Properties With X-Factors
Not every home in San Carlos is your basic three bedroom, two bath home at 1,500 square feet with a one car garage in the flats. In fact, some homes offer qualities so unique that many buyers (and agents) struggle to come up with a way to quantify their magnitude on value. These are homes with an x-factor. They can represent potentially inflated prices on behalf of sellers and many sleepless nights for potential buyers. Trying to establish true value for a property where there are very few, if any, comparable sales with properties that have a similar unique feature can be unnerving. Below are a list of qualities that can give San Carlos properties that x-factor:
* A truly stunning view. Many properties have views, however, a truly unobstructed panoramic view of the Bay Area is unique in San Carlos. Should the property actually have a level yard as well, multiply the x-factor component by two.
* An over-sized, level lot in the flats. The biggest complaint of those living in the Howard Park, Oak Park and White Oak areas? They wish they had a lot bigger than the standard 4,500-6,500 square foot lot. Stumble upon a lot that is 10,000 square feet or larger in the flats? The x-factor will be in full effect.
* A top street/block, with little turnover. Carmelita, Knoll, Elizabeth, El Sereno….and others all have blocks which many consider to be the best in all of San Carlos. When a home comes up on these types of streets there is an x-factor component. Educated buyers understand that there is a premium to live on these particular blocks.
Leave Your Clipboard/iPad At Home
Some buyers like to bring along a clipboard with a spreadsheet attached to it and check boxes off as they go through the open house. Others like to bring their iPad to take similar inventory numbers. Certainly, this can be a good way to recall exactly what each house offers if you want to review your notes after a day of looking at open houses. However, for homes with x-factors, clipboards and iPads will be useless in terms of offering a means to compare properties. There is no mathematical formula for ascertaining value when dealing with a stunning view, a 12,000 square foot lot in White Oaks, or the premium paid to live on one of the better blocks in San Carlos.
Homes with truly spectacular views are perhaps the most difficult to determine that x-factor value. Some of the other examples at least have some ability for comparison. However, even for homes with a large level lot or homes on a premium street will both have healthy x-factors because they are somewhat unique and our inventory levels have been so unbelievably low this year…..and we simply do not have any comparables since the market moved so dramatically. When you do not have comparables, you have an x-factor.
What Is An X-Factor Worth?
This is an easy one, or at least easy in theory. An x-factor is worth what a buyer is wiling to pay for it. Believe it or not, sales involving properties with x-factors in San Carlos are usually smoother and more efficient transactions than most other types of sales. Sellers realize they have something special and want a premium for it. Savvy buyers in San Carlos understand how the x-factor works in our fine town and they don’t mind paying a premium for it because they know they will have it on re-sale as well.
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