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  A pretty Berkeley Craftsman bungalow asking less than a million is sure to make the news, and this one did

  A pretty Berkeley Craftsman bungalow asking less than a million is sure to make the news, and this one did

  
  Photo: Christian Klugmann
  

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A pretty Berkeley Craftsman bungalow asking less than a million is sure to make the news, and this one did

A pretty Berkeley Craftsman bungalow asking less than a million is sure to make the news, and this one did

Photo: Christian Klugmann

This craftsman home in Berkeley’s Thousand Oaks neighborhood is charming in many ways: looks, condition, location — and not least, the price, which at $995,000 makes it one of the few homes of its kind in the East Bay town asking less than $1 million.

The home

Built in 1916, the home exhibits the best details of its period and style: The hardwoods, tray ceiling, built-in shelving, and mullioned windows are classic hallmarks of a craftsman bungalow.

The house offers two stories, totaling 1,567 square feet of living space plus a one-car garage.

There are three bedrooms, one and a half baths, a remodeled kitchen and a formal dining room. The living room features a wood-burning fireplace.

The lot

This charming abode rests on a lot of 5,049 square feet, per tax records. Upon this lot are a fenced yard dotted with fruit trees. On the backside of the home are patio and gardens.

The location adds quite a bit of allure to an already alluring property: 853 Colusa Avenue is an easy walk to Solano Avenue’s many amenities. BART is also close by, as are a number of city parks.

The deal

The home last sold in 2006 for $770,000. Today, the price on this home is $995,000. We’re willing to bet sellers expect more, given the merits of the property. In fact, comparable MLS sale data generate an estimate closer to $1.2 million.

On the other hand, the asking price is right at the current median for price-per-square foot: Properties in this area have sold for a median of approximately $630 per square foot in the past 30 days, and 853 Colusa Ave. is asking $635.

What will the winning bid be, readers? There are sure to be quite a few of them.

See the complete listing here. 

Anna Marie Erwert writes from both the renter and new buyer perspective, having (finally) achieved both statuses. She focuses on national real estate trends, specializing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. Follow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert

Article source: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Berkeley-real-estate-Craftsman-for-sale-13533886.php

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  The 574-acre estate in Tidewater, Oregon features a two-story Northwestern-style home with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Alsea River.

  The 574-acre estate in Tidewater, Oregon features a two-story Northwestern-style home with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Alsea River.

  
  Photo: Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty
  

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The 574-acre estate in Tidewater, Oregon features a two-story Northwestern-style home with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Alsea River.

The 574-acre estate in Tidewater, Oregon features a two-story Northwestern-style home with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Alsea River.

Photo: Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty

Verdant, bucolic, luxurious and world-class, the Pacific Northwest blends respite and refinement. Destination cities like Seattle and Portland feature a wealth of conveniences and high-end amenities, while the rural parts of Oregon and Washington enjoy lush forests, twisting rivers and abundant wildlife.

Bay Area denizens looking for homes outside their region have been known to take up a second residence in the Pacific Northwest, capitalizing on the area’s seemingly endless hiking trails and snowy winters. They’ve been especially active in recent months, according to several Realtors in the region.

“For high-end properties, anything more than $5 million, about half of all buyers seem to be from the Bay Area,” said Moya Skillman of Compass, who has a mixture of oceanfront and rural listings available at the moment.

Residents are drawn to the Seattle and Bellevue area because of jobs with companies like Amazon and Facebook, Skillman said. The area around Bellevue has grown considerably in recent years, and the city’s downtown has flourished, Skillman said. High-rated schools pepper this community known as the East Side, and the community is near the airport and outdoor adventures.

“Houses in this area are 20 minutes to airport, 15 minutes to downtown Seattle, 20 minutes from skiing and 10 minutes from true hikes up a mountain,” Skillman said.

She isn’t the only Realtor who has noticed an influx in Bay Area buyers.

“You can’t get anything for what you can get a mansion up here for,” said Lisa Morrigan of Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty.

Morrigan’s clients have showed a fevered interest in attracting Bay Area buyers.

“I have more than a few clients who want to know what we are doing to market to buyers in the Bay Area,” she said.

Moira Holley and Scott Wasner of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty currently have a Seattle penthouse that would be perfect as a second residence.

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame city views in this two-story conceptualized by designer Gregory Carmichael and architect Rick Sundberg. It is listed for $13.8 million.

Exotic hardwoods, natural stone and artisan metalwork fashion a refined interior that looks directly at the Space Needle and Elliott Bay. A built-in bench lines a wall of windows in the great room, while a floating gas fireplace warms the space sheltered by a tray ceiling with ambient lighting.

Vertical grain cabinetry and stainless steel appliances finish a modern kitchen that includes a built-in television and a stone-topped island. The listing includes a cinema, as well as a spacious office with library shelving and a built-in desk.

The family room opens to a view deck and stands beside a billiard room with a wet bar. A private terrace waits off the owner’s suite, and the sumptuous retreat includes a spa bathroom with a glass shower and soaking tub with cityscape views.

Building amenities include a 24-hour doorman, fitness center, pool, spa, garden and running track.

For a more rural option in Tidewater, Ore., listing agent Michelle White and Morrigan of Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty have a roughly 574-acre estate that includes a pair of barns, a shop and 150 acres of pastureland. It is listed for $5 million.

A two-story Northwestern-style home with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Alsea River anchors the property.

Its carpeted living room enjoys a voluminous ceiling and stone fireplace, while the nearby formal dining room features inlaid hardwood flooring and French doors leading to a view deck.

The owner’s suite also opens to a deck overlooking the water and hosts a luxurious spa bathroom with a jetted soaking tub facing the river.

Three miles of river cut through the property, providing plenty of opportunities to fish for salmon and steelhead. The lease of a cellular tower and timber harvesting produces income for the property, and elk herds are known to traverse the landscape that’s ideal for hiking, biking and all-terrain vehicles.

Article source: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Pacific-Northwest-offers-unique-opportunity-for-13581605.php

Orange County-based data firm Core Logic made yet another startling announcement about the state of the Bay Area’s real estate market Friday, reporting that December 2018 home sales figures dropped more than 21 percent year over year in the region and down nearly 19 percent in San Francisco.

While the results are not necessarily a surprise—Core Logic’s monthly Bay Area home sales’ reports have indicated a decline in home sales year over year for most of 2018—December represented the single biggest drop yet.

Here are some of the highlights:

• December’s dip was particularly dramatic. Across all nine counties, Core Logic records 5,431 sales in December, down from 6,154 the same time the previous year. That’s a 21.6 percent decline, the largest all year.
• The month-to-month sales gap was notably large too. Between November and December of last year, sales dropped 13.2 percent across all nine counties. It’s normal for fewer homes to sell in December, but “since 1988, the average change in San Francisco Bay Area home sales between November and December is a gain of 7.8 percent.”
• Most of 2018 saw year-over-year declines in sales. This was the seventh straight month that Core Logic reported a drop between 2017 and 2018 sales. During that period the decline in July was just 0.5 percent, a very narrow gap compared to other months, which saw drops of anywhere from 8.6 to 21.6—but still a drop nevertheless.
• Prices remain up compared to last year. The latest report estimates that “the median price paid for all homes sold in the San Francisco Bay Area in December 2018 was $785,000.” That’s up from $750,500 the previous year. Note that this figure includes both condos and houses.
• San Francisco’s dip was one of the smallest regionally, but still gasp-inducing. Compared to the same period in 2017, San Francisco sales were down 18.8 percent, from 447 homes sold to 363. That’s almost modest compared to, say, the 27.7 percent decline in San Mateo County, or 27.3 percent in Solano County. But only three counties had a smaller decline than SF, and two of those—Alameda and Napa—barely beat out SF with 18.6 percent drops. Regionally, Sonoma took the smallest year-over-year hit, down 7.4 percent. There were no gains.

Core Logic analyst Andrew LePage said in a press release that “the nearly 22 percent year-over-year drop in activity was the largest for any month in more than eight years.”

LePage suggested a variety of potential explanations, including a seven-year high in mortgage rates and a bum stock market making some potential buyers anxious.

Most significant of all is the suggestion that “some would-be buyers remain priced out or unwilling to buy amid concerns prices have overshot a sustainable level.” Imagine that.

As with past month’s reports, the California Association of Realtor’s (CAR) most recent report mostly corroborates Core Logic’s analysis.

Though CAR reports “only” a 17.5 percent drop across the region, both sources agree that for the most part sales were down consistently year over year for most of 2018.

The big discrepancy between the two reports is in San Francisco, where CAR reports that sales actually increased 11.3 percent in December, the only county to record any net gain.

The disagreement stems from the fact that CAR records only single-family-home sales, while Core Logic also factors in condos—meaning that December’s dip in condo sales proved great enough to overwhelm an apparent (and singular) surge in the sale of larger homes.

• SF Home Sales Drop [Curbed SF]
• County Sales Activity [CAR]

Article source: https://sf.curbed.com/2019/2/1/18207267/home-sales-san-francisco-bay-area-report-2018

The Bay Area real estate market went into 2018 with a bang and out with a whimper.

In the first half of the year, the median price rose almost 17 percent to an all-time high of $875,000 in June. In the second half, it fell 10.3 percent from that peak, ending at $785,000 in December.

The December price was down 3.7 percent from November but up 4.6 percent from December 2017, according to a report Thursday from research firm CoreLogic. It includes all new and existing homes and condos in the nine Bay Area counties.

An earlier report from the California Association of Realtors — which includes only existing, single-family homes entered into a multiple listing service — said the Bay Area median price fell to $850,000 in December, down 6.1 percent from November and down 3.6 percent from December 2017. That was the first year-over-year drop since March 2012.

Any way you look at it, the market downshifted in the last three months of 2018. As the stock market plunged and mortgage rates rose a half percent to almost 5 percent, buyers backed off, inventory grew, price cuts surged, and price appreciation slowed from the double to single digits on a year-over-year basis.

The number of homes sold in December fell to 5,341 across all nine counties, down 13.2 percent from November and 21.6 percent from December 2017. That was the lowest sales count for a December in 11 years, CoreLogic said.

Many sellers, perhaps unaccustomed to a less-than-ridiculous market, took their homes off the market or let their listings expire. A total of 2,493 listings in the nine Bay Area counties were withdrawn or expired in December, compared with only 1,154 in December 2017 and 1,487 in December 2016, according to analyst Patrick Carlisle of the Compass real estate firm.

“December was rock bottom,” said Chad Eng, a Redfin agent in Silicon Valley. “Buyers are hesitating, on the sidelines. Sellers are still focusing on comps from six months ago.”

Instead of selling in days like they were earlier in the year, homes took weeks or even months to sell. Homes that closed in December had been on the market 29 days before getting into contract. That was up from 23 median days on market in November and 17 in December a year ago, the Realtors association reported.

Eng said things picked up around the middle of January, as the stock market recovered and mortgage rates fell back into the 4.5 percent range. “I wonder if it’s a sign of what we will see in the spring,” or just a normal seasonal rebound, he said.

Santa Clara County was the hottest market in the Bay Area — and most of the country — for the first part of the year as prices rose in the teens and 20s year over year. In February, its median price topped $1 million for the first time, rising to $1,080,000, up 27.8 percent.

That was the month a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 848-square-foot home on Plymouth Street in Sunnyvale sold for $2 million cash — making headlines as the height of Silicon Valley insanity.

That was and still is a record price-per-square-foot for Sunnyvale, said Doug Larson, a Coldwell Banker agent, who represented the seller. “Now with the softening market, I doubt that anybody will beat it, at least for a while,” he said.

After hitting $1.15 million in June, Santa Clara’s median price has fallen to $1 million in December, exactly where it was a year ago.

January is always a slow month for the real estate market, as sellers recover from the holidays and get their homes spruced up for the busy spring season.

“Homes that sell in the winter are typically homes that have been sitting on the market awhile and have to take a price cut,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

Right now, “buyers are in a holding pattern,” she added. “They don’t know if this is as good as it’s going to get, if prices come down or more homes come on the market.”

She noted that a slower market is good for buyers because “they have more negotiating power” and for sellers who are moving up to a more expensive home because “overall they are going to be saving more money.”

Fairweather predicts that prices will end the year about where they are now. “I would be surprised if they go down,” she said.

Nancie Allen, president of Bay East Association of Realtors, said the government shutdown in January made it hard to tell where the market is headed. The next two weeks will be a better indicator. The market now “is all over the place,” she said. Some homes in Fremont have been sitting on the market for a while, while one had 15 offers.

Aaron Terrazas, a senior economist with Zillow, said his data show that home prices in the last quarter of 2018 rose at their slowest annual pace for any quarter since 2010.

He predicts that prices will appreciate 5 to 6 percent this year in the San Francisco metro area and 7 to 8 percent in the San Jose metro area, assuming interest rates stay low.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender

Article source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Bay-Area-housing-market-cools-but-it-s-still-13578433.php