homesmillbrae.com

In the Bay Area, real estate agents define luxury homes as those valued above $3 million and ultra-luxury homes as those valued above $5 million. The Green Gables estate sits in its own stratosphere: It’s listed for $135 million.

That price point is unique even for Woodside. The largest property ever sold in the town was several years ago for $118 million.

With many companies — particularly in Silicon Valley — increasingly shifting to remote work indefinitely, the market for larger properties with land has heated up, realtors say. In the Bay Area, specifically, luxury homes have been a hotter commodity than ever during the pandemic, with sales jumping to historic highs in almost every part of the region, according to data from Compass Real Estate and the California Association of Realtors.

The trend underscores a widening equity gap in the Bay Area and beyond: The pandemic has inflicted job and wage losses on tens of millions of lower-income people, while the wealthiest Americans have experienced far less financial disruption.

“It’s almost like two parallel universes, two completely different realities depending on what class people are in,” Compass chief market analyst Patrick Carlisle told the Chronicle in December.

In Woodside, a number of high-end properties that were on the market for all of 2019 started selling shortly after the pandemic began, according to Compass realtor Brad Miller, who is co-listing the estate with his wife, Helen Miller, and Zackary Wright of Christie’s International Real Estate.

“We’re getting a lot of buyers exiting the urban settings and looking for places with space,” said Miller, who also lives in Woodside.

It takes more than two hours to walk around the estate’s large acreage, where deers and great blue herons roam around a variety of oak, maple, and elm trees. It is one of the last large parcels in Woodside, the Millers said.

The estate has been in the same family for five generations, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the early part of the 20th century, Mortimer Fleishhacker — who founded the Anglo California Bank and the Great Western Power Company — was on a mission to find a compound for his soon-to-be large family when he bought nine parcels in Woodside, which then was a rural and unincorporated area not too far south from his home in San Francisco.

The compound’s centerpiece, a nine-bedroom, 9,200-square-foot Cotswold-style main home was built in 1911 by architects Charles Sumner Green and Henry Mather Greene, brothers famous for their Arts Crafts homes in the Bay Area. The estate was in part named after them, but also for the novel, “Anne of Green Gables,” which its verdance certainly evokes.

It was used primarily as a summer retreat for Fleishhacker, his wife, Bella, and their growing family. The estate’s other six homes — quasi-Sea Ranch-style homes, were built in the 1960s and 1970s for members of the Fleishhacker family. The second-largest house — a six-bedroom for Fleishhacker’s daughter— was designed by modernist maestro William Wurster, a Bay Area architect.

Over the years, it was also used as an event space. In 1965, the 20th anniversary of the United Nations was held on the grounds, and it has also been used for corporate retreats and weddings. As of recently, most of its six other houses are rented out, and the main house hasn’t been in as much use as it was in its early days.

That was part of the reason the family chose to sell, Miller said.

Many steps down from the main house is the crown jewel of the estate: a Roman-style reflective pool, with intricate curved stairways and stunning arches, surrounded by lush greenery and a lily pond. Another pool — one of the “first freeform” pools in the area with its pioneering design, is just steps away from the main house. Further along the property stands a stone structure called the “tea and dairy house,” which Fleishhacker built for Bella, who wanted a place to drink her afternoon tea. Later, it became a space for their dairy work, where maids made milk and cheese.

The main reason for the sky-high price point, the Millers say, is the abundance of land and views, not the main house, which is really more a vessel for the compound’s stunning Peninsula views. The estate’s land has been unused but could be cultivated creatively, made into a vineyard or equestrian operation, the Millers say.

Here are more views of the Green Gables grounds and inside its historic structures.

CBS San Francisco Staff Report

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — With the demand for COVID-19 vaccination growing, the information you need to know is coming fast and furious. Here’s a roundup of the COVID stories we’ve published over the last 24 hours.

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Alameda, Santa Cruz, Solano County Move Into Red Tier, Business Owners To Reopen Indoor Operations
ALAMEDA — Alameda, Santa Cruz and Solano counties were elevated to the less restrictive Red Tier Monday, allowing their struggling restaurants to offer limited indoor dining and clearing the way for fans to be in the stands when the Oakland A’s begin regular season play. For counties in the Red Tier, indoor restaurant dining rooms and movie theaters can reopen at 25% capacity or up to 100 people, whichever is fewer. Gyms and dance and yoga studios can open at 10% capacity. Museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoor activities at 25% capacity. Prep sports can also can finally get underway and schools can reopen under the state restrictions. Meanwhile with Alameda now in the Red Tier, fans will be allowed at 20% capacity at A’s games. Read More

Berkeley Set To Open Elementary Schools For In-Person Learning 5 Days / Week Starting March 29
BERKELEY — The Berkeley Unified School District expects to reopen elementary schools to in-person learning later this month, offering a five-day a week schedule. In a letter to students and parents, Superintendent Brent Stephens said elementary campuses would reopen for Transitional Kindergarten through 2^nd Grade on March 29 and Grades 3-5 on April 12. Families have the option to select in-person learning for their child or continue distance learning for the remainder of the school year. Parents must make their choice known to the district by Thursday, March 11 at noon. “We recognize that you don’t have all the details of the program to consider, but we do need you to tell us whether your child would return to school in person or not so that we can plan,” said the superintendent. Read More

Embattled Gov. Newsom Uses COVID Mass Vaccination Site For State Of The State Address As Recall Looms
LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday gave his State of the State address inside an empty Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, as the threat to his political career as California’s leader looms overhead. “A year ago, a once in a century pandemic arrived on our shores,” Newsom said. Newsom stood inside one of California’s largest vaccination sites to deliver his address. Newsom said the seating at Dodger Stadium was almost the exact same number as the more than 53,000 Californians who have died from COVID-19. “It was leveraged, as many of our politicians often times will do, they will leverage a painful, traumatizing moment in order to be a jumping off point for a political speech,” said San Jose State University Prof. of Public Relations Shaun Fletcher. Read More

SF Supes Approve Emergency Ordinance For $5/Hour Raise For Some Grocery Workers
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency ordinance to temporarily raise wages by $5 per hour for some grocery and retail workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton, the emergency ordinance calling for the additional hazard pay is urgently needed to further support the city’s essential workers, who are at higher risk of contracting the virus as they can’t work from home and often work indoors and serve a variety of customers on a daily basis. “Our essential grocery workers are often paid minimum wage and are expected to take high risks by constant exposure to the public. While we have protocols in place to wear a mask, stay 6-feet apart, and stay home if you’re sick, we know these protocols are not always followed by the public,” Walton said in a statement. “This emergency ordinance compensates grocery workers and drug store workers who have had heightened exposure throughout this pandemic by working to survive.” Read More

Red Tier Means Real, Live A’s Baseball Fans Are Coming Back!
OAKLAND — With Alameda County moving into the Red Tier, we now move just a little bit closer to normal and that’s great news for Oakland A’s fans. For the moment the A’s are still in Arizona for spring training but come Opening Day on April 1, all those stupid cardboard fake fans can be replaced with real fans at 20 percent capacity. “To have that back this year, to welcome our fans back, to have that as a pick me up for our players, especially when we have a great team this year, a world series contender, we’re thrilled that’s the possibility starting April 1,” said A’s team President Dave Kaval. Read More

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East Bay Town Of Mountain House Sees Pandemic Real Estate Boom
TRACY — Anyone wondering where some of the residents who fled from the Bay Area during the COVID-19 pandemic should just look to the east. In late 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis, the zip codes of Mountain House were the most underwater in the country. 90% of the homeowners owed more than their property was worth, by an average of $122,000. Since the start of the pandemic, that has changed dramatically. “Mountain House was not even on the map for a long time in the Bay Area,” said resident Girish Mohan. “Anyone I talked to who I said, ‘We bought a house in Mountain House,’ it was always like, ‘What? Mountain what?’” Read More

Solano County Officials Approve Plans For Mass Vaccination Site At Fairgrounds In Vallejo
VALLEJO — The Solano County Board of Supervisors approved a memorandum of understanding Tuesday with the Kaiser Family Foundation and several other partner organizations to operate a COVID-19 vaccination site at the county fairgrounds in Vallejo. The MOU with the KFF, NorthBay Healthcare, Sutter Health Solano and Touro University would establish the vaccination site for a 90-day term, with the option of extending it for subsequent 90-day terms. The clinic would administer vaccine doses for up to 12 hours per day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days per week, according to the county. Several single-day vaccination clinics have already been held at the fairgrounds as the county progresses through vaccinating residents aged 65 and older, health care workers, food and agriculture workers and education and child care workers. Read More

UPDATE: Lyft Bans Maskless Uber Passenger Who Coughed On, Assaulted Driver; Woman Posts Videos Taken Before Incident
SAN FRANCISCO — Ride-hailing service Lyft has also banned a woman caught on camera coughing on and assaulting an Uber driver who refused her and her friends service over in San Francisco over not wearing masks, the company announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, the woman in question has apparently posted a video on social media in which she expresses some remorse for her actions but continues to rail against and blame the driver for ending her ride and demanding her group leave his vehicle. In the new video, the woman – who was banned by Uber following the incident – also threatens to sue Uber and ends the video by saying, “That’s why I take Lyft.” Read More

CoCo Health Officials Tell Supes County’s Move to Red Tier Could Happen Next Week
MARTINEZ — County health director Anna Roth told the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Tuesday that the number of COVID-19 cases countywide has dropped into the state’s red tier for reopening, meaning Contra Costa restaurants, gyms and retail establishments will likely be able to open indoors, with limits, next week. In-person instruction for grades 7-12 could also restart next week, assuming the county’s case numbers don’t spike. “If we remain on the same path, which we expect that we will, that means that there will be some changes for our community early next week, or by mid-next week,” Roth said. County health officer Dr. Chris Farnitano said the overall case rate per 100,000 people has dropped to 8.1% — from 10.4% the previous week — which is still over the state-mandated 7%. Read More

Counties Across California Complain Of New Vaccine Delivery As Economy Reopens
SAN FRANCISCO — California’s counties remain skittish over switching up their vaccine delivery systems, with a Santa Clara County official saying the Silicon Valley county will not participate in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to have Blue Shield control COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Some counties and elected officials are also pushing for Newsom to reconsider a plan to distribute more vaccine to vulnerable neighborhoods, saying that the ZIP codes he planned to use do not capture all the pockets of poverty in the state, including in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read More

Johnson Johnson Vaccine Arrives in Santa Clara County
SAN JOSE — After weeks of waiting, the one-dose Johnson Johnson vaccine just arrived in Santa Clara County on Monday. The county received 7,500 doses of the new COVID-19 vaccine, according to public health officials. Additional doses of the Johnson Johnson vaccine are expected to arrive in Santa Clara County on March 23. The highly-anticipated Johnson Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine only requires one dose, rather than the two doses required by Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines. It has been anxiously awaited by local health officials hoping to boost vaccination rates across the county, especially in hardest hit areas, although it’s not immediately clear where the vaccine doses are headed. County officials said there is not “a designated location” for the vaccine at this time. Read More

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UC Davis Makes Unique Spring Break Offer — $75 Paid To Students Who Staycation
DAVIS — UC Davis officials have taken to Facebook with a unique offer to make sure there is no new surge in COVID cases on campus and to support local businesses. They are offering students $75 to take a staycation. The grants will be limited to the first 500 students who apply. UC Davis students will be on Spring break from March 22-25. The idea is to spend the money on local businesses rather than somewhere else. “As per state guidance, all non-essential travel should be avoided, and staying local is a good way to do your part in slowing the spread of COVID-19,” the post said. Read More

Article source: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/03/10/covid-19-mountain-house-pandemic-real-estate-boom-sf-approves-grocery-hazard-pay-oakland-as-fans-coming-back/

Only 3.7% of the households and businesses that filed address changes in five Bay Area counties from March to November 2020 left California, a total of 4,264 move outs, according to the data.

In contrast, 72% of changes resulted in moves to other Bay Area counties and about a fifth of the 115,243 address changes went elsewhere in California. USPS didn’t provide batches of address changes from a ZIP code totaling 10 or fewer, citing privacy concerns. The data covers Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

The migration doesn’t add up to an exodus, said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a business-backed think tank. But it still represents a significant population shift, pushing apartment rents and future tax revenue down, he said. “Some of the data points we’re tracking do imply greater movement than in the past.”

The most popular out-of-state destination was Washington state, followed by Texas, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho and New York.

The majority of the 1,227 households that moved to Washington went to King County, which includes Seattle. The coastal tech hub has been a popular destination for tech workers for years and has satellite offices from numerous Bay Area tech giants like Google and Facebook. Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest private employer, has a significant Seattle division after buying local software company Tableau. Amazon and Microsoft are also hiring rapidly.

But Seattle housing prices remain substantially lower. A median one-bedroom apartment is $1,500, much less than San Francisco’s $2,650, according to real estate firm Zumper.

Housing costs remain a huge disparity between the Bay Area and the rest of the country and often cited as the main reason to move.

Mark Glaser, a longtime homeowner in San Francisco’s Excelsior, moved to Santa Fe, N.M., during the pandemic, drawn by the substantially cheaper cost of living and more peaceful atmosphere.

“It’s been great. I really enjoy being here,” said Glaser, who is an innovation consultant for the New Mexico Local News Fund.

His family found a $2,500-per-month three bedroom home in Sante Fe. Similar San Francisco listings can easily top $5,000 a month, even after major rent declines last year.

“The expense of the Bay Area was just a little crazy,” he said, comparing it to a hamster wheel “where you’re just trying to survive.”

Glaser and his wife are able to work remotely. He misses his Bay Area friends, but given the ongoing pandemic, wouldn’t be seeing them much anyways.

Buying a house in New Mexico is getting more difficult, with low supply, rising demand and low interest rates creating a competitive marketplace. That’s happening across the country. Home prices in Boise, Idaho, have jumped to a record $433,250, up 22% in the past year. Idaho was the fifth-most popular state for outmigration among the five Bay Area counties.

The second-most popular destination for people leaving the Bay Area was Texas, which had 749 change-of-address records from the Bay Area, mostly for Houston, Austin and its northern neighbor Williamson County.

Major Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle, have also moved headquarters to Texas in recent months, where there are lower taxes, cheaper real estate, fewer regulations and no personal income tax. But companies are maintaining some offices in the Bay Area and it’s unclear how many workers will leave with top executives.

“We’re certainly seeing a wave of companies seeking to cut their costs and locating to an area where they’re going to see better profit margins,” said Chuck DeVore, vice president of national initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a former California state assembly member.

The movement of these companies brings to mind memories of previous shifts.

DeVore points out that California has lost the bulk of a tech-focused industry before: aerospace. Companies like Boeing shuttered their California factories in recent decades due to high labor, land and compliance costs.

The message from companies was, “We can’t run an industry based on nostalgia. We’ve got to get out of here,” DeVore said. “Maybe that’s beginning to happen right now in high tech.”

Alarm bells are ringing in Silicon Valley.

“If we continue not making changes, we will truly be facing an exodus,” said Ahmad Thomas, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a business advocacy coalition whose members include the biggest tech giants.

The group is urging state and local officials to tell businesses that taxes won’t increase further as the economy recovers from the pandemic. California’s tax policy is more volatile because anyone can attempt to raise taxes through a ballot measure.

“We’re never going to win an affordability contest,” Thomas said. “No one comes to California because it’s cheap.”

He wants to see a better regional strategy around highlighting the Bay Area’s advantages, like its highly qualified labor force and culture of innovation.

“We still have a high quality talent pool,” Bellisario said. “We’ve got great world-class universities. This venture capital ecosystem has not disappeared.” But the rise of remote work represents a new threat as workers can collect California-level wages while living in far less expensive regions.

Femi Ajayi used to live near his job at Univfy, a Los Altos technology company that supports fertility counseling. After the pandemic erupted, the company closed its office and Ajayi returned to his hometown of Atlanta.

He had a relatively good deal in Silicon Valley, paying $1,300 a month for a unit he shared with one roommate. But now his condo mortgage is $1,100 per month and he’s close to family.

“I do love California and the weather and the hiking, but it was just too expensive,” he said. “I would come back if I got another job opportunity and it was just too good to pass up.”

Roland Li and Susie Neilson are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com, susan.neilson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf, @susieneilson

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The Curtis family reached out to ABC7 News after seeing the now-viral story of a Marin City couple lowballed in what they believe was a racially biased appraisal. The Curtis family knew something wasn’t right when they also received a low appraisal because both the husband and wife work in real estate.

Ronald who is Black and Dominique who is Puerto Rican believe they received the same treatment and decided to sit down with ABC7′s Race and Culture Reporter Julian Glover to tell their story.

“We were in the process of doing a refinance. The appraiser came out and we were shocked when we saw the value of our home was $254,000 less than the appraisal we got months earlier,” said Ronald Curtis.

The family’s lender, Rocket Mortgage, owned by Quicken Loans, ordered the appraisal through an independent appraisal management company (AMC) in December 2020.

The home was valued at $900,000, but just months earlier in April the home appraised for $1,154,000 in an appraisal also ordered by the lender: a quarter-million-dollar difference.

Meanwhile, housing prices went up and interest rates fell.

But the Curtis family was uniquely positioned to do their own investigation, surveying comparable homes to realize something wasn’t right.

“I’ve been a realtor for over 10 years and currently I’m a licensed real estate broker,” said Mr. Curtis.

“I’ve been training to become an appraiser for about two and a half years now. I’m due to take my test fairly soon,” said Ms. Curtis.

After doing some research Ronald knew there was a greater issue at play.

VIDEO: Black California couple lowballed by $500K in home appraisal, believe race was a factor

“Somebody doesn’t have to say that the reason why they did it is because we were Black or Puerto Rican, or people of color. But absolutely, that’s the reason why,” said Curtis.

The Curtis family immediately pulled reports of the comparable homes the appraiser used in their report from the MLS (multiple listing services) they have access to as licensed real estate professionals.

The family showed ABC7′s Julian Glover pictures of the current status of the homes, blighted with boarded-up windows, a caved-in garage, and bricks lining a roof to hold shingles in place.

“He was just deliberately looking for a property that fits his price so he could lower our value,” said Curtis.

Those same photos were also attached to the extensive, nearly 60-page complaint the family filed with the California Board of Real Estate.

The investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, interest rates have increased meaning the family missed out on a chance to save thousands of dollars a year on their mortgage by refinancing.

ABC7 reached out to Quicken Loans and received the following statement:

Quicken Loans truly regrets the frustration that Mr. Curtis and his family have experienced with their home loan. Under federal law, lenders are required to work with independent appraisal management companies who then assign the work to state-licensed professionals to conduct home appraisals as part of the mortgage process. The law’s intent is to determine the home’s value without any input or bias from the lender – or anyone else – participating in the transaction.

We have reached out to Mr. Curtis to gain his permission to order a new appraisal from a second licensed appraiser, at our expense as an accommodation to our client, to obtain an additional opinion of value. Quicken Loans values equity and fair lending and we stand prepared to assist Mr. Curtis in securing financing for his home if the second appraisal is sufficient to support the loan amount.

However, the Curtis family provided a voicemail showing a Quicken Loans representative only offered a second appraisal the day after ABC7 News reached out to the company for comment.

Out of frustration with the company, the Curtis family declined the second appraisal offered Monday, and in a follow-up statement, Quicken Loans informed ABC7 News the company now considers the case closed.

Given the current monthly mortgage rate, the Curtis Family informed ABC7 News they have signed a lease to rent a home and will likely sell their current property.

“We know the implications of what this means. It doesn’t mean that it affects us for a month or two and then it goes away. This is stuff that affects us for generations,” said Curtis.

Discrimination in the housing market is systemic and detrimental to marginalized people with consequences suffered across generations.

A 2018 report by the Brookings Institution on the “devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods” found in most metro areas in the country, homes in majority-Black neighborhoods were valued for significantly less than homes in neighborhoods with virtually no Black residents.

The study found the differences in homes and neighborhood quality don’t explain the devaluation of homes in black neighborhoods.

The study showed homes in the Bay Area’s Black neighborhoods are valued at 27% less than homes of similar quality in white neighborhoods: a difference of $164,000 on average, among the worse differences in the nation.

Looking at the national picture, homes in Black neighborhoods with similar amenities are worth 23% less, $48,000 per home on average.

“We shouldn’t have to scrub Blackness from our homes to get a fair shake in society,” said Andre M. Perry, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Perry wrote the Brookings Institution study on the devaluation of Black homes and wrote the book “Know your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.”

As the Austin’s story went viral, several Twitter users tagged ABC7′s Julian Glover in Perry’s work.

“Whether it’s appraisals, whether it’s real estate agent behavior, lending practices, all of these things in housing markets impact price, and it’s clear that something is going on today that throttles the price of Black homes,” said Perry.

“That’s about $156 billion in lost equity across the country. It would have paid for more than 8 million college degrees, based on the average amount of a public four-year institution. It would have replaced the pipes in Flint, Michigan, 3000 times over-It’s a big number,” he said.

Those loses often go unseen and unreported.

That’s why non-profit advocacy groups like the Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FHANC) encourage families to file formal complaints.

The FHANC represents victims of housing discrimination.

In California someone discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age – among other protected classes – can file a complaint.

The executive director Caroline Peattie said she was stunned when she heard of the Austin’s story.

“Folks can file an administrative discrimination complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing,” said Peattie.

If you would like to file a complaint, click here.

She also pointed out families or individuals facing housing discrimination have one year to file a complaint and two years to file a lawsuit in California.

There are remedies in both situations involving rentals and real estate purchases.

Peattie said most often action leads to settlements or reprimands on behalf of the negligent institution.

The process, however, can drag on taking months or even years for resolution.

Peattie said victims have better odds if they are represented.

“Racism needs to be addressed and remediated in ways that will be remembered,” she said.

The Austin’s are now considering filing a formal complaint.

Tate Austin is glad sharing her family’s story has encouraged others to come forward.

“With people standing up and starting to fight back for social justice, I feel like the world is primed to have this conversation,” said Tenisha Tate Austin.

“People are talking and they are standing up and letting people know that this is not just a one off thing. This is a systemic issue that needs to be changed,” said Austin.

Article source: https://abc7news.com/black-homeowner-problems-sf-bay-area-housing-discrimination-minority-homeownership-anti-black-policy/10362859/

KENSINGTON (KPIX 5) – In the Bay Area’s housing market, bidding wars are back with a vengeance. Despite a global pandemic, 2020 is expected to outpace 2019 when it comes to the number of homes sold.

“I’m very surprised by the numbers we’re seeing,” Michael Delehanty, a Real Estate Agent for Compass said.

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Delehanty has been a realtor for 16 years, he says he’s having daily conversations with clients about overbidding.

They go something like this. “I’ve got good news and bad news, the good news is I think I know what it’s going to take to get this property. The bad news? The number is so outlandish that it’s hard to even say out loud,” he explained.

Delehanty recently sold a three-bedroom home in Kensington, a neighborhood in the Berkeley Hills, for $400,000 over the asking price, that overbid is more money than the house sold for back in 2001.

“We’re talking about Kensington and these areas. But to be honest it’s going on in Concord, it’s going on in Oakley and Brentwood and the entire East Bay,” Delehanty said.

A multitude of factors helped create this red-hot real estate market, first being all time record low interest rates bottoming out at 2.65% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage in January. On top of that, more than 3 million millennials just hit home buying age.

The pandemic and work from home changed what people wanted, most want space now, but many sellers are worried about moving during a pandemic, this restricted supply giving us, bidding wars.

Zillow’s analysts like to say, “low inventory + high demand = intense competition”.

Homes in 2020 spent an average of 16 days on the market, it was just 12 in October, compared to sitting an average 42 days in 2019.

“It’s this scramble for space where there’s not enough inventory particularly in suburbs and single-family homes,” Jeff Tucker a Senior Economist at Zillow said.

Tucker points out that the record-low interest rates we’re experiencing mean even more in extremely expensive real estate markets, “because they know they can lock that in for 30 years which makes such a big difference on such a sizable mortgage.”

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Many people with white-collar jobs who didn’t lose work during the pandemic were able to save money by staying home. For first-time homebuyers that helped with a down payment and low interest rates made buying hard to resist. Now the expectation is that the economy will improve in the coming years and those interest rates will start to tick up slightly.

“I think that is actually triggering a further scramble because this might be the last chance to lock in a sub 3% interest rate and people are thinking ‘I want to do that right now,’” Tucker said.

“It’s really created the perfect storm for the housing market to erupt that’s what we’re seeing,” Alexander Fromm Lurie, a Real Estate Advisor with Compass.

Lurie said he saw interest wane in San Francisco during COVID but it’s coming back, especially for unique homes such as 2454 Bush street. It’s two cottages combined by a glass ceiling and has a lot of rare outdoor space for the city.

“We expect an offer today, that’s after just a few days on the market,” Fromm Lurie said.

The realtor went on to say, “people want a sanctuary in the city, gardens on both sides, not cookie cutter. People want to feel like they’re in a special space.”

Luxury real estate in San Francisco is also breaking records, 150 Glenbrook Avenue broke a neighborhood record at $17.5 million in 2020.

“The folks who have good positions, profitable businesses, they are buying luxury homes and maybe second homes,” Laura Adams, a former real estate agent who now works for Aceable, a real estate license training site.

Adams says she worries about how the other half is faring, those who kept their homes but lost their jobs and are seeing relief only because of forbearance.

“When we hit the end of mortgage forbearance which is expected at end of June, we may see a lot more foreclosures that could change the dynamic a bit,” Adams said.

As for how long the bidding wars will last, Delehanty says it doesn’t look like it will let up anytime in the next three to six months.

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“The outlandish aspect is not feeling like this is a bubble, not feeling like this is an unsustainable run-up on the market,” Delehanty said.

Article source: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/03/11/project-home-bay-area-bidding-wars-housing-market-heats-up-year-into-pandemic/