Here are the MLS Statistics from June 2006. We did end up getting over 1500 price changes for the month. I also included the MLS Statistics that I blogged for June 2005. You can also go back in the Blog archives and see the stats for other months if you want to compare.

These statistics are for residential homes (single family, condo, manufactured) for all of SLO County plus Santa Maria and Orcutt.

Central Coast MLS Statistics - June 2006
Residential

New Listings - 1148
Price changes - 1539
Contingent - 74
Back on Market - 262
Pending - 527
Solds – 465


Central Coast MLS Stats for June 2005 (Residential Homes)
New Listings - 866
Price Changes - 438
Contingent - 97
Back on Market - 182
Pendings - 725

I was interviewed by a reporter today from Pacific Coast Business Times about Trilogy (the Woodlands development in Nipomo). Sounds like Trilogy is going to wait until the buyer comes before building, rather than building and then waiting for the buyer to come. I'll put a link to the article if/when it is published.

A few weeks ago I posted that there were a lot of price changes already for the month and we may go over 1500 by the end of the month. I just checked...we're at 1406 with 3 days left. Good news for Buyers???

I added a few more choices to the Neighborhood menus at the right of a MLS Map Search. They are:

- Lake Nacimiento
- Templeton
- The Cloisters (under Morro Bay)

I also fixed the map for Arroyo Grande - City View.

If there is a neighborhood you would like added to the Menu, send me an email - byrd@SloCountyHomes.com

I wonder if this is going to replace people selling maps of Star Homes in Hollywood, courtesy of real estate site Zillow.

http://www.zillow.com/howto/FamousBirdsEye.htm

I was in Bakersfield yesterday and visited the Valley Plaza mall. They had a real estate kiosk there with a touch screen where you could look at photos of homes they were featuring. The problem is that they used small digital photos and then enlarged them to full screen. If you've ever enlarged a digital photo, you'll know that it looks AWFUL unless you have a good density of pixels to start with. All of the home photos I saw did not show the home well at all.

The same happens on the Internet. Sites like Realtor.com and our local MLS shrink photos when an agent uploads them. Realtor.com reduces the photo size to 300 pixels wide, the MLS to 400 pixels wide. The quality problem pops up when some MLS Search programs enlarge them to 800 pixels or above. YUCK!

How to take and submit the photography plus knowing how systems on the Internet are going to display photos is something that I'm always looking at.

The Risks of Being a Realtor

Just in the past few days, there have been 2 incidents of Realtors being assaulted. One happened in Florida, the other in the SF Bay Area. In both cases it was someone saying they were interested in looking at a home.

Some Realtors are eager to please and will drop everything when someone calls them and says they want to see properties that day without getting any info from the prospective Buyer. Unfortunately in this day and age, that puts the Realtor at risk.

If a Realtor asks you questions before agreeing to meet you to show properties, don't think that all they are doing is trying to see how real of a Buyer you are. Sure, they don't want to waste their time if you are already working with another Realtor or have not talked to someone about a mortgage to see what you qualify for. They may also be trying to protect themselves to make sure they won't be the next victim.

Chances are that your friends or co-workers are searching for information on the Central Coast real estate market as you are. If you like my website, I'd appreciate it if you spread the word to others. Help me keep my business strong so I can continue to improve the site. Tell them they need to check out SLO County Homes (dot) com or they can just Google for "Keith Byrd" (like Admiral Byrd...not Larry Bird).

Thx!!!

If you are reading this today (Wednesday) you can read the article about the housing slowdown in California. After today, the site will ask you for your member login.

Read the article here (today!)

California had 7 cities rank in the top 20 for the fastest growing cities (by percentage) from 2004 to 2005. According to the US Census bureau, Elk Grove (near Sacramento) was #1. Other California cities in the Top 20 were Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, Miramar, Irvine, Bakersfield, Lancaster, and Visalia.

A PDF chart of the Top 25 can be found here.

There are some other charts you might find interesting:

Cities with the largest growth in number of people

The Top 25 largest cities

The new 20 ton pipe organ arrived today at Cal Poly. It will take a year to put together in the Performing Arts Center but when complete, it should be something! I think the only pipe organ I've heard is the one at Pizza and Pipes in the Bay Area.

The SLO County Supervisors have unanimously voted to take over the Sewer mess from the Los Osos Community Services District with the following requirements:

1) Los Osos property owners agree to pay for the project
2) There is cooperation from state and regional water boards.
3) The liabilities of the Community Services District are not transferred to the county.

The Tribune listed the largest Hotels in the County in the Sunday issue. They are:

1. Embassy Suites (196 rooms)
2. The Cliffs
3. Sea Crest
4. Cambria Pines
5. Quality Suites
6. Oxford Suites
7. Casa Grande Inn
8. Madonna Inn
9. Apple Farm
10. Rose Garden Inn (101 rooms)

I added some more details about my Home Selling Service. Even if you already have a Realtor friend that is going to list your home, I can complement their service. Click here for more info.

I was going through my photo archive and found this one taken back in 2000. We hiked up to the Poly P. You can get some great views of Cal Poly and the city of San Luis Obispo from the P. I don't know where a good place to park for hike these days as we used to park where they have the dorms at now.

A new parking garage is now open in downtown San Luis Obispo. I took the photo from the top of the first Palm Street parking garage looking North. It's right next to the library and convenient parking for the County buildings. The parking spaces have that double line/oval. Not the small spaces with a single line the parking garage on Marsh Street has.

Wow...114 price changes in the past day. So far in this month of June, there has been 828 price changes. In June 2005, we had 438 price changes for the ENTIRE month. I thought last month's 1000+ price changes was pretty high but we may break 1500 this month.

I'm not trying to scare anyone. My goal with my website and blog is to provide you information to help you make the best decisions. You can make good decisions in both a Buyer's or Seller's market if you know what's happening.

There are definitely types of properties and neighborhoods where home inventory and Days on Market (DoM) is increasing. A good agent will be ontop of market conditions and trends.

I saw this on npr.org. Just a reminder that there are these type of people out there...

"A disbarred lawyer in Berwyn, Ill., a Chicago suburb, has been arrested and charged with selling vacant properties that belonged to churches and other non-profits -- all without their consent. Philip Radmer is accused of a scam which allegedly made him more than $650,000."

I was at the SLO County Planning department today and was reading their quarterly newsletter. There was an article about billboards. While billboards (off-site advertising) is not permitted in the County, the billboards along Highway 101 are grandfathered in. This means they can legally remain there as long as they are not substantially changed because they were already there when the law was created.

I bet we'll see these billboards stay as it's very profitable for the companies that own them.

A report updated for the first quarter of 2006 shows what areas have the most overvalued housing. You can view the report here. The report says it takes 3 and a half years to correct the overvaluation.

For Q1 2006, they list the San Luis Obispo housing market as being 56.5% overvalued, which ranks about 30th on their list of 317 areas nationwide.

Other California areas with worse overvaluation figures than SLO are:

Salinas - 79.1%
Merced - 77.4%
Stockton - 74.9%
Santa Barbara - 73%
Madera - 72.5%
Modesto - 68.6%
Redding - 68.4%
Yuba City - 67.9%
Napa - 65.3%
Fresno - 63.6%
Bakersfield - 63.3%
Los Angeles - 61.3%
Chico - 60.7%
Vallejo - 57%
San Luis Obispo - 56.5%

The lowest ranked California areas were San Diego and Hanford at 38.6%.

The most undervalued areas are in Texas.

Here's my current list of favorite restaurants:

- Burrito Loco (in Walmart center in Arroyo Grande). Great chips and salsa. I usually get a wet burrito.
- Basil Thai in downtown Paso Robles. Yummmm.
- Woodstocks Pizza, SLO. What can I say, my favorite for 25+ years now.
- Chile Peppers, in SLO on Broad by South Street. Chicken Mole Enchiladas, easily my vote for the tastiest dish of any restaurant.
- Salad Safari, Grover Beach. Nothing like a tossed salad that I choose what goes in.
- Pepe Delgados, SLO. Like Woodstocks, this is another restaurant I've been going to ever since I was a student at Cal Poly. Never disappoints. Guacamole dip is great.
- Sushi Kokku (sp?) , SLO. This is the sushi place in the Madonna plaza near TCBY yogurt. I'm not a sushi fan but these guys have the best chicken teriyaki bowl for the price. I sometimes get the combo with a California Roll.

Best Steak value: Early Bird Dinner at AJ Spurs in Grover Beach. 12oz top sirloin (try it cajun style), plus their soup, salad, potatoes, and desert for around $13.

If you were planning to take visitors to Hearst Castle this month, you are going to miss the blue water of the Neptune pool. They've drained the pool for repairs and expect to have it filled again in early July.

One more graduation photo...

While my youngest daughter was thrilled to see her oldest sister graduate, you can see by the expression on her face she was also happy to have a photo taken with Zac Efron (she's the one next to Zac). Zac is getting to be a big star. He's on the Disney Channel and is currently on the cover of most the teen magazines and is traveling around promoting his High School Musical DVD. Nice to see him be able to be at graduation. My youngest is following a bit in Zac's footsteps. She recently returned from the global finals for Destination Imagination which Zac also went to a few years ago. Congrads to Zac on his graduation!

I put up 20 more photos of Zac at the graduation here

My oldest daughter, Tanya, graduated yesterday from Arroyo Grande High School (that's Tanya with her friend Sean). My wife and I are proud parents!!!

Back in December, Tanya came to us and said she wanted to graduate a year early and had enough credits to make it happen. She took some extra classes this past 6 months and did it! She will be attending UC Davis next fall. I'm a bit nervous to have her start college when she is still 16, but I'm sure she will do just fine.

I now need to go investigate what housing is like in Davis to see if it makes sense to purchase vs. rent.

I updated the condo and home statistics for January - May 2006. From the home page (www.SloCountyHomes.com), scroll down a bit and you'll see the statistics menu. Just choose a city!

Following are the MLS stats for May 2006. I also included the stats from May 2005. The number of new listings is about the same but check out the difference in the # of Price Changes and Pendings.

Central Coast MLS Statistics - May 2006
Residential

New Listings - 1174
Price changes - 1106
Contingent - 70
Back on Market - 234
Pending - 564
Solds – 435


Central Coast MLS Activity for May 2005
New Listings -1085
Price Changes - 526
Contingent - 118
Back on Market - 242
Pending -910

Your auto is safer in SLO County than anywhere else in the state!

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released it's rankings of areas with the most car thefts. While Modesto received the #1 ranking as the worst place for car thefts, SLO County was ranked LAST!!!! The results can be found here.

Here is some FAQs I got off the SLO County Planning Department website.


Can I live in a travel trailer on my property?

San Luis Obispo County ordinances generally do not allow occupancy of a travel trailer on private property unless it is located in a mobile home park or, for limited time periods, in a recreational vehicle park. However, a travel trailer can be used while a home is under construction on the property, provided that permits for both the house and the temporary trailer are obtained.

What is the difference between a Secondary Dwelling Unit and a guest house?

Secondary dwelling units can have a kitchen and can be rented. A guest house cannot have a kitchen, laundry, garage, or separate electrical meter, nor be rented separately from the main house. Secondary dwelling units cannot exceed 1,200 square feet, while guest houses are limited to 600 square feet in size. A property is not allowed to have both a secondary dwelling unit and a guesthouse.


Do I Need a Construction Permit?

A construction permit is needed for almost any project that involves building or altering a structure or its plumbing, mechanical or electrical systems. Additionally, any project that includes grading, where soil will be removed and/or filled in, usually requires a permit. All of the procedures and regulations used to determine when a permit is necessary and also how to review that permit, are set forth in county ordinances and/or state law.

How large can a storage shed be before a building permit is required?

The maximum is 120 square feet with no utilities. You should consult with a Department planner to determine setback requirements and design review requirements. A structure larger than 120 feet, or one of any size that contains utilities, requires a building permit.