homesmillbrae.com

Cryptocurrency continues to be a big deal, especially in the Bay Area. And now homebuyers are turning to things like Bitcoin to buy real estate.

RELATED: SF homeowners offers property for $13 million or Bitcoin

Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva spoke to ABC7 News on Tuesday about cryptocurrency in the real estate market.

Click here for more stories and videos related to cryptocurrency.

Article source: http://abc7news.com/realestate/expert-discusses-using-cryptocurrency-to-buy-bay-area-real-estate/3509391/

Article source: http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/05/21/1509535/0/en/Zephyr-Real-Estate-Appoints-New-Manager-for-Marin-Region.html

?SAN FRANCISCO —

We often talk about tech as the most lucrative gig in the Bay Area, but real estate agents might give developers and project managers a run for their money.

The reasons for this should be obvious to anyone who lives in the Bay Area. Housing is expensive — the median home price reached a record high of $820,000 in March — and the housing stock is low. Seven-figure houses sell like hotcakes in a land where cash offers and overbids are commonplace.

To confirm what we already know, WalletHub created a new ranking of the best places to be a real estate agent. No surprises here: Bay Area cities claimed the top spots.

Standard real estate agent salaries are nothing to write home about; the average real estate agent wage in San Francisco is $74,460, according to WalletHub, but that’s not including commission. Experts estimate the typical real estate agent takes just under a 6 percent cut on sales, and San Franciscan real estate agents sell an average of 60 homes a year. You do the math.

WalletHub looked at 170 U.S. cities and evaluated each on the health of the real estate environment. While San Francisco ranked in the top overall spot, thanks to the highest median price, it tied with both San Jose and Seattle for fewest days on the market.

Four Bay Area cities made the top five, but one Pacific Northwestern outpost wedged its way to the No. 2 spot. That would be Seattle, of course, the headquarters of Amazon and a burgeoning tech capital. The coastal city’s housing market shattered records of its own in March, with the median home price hitting $777,000.

Even Santa Rosa, a city on the northern outskirts of the Bay Area, made the top 10, ranking seventh overall. The revelation provides support for a recent regional trend: People are pushing farther and farther away from San Francisco and the heart of Silicon Valley to more inland and suburban areas.

The health of the market has been on a lot of people’s minds, especially those who remember well the collapse that triggered the Great Recession. But all signs — continued population growth, shortage of available housing, growing interest rates and the continued rise in housing values — indicate the market will keep up as it has, at least for the foreseeable future.

Methodology here.

Daniel Demay, a SeattlePI staff writer, contributed to this report.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.

Article source: http://www.wdsu.com/article/the-best-profession-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area-may-not-be-what-you-think/20197849

It’s a well-established narrative — San Jose and San Francisco are experiencing a housing crisis.

But rising prices and low inventory aren’t endemic to the Bay Area. Michigan metropolitan areas, in particular, stood out in April for competition and price growth, according to new data from real estate brokerage Redfin.

“Homes in Grand Rapids are selling as fast as homes in the Bay Area,” said Redfin Chief Economist Nela Richardson, citing its strong economy and high demand. Homes in both Grand Rapids and San Jose spent nine median days on the market.

The median home price in Grand Rapids is $181,447, representing a 10.2% increase from this time last year, according to Zillow data. In San Jose, the median home costs $1.1 million, which is 22.4% higher than last year.

“Grand Rapids and parts of Detroit are both seeing a resurgence. Prices are rising, rates are rising, but wages are not rising — that’s the big concern going forward,” Richardson said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. Michigan’s two largest cities were among the metros with highest year-over-year growth in home sales, up 18.3% in Grand Rapids and 15.5% in Detroit, according to Redfin.

Why Grand Rapids?

Denver was April’s fastest market, with half of all homes going into contract after a median of six days on the market. Seattle came in second, with the average home for sale staying on the market for a median of seven days. San Jose, Grand Rapids and Tacoma, Washington, tied for No. 3, with homes going into contract after a median of nine days on the market.

“The economy is diversifying with new companies moving in and expanding thanks to the affordable cost of doing business and ample workforce. As home prices rise, it can be tough for local buyers to compete with buyers from elsewhere who have reverse sticker shock and loaded pockets from selling a home in San Francisco, Boston or Chicago,” said Kent Selders, Redfin market manager in MIchigan.

Grand Rapids was the fastest-growing large metro economy in 2016, followed by Orlando, Nashville, Charlotte and Salt Lake City, according to analysis from Headline Data.

Michigan’s second-largest city is home to a number of large corporations. Spectrum Health, the largest company in Grand Rapids, employs approximately 25,000 workers. Supermarket chain Meijer, consumer goods brand Amway and pharmaceutical company Perrigo are also headquartered in the city. Between 2014 and 2017, Grand Rapids metro’s 28 venture-backed startups — 50% in the life sciences industry — represented 20% of all startups in Michigan (compared to 25% in Detroit), according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association.

Across the U.S., the typical home for sale in April went into contract after a median of 36 days on the market, six days faster than a year earlier and faster than any month since 2010, when Redfin started tracking the market. Among homes that sold last month, 26.2% sold above their list price, up from 24.9% in April 2017.

“As we enter peak home buying season, new listings will be key in maintaining sales growth and moderating the rapid price increases we’ve seen this year,” noted Richardson.

Melody Hahm is a senior writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.

Read more: 

America’s 10 priciest markets are lacking these jobs

25-year-old’s startup is making fast fashion even faster

A shrinking middle class is transforming the housing market

How people from different parts of the world spend their extra money

Article source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/homes-market-selling-just-fast-bay-area-174345764.html

It’s a well-established narrative — San Jose and San Francisco are experiencing a housing crisis.

But rising prices and low inventory aren’t endemic to the Bay Area. Michigan metropolitan areas, in particular, stood out in April for competition and price growth, according to new data from real estate brokerage Redfin.

“Homes in Grand Rapids are selling as fast as homes in the Bay Area,” said Redfin Chief Economist Nela Richardson, citing its strong economy and high demand. Homes in both Grand Rapids and San Jose spent nine median days on the market.

The median home price in Grand Rapids is $181,447, representing a 10.2% increase from this time last year, according to Zillow data. In San Jose, the median home costs $1.1 million, which is 22.4% higher than last year.

“Grand Rapids and parts of Detroit are both seeing a resurgence. Prices are rising, rates are rising, but wages are not rising — that’s the big concern going forward,” Richardson said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. Michigan’s two largest cities were among the metros with highest year-over-year growth in home sales, up 18.3% in Grand Rapids and 15.5% in Detroit, according to Redfin.

Why Grand Rapids?

Denver was April’s fastest market, with half of all homes going into contract after a median of six days on the market. Seattle came in second, with the average home for sale staying on the market for a median of seven days. San Jose, Grand Rapids and Tacoma, Washington, tied for No. 3, with homes going into contract after a median of nine days on the market.

“The economy is diversifying with new companies moving in and expanding thanks to the affordable cost of doing business and ample workforce. As home prices rise, it can be tough for local buyers to compete with buyers from elsewhere who have reverse sticker shock and loaded pockets from selling a home in San Francisco, Boston or Chicago,” said Kent Selders, Redfin market manager in MIchigan.

Grand Rapids was the fastest-growing large metro economy in 2016, followed by Orlando, Nashville, Charlotte and Salt Lake City, according to analysis from Headline Data.

Michigan’s second-largest city is home to a number of large corporations. Spectrum Health, the largest company in Grand Rapids, employs approximately 25,000 workers. Supermarket chain Meijer, consumer goods brand Amway and pharmaceutical company Perrigo are also headquartered in the city. Between 2014 and 2017, Grand Rapids metro’s 28 venture-backed startups — 50% in the life sciences industry — represented 20% of all startups in Michigan (compared to 25% in Detroit), according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association.

Across the U.S., the typical home for sale in April went into contract after a median of 36 days on the market, six days faster than a year earlier and faster than any month since 2010, when Redfin started tracking the market. Among homes that sold last month, 26.2% sold above their list price, up from 24.9% in April 2017.

“As we enter peak home buying season, new listings will be key in maintaining sales growth and moderating the rapid price increases we’ve seen this year,” noted Richardson.

Melody Hahm is a senior writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm.

Read more: 

America’s 10 priciest markets are lacking these jobs

25-year-old’s startup is making fast fashion even faster

A shrinking middle class is transforming the housing market

How people from different parts of the world spend their extra money

Article source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/homes-market-selling-just-fast-bay-area-174345764.html