No Cookie Cutters Here: Why Marin Prices Stay Solid
Interesting article in the Surreal Estate column the other day in the San Francisco Chronicle on micro markets.
I’ve noted before the various reasons why Marin real estate prices are so high, and also so resistant to declines. This article points out another reason and cites parts of Marin as an example.
Uniformity of housing stock is a big factor in pricing. Areas that are filled with unique, different types of housing are more resilient in terms of pricing. Areas of uniformity, such as PUDs, suffer the most when the market gets tight. And the tighter the restrictions on a PUD, I would argue, the worse it will be for home values in the long run.
Housing developents, typically PUDs,that have very similar types of structures, are often the toughest to sell and suffer the largest declines in down markets. Areas like Creekside in Larkspur, Cape Elizabeth in Greenbrae, and the newer developmnents in Novato like Pointe Marin meet this criteria. As a percentage of the overall housing stock in Marin, they are miniscule. And because the housing supply is generally tight, they aren’t affected that dramatically.
Most of Marin was built years ago, before the PUD craze took off. So most neighborhoods tend to have very diverse types of housing, and the old mixed with the new. I live in a remodeled Tudor, built in 1930, in Corte Madera. Right next door, my neighbors built a 3000+ square foot Mediterranean. Directly across the street, there’s a small cottage from the 1940s, and a completely remodeled contemporary right next to that. That’s typically the case in many areas of Marin, and part of the reason these neighborhoods hold up well.
Even the big developments that were done in the 1950s, like Terra Linda, Greenbrae, or Madera Gardens in Corte Madera, were done when the rules were not nearly as tight as they are for many developments now. They don’t have that feeling of incredible uniformity that you often find in big new developments in the East Bay.
Don’t worry too much if you’re relocating here from a place like Chicago, where city housing is astoundingly uniform.
Check the comps, look at the history of the neighborhood, and you’ll learn to love the diversity of architecture that exists here.
“Don’t worry too much if you’re relocating here from a place like Chicago, where city housing is astoundingly uniform” - but yet a lot of variety due to the quantity available.
Brian Nygard
http://www.illinoisrealestate.com/
www.IllinoisRealEstate.com/ | Chicago Real Estate Forum | Chicago Real Estate Blog
“but yet a lot of variety due to the quantity available”
You’re absolutely right. I lived there for 14 years, and it really struck me how uniform, and diverse it is as I flew out of Midway Airport yesterday. It’s pretty amazing from the air.