Danielle Lazier

Don’t Buy a Home in San Francisco Bay Area Until You Check These 5 Factors!

What are the 5 most important factors to watch in order to see if it’s the right time to buy a home in the San Francisco Bay Area real estate market?

Per the Wall Street Journal, the 5 signs that say ‘buy’ a home are jobs, recent sales activity, construction, mortgage availability, and anecdotal evidence.

1. Jobs – Forget the national reports. Are local companies hiring? Are start-ups going public? Is the mood generally positive or negative about the San Francisco job market?
2. Recent Sales Activity - Check local neighborhood-specific real estate data, using the Zephyr Real Estate website where you can check stats by MLS sub-district. Be careful to avoid analysis by zip code or tax record as they information will be too broad and not up-to-date. When we have our initial home buyer strategy session, we look at the CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) for the specific neighborhood of interest to the home buyer. Lately, I’ve noticed more recent sales than active listings.
3. Construction - This is tough in San Francisco because frankly, there isn’t much land left and yet, is construction happening? Are new condos selling? What’s the local scoop?
4. Mortgage availability – How easy or difficult is it to get a home loan? In San Francisco, it’s important to pay attention to the jumbo home loan market which, according to our Lender partners, seems to be loosening up albeit slowly.
5. Anecdotal evidence - This is the one time I recommend you actually listen to the talk at the water cooler! What’s the general vibe? Are your friends and coworkers feeling good about the economy? In San Francisco, our world kind of revolves around technology, right? My friends in tech are feeling positive, how ’bout yours?

Tags: 5 factors, 5 signs, wall st. journal, Wall Street Journal, wsj

Follow SF Real Estate? Keep Your Eyes On the Valley. More VC Dollars Flow to Bay Area.

For a glint of positive news, look south. According to the Wall St. Journal, “Local (San Francisco Bay Area) Start-Ups Snagged a Bigger Slice of the Venture-Capital Pie in 2009.”

“But even as the overall amount of venture-capital money they pumped into companies declined from 2008, Bay Area start-ups got a bigger slice of the dollars that were deployed. According to research firm VentureSource, start-ups in the Silicon Valley region saw their percentage share grow over the first three quarters in 2009.”

“…venture capitalists say they paid even more attention to local start-ups last year because the recession weeded out weaker ideas elsewhere, while Silicon Valley’s longtime ecosystem of entrepreneurs and start-ups meant that new companies continued to launch.”

Who knows when we’ll see the next Google but rest-assured that those big, shiny, black buses are good for real estate. Where the luxury Google bus travels (or Apple or Genentech or…), so goes the increasing value of your Noe Valley Victorian listing, Mission loft, Bernal Heights home, or Mission Dolores condo!

Tags: google, venture capital, wall st. journal

Is Renting the “New” American Dream or Should We Just Get More Real About Who Should Buy A Home and When?

At first blush, I was sure I was NOT going to like this article. I am a San Francisco Realtor who helps many home buyers achieve their dream of home ownership. So when I opened my Wall St. Journal and saw “The New American Dream: Renting,” by Thomas J. Sugrue my eyes rolled and I was like, “Whatever.”

But, I read on if only so I could have a witty retort for when someone mentioned the article to me at a party. Who am I kidding? In my crowd, I am the ONLY person reading the Wall St. Journal!

What I read was both an interesting summary of the history of real estate in America and a reality check for all of us. Fair or not, not everyone can or should become a home owner because it is just not financially feasible.

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Tags: american dream, wall st. journal

San Francisco Home Listings Show Positive Signs

“A home-sales revival that began last year in some of California’s cheaper inland areas has begun to spread to several more expensive coastal areas, another hint that devastated real-estate markets in the state — and other parts of the country — may see less grim days ahead.”

So says an article in this weekend’s Wall St. Journal. The article discusses Santa Clara County but it is transferable to San Francisco real estate where SF home listings also show positive signs. The “entry-level” or first time buyer housing market, say home prices of $800,000 or less, is picking up major steam. This part of the market could even be called hot. Multiple offers are common place.

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Tags: wall st. journal

More San Francisco Homes Are Selling?

According to The Wall St. Journal, more homes in California are selling.

“California’s housing-market slump showed hints of improvement in March, with sales of existing single-family homes increasing 64% from the prior-year period and median home prices rising month-to-month for the first time since August 2007, according to a trade group report.”

Does this mean more homes in San Francisco are selling too? More on that later.

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Tags: first-time home buying, home buying, Home Selling, San Francisco properties, wall st. journal

Where is San Francisco Real Estate Headed? Inventory shifts down.

Where is San Francisco Real Estate Headed? According to a recent article in the Wall St. Journal, SF real estate is looking pretty good…or rather looks better than most. No real estate market is great right now but I guess, we just “suck less” than the others! No, that was not a direct quote from the WSJ.

For example, in a chart ranking 28 major real estate markets, San Francisco has had the 2nd highest drop in inventory from a year ago. Less supply = you guessed it, more demand.

San Francisco’s month’s supply of inventory is 4.6 months which is the 2nd lowest of the 28 markets.

Want to see more of the statistics, check out the entire article here. We’re having tech issues so cannot upload images right now. You’ll have to click-thru.

And just remember, even when it’s bad, it’s better to be better.

Tags: Real Estate forcast, San Francisco better then most, wall st. journal