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Home Truths, a quarterly report on the state of the Berkeley real estate market, is brought to you by Red Oak Realty.

There are few places in the Bay Area that offer a bay-front lifestyle with Golden Gate Bridge views that do not require IPO money. Point Richmond, the peninsula at the East Bay’s most northwest point, offers a marina and a small-town experience that comes at a relatively affordable price.

And with its walkability and out-of-the-way-yet-connected vibe, it is perhaps one of the East Bay’s best kept secrets.

The area became even more attractive this January, when the San Francisco Bay Ferry began operations between Point Richmond and the San Francisco Ferry Building. Right now the ferry route focuses on serving commuters with four Richmond-to-SF rides each weekday morning and two SF-to-Richmond rides in the evening. It also has a few weekend routes running through Nov. 3.

As those who ride the ferry know, it’s the Bay Area’s best commute — featuring beautiful views of the city and East Bay, fresh bay wind in your hair (if you choose to sit or stand outside) and wine and beer on board!

The Richmond ferry offers more than a glorious ride — it opens up Point Richmond to more professionals by short-circuiting a long BART or traffic-plagued car commute to San Francisco. It’s now easier to get to San Francisco from Point Richmond than from many places in Marin.

And there’s more. Point Richmond offers close proximity to the wine country, Marin and easy highway access to Berkeley and Oakland (outside of peak traffic times).

Red Oak Realty agents know that the area is on an upswing, so we asked some of our experts in the area to share their insights.

Small-town, waterfront lifestyle

On the water: Point Richmond, the waterfront section of Richmond (population of over 110,000, according to 2017 U.S. Census data), separated from the city by Highway 580 as it proceeds north to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, has the elements of a small town and then some, including one of the East Bay’s best natatoriums and the standout waterfront Bay Trail.

The Plunge: The Plunge in Point Richmond features year-round indoor swimming, swim lessons and family swim events.

Hiking and biking: The Bay Trail through Point Richmond connects the area via hiking and biking trails for miles north to Point Pinole and south to the Bay Bridge and beyond.

The marina: The area has two private marinas, including one in Marina Bay just to the south of Point Richmond, and the Bay Area’s premier racing yacht club, the Richmond Yacht Club. Many residents own kayaks, boats, paddle boards and other water toys for an enjoyable  evening moment on the water.

Food and drink: After swimming, hiking and boating, residents can walk to happy hour at 100-year-old hotel Hotel Mac, local brewery East Brother, relatively new New York City-style pizza joint Raymond’s Pizzeria and the area java-powered gathering point Kaleidoscope Coffee.

How to join the Point Richmond lifestyle

Point Richmond features predominantly single-family homes, some of which have been converted into duplexes or triplexes. It also includes some condo developments.

Demand is increasing because of the new ferry route and an increasing awareness of the area’s great walkability and quality of life. Prices have risen substantially over the last couple of years, yet Point Richmond remains one of the best-priced areas in the East Bay for what you’re getting.

Some standout homes for sale include the following:

The three-bed, 2-and-a-half bath single-family home with Mount Tamalpais and Bay views just blocks from the water for $995,000.

Another great Point Richmond opportunity is the beautiful three-bedroom, 2.5-bath home with high ceilings and bay views at 528 Seacliff Place going for $995,000. 

Just steps from the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline park, the four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home at 203 Seapoint Place offers bay living near its best for $1.025 million.

Any questions about these homes or other Point Richmond opportunities, reach out to us!

Home Truths is written and sponsored by Red Oak Realty, the largest independent real estate broker in the East Bay, serving the community since 1976. Read more in this series. If you are interested in learning more about the local real estate market or are considering buying or selling a home, contact Red Oak at hello@redoakrealty.com, 510-250 8780.

Article source: https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/10/09/home-truths-point-richmond-one-of-the-east-bays-best-kept-secrets

Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/2nd-most-valuable-U-S-startup-to-leave-SF-as-14558067.php

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Article source: https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/bay-area-real-estate-shows-signs-of-softening/article_59ad5788-e3fe-11e9-a7a6-235314be4e8c.html

Julie Wyss of Los Gatos, CA BRE# 01350871

Jump on these low interest rates because as soon as the market stabilizes, mortgage rates will likely rise.

LOS GATOS, Calif. (PRWEB)
October 22, 2019

The Leading 100, REAL Trends’ annual guide to the top 100 Bay Area real estate professionals has, in conjunction with LuxeSF, San Francisco magazine, and Silicon Valley magazine, named Julie Wyss the #29 top professional in the SF Bay Area.

With over $100,000,000 in sales in 2018, Julie has a deep understanding of the local market. She knows what it takes to buy and sell homes at the best possible price, even in a market fraught with anxiety.

“Inventory has increased, and interest rates are low, so it’s very buyer-friendly—but it’s not technically a buyer’s market. If anything, inventory levels still point to a seller’s market,” says Julie. “Baby boomers are moving out in droves. They’re escaping the traffic, long lines, and the high intensity of Silicon Valley, which opens up the market to an influx of qualified millennial buyers. That, coupled with low mortgage interest rates, makes this a key time to snap up property close to the biggest tech employers in the world.”

But many buyers are nervous about jumping into the market as it ebbs from its height of $1.7M in some Bay Area counties. “The tech industry is bringing in buyers from all over the world,” says Julie. “These buyers—young, dual-income tech couples—want homes that are as close as possible to leading employers like Google and Apple because they work extraordinarily long hours and don’t want to waste time sitting in commute traffic. They also want access to great schools, and they’re willing to pay top dollar for that.”

This means the smartest people in the world who command top salaries from the world’s most coveted tech employers are the buyer’s competition. Buyers who wait out the market to save a few thousand dollars on asking price could spend those same thousands on higher interest rates or a longer commute. “Jump on these low interest rates,” advises Julie. “Because as soon as the market stabilizes, mortgage rates will likely rise.”

In other words, it’s still a good time to buy.

Julie has advice for sellers too, “Sellers are worried their home will sit on the market and go through multiple price reductions before selling—and that is happening—but it’s a byproduct of overpricing. Sellers are frustrated that they missed the peak of the market, and they’re having a hard time letting go of the higher home prices of 2018.”

But Silicon Valley real estate prices are no longer at their zenith, and homes are only worth what buyers will pay for them. “Despite a certain level of anxiety, buyers are feeling more powerful with the higher levels of inventory, so negotiations are fierce,” Julie warns. “The best thing sellers can do is face the fact that they missed the peak of the market and just enjoy the high sales prices their homes will bring them simply because of their prime location in Silicon Valley.”

To contact Julie, call 1.408.687.2026. http://www.juliewyss.com

About Julie Wyss:

Julie offers full-service residential real estate services to buyers and sellers around the San Francisco Bay Area. She is nationally recognized in the Wall Street Journal as one of the elite top 1,000 agents in the country and consistently ranks in the top 100 Bay Area agents by The Bay Area Leading 100. Learn more at juliewyss.com. BRE# 01350871.

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Article source: https://www.prweb.com/releases/los_gatos_broker_julie_wyss_awarded_the_29_spot_among_the_top_100_real_estate_professionals_in_the_bay_area/prweb16660628.htm

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a publicly broadcast QA with employees that his company is looking elsewhere for growth because of the Bay Area’s housing and traffic issues.

“The infrastructure here is really tapped,” Zuckerberg said Thursday. “Housing prices are way up. Traffic is bad.” He added that while Facebook is trying to do what it can to help with what he called the region’s policy challenges, “at this point we’re primarily growing outside of the Bay Area.”

The social networking giant has a huge footprint in the Bay Area, where it was founded. In addition to the company’s massive headquarters in Menlo Park, it also has offices in Fremont, Mountain View and San Francisco, and plans to open offices in Burlingame next year. Last month, it opened a new campus in Sunnyvale, leasing 1 million square feet that can accommodate thousands of employees.

Facebook’s largest locations outside the Bay Area are in Seattle, Austin and New York City, a spokesman said Friday. Other major cities where the company has offices include Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.

Facebook has tried to address the Bay Area housing crunch by proposing mixed-use space in Menlo Park and subsidizing apartments for teachers, funding housing for low-income residents and more. The foundation by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, earlier this year partnered with Facebook, Genentech and others to pledge $500 million to build or preserve more than 8,000 homes in the Bay Area over the next 5 to 10 years.

Zuckerberg addressed the Bay Area’s infrastructure woes as part of his answer to an employee’s question about why Facebook isn’t friendlier to remote work. The CEO said he prefers big hubs where Facebook engineering teams could be around one another, and that he doesn’t want to have a lot of small offices around the world, except for where sales teams need to be in the markets they’re serving.

Zuckerberg’s comments come as other tech companies, including Apple and Google, expand their presence in the Bay Area.

Facebook isn’t the only tech company that’s looking to grow elsewhere, though. Commercial real estate brokerage Cushman Wakefield said this week that 58 of the 89 biggest — with headquarters of 100,000 square feet and above — tech and life science companies based in the Bay Area have leased 30.4 million square feet of office space in other U.S. cities since January 2010. Outside the Bay Area, the five markets with the most square footage leased by those types of companies are Austin, Seattle, New York, Southern California and Chicago.

Facebook’s CEO live-streamed the internal meeting this week after audio of a previous meeting was leaked to the Verge. At that meeting, Zuckerberg said Facebook would fight Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s efforts to break up the company if she became president. At Thursday’s meeting, Zuckerberg said he would try not to “antagonize” Warren further.

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Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-housing-traffic-have-facebook-looking-elsewhere-for-expansion