My November column has always been about the election and the ballot measures as they relate to real estate. But, if you have looked at your voter pamphlet, you will notice that this year it is actually a manageable size, unlike the “telephone books” we have received in the last few years!
Column by Alexander Clark.
When the editor of the Richmond Review asked me to contribute here online, I thought a weekly “market update” would be great. Reality is, our market doesn’t change weekly, so I’ll save those market updates for theFrontSteps monthly report on our site (The latest taking a look at housing affordability in San Francisco).
I sell a ton of real estate around San Francisco and Marin, but it’s the west side….the Avenues (Outer Richmond, specifically)… that is my home, my backyard, my playground. It’s a great […]
In an attempt to battle the rising rent and the housing crisis, the California legislature passed AB-1482 in September which will put a rent cap on properties statewide and make it harder to evict a tenant after 12 months of occupancy.
Do you feel that each year goes by faster and faster as you get older? I sure do. Just like that, summer is over, schools are back in session and we are into the fall season!
I have been asked this questions several times this past month: “Should I put more towards my monthly payment to pay off my mortgage earlier?” That is a great question and the answer depends on your personal financial picture.
I examined the single-family home markets in the Richmond and Sunset districts because these two markets generally track very closely together and compared them against the data in San Francisco as a whole.
A new ordinance that passed at the SF Board of Supervisors is becoming law on June 2. It will affect all sales of buildings of three units and up. The legislation is known as the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA for short.
As housing prices soared with the current real estate cycle, the housing crisis has gotten worse and though many solutions have been proposed, the push for more Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) have gained some traction recently.
With the median priced single-family home selling for about $1.6 million in San Francisco, this is a serious investment and requires that you prepare carefully and consider your choices before you make the jump into home ownership.
I am seeing more properties coming onto the market and preparing for a good spring selling season. The factors affecting optimism seem to be the instability of the stock market and buyer hesitations that we might be at the top of the market.
We see cycles occurring in all of life. Some cycles are long and others are short. Cycles also tend to repeat themselves.
… if you are contemplating buying real estate, be careful of overpaying. If you are planning on selling, keep in mind that there is short supply and you should get a good price.
The market remained steady throughout the year with mortgage interest rates rising from the 4 to 5 percent range by the end of the year. Even though this is still low by historic standards, it is the highest it has been the last seven years and it has impacted the market.
When my November Voter Pamphlet arrived in the mail I marveled at how thin it was this time around. There are only five ballot measures for San Francisco voters to decide and 11 for the state.
