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SF Bay Area Realtor
kaliyama
Left to find less-moderated foraRegistered User regular
Left to find less-moderated foraRegistered User regular
Hey,
I'm looking for a realtor in norcal who would be well versed in the east bay. Anyone use somebody they liked?
I'm looking for a realtor in norcal who would be well versed in the east bay. Anyone use somebody they liked?
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Looking to buy or rent?
Thanks and that is excellrnt advicse, Schuss.
I am looking for someone who will be willing to pursue a long-term strategy with me. One of the more entertaining reddit threads posited that the recent spike in cash buyers is in part Chinese officials trying to offshore their bribes ASAP. Wouldn't entirely surprise me - the Irish and other euros kept NY afloat.
Regardless of the cause, it does seem that we are in for another correction.
Both of those populations have been pushing up the prices again, but in an unnatural way. They both have access to way too much cash that they need to spend ASAP, so they are getting into bidding wars with each other and buying properties outright, full price, full stop. It's left everyone else completely out of the market. I'm not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt, but I suspect there's a strong mini-bubble that exists specifically in SF and some of the more affluent outlying areas. A lot of those expensive high-rise condos in SF are standing at as much as 50% empty even though they're supposedly 80% bought. There are a lot of folks who would be buying in SF but can't afford it who getting pushed into the other regions (Oakland hills, Piedmont, Alameda, San Mateo, Palo Alto, even as far away as Fremont, Dublin, etc. etc. etc.) and driving up the prices there.
Everyone else, who can't afford to pay more-than-listing-price with cash-in-hand, is being shunted into the rental market (which is partially being supplied by those same "investors" who are eating up the buying market). I've seen rents go up by 25-50% a year in the past 2-3 years, because you have a lot of families who can't compete in the buying market but still need access to those same schools, child-friendly parks, etc. There are also ton of single professionals who expect a particular lifestyle and who are normalized to having roommates at 30+ years old in order to afford it.
It's all kind of ridiculous, but that's how the market is. Be prepared to spend upwards of $1,500 for anything that's not a studio in some places. It's that bad.
1. As stated above there's a lot of foreign money coming in
2. It's basically become the west coast NYC, with SF proper being equivalent to Manhattan
3. It's the "Cool" place to be - so you get all the trustfunders
4. Tech - lots of money being handed to young people.
5. It has great weather and decent access to things.
I don't expect a crash in SF, as there's just way too much demand. Apple, Google or another big employer would have to fold for there to be any possibility of a downturn. SF is basically at equilibrium right now, and any additional price increases aren't tenable. East Bay is an easy commute to the city and way cheaper with better weather, so people have finally figured that out and are buying for both rental and personal purposes.
Also, given housing prices in SF, you see a lot more younger people moving to Oakland, as downtown/uptown and Lake Merritt (where I live) are finally getting some interesting stuff.
Lets grab a drink sometime Schuss, PM me.
If you're looking around JLS, pay very close attention to the parking situation. If you need a space, you want something guaranteed in one of the lots there, not one of the street parking deals. Even a monthly city permit won't prevent you from having to move your car during street cleaning days.
All I have to say is "good luck".
He is great. Has done his own contracting, so he knows what to look for in places and is very no nonsense. We would walk into some places and he would just start pointing out things that were wrong with them and that would require maintenance/refurbishing. Didn't try to upsell and stayed right in the price range we were looking for. He was also very patient, it took us 18 months to close on a place.
It'll be tough, but you can sometimes find decent condos, usually foreclosures, around Adams Point. Also, on the east side of the lake you may be able to find some good deals. Kinda goes block by block over there as far as nicety though.
Feeling pretty lucky that the wife and I were able to get on the peninsula couple years back because if we were trying to find something now it's easily 550 to 600 starting for a 3br 1,000ish sq. ft.