The market has picked up, and my business has picked up along with it! October is my birthday month, and it’s always been very good to me. After all, October is arguably the best month for surfing at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. But it’s not just the surf, in real estate sales we experience a final push for the year before the typical holiday slow down. Currently I’ve currently got 5 properties in escrow: 100 Marin Center Dr #4 which I’ll be closing next week, 555 Wisteria Way (2 offers) where I’m waiting (for Godot?) on the City of San Rafael to finalize a permit before we can close, 88 Wallace Way which is currently pending and I had 6 offers on, 279 Orange Blossom and 1081 Las Raposas both of which I put into escrow this week.
I’ve still got four other listings: 934 Lea Dr, 65 Circle Rd, 936 Patricia Way and 359 Orchid Dr so yeah, October has gotten off to a great start. That’s been important, because this summer was pretty much a bummer. High interest rates and higher economic uncertainty kept the buyers at bay. I think buyers have finally realized that prices have come down and this is a very good time to buy a home. What mortgage brokers are fond of saying is, “Date the rate, marry the house.” So don’t like today’s interest rates stop you if you can afford to purchase the home you want.
If you are thinking about buying or selling in the City of San Rafael, I must give you two words of caution in regards to the permits. Get them! I have literally been trying to get a permit on a shed at Wisteria Way since 8/4/24. It’s been over two months and we’ve needed to get an architect and engineer involved, submit plans, wait weeks for a response, then resubmit plans and we are now waiting again for a response. The issue is that the plans are outsourced to a company in San Diego and they have been pretty unresponsive. Since resubmitting plans over a week ago I called and emailed the plan checker twice, trying to get a timeline. I’ve gotten no response, so I copied in San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin on my second email to the plan checker to alert her to the lousy service we are getting from this firm they’ve hired. I wasn’t expecting a response from Ms. Colin, and I didn’t get one either. Par for the course?
If you are thinking of selling your San Rafael house this coming spring, learn from my experience. Two months lead time may not be enough to get a permit. Start now, or risk delaying your close of escrow.