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They’ve decided it’s time to sell the small space they’ve worked out of for more than 40 years in South Berkeley. But rather than find new tenants, or sell the property to another business, they want to do their part to help out with the Bay Area housing crisis: They’re planning to sell the home-turned-office space to an aspiring homeowner, and the most expensive offer won’t necessarily win.

“We’re trying to take [the house] back to its roots,” Weston, 71, said. “There is a feeling amongst us … that we would like to sell it back to people who could be participants in the community.”

2903 Shattuck Ave., just listed for $699,000, was originally built as a home in 1904. Somewhere along the way, it was converted into office space. Weston and her three colleagues teamed up when they were all looking for office space in the early 1980s and began renting it. A few years later, the owner gave them the option to purchase the space. They decided to cobble together what they could for a down payment — Weston thinks it was about $10,000 each — and worked with a local bank to finance the property. 

Now they agree the area doesn’t need the office space, and they want to find the right buyer. They aren’t interested in encouraging a bidding war. They won’t take an all-cash offer. They don’t care about a long escrow period. Assuming it all works out, they’re going to work with the right people to make sure this house becomes a home again.

“They don’t want cash, they don’t want an LLC. They really want to give someone an opportunity to make it a home,” said co-listing agent Janine Hunt. “This is a bit of a unicorn. This really doesn’t come up.”

2903 Shattuck Ave. is listed as a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, but the bathroom no longer has a shower. The kitchen was removed over the years, so a buyer will have lots of work to do to convert the space. There’s also an old shed in the back that will need to be removed, though Hunt noted it’s a perfect spot to put an ADU.

And the property still has its original charm, including built-ins, bay windows, original fir wood floors and a fireplace. And the missing amenities are easier to address given that well-below-seven-figures price tag.

Weston admits that had this been three years ago, the home sale might have been a different story — a more traditional outcome. But the pandemic transitioned so much work online, and the area’s housing crisis has only deepened. Weston said she and her colleagues feel so fortunate to have had the space for so many years, and now it’s time for the building’s next chapter — an owner on a (Bay Area) budget who’s ready to make it a home again.

“We want to pass on what we lucked out with,” Weston said.

Article source: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/unique-berkeley-property-for-sale-17351602.php

Yesterday, we broke the news that many real estate watchers have been expecting: Bay Area home values are finally declining, if only slightly. For some time, the housing market has been showing lots of signs of slowing down, but this is the first time values have actually dipped during the pandemic.

The latest data from Zillow also shows the housing market cooling down faster here than the rest of the country. What does all of this really mean for home buyers and homeowners?

Slowing demand still hasn’t translated to a drastic decline in prices, and the San Francisco metropolitan area remains one of the most expensive places to buy in the U.S., with average monthly home values nearing $1.5 million. It does, however, give home buyers something they haven’t had in a while: leverage. The rate of home sales has declined, while the number of listings with price drops has increased.

Read more from Kellie Hwang and Ricardo Cano.

Monkeypox updates

Demand for a monkeypox vaccine is surging, and San Francisco’s supply of shots is running low.

Despite receiving 2,300 doses from the federal government, people say it’s not enough. Yesterday, members of the city’s LGBTQ communities, led by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, rallied at City Hall in hopes of pressuring local and federal governments for more monkeypox vaccines.

There are 68 probable and confirmed cases of monkeypox among San Francisco residents. Public health experts are concerned officials are not prioritizing monkeypox the way that they did with COVID.

Here’s more from Aidin Vaziri.

• Read it again: What’s the latest on monkeypox symptoms and cases in the Bay Area? Here’s what you need to know.

What to eat

During the pandemic, San Francisco darling Che Fico added a controversial fee on top of tipping to support its workers. The funds go toward health insurance, 401(k) matching and paid parental leave — all rarities in the restaurant industry, made possible by its 10% dining-in charge.

The restaurant could have baked the fee into the price of its renowned pastas and pizzas, but it chose to highlight the separate charge to illustrate the true cost of running a restaurant and paying its workers a living wage.

Some diners were behind it, others were aggravated by it. But employees tell Chronicle reporter Elena Kadvany that the revenue created a much better workplace.

“Some people would rather have a little bit more money in an abusive environment than less money in a much more nourishing environment,” server Kyle Quinn told The Chronicle.

Around the Bay

• Silicon Valley: The Bay Area is still No. 1 at attracting tech talent in North America, but rising hubs like Seattle, Austin and Toronto are catching up.

• Marsh Fire: A stubborn and smoky wildfire has smoldered in Contra Costa County for six and a half weeks. Now, county officials are planning to flood the area in hopes of putting it out.

• COVID updates: Since the pandemic began, infectious disease experts have repeatedly pointed to good airflow and ventilation as a tactic to mitigate virus transmission. What does that look like?

• West Nile virus:
Scientists in Solano County have found a bird that tested positive for the pathogen.

• Restaurant world: A Wine Country chef was accused of sexual harassment. His new restaurant Piala has been granted an alcohol use permit — but he cannot drink there.

• Innocence Commission: Former San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin created a panel to investigate wrongful convictions. Will his replacement keep it going?

• Court case: A former chief cardiologist at the Palo Alto VA hospital has been sentenced to eight months in prison for sexually abusing a colleague under his supervision.

• Commercial real estate:
Salesforce is cutting its San Francisco office space yet again, listing 40% of the 43-story tower at 50 Fremont St. for lease.

Board game corner

Whether it’s in-person or online, board games have been like chicken soup for the soul during the pandemic, Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman writes.

It’s the perfect way to bring a little joy to friends and family, bonding over colorful meeples, intricate tabletop layouts and dice.

To that end, we have a guide to five fun games to flex your brain, and a sneak peek at one popular game franchise’s new San Francisco-themed set.

Article source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-08/will-home-prices-fall-in-san-francisco-a-tech-wealth-boom-is-fading

Square feet

2,690 sq foot

Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/foster-city-home-real-estate/

But the often-forgotten Solano County experienced a small increase, with a 1.5% improvement from May to June.

Sales are also up 8.7% year over year in Solano County. The continued acceptance of remote work has helped fuel the Solano market, said Tim Garton, an agent with Remax Gold in Vallejo, as people are less hesitant to move far outside the major job markets like Silicon Valley and San Francisco. He said typically buyers from those markets made up about 20% of his business, but over the past two years it has risen to nearly 40%.

The area is also historically the most affordable in the region. “That’s still probably the biggest reason,” Garton said. 

California home sales took a hit overall in June, with a stark 21% year-over-year decline. That’s the biggest downturn since 2008, during the peak of the Great Recession, and excluding the short pandemic downturn in 2020. 

Article source: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/home-prices-down-bay-area-17346051.php