Wow, it’s already an interesting real estate season! With the new Iran action and the ongoing AI uncertainty in the equities market, I'm thankful to announce that our market here is still showing more "teeth" recently. Inventory that sat stagnant for some months has begun to go under contract, and a new wave of buyers are sensing a possible stabilizing the market and re-engaging searches they may have...

Boy, it's been an interesting Summer in real estate! What had been mostly a hot seller's market since Covid began, became a cross between a slightly seller's market, and a sluggish selling environment sometimes offering up easier opportunities for buyers. With some properties selling right away, and the other half taking quite a long time to sell, it has become more difficult to predict the final outcome,...

The good news is, the Carmel market seems to be moving at a healthy pace, actually up from last year; the not-as-great news is, it's looking a lot like only a single rate cut, probabyl right around the elections this year. That doesn't seem to be affecting home prices or market health too much, though, at least locally. Last week policy makers kept their target for the short-term federal funds rate at 5.25...

Some encouraging movement this month! Mortgage rates are finally heading below 7%. Even prior to that, we've been noticing buyers as a whole acclimating to the current environment and realizing that perhaps their buying opportunity won't get much better. Last week, the consumer price index showed goods and services came down 3.5% from March, and the 10-year treasury dropped 10 basis points. In any event,...

The city council of Carmel last week voted to approve both the Sunset Center, and Vista Lobos parking lots as designated low-income housing. 349 state of California-mandated housing units are supposed to be erected in the city by the end of 2031, however these designated areas do not guarantee or even require that the units will be built in these areas- the city was simply complying with a deadline to...

A lot happening in the market this month! By a lot, I mean there continues to be a lot of local demand for real estate- even some palpable firming of values, not withstanding that the FED hasn't lowered rates at all. In fact, this week they reported inflation having risen to a slightly hotter 3.2%. Not a lot of reason for them to make moves, although its still likely we see 2-3 cuts this year. Currently,...

Wind and rain described the environment of the past few weeks on the Monterey Peninsula, bringing seemingly less destruction and a bit less rain than the previous year (for context, last year we had 4 Pine trees come down across our home access road by this time; this year, we've had none). Some places in town with more unattended trees or the more dense Del Monte Forest, did have trees down and a bit of...

What a year 2023 was! I finished the year off as #1 in units sold in Carmel-by-the-Sea and #1 individual Sotheby's agent in Carmel again. Thanks to you! Many thought that by this time, we would be in the midst of a financial meltdown, with tumbling residential real estate prices and a blown up economy. We still may see some changes in the coming year or two, however unlike the last 2008 -2011 real estate...

Just a brief note this month, since it is the holidays and you should all be with friends and family. Next month I will put out an in-depth recap of the whole year. No features or solds today - we'll hold that for January. This year was challenging for many in our business. I feel extremely thankful and fortunate that my team and I were able to rise to that challenge with the support of you all. We had...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I am truly thankful for this year’s support from our friends, family and new clients (many of whom have become friends!). While this year presented it’s challenges to the real estate community as a whole, we were able to have a banner sales year, due to the amazing friends that support my business. On this topic, the Carmel Pine Cone printed an interview with...