Back in 2008 and 2009, foreclosed homes were selling for double-digit discounts, but nowadays savings are much slimmer, especially in some California cities, according to an analysis by real estate site Zillow.

In Sacramento, buying a bank-owned property saves you less than 1 percent, and in Riverside it’s only 1.8 percent. That’s compared to a current national average of 7.7 percent, and 27.4 percent in the city with the highest discount — Pittsburgh, Pa. In San Francisco, the average discount is 4.7 percent. San Francisco’s foreclosure discount peaked at 20.4 percent in January 2008.

Here’s a look at some currently bank-owned homes in San Francisco:

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When the housing market was falling like a rock, the large discounts available for foreclosed properties led to the popularity of foreclosure bus tours, which real estate agents are still conducting in the Bay Area and elsewhere. But it hardly seems worth putting in the effort to learn about the foreclosure process for a tiny discount.

In two cities, Las Vegas and Phoenix, Zillow found that buying a foreclosure offered no price advantage at all.

“The smallest foreclosure discount is found in places where competition for homes is so high, people there are willing to pay the same amount for a foreclosure re-sale that they would for a non-distressed home simply to take advantage of historic affordability,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “Additionally, in areas such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, where not long ago one out of every two homes sold was a foreclosure re-sale, buying a foreclosure is no longer just for investors.”

Carrie Kirby is a freelance writer who recently returned to the Bay Area after living for six years in Chicago. Carrie is more heavily invested in real estate than she ever expected to be, since she and her husband are now long-distance landlords of their Chicago home, and have also purchased a house in Alameda. She posts about interesting properties and real estate trends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley every Tuesday. Carrie also shares money-saving tips on her blog, Frugalistic Mom.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/11/13/foreclosure-discounts-shrinking-away/

The median price for a home in the Bay Area rose to $429,000 in September, the highest in more than four years, according to DataQuick. Let’s take a look at the median prices in San Francisco, Alameda and San Mateo counties, and what those prices can buy:

The Alameda county median is $379,000, up 8.9 percent from September 2011. Here’s a house listed at that price, at 3441 Oak Knoll Blvd in Oakland:

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In San Francisco, the median is $745,000, up 21 percent from September 2011. This California Craftsman in Westwood Park (near City College) is pending sale, and was listed just above the median at $749,000. (Of course, that doesn’t mean it sold for that — the price paid won’t be public until the sale closes.)

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The San Mateo county median is $620,000, up 12.5 percent from September 2011. Here’s a house in Pacifica that’s listed for that price:

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Carrie Kirby is a freelance writer who recently returned to the Bay Area after living for six years in Chicago. Carrie is more heavily invested in real estate than she ever expected to be, since she and her husband are now long-distance landlords of their Chicago home, and have also purchased a house in Alameda. She posts about interesting properties and real estate trends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley every Tuesday. Carrie also shares money-saving tips on her blog, Frugalistic Mom.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/10/30/what-the-new-higher-bay-area-medians-can-buy/

The real estate rebound in the Bay Area has brought the median price for a luxury home up to $2.67 million. That’s up 6.6 percent from last year — the biggest jump since 2006, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Of course, ordinary home prices are up too. But those luxury homes are oh-so-much-more fun to look at, aren’t they?

The pop in luxury homes up here is bigger than the 2.4 percent growth seen in the Los Angeles area and the 2.5 percent in the San Diego area, according to First Republic Bank’s Prestige Home Index.

So the question is … what does $2.67 million buy you nowadays?

Well, that depends where you are. In Tiburon, that ballpark gets you a view of the Golden Gate Bridge from your living room, but the dated bathrooms can only be described as an “opportunity to renovate” in the sale copy.

$2.675 million in Tiburon (Zillow)

In Napa, you can get 26 acres with three houses on it and even a few acres of vineyard.

$2.675 in Napa (Pacific Union International)

In Menlo Park, $2.67 million buys a roomy 3,075-square-foot Craftsman.

$2.675 in Menlo Park (Bonnie Biorn, Coldwell Banker)

And in Walnut Creek, you could spread out in your own “custom estate,” with a main house and guest house combining for a whopping 7,568 square feet of living space.

$2.675 in Walnut Creek (Zillow)

If you had two and a half million bucks, which would you choose? We’re tempted by the thought of a rambling Napa getaway, but that Tiburon picture window view is worth a million words. Or maybe two and a half million of them.

More views of these median-priced luxury homes:

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Carrie Kirby is a freelance writer who recently returned to the Bay Area after living for six years in Chicago. Carrie is more heavily invested in real estate than she ever expected to be, since she and her husband are now long-distance landlords of their Chicago home, and have also purchased a house in Alameda. She posts about interesting properties and real estate trends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley every Tuesday. Carrie also shares money-saving tips on her blog, Frugalistic Mom.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/09/18/bay-area-luxury-home-median-jumps-to-2-67-million/

Living in a single-family home in San Francisco is getting pricier and pricer — even for current tenants. As both rental and real estate prices climb, landlords are sending unwelcome news to tenants in the form of rent increases. Houses, it turns out, are exempt from the rent control laws that protect apartment-dwellers from rent hikes.

Carolyn Said reported in Sunday’s Chronicle that some landlords are jacking up the rent to push out tenants so homes can be sold on the newly hot market.

If you’re looking to get into a single-family home in San Francisco, the average rent for current listings is $3,517, according to Rentbits. That’s up from an average listing price of $2,530 last September. By comparison, the average single family home in New York City  is listed at “only” $3,073 per month, Rentbits reports. That’s yet another indicator that San Francisco rivals New York City as one of the least affordable places to live.

What does $3,500 a month get you in a San Francisco house?

In the Sunset, you can get three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an attached garage and a big yard.

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In Bernal Heights, though, $3,520 may only get you a one-bedroom sublet. On the upside, it’s furnished and even comes with a flat-screen TV.

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In the Pine Lake Park neighborhood, this $3,500 single-family home listing has two bedrooms — but then there’s an in-law unit with a third bedroom and its own kitchen, bathroom and living room.

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Carrie Kirby is a freelance writer who recently returned to the Bay Area after living for six years in Chicago. Carrie is more heavily invested in real estate than she ever expected to be, since she and her husband are now long-distance landlords of their Chicago home, and have also purchased a house in Alameda. She posts about interesting properties and real estate trends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley every Tuesday. Carrie also shares money-saving tips on her blog, Frugalistic Mom.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/09/05/what-3500-gets-you-in-sf-single-family-homes/