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/

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/