First Time Home Buyers Are Driving The Marin Real Estate Market

Once again, the headlines are horrifying in the San Francisco Chronicle : “Mortgage Defaults Hit Record.”

Once again, they are missing the other half of the story. First time home buyers are jumping in all over the place, and entry level homes all over Marin County are becoming a hot commodity.

This morning when I ran my hotsheet on MLS there were 14 new homes in contract in Southern and Central Marin County. And every single one was less than $770,000.

And they weren’t all in San Rafael either. Three were in Corte Madera,  two were in San Anselmo, and one in Larkspur.

So I ran statistics for all homes in the county priced less than $750,000. Amazingly, 40% of the 651 homes for sale in that price range already are in contract. That is by anyone’s definition a Seller’s Market!

It also checks with our recent experience with buyers. I had one buyer miss out on a home in Novato (almost new construction, right off Ignacio) that had three offers. I had another buyer prevail in a short sale that had 10 offers.

Do low interest rates, tax credits for first time home buyers, and low prices make a difference? The market is giving a resounding “yes”.

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