As I was posting this week’s “Yountville weekly real estate update“, the fact there were 32 active listings is very significant. This is the highest number of listings I have ever seen in 25 years of selling real estate here and since the previous week, the first time this number was ever in the 30+ range. In the past, this number would be normally be around 20. But since this real estate slow-down started in earnest here about 10 months, this number has been constantly creeping higher and higher. Interesting what the number for the most listings will finally be. On a good note, it is now one less for we did have one sale pending this week so far.

If you read the first part of this post, “Napa Valley Real Estate, a Tale of Two Times Two Markets“, you can probably figure out where this continuation is heading. Yes, there are two distinct markets for Napa Valley real estate. Much as it is in other parts of Califonia and the country, lower priced, reasonable valued homes are getting multiple offers, some as many as 20. Now you may get turned off by the fact this is for homes priced under $400,000 here in the Napa Valley, but that is just the fact nof life living here. The upper end is a different creature, nothing is moving and the months of inventories on the market are soaring.

To prove the point, one only need to look at the graphs below from Treadgraphix. I choose the City of Napa and American Canyon for they represent about 95% of all distressed sales. For the upper end, I looked at Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga. It was no surprise but the months of inventory have come down steadily from January to June 2009  for Napa (8.3 to 5.5) and American Canyon (6.2 to 1.5) and varied in the extremely high range for Yountville (13 to 20+), St. Helena (15 to 74), Calistoga (9.5 to 58+) for the same time period. For Napa County as a whole, months of  inventory has also decreased steadily from 9.5 to 6.1 mainly due to the huge percentage of all sales being in Napa and American Canyon. Remember, 5-6 months of supply is considered to be a balanced market between buyers and sellers and much less or more skews the market in favor of one or the other. And yes, being there are so few sales for the higher priced homes which is 90%+ of the market place in the up Valley areas, it may take a very long time to sale your home in this market especially if it is over-priced. In faact that could be 2-3 years if things don’t change.

Just look at the graphs below and you will see how they prove the above. The graphs are all the properties listed in my MLS, BAREIS (which represents approximately 95% of all sales here) which are For Sale, Pending (have an accepted offer) and Sold in each of these cities/town (Yountville is a Town) and for the Napa Valley. YES THERE ARE DEFINITELY TWO MARKETS HERE and the moral of this story, you better price your home correctly in this market.

Napa County For Sale, Pending & Sold

American Canyon For Sale, Pending & Sold

Napa For Sale, Pending & Sold

Yountville For Sale, Pending & Sold

St. Helena For Sale, Pending & Sold

Calistoga For Sale, Pending & Sold

photo from www.napavalleylodging.biz for Napa Co. vacation rentals

Napa County is preparing to crack down on “illegal” or non-conforming vacation rentals in unincorporated area of Napa Valley by preparing a new ordinance.

A report prepared for yesterday’s study session of the Napa County Planning Commission by Planning Director Hillary Gitelman asked for discussion and direction on the development of an ordinance “clarifing the difference between single family dwelling units and short-term commercial guest accommodations, specifying uses and ownership or rental arrangements associated with each and analyzing extremely large residences to determine if they should require environmental review.”

This action falls in line with the implementation of the new Napa County General Plan.

“In the unincorporated County, there are about 10,090 dwelling units, with the median household income of $99,200. Very little new housing development occurs in unincorporated Napa County due to land costs, minimum parcel sizes of 40 to 160 acres in most of the County and the small supply of land available for multi-family housing,” said Gitelman in her report.

“At the same time, Napa County’s agricultural economy is supported by tourism, and some residents and business entities have discovered they can reap substantial profits by renting their homes, second units and/or guest cottages to tourists or by selling memberships or using other creative ownership/rental arrangements. It is difficult to estimate precisely how many dwellings in unincorporated Napa County are being used in a manner inconsistent with the County’s definition of a dwelling unit…. Many people have the impression that this has become a serious problem, and both a policy and an action item to address this issue were included in the General Plan adopted June 3, 2008,” she continued.

The County’s General Plan states, “The County will promote development concepts that create flexibility, economy and a variety in housing without resulting in significant environmental impacts and without allowing residences to become timeshares, resorts, hotels or similar tourist-type accommodations.”

Gitelman asked the Planning Commission for specific direction on whether the new ordinance should define what a residential dwelling unit looks like, potentially modifying the definition of “kitchen” contained in Napa County Code and addressing residences in which bedrooms are designed as stand-alone structures.

The Town of Yountville addressed a similar problem in February when it sent letters to the owners of seven Yountville residences advising them to stop using their homes as short-term rental units.

In Yountville it is illegal to rent private homes for 30 days or less.

Yountville’s crackdown was precipitated by public complaints and recognition of Yountville homes being advertised as vacation rentals on popular websites.

“Preventing the intrusion of short-term rental businesses into residential areas preserves the residential character of our neighborhoods and ensures that hotel uses are conducted within the commercial areas of Town designated visitor accommodation,” explained a Town of Yountville assistant planner when the enforcement letters were issued.

The above story is by Sharon Stensaas, Editor of the Yountville Sun, September 18, 2008

This has always been a problem in the Napa Valley. As far as I understand, only the Town of Yountville and St. Helena have ordinances on their code books prohibiting rentals for less than 30 days and each has taken action against illegal vacation rentals. St. Helena did so about three years ago and the only steps the County has taken that I know about was to contact  three owners who were very blatant in how they operated their rental operations and the County received numerous complaints from neighbors. To the best of my knowledge, Napa County doesn’t have a written prohibition against vacation rentals and this new ordinance will be a first.

All that one needs to do to see how many vacation rentals are out there is simply do a Google search on the term. Many, including several in Yountville, have changed the wording on the various websites they advertise on to “only rented by the month” but upon calling the owner, find it is miraculously available for a shorter time-frame.

I am not certain of exactly how I feel about vacation rentals here in the Napa Valley. I only know it was sure nice to have them available when I went somewhere on vacation, but then, would I want one next door to me? That seems to always be the question I come back to. Let me know how you feel.

The lowest price listing in fabulous Yountville

Combine everything you heard about Yountville; the sumptuous dining, small town living, the heart of the Napa Valley, and to this add a wonderful Hopper Creek Village condo; which all adds up to perfection.

This 2 bedroom (plus useful loft area) and 1 bath unit has many tasteful features and backs to Hopper Creek given your rear patio a feeling of being in nature. Walk to, and maybe saunter home, from some of the world’s finest dining establishments; Walk to the Post Office and say hello to many of your neighbors; or Walk to V Marketplace for many of your shopping needs. Sounds Idyllic and truly is.

Hopper Creek Village is a complex of 42 homes situated near the center of Yountville. There is a fantastic common pool and spa plus a relaxing sauna to soothe your soul. Come join the wonderful mix of neighbors who make this their home, whether to reside here full time or as many do, a great get away.

Total all this, the great value, a true enclave and wonderful, nearly carefree living; and you too will conclude, this is the Wine Country get away home for you.

Check it out at www.6600YountStreet24.com.

I came accross this table while reading a post from therealestatebloggers.com. Sometimes I think price here in the Napa Valley are a bit on the high side, but when compared to these, not so bad!!

Median sold home prices for July 2008

                      Napa County $445,000

                      Napa            $455,000

                      Yountville     $1,062,500 (1 sale)           St. Helena      $1,167,500 (2 sales) 

When it comes to real estate, California is a schizophrenic place. You have some parts of the state that can not sell a home if it is not a foreclosure while other parts are seeing dramatic price increases. Los Gatos has had a 36.6% increase over the past year while Mill Valley is up 28.6%.

So to show that the world has not come to an end when you talk about California real estate, take a look at the average prices in these cities.

California -  The Top 10 Cities With The Highest Median Home Prices

1. Manhattan Beach, $1.77 million
2. Los Gatos, $1.42 million
3. Mill Valley, $1.37 million
4. Burlingame, $1.29 million
5. Calabasas, $1.18 million
6. Newport Beach, $1.14 million
7. Cupertino, $1.04 million
8. Rancho Palos Verdes, $1 million
9. San Carlos, $975,000 
10. Danville, $930,000

Pacific Business News