Being an ex-physicist, I admit to a fasination with numbers and statistics, sometimes beyond the point where it is useful. But for the most part it comes in handy when my clients ask me about what is happening in the Napa Valley and I have the facts to tell them. As I am certain many of you do, I read the Case Shiller Reports (“CSR”) and wonder how the averages there relate to their small part of the cosmos, in my case the Napa Valley. Being business has been a bit slower the last few days, I decided to see how the average home sales here stood up to other areas of the country.

I knew from experience average home sale prices here correlated overall to what was being reported in CSR, quite a few more sales at lower prices. Then, I wondered what criteria was used in generating a CSR. After about 15 minutes of reading some of their fine print, I gave up realizing my math skills had been in the closet for too long to begin to try generate an exact comparison. So I decided to try a few rough comparisons. I used stats from BAREIS, my local MLS (Multiple Listing Service), to find average homes sale prices for several areas here in the valley.  The first thing I realized was small areas, towns, cities etc., are not statistically meaningful when compared to large metropolitan areas. In fact, only Calistoga had sales in the 4 one month periods used in the CSR. Yountville and St. Helena had sales in only two. Next I decided to check the stats for the City of Napa and the entire Napa County. Here once again, the numbers correlate to the CSR. But due to the fact there are often sales of very high priced homes in the Napa Valley, just look at Calistoga below, the numbers are easily skewed by a few higher priced sales. Given all this, I still find the comparisons interesting and hope you, the readers of my blog, do too. It does point out one other fact I have always known: A good local Realtor is one of your best resources when looking to buy in a particular area.

 
FACTS FOR NAPA COUNTY, CITY OF NAPA, CITY OF CALISTOGA (number sold/average sales price)

                                   Dec-08                Nov-08               Dec-07                 Dec-06 

Napa County   116/$576,915   79/$413,507   44/$668,189   80/$690,148

City of Napa    60/$496,551    55/$424,476   32/$695,419   58/$653,526

Calistoga         2/$1,413,500    3/$421,000    2/$1,324,500   4/$1,038,000

BAREIS sales represent approximately 90% + of all Napa County sales

The chart below from the Febuary 19th San Francisco Chronicle article “Foreclosures ignite hot Bay Area homes sales” says it all!!!!

Bay Area Home Sales San Francisco Chronicle

Below is the links to see the sales comparisons for the all the Napa County cities and areas for years 2000-2008 as reported in my MLS, BAREIS.

For Napa County, Napa City, Calistoga & St. Helena

http://www.bareis.com/private/about/napa-yr-end/cnty-napa-cal-sthel.html

For Berryessa, American Canyon, Yountville & Angwin 

http://www.bareis.com/private/about/napa-yr-end/berry-amer-yount-ang.html

For Oakville, Rutherford, Pope Valley, Gordon Valley North, Circle Oaks

http://www.bareis.com/private/about/napa-yr-end/oak-ruth-pope-gord-circ.html

Here are the stats for 2008 for all real estate For Sale, Sold & Pending; Average $/SF; Days on Market; Average Prices For Sale & Sold; Months of Inventory for Yountville.

Yountville For Sale, Sold & Pending for 2008

Yountville Average Dollar Per SF for 2008

Yountville Days on Market 2008

Yountville Average Price For Sale & Sold 2008

Yountville Months of Inventory 2008

All graphs supplied by Trendgraphix

This is a weekly feature to keep you informed about the real estate happenings in Yountville. Besides just real estate info, I hope to give the readers of my blog some insight into the heart of Yountville using a variety of media including photos, tidbits, gossip and other fun things. If this is of interest to you, I would love hearing from you. If there are other cities here in the Napa Valley, such as St. Helena or Calistoga, you would like this feature expanded to, let me know. There was no update last week due to there were none.

STATS FOR LAST 7 DAYS

new listings 2, sale pendings 1, sold 0, expired 0, withdrawn 0

new listing              6 Jasmine Street, $675,000, 3 br 2 ba, 1,204 SF

                                    1 Forrester Lane, $899,000, 3 br 2 ba, 1,204 SF

new pending         1907 Vintner Court, $699,000, 3 br 2 ba, 1,384 SF

new sold

new expired                                                

withdrawn

AVERAGE PRICES, DAYS ON MARKET                  

current listings for sale    20   avg price $1,078,884 avg days on market 153

current sale pendings         2    avg price $1,997,000 avg days on market 116

sold in last 6 months           9    avg price $744,628 avg days on market 171

          Facts, numbers, SF from BAREIS and/or Napa County

                     tax records,  accuracy is not guaranteed

FACTS ETC

Bottega opened for lunches last Friday. If you want lunch there during the winter, it needs to be Thursday through Sunday. I haven’t had a chance to eat there yet, but I hear it is very good. As soon as I get a menu and imbibe, I will post it here and let you know how the food is.

Riverfront rendering in downtown Napa

Downtown Riverfront residences to have 50 units from $600,000s to $1.675 million; builder thrilled

by Jenna V. Loceff
Staff Reporter

NAPA – The Riverfront, a long awaited mixed-use development in downtown Napa, has sold 10 of its 50 condos in the first night of previews.

“It is truly amazing with the economy and all. To have this happen in very encouraging,” said Mike DiSimoni Sr., president of Channel Properties, the developer of the Riverfront. “We know there was a demand for luxury living in downtown Napa, but this event surpassed our expectations.”

The homes sold in one evening and are one- to three-bedroom condos ranging in price from the high $600,000s to $1.675 million.

Johnson Lyman Architects, based in Walnut Creek, designed the buildings. Established in 1991, it has completed several mixed-use projects before, including one in Lafayette and one in San Rafael.

Johnson Lyman brings its signature modern twist to the Riverfront, which has a decidedly European aesthetic.

Mr. DiSimoni said that most of the buyers have homes in Napa and have watched the buildings as they went up.

“Several indicated they had been waiting for luxury, downtown living for some time. They are very excited about the redevelopment of downtown and the lifestyle of being able to walk to fine dining, the opera and other downtown events,” Mr. DiSimoni said.

The Riverfront is on Main Street in downtown Napa, across from the Napa River and close to the Napa town center. The Riverfront residences are slated to be completed in February of 2009. In addition to the residential space, the Riverfront consists of 40,000 square feet of retail space and 30,000 square feet of office, 8,600 of which will be occupied by Morgan Stanley, according to Channel Properties.

The project has been in the works, between planning and approval and permits for nearly 10 years, according to Mr. DiSimoni. The Riverfront ranked No. 12 on the Business Journal’s largest construction project list for 2008.

In 2003, Channel Properties was awarded the Napa County Landmarks Historic Preservation award for its work on downtown’s Winship Building. Currently, Channel is renovating Napa’s Alexandria Square building.

Article reprinted from North Bay Business Journal
]]> http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/2008/09/24/residential-real-estate-10-luxury-napa-condos-sold-in-one-night/feed/ 0 http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/2008/09/09/purchasing-real-estate-south-of-the-border-by-valarie-brown-coon-5/ http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/2008/09/09/purchasing-real-estate-south-of-the-border-by-valarie-brown-coon-5/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:54:36 +0000 Curtis Van Carter http://www.napavalleyaddress.com/?p=479

Series #6 Purchasing real estate in Mexico, for the most part, is a good investment

kitchen counter and prep area

             If you’ve been following my series, let’s cut to the chase.  By now, I’m sure you want to know how much it costs to build in Mexico versus the United States. A lot depends on where in Mexico you build and the quality of materials you select.

            When we first arrived in San Miguel de Allende in May 2005, the average per square foot cost for new construction was $65. But like the states, that number has continued to escalate following the devastation of hurricane Katrina, ever rising transportation costs and the increased demand for construction materials to rebuild New Orleans and the many Olympic stadiums in China needed to host the 2008 summer Olympics. In our case, our land cost was $110,000 for a 250 m2 or 5,000 square foot property. Our construction costs ran $300,000 to build 3691 share feet of livable space plus 1917 square feel of outdoor living area which includes a center courtyard, two terraces and a rooftop patio bringing the total construction area to 5608 square feet. We paid an additional $40,000 in architectural fees and $20,000 for professional Viking appliances which retail for twice that. Because my husband is a Viking employee, we were able to purchase these products at cost.

living room entertaining area

             So given these figures, if we compute our square foot cost based on our total area ($470,000 ٪5608), our cost was $83.88 per square foot compared to $127.33 if we only consider the enclosed livable space. To make an accurate comparison with the United States, I asked Curtis Van Carter to provide square foot costs in Napa for the cheapest construction, for an average custom home and for high-end luxury properties. For a basic, simply constructed condo in Napa, average square foot costs range between $150-$200, for an average custom home from $400-$500 and for luxury properties from $1500-$2000. He estimated our custom designed Mexico home would run about $500 per square foot in Napa, or almost six times higher than SMA. Furthermore, our property taxes here are only $250 a year compared to an estimated $7,500 for a similar home in Napa.

            Keep in mind, we choose top end plumbing fixtures, appliances and even custom designed our sinks made of copper and hand hewed pulido. We also have three kitchens: one in the main house, a 600 square foot teaching kitchen in the center of our complex and a small efficiency kitchen in one of our guest rooms or casitas. Add to that 3.5 bathrooms, three bedrooms and a two bedroom guest house/casita and you can see that you get a lot for your money in Mexico.

living room

            In reality, I believe we could have saved on construction costs if we hadn’t chose to build in stages. Over those three years, construction costs rose and we weren’t efficient using our construction crew stopping and starting the project twice. What took three years to build could have been compressed to 1.5 or 2 years at the most if we stayed on schedule.

            So if you ever contemplated moving or building here, for me, it’s been a worthwhile investment. According to one local builder, in this down market, our home should sell for a minimum of $650,000. A year ago, it would be valued $100,000 more, but like NapaValley and the U.S., the market for outside investors is also down in SMA.

main kitchen

            Now that you’ve heard my story, I’d like to end with some lessons learned that hopefully will make your building experience in Mexico more enjoyable.

1)      If you plan to make SMA your permanent home, rent for a minimum of one month first before making that decision. For some—like my husband—SMA is better as a half time residence. He still longs for Napa….the food and wine experience just isn’t the same here, so make sure you are truly ready for that change before committing permanently.

2)      Don’t live on site while your property is being developed. Monthly rentals are relatively cheap here. Spend the extra $350-$500 a month and rent a place nearby that allows you to supervise construction without being consumed by it.

interior stairway

3)      Don’t apply for your FM3—which allows you to bring your belongings into Mexico one time in the first six months without import taxes–until your property is complete. We brought ours in early and incurred rain damage. Better yet, just buy new furnishings here.

4)      Check out your neighbors before buying. We discovered after purchasing our property that the rear wall of our home backs up to the largest hierro/iron worker in town. On some days, when he is pounding on his anvil, our teaching kitchen reverberates from the concussion and it can be hard to hear and hard to take. On those days, we run our fountain at full blast.

5)      When choosing between Cal (a traditional water color like pigment used here for centuries) versus modern oil based paint, choose the latter. While we wanted to keep with tradition using Cal, each time it rains the color of our home also goes down the drain.

living room and entertaining area

6)      There are many wonderful artisans in Mexico willing to custom make anything from your floor tiles to your lights and plumbing fixtures. We choose a beautiful hand painted floor for our teaching kitchen that looks much like a carpet. And while we love it and would make the same choice again, we had to accept that the tile colors varied from piece to piece and it was even harder to seal them without some discoloration. Be prepared to accept this fact or choose something prefab.

7)      Caulk is the one product that holds all the homes together in SMA. So if you are moving here from the U.S., bring as much as you can carry to seal your doors and windows as you won’t find an equilivant performing product here in Mexico.

For more information on properties for sale here, contact Curtis Van Carter or drop me an email at insideroute@aol.com. Better yet, stop by for a visit on your next trip here.

Buen Dia!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a weekly feature to keep you informed about the real estate happenings in Yountville. Besides just real estate info, I hope to give the readers of my blog some insight into the heart of Yountville using a variety of media including photos, tidbits, gossip and other fun things. If this is of interest to you, I would love hearing from you. If there are other cities here in the Napa Valley, such as St. Helena or Calistoga, you would like this feature expanded to, let me know. 

STATS

last 7 days acivity     new listings  0    sale pending  0    sold  1    expired  0    withdrawn  0

new listing(s)          

new sold(s)               6600 Oak Leaf Court, $405,000, 2 br, 1 ba, 957 SF

          Facts, numbers, SF from BAREIS and/or Napa County tax records, not guaranteed

current active listings for sale    23      average price  $1,291,557   average days on market  117

current sale pendings                1       average price  $550,000   average days on market 340

sold in last 6 months                 13       average price  $625,781   average days on market 153

FACTS ETC

Sorry there are no FACTS ETC this week. I will give you a heads up on two new listings I am taking in Yountville and will be on the market next week for one and around October 1 for the other. The one next week will be the lowest priced home for sale in Town. It is a 2 BR 1 BA condo in Hopper Creek and will priced at $434,500. The other is a 3 year old semi-custom home in Yountville Square, one of the nicest tracts in Town built by the O’Brien Group. It is a two story, 3 BR 2.5 BA home on a very nice lot for $1,195,000. Details to follow.