San Carlos home of most competitive market?

Redfin created its own metric to gauge competition with a score tracking waived contingencies, competing offers on a particular sale, time listed on the market and whether the final sale figure is over the asking price.

Noting the housing sales market across the nation cooled some in 2019, report author Dana Anderson claimed the Bay Area remains a challenging place to buy for many.

“In the Bay Area, home to half of the 20 most competitive neighborhoods of 2019, it can still be difficult for buyers to win homes,” Anderson said in the report.

Realtor Chuck Gillooley, who specializes in selling homes in the White Oaks neighborhood, challenged the report’s findings in his backyard though.

“Yes it is very competitive but I would certainly question whether it is the most competitive because of the algorithm they used,” said Gillooley, an agent for Compass Real Estate.

Specifically, Gillooley noted the report draws heavily from information often considered private in the real estate industry — most notably the amount of bids received on a listing and waived contingencies. Buyers in competitive markets will forgo certain protections which could allow them to back out or renegotiate a deal in an attempt so they will appear more attractive to a seller, with hopes of closing a purchase.

“I’m very suspect of those two data points,” said Gillooley.

Acknowledging such data is not publicly available, a spokesperson said Redfin drew from written offers by agents from the company representing buyers in the area to generate the competition score.

And while the spokesperson couldn’t disclose the amount of sales Redfin completed over the year, to offer perspective on the depth of the data gauged in the report, each neighborhood needed at least 50 total sales between January and November to be included. The number of sales included Redfin agents as well as other companies.

For context, Gillooley said the larger geographic region in San Carlos, which includes the White Oaks neighborhood as well as other portions of the city, saw 73 homes sold last year.

The dearth of available homes is a contributing factor to the ongoing competition in the neighborhood, said Gillooley, who balanced his criticism of the report by noting White Oaks has long been a destination for prospective home buyers. To that end, he said there are six homes for sale currently in San Carlos and one in the White Oaks neighborhood.

Combined with a central location, quality schools and relative affordability compared to other nearby neighborhoods where home prices often drift into the $3 million range, Gillooley said he was not shocked to see the neighborhood in the report.

“It’s not hard to sell a house in White Oaks,” he said. “They don’t stay on the market for a very long time.”

Realtor Raziel Ungar, who sells homes for Compass in the northern portion of the county, shared a similar perspective for Beresford Park.

“It’s at the top of peoples’ lists,” said Ungar.

Looking ahead, Ungar projected competition around the northern Peninsula could build over the coming year as the Oculus building opens to workers along the Burlingame Bayshore.

In a market already constrained, Ungar suggested an influx of tech workers looking to grow roots in a community close to their job could push the market’s limited ability to accommodate demand even further.

“It will have a material impact on the market,” he said.

More broadly, looking ahead, Ungar anticipated the local real estate industry to stay competitive — and likely pricey — through 2020.

“I think we’re going to see it continue to be relatively stable,” he said.

For his part, Gillooley shared a similar perspective for San Carlos, which has long been a hot housing market, especially for young families. But he maintained that belief, while questioning whether the market is as competitive as Redfin claimed.

“It really is very fuzzy data,” he said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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