If it were only 2005 again sellers would be happy....of course buyers...not so much. 

2009 saw a decrease in the price of homes in the La Honda area, our speculation is that some of it was due to a few REO's that drug down the median sales price.   Lets take a closer look to what happened in La Honda this year.

Sales price vs. list price

This one was pretty close.  Sales price and list price were within about $5k of each other. 

This would lead us to believe that the homes that sold were priced pretty well to begin with, if not it would look a lot more like 2008.  The other thing we noticed is that many of the homes that went on the market were smaller cottages, what we would consider the lower end of the market.  We use a median number for all of our data which should throw some of this out, but when the price has dropped this much, and from working in the area, most of what we noticed sold were on the smaller side.

Year to year change

Year over year the price of homes in La Honda fell 22% this year, a little better than last year when the median price fell 23%.

Take a look at 2005, now you know why sellers wish it was 2005 again.

List vs sold

It looks like many La Honda residents recognized the soft market and didn't put their home on the market unless they really had to.

In 2009 ten homes sold and fifteen didn't.   Since 2000 the average number of solds is 15.9 and 21 don't for whatever reason.  La Honda residents simply didn't put as many homes on the market as they usually do.  It appears that residents noticed the market had softened, and those that didn't need to sell their home, didn't try.  If you look at 2008, that is when everyone tried to beat the rush and about 30 of them were unsuccessful.

Days on Market (DOM)

The days on market fell this year from 88 days to 48 days.  This again leads us to believe that the homes that sold were priced pretty well.  The average DOM since 2000 is 50.1.

If you look at 2008 you can see that is when people were holding out for their price and thus it took almost twice as long to sell.  If you look at the first graph, there was a delta of about $60k between list price and sales price, the largest since I have been keeping track.

A couple of thoughts.

The average number of bedrooms in homes that sold in 2007 was 2.9 in 2008 it was 2.4 and in 2009 it was 2.1.  This would reiterate our hypothesis that it was the smaller homes that were selling.  Also keep in mind that this is all of what the MLS considers La Honda, not just Cuesta, so there are some (very few) properties that may have small houses but larger pieces of land.

Take away for sellers

If you need to sell, or really want to move, make sure it is priced right and advertised.  If the market continues to decline, the longer you have your home on the market, the less it's worth.
There are unique pieces of property that will sell in any market. There always seems to be a market for large acreage, we were successful this year in selling most of our large pieces of land.  If you have  larger home, we didn't have many of those sales this year, so that market is somewhat unknown. 

Take away for buyers.

If you are looking to buy in La Honda, it seems like a great time to buy (sound like a Realtor don't I )  With prices down we have seen small two bedroom homes in La Honda selling for around $300k.  If you see something on the market you like, make a reasonable offer, even if the property price is more than you think it is worth.  It never hurts to try.

As always if you have any questions or would like the raw data please feel free to email us or give us a call.

Scott Hayes DRE#01401243 and Karin Bird DRE# 00929166 t
 650-851-8100

All information was taken from the MLS and encompases areas 250-253.  Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.