Updated 2003-2004 sold summary charts are now available for SLO, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Grover Beach, and Avila Beach. Just go to the www.SloCountyHomes.com home page and choose the city from the list with the bubblegum alley background. I'll be shortly adding the charts for the other cities too.

Attention Cal Poly parents!

A 2 bedroom plus 3rd bedroom in converted garage (no permit though) came on the market today. It's walking distance to Cal Poly. Listed at $499K.

Some news:

- According to a consultant's report, Nipomo won't be ready to be an incorporated city for seven to 10 years.

- The Los Osos sewer project continues to climb. Recent bids came in at $151 million, $40 million higher than the last estimate. This would be the current cost to homeowners:
- One time sewer hookup ($1400-$4500)
- Every two months ($76 -maitenance fee based on water usage)
- Every year ($2000)

A 1 bedroom condo in Atascadero came on the market. Listed at $160,000. (HOA fees of $130 a month). Won't last...

Also, a mobile home in Pismo Beach is on the market for....$375,000 plus $320/mo in space rent!

I don't know if you've noticed but I'm doing some changes to the www.SloCountyHomes.com website. I've updated the city pages and working on the 2004 sold graphs which I plan to put on each city page. I also added links to the SLO County Assessor website and the Megan Law database. I've got some other items that are new and others coming soon, check it out!

I'm also working on www.LocalLinks.com and hope to have the updated site up in a few days. The big change here is that I'm implementing a links manager that will allow Central Coast businesses to add (and edit) their listing.

I plan on getting some new photos too, with the hills so GREEN now!

An article in today's TelegramTribune talked about the declining enrollment with schools in Atascadero and the possibility a school will need to be closed. This is not just happening in Atascadero, but County wide.

The enrollment for County schools hit a peak in 2001 and has declined every year since. In 2001, the enrollment was over 37,000 students. In 2004, it was a little over 36,000. It's projeted that in 2009, the enrollment will be around 34,700.

Two reasons for this are 1) decreasing number of births in the county, and 2) high cost of housing in county.

A 6-unit investment property came on the market in Los Osos. A 1400 sq foot 2 bedroom home and 5 800-900 2 bedroom garden homes. Generates $66,600 a year. Listed at $1.6M.

A 50 x 95 lot in Shell Beach came on the market today. There is a home on it but it needs to be torn down. Not right across the street from the ocean but not too far up the street towards Shell Beach Rd. List price - $680K

Did anyone see the article last Friday(2/11) in The Tribune? Interesting data from the California Association of Realtors. Median price from Dec03 toDec04 for the county was up +15%. The winner was Templeton at a +32.9% increase. The big loser was Cambria with a -25% decrease in the median price. Cambria was the only area that posted a negative. Los Osos was unchanged and all other areas of the county enjoyed increases.

A report released today by National City Corp looked at 99 real estate markets around the country and determined how much they were overvalued. They calculated it using "What should home prices be in each of the 99 largest metro areas after controlling for differences in population density, relative income levels, interest rates and historically observed premiums or discounts in those markets? The study compared these calculated norms to actual current prices."

Here's the most overvalued areas in their report:

The survey identified several areas with overvaluation in excess of 20 percent: Chico, Calif., 43 percent; Stockton, Calif., 34 percent; Santa Barbara, Calif., 34 percent; Los Angeles, Calif., 32 percent; San Francisco, Calif., 30 percent; Modesto, Calif., 30 percent; San Diego, Calif., 28 percent; W. Palm, Fla., 26 percent; Sacramento, Calif., 25 percent; Las Vegas, Nev., 24 percent; Portland, Ore., 24 percent; Miami, Fla., 23 percent; Sarasota, Fla., 22 percent; Detroit, Mich., 22 percent; Saginaw, Mich., 21 percent; and Bellingham, Wash., 21 percent.

"Where do people work?"

That's a question that I sometimes get from out of town buyers. Here is some data from the UCSB Economic Forecast that you might find interesting:

SLO County Population (1/05) - 258,204

San Luis County Employment (102,200 total jobs):

Agriculture - 3,500
Mining and Contruction - 6,900
Durable Manufacturing - 4,200
Non-Durable Manufacturing - 2,800
Trans. Warehousing and Utilities - 2,700
Wholesale Trade - 2,400
Retail Trade - 13,500
Finance Activities - 4,800
Information - 1,300
Government - 22,000
Other Services - 37,100

Ok, I was able to run the January report.

This is for Central Coast real estate in the MLS:

New Listings - 805
Back on Market - 211
Price Changed - 402
Contingent - 28
Pending - 635

Wow, another month gone...

I tried to run reports in our MLS system to get the stats I usually post for the previous month (new listings, sold, pending, etc.). Unfortunately, our MLS system is whacked and it's not providing me much info at all. The Central Coast is changing MLS systems in March and we've been having nothing but problems with our exisiting system. Certainly seems like our current vendor isn't interested in us anymore. Not a good way to do business.

The good news is the new MLS system is really cool. Lots of cool reports that I'll be sharing on this blog!! If you're reading this and involved in real estate in another area, I'd highly recommend Rapatonni. While the system isn't in place yet, I was fortunate to be on the team that did the vendor evaluations and selection and they really impressed me. Great system and a great bunch of people. They are in Southern California.