state of affairs…everywhere.  Steve showed that there is still a less-than-two-months supply of homes in Marin, so it’s still tight.  2014 appears to be trending more in line with 2012 than with 2013.

What I’m seeing inventory-wise is the mad rush to get into homes has given our buyers much less time to make an informed decisions on the homes on which they are writing offers.  As a result, there seem to be a few more properties falling out of escrow than feels normal.  The oft-used “back on market, no fault of property, buyers didn’t do inspections” which translates to “cold feet”.  It’s tough to make people wait, as agents are beating the doors down trying to get their clients into the property.

I stumbled onto an issue last week that many were quietly grumbling about:  the pre-opened escrow phenomenon.  Quite unexpectedly, this was the most-commented-on issue I’ve written about all year.  It totally caught me off guard…I was just venting, and many of you chimed in.  I got about 30 feedback comments from members, with 29 completely appalled by the process and one outlier defending the practice.  I even had a few of our title company biz dev reps thank me for bringing it up.

It’s become something of a fevered pitch, an “arms race” of sorts, with many agents commenting that whenever they now put a property on the MLS they are getting several calls from title reps wanting to pre-open an escrow.  People, this is not productive.  The comments came from across the agent spectrum market-wise, but most came from seasoned, veteran agents, all of whom are listing agents themselves.

Now, on to NAR and the REALTOR Party Convention. What a week in Washington DC!  It’s amazing to see 4,000 REALTORS come together and advocate for the industry and private property rights.  On Thursday, our team from California District 2 visited the office of Congressman Jared Huffman to brief his staff on our industry’s position on many important national real estate policy issues.

I had the opportunity to speak on the importance of preserving the current real estate tax code.  On the table in congress right now is the “Tax Reform Discussion Draft” where many of the fundamental  tax statutes seem to be on the table, including the mortgage interest deduction, the ability to deduct state and local property taxes on your federal tax return, and also like-kind (1031) tax-deferred exchanges for investment property.  The mortgage interest and property tax deductions have been part of the tax code for over 100 years.  They are the foundation of public policy that encourages home ownership, and allow families of modest income to afford homes of their own.

NAR strongly supports retaining the current tax code as it relates to the mortgage interest deduction and property tax deduction.  Were the congress to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction, it’s estimated that property values would drop 15%.  If the property tax deduction were eliminated, double-taxation would be the result and you would be paying your property taxes with already-taxed money.  Finally, the like-kind 1031 tax-deferred exchange policy creates liquidity in an inherently illiquid investment property market.  Were 1031 exchanges to go away, the flow of capital in this segment of the market would slow considerably.  People would sit on their properties, redevelopment would slow, and the jobs that result from redevelopment would be lost.

Kathy Hayes of the North Bay Association of Realtors (NorBAR) spoke on the ongoing need to not tax the phantom “gain” for people who have lost their homes to a short sale or foreclosure.  The government’s waiver of that taxable “gain” expired at the beginning of this year, and this ongoing issue is still being debated.

Sally Crain of NorBAR  spoke about the importance of preserving the current loan limits of the FHA program…which look like they will be preserved at this point.  NorBAR’s Terri Ann McGowan spoke about the importance of retaining the role of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE’s…Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).  Both of these agencies have paid all of the money back to the federal government that was needed during the financial crises…and even though the federal government is actually MAKING money off that investment, there is a strong possibility in Washington that these agencies will be unwound.  We need these agencies.  NAR strongly supports retaining the GSE’s to ensure the affordable availability of capital for people of modest means to finance a home purchase.

In addition to the legislative advocacy on Capitol Hill, there were lots of great meetings and roundtables.  I had the opportunity to participate in the Association Presidents’ Roundtable on Friday morning.  What a terrific experience, meeting with hundreds of Association presidents from around the country, and comparing notes on a variety of topics.  MAR shares many of the same challenges with associations across the country.  We were split up so large, medium and small associations sat with one another.  We’re classified as “medium”.  We rotated tables every 25 minutes and sat with moderators on a variety of subjects, with different mixes of presidents each time.  Among others, I chose to sit in on Syndication and IDX feeds (to Zillow/Trulia and the like), and also the “What do you do for your members other than provide access to the MLS?”

The IDX/syndication session was sort of refreshing because of the democracy of the subject; meaning, presidents from all over the country were grumbling about inaccuracy of data, other agents’ pictures next to their listings, and the inevitable loss of control of what happens with our data.  That was contrasted with the obvious consumer desire for robust access to data and sellers’ desire to have their listings in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

Regarding providing member services other than the MLS…well, we don’t have our own MLS…  The discussion was a great roundtable of what associations similar in size to ours, all around the country, are doing to provide value and relevance to membership.  This sort of thing is always racing through my mind, and it’s been the subject of spirited discussions in our MAR board room since the day I got there.

Whew, I’m exhausted!  All in all, a super-productive week for MAR…a super-productive month so far that started at CAR in Sacramento on April 29th.

I’m finishing this at 30,000 feet somewhere over the middle of America, and my mind is still racing.  The good kind of racing.  I made my connection in Philly, running from one concourse to another, getting to my gate 5 minutes before they closed the door.

Really looking forward to getting back to our lovely Marin.

I wish you safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

 

 

May 07

CAR Update: AB1537, Online Auctions, MAR Monday Memo 05/05/14

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News, Uncategorized

Good morning MAR members!

What a week!  September in April…whew.  I spent last week in Sacramento at the CAR Legislative Day and Spring Business Meetings, and it was hotter here in Marin than in Sacramento.  Frankly, it was downright perfect in the Central Valley, cooler than the last two years when I’ve been there.

Be sure to mark your calendars for next Tuesday, May 13 at 9:30, which is MAR’s general membership meeting at Embassy Suites in San Rafael.  Our guest speaker will be Sarah Sutachan, who is the Manager of Broker and Real Estate Finance Outreach for CAR.  Since I’ve been an MAR member, one of the biggest meetings of the year has always been when Leslie Appleton Young is the featured speaker.  Leslie is CAR’s Chief Economist, and always brought valuable perspective to the statewide and Marin markets.  Leslie, who lives in Los Angeles, is paring down her travel schedule and is somewhat passing the torch to Sarah, who is a valuable member of her staff.  Join me and the rest of MAR’s leadership team to welcome Sarah Sutachan and gain valuable market perspective that you can use in your business today and get the most recent market info for your clients.  MAR member Steve Dickason will also be delivering his valuable ­­Marin Market Update.  Registration is only $10, and it’s open online.  Click here to register online. 

I’d also like to take a moment to share my support for our dear colleague and longtime MAR member Marie Whitemore.  Her 7-year-old granddaughter Gabrielle unfortunately is suffering from a very serious and inoperable brain tumor.  This little girl just underwent chemotherapy and is now beginning a more aggressive treatment…an expensive treatment that is not covered by insurance.  The Talbert family from the peninsula had a similar situation with a family member battling a similar condition, and the Talbert family has generously offered to match every donation dollar-for-dollar.  I’d like to encourage all of us to support the family however we can.  For more info, please click here .  The entire MAR family’s thoughts and prayers are with Marie and Gabrielle.

And what a week in Sacramento.  Lots of CAR business before the legislature, I’ll get that legislation next week.

The big day for me was Wednesday, where MAR CEO Andy Fegley and I attended and testified at two different Assembly committee hearings in support of Marin Assemblyman Marc Levine’s bill AB1537, which relates to the minimum density for housing developments in much of Marin.  Levine’s bill lowers the minimum density from 30 units to 20 units/acre.

Currently, Marin is lumped in with San Francisco and Oakland as being “metropolitan” and is something of an anomaly in the Bay Area with minimum zoning at 30 units per acre.  I knew that Sonoma and Napa were designated as “suburban” at 20 units/acre.  What I didn’t know is that Santa Clara County…the Bay Area’s most populous county…is also designated “suburban” at 20 units/acre.

Levine’s bill corrects that anomaly and re-designates Marin as “suburban” at 20 units per acre.  Last Wednesday, Andy and I, along with Supervisor Kate Sears and members of Bridge Housing and other agencies that historically have been against this type of change joined forces to support Levine’s bill.  AB1537 passed unanimously through the Housing Committee and then passed through the Local Government Committee.  MAR testified in support at both meetings.

MAR strongly supports this bill, and we are doing everything we can to assist Assemblyman Levine’s efforts to win passage.  The bill has progressed further than similar bills have fared in the past, and we plan to continue our efforts to support its passage.

The most fascinating session of the week at CAR was the Public Policy Forum.  The topic was online auctions.  Rick Sharga, the Executive VP at Auction.com generously made himself available for this meeting, which was absolutely packed and standing-room-only.  And I learned SO MUCH!

(this is a long account, sorry, but so much valuable info was shared and all the MAR members are talking about auctions)

-Auction.com sold 35,000 properties online last year, with the vast majority going to investors.

-Auction.com is a licensed broker in 48 states.

-Google just invested $50M in Auction.com, and now owns a 4% stake.  That investment values Auction.com at $1.2B.  Google will be helping Auction.com improve its mobile platforms.

-Speaking of mobile, Mr. Sharga shared a story about an investor in India who learned that he won an auction.  He contacted Auction.com to verify that he could finalize his cash purchase on his phone.  From India.

-It’s written into their Auction.com’s contract that “shill” bidders are part of the process.  Mr. Sharga’s first response was that “shill is such a nasty term.”  They call it “seller bidding”.  It’s perfectly legal, but ethically dubious in my opinion.  Meaning, if the auction slows down, or doesn’t get to the reserve, Auction.com will place a shill bid, in an attempt to get you to bid higher. It’s not a real bid, and thus you are competing against yourself.  Can you imagine?  In my mind, that’s the same as a listing agent telling you there is “another offer” or “multiple offers” when there really isn’t one.  Gigantic breach of our REALTOR Code of Ethics.  But since Auction.com is not a REALTOR member, the Code of Ethics does not apply.  CAR currently has sponsored a bill before the legislature to outlaw shill bidding.

-That 75% of Auction.com’s business is generated by investors.

-That most of Auction.com’s clients are not interested in anything other than cash buyers.

-That Mr. Sharga himself declared that Auction.com was “not ready for the consumer market.”

-In regards to CAR-sponsored legislation AB2039, Mr. Sharga admitted that “our contracts need work” and “we were never set up to work with consumers.”  AB2039 seeks to prohibit the current practice of indemnification clauses in the cases of short sale lenders seeking to use Auction.com to “verify” the short sale price.  As many of you know, Nationstar has been incorporating this “verification” process as part of their standard short sale process.  As the listing agent, you are required to sign a contract that indemnifies Auction.com of any liability during this auction process.  Net-net, as the listing agent, you and your broker are carrying the entire liability for any wrongdoing by Auction.com, even though at that point in the process Auction.com basically controls the listing.  AB2039 prohibits this indemnification practice, and CAR is working very hard for its passage.

-Among other investors, Auction.com and Nationstar happen to share a single common investor.  Go figure.  Fortress Investment Group is the majority owner of Nationstar, and Fortress Investment Group is also a major investor in Auction.com.  Mr. Sharga called that a “coincidence”, and said that there is no financial relationship between Auction.com and Nationstar other than the “buyer’s premium” that Auction.com is awarded when a property sells through its platform.  So he says.

-Mr. Sharga didn’t want to comment on a similar arrangement that has resulted in a current investigation where Benjamin Lawsky, superintendant of the New York Department of Financial Services is seeking to clarify the relationship between another auction site, Hubzu, and mortgage servicing firm Ocwen Financial.  Seems that Hubzu was spun off from Ocwen in 2009.  Mr. Sharpa encouraged us to Google Mr. Lawsky’s investigation of Hubzu.  It’s quite an interesting search, you should Google it yourself.

-Mr. Sharga shared that the reason for this short sale price “verification” is because the “servicers feel that they’re getting ripped off.”

Which brings us to…

-In regards to the new practice of loan servicers in short sales requiring the property to go onto Auction.com to “verify” the price, in California 75% of the properties that go through this verification are sold to someone other than the original offeror, with a 15-20% “uplift” in the price.  He was pretty adamant about that “uplift”.  Mr. Sharga answered a question that I had:  if the original offeror on the property has to increase his/her price to get it via the auction, that person does NOT have to pay the 5% buyer’s premium.  That’s about the only good thing I heard at this session.

-For many auction properties, Mr. Sharpa acknowledged that there is a current disconnect between the initial bidding price and the actual reserve.  Meaning the property is actually not for sale at the price that is entered into MLS.

The meeting went on and on and on, to the point where they had to stop it with many people still in line to speak.

Next week, I’ll give you a rundown of the rest of the CAR meeting.

That’s it for now.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

May 07

CAR Update: AB1537, Online Auctions, MAR Monday Memo 05/05/14

By Legislation, Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News, Uncategorized

Good morning MAR members!

What a week!  September in April…whew.  I spent last week in Sacramento at the CAR Legislative Day and Spring Business Meetings, and it was hotter here in Marin than in Sacramento.  Frankly, it was downright perfect in the Central Valley, cooler than the last two years when I’ve been there.

Be sure to mark your calendars for next Tuesday, May 13 at 9:30, which is MAR’s general membership meeting at Embassy Suites in San Rafael.  Our guest speaker will be Sarah Sutachan, who is the Manager of Broker and Real Estate Finance Outreach for CAR.  Since I’ve been an MAR member, one of the biggest meetings of the year has always been when Leslie Appleton Young is the featured speaker.  Leslie is CAR’s Chief Economist, and always brought valuable perspective to the statewide and Marin markets.  Leslie, who lives in Los Angeles, is paring down her travel schedule and is somewhat passing the torch to Sarah, who is a valuable member of her staff.  Join me and the rest of MAR’s leadership team to welcome Sarah Sutachan and gain valuable market perspective that you can use in your business today and get the most recent market info for your clients.  MAR member Steve Dickason will also be delivering his valuable ­­Marin Market Update.  Registration is only $10, and it’s open online.  Click here to register online. 

I’d also like to take a moment to share my support for our dear colleague and longtime MAR member Marie Whitemore.  Her 7-year-old granddaughter Gabrielle unfortunately is suffering from a very serious and inoperable brain tumor.  This little girl just underwent chemotherapy and is now beginning a more aggressive treatment…an expensive treatment that is not covered by insurance.  The Talbert family from the peninsula had a similar situation with a family member battling a similar condition, and the Talbert family has generously offered to match every donation dollar-for-dollar.  I’d like to encourage all of us to support the family however we can.  For more info, please click here .  The entire MAR family’s thoughts and prayers are with Marie and Gabrielle.

And what a week in Sacramento.  Lots of CAR business before the legislature, I’ll get that legislation next week.

The big day for me was Wednesday, where MAR CEO Andy Fegley and I attended and testified at two different Assembly committee hearings in support of Marin Assemblyman Marc Levine’s bill AB1537, which relates to the minimum density for housing developments in much of Marin.  Levine’s bill lowers the minimum density from 30 units to 20 units/acre.

Currently, Marin is lumped in with San Francisco and Oakland as being “metropolitan” and is something of an anomaly in the Bay Area with minimum zoning at 30 units per acre.  I knew that Sonoma and Napa were designated as “suburban” at 20 units/acre.  What I didn’t know is that Santa Clara County…the Bay Area’s most populous county…is also designated “suburban” at 20 units/acre.

Levine’s bill corrects that anomaly and re-designates Marin as “suburban” at 20 units per acre.  Last Wednesday, Andy and I, along with Supervisor Kate Sears and members of Bridge Housing and other agencies that historically have been against this type of change joined forces to support Levine’s bill.  AB1537 passed unanimously through the Housing Committee and then passed through the Local Government Committee.  MAR testified in support at both meetings.

MAR strongly supports this bill, and we are doing everything we can to assist Assemblyman Levine’s efforts to win passage.  The bill has progressed further than similar bills have fared in the past, and we plan to continue our efforts to support its passage.

The most fascinating session of the week at CAR was the Public Policy Forum.  The topic was online auctions.  Rick Sharga, the Executive VP at Auction.com generously made himself available for this meeting, which was absolutely packed and standing-room-only.  And I learned SO MUCH!

(this is a long account, sorry, but so much valuable info was shared and all the MAR members are talking about auctions)

-Auction.com sold 35,000 properties online last year, with the vast majority going to investors.

-Auction.com is a licensed broker in 48 states.

-Google just invested $50M in Auction.com, and now owns a 4% stake.  That investment values Auction.com at $1.2B.  Google will be helping Auction.com improve its mobile platforms.

-Speaking of mobile, Mr. Sharga shared a story about an investor in India who learned that he won an auction.  He contacted Auction.com to verify that he could finalize his cash purchase on his phone.  From India.

-It’s written into their Auction.com’s contract that “shill” bidders are part of the process.  Mr. Sharga’s first response was that “shill is such a nasty term.”  They call it “seller bidding”.  It’s perfectly legal, but ethically dubious in my opinion.  Meaning, if the auction slows down, or doesn’t get to the reserve, Auction.com will place a shill bid, in an attempt to get you to bid higher. It’s not a real bid, and thus you are competing against yourself.  Can you imagine?  In my mind, that’s the same as a listing agent telling you there is “another offer” or “multiple offers” when there really isn’t one.  Gigantic breach of our REALTOR Code of Ethics.  But since Auction.com is not a REALTOR member, the Code of Ethics does not apply.  CAR currently has sponsored a bill before the legislature to outlaw shill bidding.

-That 75% of Auction.com’s business is generated by investors.

-That most of Auction.com’s clients are not interested in anything other than cash buyers.

-That Mr. Sharga himself declared that Auction.com was “not ready for the consumer market.”

-In regards to CAR-sponsored legislation AB2039, Mr. Sharga admitted that “our contracts need work” and “we were never set up to work with consumers.”  AB2039 seeks to prohibit the current practice of indemnification clauses in the cases of short sale lenders seeking to use Auction.com to “verify” the short sale price.  As many of you know, Nationstar has been incorporating this “verification” process as part of their standard short sale process.  As the listing agent, you are required to sign a contract that indemnifies Auction.com of any liability during this auction process.  Net-net, as the listing agent, you and your broker are carrying the entire liability for any wrongdoing by Auction.com, even though at that point in the process Auction.com basically controls the listing.  AB2039 prohibits this indemnification practice, and CAR is working very hard for its passage.

-Among other investors, Auction.com and Nationstar happen to share a single common investor.  Go figure.  Fortress Investment Group is the majority owner of Nationstar, and Fortress Investment Group is also a major investor in Auction.com.  Mr. Sharga called that a “coincidence”, and said that there is no financial relationship between Auction.com and Nationstar other than the “buyer’s premium” that Auction.com is awarded when a property sells through its platform.  So he says.

-Mr. Sharga didn’t want to comment on a similar arrangement that has resulted in a current investigation where Benjamin Lawsky, superintendant of the New York Department of Financial Services is seeking to clarify the relationship between another auction site, Hubzu, and mortgage servicing firm Ocwen Financial.  Seems that Hubzu was spun off from Ocwen in 2009.  Mr. Sharpa encouraged us to Google Mr. Lawsky’s investigation of Hubzu.  It’s quite an interesting search, you should Google it yourself.

-Mr. Sharga shared that the reason for this short sale price “verification” is because the “servicers feel that they’re getting ripped off.”

Which brings us to…

-In regards to the new practice of loan servicers in short sales requiring the property to go onto Auction.com to “verify” the price, in California 75% of the properties that go through this verification are sold to someone other than the original offeror, with a 15-20% “uplift” in the price.  He was pretty adamant about that “uplift”.  Mr. Sharga answered a question that I had:  if the original offeror on the property has to increase his/her price to get it via the auction, that person does NOT have to pay the 5% buyer’s premium.  That’s about the only good thing I heard at this session.

-For many auction properties, Mr. Sharpa acknowledged that there is a current disconnect between the initial bidding price and the actual reserve.  Meaning the property is actually not for sale at the price that is entered into MLS.

The meeting went on and on and on, to the point where they had to stop it with many people still in line to speak.

Next week, I’ll give you a rundown of the rest of the CAR meeting.

That’s it for now.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week!

Blaine

Apr 28

Housing Density – Larkspur SMART Station Area Plan, Updates on San Rafael City Resale Inspections and Sewer Laterals. MAR Monday Memo 04/28/14

By Marin Association of Realtors, Marin Community News, Marin Real Estate News, Regulations

Good morning MAR members!

Lots of new listings last week.  It seems that sellers are finally getting the message that people are looking to move!

One final reminder that the memorial service for MAR member and Novato icon Mike Di Giorgio is one week from today, Monday May 5th, from 11AM-1PM at Novato City Hall.  As I mentioned previously, Mike’s family has asked MAR member and Novato Councilwoman Denise Athas to share stories of Mike’s business life, and has asked for anecdotes and personal stories about Mike from our members.  For those of you who might have a good story to share, Denise has asked that you contact her via email at DAthas@aol.com.

This  week, the rest of MAR’s California Association of Realtors Board of Directors members and I will be in Sacramento for the CAR’s Legislative Day (Wednesday) and the Spring business meetings through Saturday.  If there is any pressing matter that you’d like CAR’s leadership to be aware of, please let me know and we will take it to Sacramento.  If you’d like to join us for Leg Day, Governor Jerry Brown will be addressing us on Wednesday morning.

San Rafael City Resale Inspections

I must say, it’s been very quiet this past week+.  Prior to our meetings with San Rafael’s City Manager and building department a couple of weeks ago, I was receiving daily calls…often multiple calls.  Now it’s like someone turned off the faucet…no calls.  In fact, one of our colleagues made it a point to tell me what a delightful inspection he had with San Rafael, when he was expecting the worst.  If you’re still having issues, I do want to know.

MAR CEO Andy Fegley and I will be meeting with San Rafael again next week…a meeting they asked for.  They have asked us to bring any suggestions for improving their process.  My message is going to be consistent with our last meeting:  please don’t penalize homeowners for things that San Rafael missed in the past.  It is San Rafael’s choice to require a resale inspection.  Since they do require it, we as the real estate community take the inspection very seriously.  As such, if the city misses something and people make the biggest financial decision of their life based upon that inspection, buyers and sellers have a reasonable expectation that the mandatory report is accurate.  If the report is inaccurate, San Rafael needs to offer a path to compliance if they missed something.

It’s as simple as that.  With all of that said, perhaps they’ve made some changes based upon our last meeting.  From where I’m sitting, the membership has been much quieter on this subject.

Housing Density– Larkspur SMART Station Area Plan

As I mentioned about a month ago, MAR has drafted and passed a housing density policy statement, which you can read right here <link>.  A few weeks ago, MAR’s Local Candidate Recommendation Committee met with both Supervisor Susan Adams and San Rafael Councilman Damon Connelly, who are running for Supervisor in District 1 (most of San Rafael from Central San Rafael north).  We also met with Supervisor Judy Arnold who is running for re-election in District 5 (Novato).  Supervisor Arnold’s opponent, MAR member Toni Shroyer, elected to not visit with MAR.

As you might imagine, much of the discussion focused on housing, housing density, and the vision for Marin going forward.  We asked all the candidates about their thoughts on the big density issue on the table right now, the development plan for the Larkspur Landing, ferry terminal and SMART train station.  Up to 900+ units.  The “Larkspur SMART Station Area Plan.”  The Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) for this project is open for public comment until early June.  The decision on what to do rests on the shoulders of the Larkspur Town Council.  Here is the link to the plan, as well as instructions for offering your comments:  http://www.larkspurcityhall.org/index.aspx?nid=157

MAR took a position last summer in opposition to Plan Bay Area, because of the top-down planning approach it favored, rather than local control.   MAR is in favor of local control.

So here we are…local control time.  There was a spirited, standing room only community meeting this past Saturday at Bacich School in Kentfield, with supervisor Katie Rice in attendance.  The challenge that Supervisor Rice is facing…a challenge that every resident of Ross Valley is facing…is the same challenge that every resident of Marin who drives on 101 is facing:  namely, this proposed development is going to affect every one of us.  It’s going to be decided by the Honorable Larkspur Town Council, the elected leaders of Larkspur’s 12,000+ residents.  But it’s going to affect all of us, from a traffic, parking, water and sewage standpoint.

With that as the premise, we asked the Supervisor candidates their opinions about this plan.  All were quite wary based upon the past year’s public dialogue.  The only countywide agency with a stake in the decision is the Transportation Authority of Marin.  But ultimately it will be up to Larkspur.

The Environmental Impact Report public comment period goes until June 2nd.  MAR will be encouraging the Larkspur Town Council to consider the impact of this project on the county at large.  MAR encouraged the Supervisor candidates to take into consideration the county-wide impacts, and to offer input when appropriate.

And MAR encourages you, our members, to make your voices heard on the subject.  The public comment period is open.  Please comment on it.  This proposed project is going to affect all of us, so please weigh in with your thoughts.

More on Sewer Laterals

Briefly, in addition to the Mill Valley Area covered by the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin (SASM), now it seems that Ross Valley Sanitary District (RVSD) is also now considering point-of-sale sewer lateral inspections.  At their meeting last week, it was brought up as an advisory matter.  MAR has shared the rationale of its opposition to point-of-sale inspections with both agencies.  After receiving MAR’s input, SASM postponed an advisory vote on the subject.  We shared the same feedback with RVSD last week.

This subject could quickly morph into something very, very large as it relates to the Marin real estate community’s ability to conduct business in arguably the county’s largest economic driver.

Stay tuned.  As I like to say, we are on it.

That’s all for now, next week I’ll have a report from CAR for you.

I wish you a safe and prosperous week.

Blaine

Apr 24

Just Listed! 190 Butterfield, San Anselmo, $719,000

By Marin Real Estate News
190 Butterfield San Anselmo

190 Butterfield San Anselmo

Your own private oasis awaits at this special property!  The sweet 2BR/1.5BA home offers so many possibilities!  Set way back behind outbuildings and across a bridge, you’re a world away at this well-maintained home.  Wood floors with a flat yard.  Great light and mature trees on a big lot, you will enjoy privacy and a wonderful lifestyle!  Outbuilding currently used as home office/studio with a storage room/wine cellar under…lots of room for gear, toys–perfect for people with stuff!  Sale includes approved plans for a 3BR/2BA single story expansion/remodel.  Close to trails, perfect for hikers, bikers and nature lovers.  Award-winning Ross Valley schools, you’re only a block away from Brookside school.  The perfect home base for your active Marin lifestyle, with a plan to grow as your needs change!

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