Dana Cohen

The Year Ahead

At this time of year, I’m often asked what the future brings for real estate in our local residential market*. As with any prediction, I’m wrong as often as I’m right. Last year at this time, I predicted a turnaround during the spring quarter. However, tight financing and sellers hesitant to lower their pricing expectations kept a lid on sales until the fall quarter, when we experienced the... [Read more...]

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Signs of Life

Sometimes you know what the answer is before you do the research.  When you’ve been in a business for a long time, you begin to get a feel for the subtle shift in activity that impacts your results.  Residential real estate is no different.  In the months following the near collapse of the financial system in September of last year, our local residential real estate market* hit a wall. At... [Read more...]

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Valuation is Property Specific

Last quarter I wrote to you about the decline in sales volume in our local real estate market (detached homes over $450,000 in Albany, El Cerrito, Kensington, the hill areas of Berkeley and Oakland and Piedmont), in part due to the gap between the seller’s list price and the price buyers are willing to pay. This trend continued during the second quarter, with 293 homes sold, down 20% from the 365... [Read more...]

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