Summer Real Estate Market

The Bay Area housing market usually picks up in March, April and May and then slows down over the summer for vacations, graduations, weddings and other activities. But this year it seems like that’s being reversed.
After a rather slow spring, the local housing market has been heating up this summer with strong sales in June and even into July in many areas. Sales activity has been especially busy in the higher end of our markets, which is over $1 million in much of the Bay Area...but even the mid-level market was surprisingly active
There is an interesting trend in last month’s sales figures: In most of the Bay Area, we had the highest level of million-dollar home sales since the summer of 2008, just before our economy went into a tailspin.
Certainly, the Bay Area’s relatively strong economy...especially in the tech sector... ­is playing a key role in our housing market. Inman News wrote in a Friday article, “Tech is back -- and tiptoeing along behind it, at least by some measures, is the San Francisco-area real estate market.”
This doesn't mean that the housing market is completely out of the woods, because real estate is very much a local business. While many of our markets are on the mend, others are still softer than they were a few years ago, and there are still distressed properties coming on the market as bank owned REO sales in the months ahead.
With the national and state economies still fragile, we are fortunate to live and work where we do. Limited housing stock, a diverse job base and great weather are all factors that help home buyers focus on these terrific home values and low mortgage rates.
The best homes are getting lots of offers, and in our Cupertino office, the majority of sales are with multiple offers. Seems like we are having a delayed spring.

A Tale of Two Transfers

When I returned from Michigan, I was contacted by two families transferring from out of state to Silicon Valley. The first referral was through a company I had worked with before. Their new CFO, his wife and son, were moving from the Midwest and needed a house rental. In a normal market, a 2500 square foot house in a good school district would be easy to find, especially for stable family willing to pay up to $5000 a month. After talking to a few reliable rental agents I know, I discovered that not only is the local rental market tight, a good rental house of that size is nearly nonexistent. With new jobs come new problems, and the search continues.
The second challenge is a small family from Colorado. The husband is already here, and has begun a high paying job. He is renting a condo in Santa Clara for $2500 a month, and their quandary is: Do they give up the large house they love...only 12 years old, in an excellent school district, with a large yard and valued at $400,000...and buy something here for more than double that price and with fewer amenities? Or does that family remain divided, and perhaps invest in a condo so that the husband can move out of the rental? I have my in-house lender working with them on qualification, but neither solution sounds perfect.

Back from Michigan

What a contrast from the real estate market in California! I expected to see depressed areas in Detroit, and although the bus tour drove through the best sections of the city, the tour guide admitted that a large percentage of the city's residents had left the city along with the jobs. Even in these tree-lined streets of beautiful homes, values had dropped by nearly half, and we passed occasional houses with boarded up windows and for sale signs in their front lawns.
We were there at the beginning of the River Walk celebration at the Renaissance Center, and the families enjoying the water views, lunching on ribs, and listening to music had a positive attitude that a down economy couldn't erase. We were there for a convention, and people saw from my badge that I was from California. More than one person stopped me and said to tell folks back home that they haven't given up and still love their city.