MAYBE NOT IN EVERY PENINSULA CITY BUT …
Written by James Frangella 11/1/2008 @ 6:00am

What a great year for buyers and real estate agents! 2008 is definitely going to be a boom year. Believe it or not, some cities on the Peninsula are projected to sell more homes this year than all previous years since 1998.

Now when I say “some cities”, I should really mention that it includes only one city. Seaside is projected to sell over 280 houses, condos and multi-dwellings by year’s end. That number is more than any other year in the last ten years. Better than even the boom years of 2002 through 2005! Seaside also enjoys the highest sale ratio over any other city on the Peninsula. In other words, there are more listings under contract in Seaside than in Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel and so on.

I know what you’re thinking … “yeah but Seaside’s prices are so low”. And I say, “So what!” They’re priced where they should be … priced to sell. Imagine if we had low prices and nothing was selling. Then we would be in a world of hurt. But this is not the case.

It’s not really that gloomy for the other cities either. As of November 1st, the cities of Marina, Del Rey Oaks and even Pebble Beach have already sold more units than the years of 2006 and 2007. Remember now, those were the gloomy years when sale ratios were in the single digits.

We do have a few communities that will be hard-pressed to sell more homes than their previous years. Carmel is one of them. It appears that this quaint little city (with very expensive homes) will have her worst year in closed transactions since 1997 ... even the years of 2006 and 2007.

Some of the others that are not going to enjoy record numbers are Carmel Valley, Monterey and Pacific Grove. However the year is not over. We still have two more months to go.

Let’s look at the big picture. By the end of 2008, the Peninsula will have sold more homes, condos and multi-dwellings than the total for 2006 and the total for 2007. With all the doom and gloom we hear and read about our national economy, it’s nice to know the Monterey Peninsula is still moving along. We haven’t come to a grinding halt.

We live in a very special place. God gave us the Monterey Peninsula and gave every body else … every place else. I can’t wait to see what is in store for us in 2009.