Home News Bay Area Housing: Santa Rosa House Prices Continue to Rise, Along With Demand

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By Brandon Cornett | Housing Market News
August 5, 2013 | © 2013, All rights reserved

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By Brandon Cornett | August 5, 2013 | 2013, All rights reserved

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Mortgage shopping?

If Zillow’s Home Value Index (ZHVI) is any indication, the Santa Rosa real estate market is undergoing a major transformation right now. The ZHVI for Santa Rosa increased by 24.6% over the last year or so.

Granted, the ZHVI is not an exact science. But it does give us some insight into which way the market is moving. And the Santa Rosa housing market is clearly headed north, where home prices are concerned. The same could be said for the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

The median sale price is arguably a better indicator, because it’s based on actual sales prices. Here again, the trend is undeniable. According to Zillow, the median price paid for homes in Santa Rosa has risen by more than 27% in the last year or so. The median list price climbed by 21.7% during the same period.

Data from Trulia, another real estate information website, confirms this trend. Trulia’s numbers show a 28% increase in Santa Rosa’s median sale price over the last year, closely matching Zillow’s figures.

These are tremendous gains, and they mirror the broader trends we are seeing across the San Francisco Bay Area housing market. All across the nine-county Bay Area, home prices are surging in response to inventory shortage and growing demand. It’s good news for homeowners. But it presents certain challenges for home buyers.

Bay Area Housing Market En Fuego

The entire Bay Area real estate market is on fire right now – for better or worse. Consider the evidence. According to DataQuick, a San Diego-based company that tracks housing trends in key cities across the country, the region’s median sale price rose at its fastest pace ever in June 2013.

The largest gain occurred in Alameda County, where the median rose by a whopping 44% over the last year. Sonoma County’s median sale price rose by 29.8% during the same 12-month period.

Granted, home prices in the Santa Rosa real estate market (and elsewhere across the Bay Area) are still well below their pre-crisis peaks. This is partly why we are seeing such big gains right now.

According to DataQuick president John Walsh: “It’s easier for a market to regain lost ground than to push into new territory. We’re still bouncing off the bottom.”

Santa Rosa Real Estate Trends Good for Sellers

This is all good news for Santa Rosa area homeowners, particularly those who lost a significant amount of equity during the housing downturn. While home prices are still well below their pre-crisis peaks, they are gaining ground quickly.

This could be a game changer for homeowners who were unable to sell or refinance their homes in the past, due to their negative or low-equity situations. Property values in the area will likely continue to rise for some time, further empowering homeowners by restoring lost equity.

But the news is not so good for home buyers. The real estate market in Santa Rosa, California has become increasingly competitive. Housing demand has increased on the heels of economic improvement, but inventory levels have fallen over the last year. This means there are more buyers competing for fewer properties. This is what we’re seeing across the entire Bay Area housing market right now.

“There’s a slew of buyers, and there’s nothing for them out there,” said Santa Rosa real estate agent Mike Kelly, when speaking to the Press Democrat recently.

At the same time, rising prices will create affordability issues for many would-be buyers.

The Santa Rosa housing market is emblematic of what is happening across the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Declining inventories, along with the release of pent-up demand, are driving prices north with surprising speed. It’s not a question of if home prices will continue rising through the end of 2013. The question is, by how much.

Disclaimer: This story contains forward-looking statements about the Bay Area real estate market in general, and Santa Rosa in particular. These statements represent an educated guess made by the author. They should not be viewed as facts or financial advice. We make no guarantees about the future of home prices or other housing trends.

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Filed under Housing Market News

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Article source: http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com/news/santa-rosa-prices-rise-437/

Novato, CA (PRWEB) July 11, 2012

SheSpree.com, a new daily deal website set to launch this fall, is based in Marin County, California. Its mission is to provide incredible deals from local women-owned businesses. The site has an inherent cause in it by supporting female entrepreneurship, but it also champions local commerce by keeping its revenue within the Bay Area itself. Residents of the greater San Francisco region maintain a widespread, community feel regardless of where they live. Home to about 7 million people, the Bay Area has many folks living in one county, but working in another. The city itself, for example, is home to about 800,000 people, but another 200,000 commuters make their way there each weekday for work. For this reason, SheSpree.com has embraced the entire Bay Area as its local niche, while chartering women merchants from Marin County as the stars of its initial launch.

With all the focus on failing city and township economies in the media these days, there is a growing concern among many that spending should be consciously funneled into local commerce. So it stands to reason that a daily deal website, offering local discounts, is a wise, as well as convenient, choice. SheSpree.com will offer women great deals on everything they need to help manage their personal lives, families, homes, and businesses. Having the merchants be local (especially for service-based products) adds value, saves time, and helps to develop repeat customer bases within the community. And because of the large population of commuters in the greater Bay Area, residents from the entire region can reap the rewards as well.

Owner Paula Richer comments, “SheSpree.com aims to provide smart deals for women all over the Bay Area yet focuses on our women entrepreneurs, one area at a time. We’re starting with Marin County, a creative, diverse community, where you’ll find a lot of unique artisans and small businesses. I want to showcase their talent and ingenuity by featuring their offerings on site. It’s very heartwarming and very exciting!”

SheSpree.com is set to launch this fall. For additional information email shespreeme(at)gmail(dot)com. To sign up as a subscriber visit http://www.SheSpree.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebdailydealwebsite/women-ownedbusinesses/prweb9687985.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/SheSpree-com-Offers-San-Francisco-Daily-Deals-3698028.php

Even with inventory (listings) down compared with the same period last year, buyer demand drove an increase in the number of homes sold in Q1 in all our regions. If this trend continues, the total number of homes sold this year could reach 20,850 – and exceed the 10-year average in the Bay Area for the first time since 2005.

While the number of homes changing hands is jumping, price levels overall, on average, are down 1%.  The first quarter report from Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate shows San Francisco and Napa’s median price increasing by 4% and 7%, while Alameda’s median dropped by 10% compared to the first quarter of 2011.  Slim pickings are sparking multiple offers with quality homes in favored locations as inventory is down by more than half compared to last year.

As of the final day of the first quarter, 7,703 existing detached homes were listed for sale across the entire Bay Area, down a staggering 54 percent from 16,669 homes on the market on the same date a year ago.

Even with the lack of homes on the market, it looks like buyers are out of the gates.  In my local Marin neighborhood, newly listed homes that had a hard time selling a year or two ago, where they lingered for over 100+ days and were finally pulled, are getting snatched up within 2-3 weeks.  With the traditional buying season just beginning and the Facebook IPO on its way, this sets the stage for an interesting summer.

Courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/05/04/bay-area-home-sales-off-to-best-start-since-2005/

Twenty-five new videos of San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods, events and attractions have recently been posted and made available to the public on the website of The Matchmakers, a real estate company located in the Bay Area, specializing in beautiful homes in the San Francisco Bay Area and France.

The videos range over the entire Bay Area, including the city of San Francisco itself, Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Napa County, Sonoma County, and Marin County.

The videos are designed to give viewers who may not be that familiar with the Bay Area a chance to get a sense of the very different neighborhoods, landscapes, towns and cities in this wonderful area. Many of the videos also show the style of homes in these areas.

For instance, one of the videos on the Noe Valley neighborhood in San Francisco shows the streets, cafes, restaurants; describes somewhat the lifestyle of people who live there; and then gives viewers a look at homes and views from the neighborhood.

Another video focuses on the “Out About Festival” held annually in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, and highlights a woman talking about the neighborhood.

The videos were produced by Jim Hilgendorf, owner of The Matchmakers, who is also owner of another company, The Tribute Series, a video production company which produces a highly-acclaimed series of travel films, corporate videos, and documentaries. He decided to produce the videos to help people get acquainted with the area.

For instance, many people who have an interest in moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, or are relocating from some other city in the United States or elsewhere around the world, oftentimes have very little acquaintance with San Francisco or the Bay Area itself. The videos were created to help these men and women get a preliminary feel for their future destination.

Jim Hilgendorf is planning to continue the series, and will be adding new videos on a regular basis.

The Matchmakers is a real estate company speicalizing in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and France. Jim and his wife Elizabeth have been to France many times and have developed connections with agents they work with in Paris, Bordeaux and the Dordogne Valley, Aix-en-Provence, Provence and the Cote d’Azur. The Matchmakers website also contains beautiful photos and videos of these areas.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/8/prweb8704260.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/10/prweb8704260.DTL

Players milled about quietly in a subdued pregame warm-up. Outside the park, fans could be overheard arguing the merits of the play and cursing their fate. Manager Bruce Bochy was holding court in the dugout, addressing a large throng of media not 30 yards away from where Posey lay the previous night, writhing in pain.

When asked if the team was angry about the Marlins’ Scott Cousins plowing through the Giants’ catcher to win Wednesday’s game, one fully expected Bochy to take a page from “The Book” and sidestep the question. Instead, the skipper stared straight ahead and let it rip: “The guys are not happy.”

It was an interesting admission from Bochy, a baseball lifer who adheres to the game’s unwritten rules as well as anyone. When it comes to anger and retribution, baseball people speak with an errant pitch or a hard slide. Rarely do they come right out and say they’re angry. But Bochy was speaking from the heart, and you could see it in his eyes. Like Posey, I’d guess the manager had not slept very well the previous night. He was conveying the anger and concern of the entire Bay Area.

Later that afternoon, following a listless 1-0 loss to the departing Marlins, Bochy had softened a little bit. No one on the Giants had retaliated on Posey’s behalf, and the manager seemed more concerned about his young catcher’s well-being than anything else. “He’s taken this pretty hard,” Bochy said softly. “As has his wife.”

As the news of Posey’s injuries came out that day, and the city absorbed the reality of its loss, it got me thinking about why this one was different.

Ballplayers get hurt all the time. Many of them much worse than what Posey endured.

But few ballplayers represent to their teams – and their communities – what Buster Posey has meant to San Francisco.

From the lyrical name to the no-nonsense demeanor to the otherworldly calm he demonstrated in leading a ragtag group of veterans to the championship as a rookie, Posey was a revelation last year. He reminded us of Magic Johnson, coming aboard a veteran Lakers team and leading it to the title. Or Mickey Mantle, a remarkable baseball talent whose matinee looks were matched only by his marquee name. Here in the Bay Area, you have to reach back to Joe Montana before you have a local icon who came of age in San Francisco before dominating the national sports stage.

For many, Posey is all of those players wrapped together in one, a prodigious talent forever married to the greatest season in San Francisco Giants history.

Now, let’s hope Posey will not remind us of Joe Charboneau, a one-year wonder for the Cleveland Indians who took the league by storm, winning Rookie of the Year as a hard-hitting outfielder in 1980, only to hurt himself in his sophomore campaign and disappear. Or Mark Fidrych, the Detroit Tigers’ eccentric ace who captivated a nation with one magical campaign in 1976, only to blow out his knee and his shoulder and fade away.

My money’s on Posey’s complete return. As Giants trainer Dave Groeschner said, he has age on his side. And his injury is not to the back, knee or shoulder, physical real estate that no ballplayer can afford to compromise.

Despite the feelings of dread and despair that pervaded the Bay Area’s sports scene this past week, this will not prove to be Posey’s undoing.

It was simply proved that Buster Posey is human, after all.

Michael and Ronnie: Michael Mina is one of the best-known chefs in the Bay Area. If you haven’t been to his place downtown – RN74 – you should check it out. French train station motif. Fabulous wine. Scrumptious food.

One thing you don’t expect to find is Michael Mina himself. But there he was, stopping by our table to ask if everything was OK. We got to talking, and before you know it, the conversation had shifted from wine and cheese to footballs and helmets.

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/SP231JLU78.DTL&type=49ers