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It’s been years since the Bay Area housing market began its dramatic, post-recession appreciation in prices, and delinquency rates for home loans keep falling across the region.

The foreclosure nightmares of the Great Recession are now a vague memory. In the San Jose metropolitan area — defined as including all of Santa Clara and San Benito counties — only 1.4 percent of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days in July, compared with 1.7 percent a year earlier. The share of “seriously delinquent” mortgages — at least 90 days past due — fell from 0.7 percent in July 2016 to 0.5 percent in July 2017.

In the San Francisco metropolitan area, 1.8 percent of home loans were in the early stages of delinquency — at least 30 days overdue — in July, down from 2.1 percent one year earlier. More seriously delinquent loans, of 90 days or more, were down from 0.9 percent in July 2016 to 0.6 percent in July 2017. (The San Francisco metro area includes Oakland, as well as all of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin counties.)

This is according to a new report by the CoreLogic real estate information service, which periodically gauges the mortgage market’s health by measuring early-stage delinquency rates.

Compare those latest numbers — dramatically low — to the rather shocking state of the market back in December 2008, when the region was in the middle of the recession: Half the homes sold throughout the Bay Area in that month were foreclosures. In Santa Clara County, foreclosures accounted for 41.2 percent of all homes sold in December 2008 — on the heels of the Sept. 29 stock market crash — compared with 8 percent in December 2007.

“The whole Bay Area is now well below the national figure for foreclosures,” said Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist, “and that is because the local economy is very good, unemployment is very low and incomes are rising — which means most families have the income coming in to enable them to stay current on their mortgage.”

Also, because prices are up in the region — the median sales price of a single-family home is above $1 million in several counties — homeowners “generally have a lot of equity wealth,” Martell said. And studies show that homeowners with lots of equity to lose tend not to lose it.

Nationally, according to the new CoreLogic report, the share of delinquencies overdue by 30-59 days fell from 2.3 percent in July 2016 to 2 percent in July 2017. The “seriously delinquent” rate fell from 2.5 percent to 1.9 percent during that same one-year period — and remains near the 10-year low of 1.7 percent.

Still, Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, pointed to some “worrying trends” in other parts of the nation.

“For example,” he said, “markets affected by the decline in oil production or anemic job creation have seen an increase in defaults. We see this in markets such as Anchorage, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana, where the serious delinquency rate rose over the last year.”

Article source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20171010/NEWS/171019951

It’s been years since the Bay Area housing market began its dramatic, post-recession appreciation in prices, and delinquency rates for home loans keep falling across the region.

The foreclosure nightmares of the Great Recession are now a vague memory. In the San Jose metropolitan area — defined as including all of Santa Clara and San Benito counties — only 1.4 percent of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days in July, compared with 1.7 percent a year earlier. The share of “seriously delinquent” mortgages — at least 90 days past due — fell from 0.7 percent in July 2016 to 0.5 percent in July 2017.

In the San Francisco metropolitan area, 1.8 percent of home loans were in the early stages of delinquency — at least 30 days overdue — in July, down from 2.1 percent one year earlier. More seriously delinquent loans, of 90 days or more, were down from 0.9 percent in July 2016 to 0.6 percent in July 2017. (The San Francisco metro area includes Oakland, as well as all of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin counties.)

This is according to a new report by the CoreLogic real estate information service, which periodically gauges the mortgage market’s health by measuring early-stage delinquency rates.

Compare those latest numbers — dramatically low — to the rather shocking state of the market back in December 2008, when the region was in the middle of the recession: Half the homes sold throughout the Bay Area in that month were foreclosures. In Santa Clara County, foreclosures accounted for 41.2 percent of all homes sold in December 2008 — on the heels of the Sept. 29 stock market crash — compared with 8 percent in December 2007.

“The whole Bay Area is now well below the national figure for foreclosures,” said Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic’s chief economist, “and that is because the local economy is very good, unemployment is very low and incomes are rising — which means most families have the income coming in to enable them to stay current on their mortgage.”

Also, because prices are up in the region — the median sales price of a single-family home is above $1 million in several counties — homeowners “generally have a lot of equity wealth,” Martell said. And studies show that homeowners with lots of equity to lose tend not to lose it.

Nationally, according to the new CoreLogic report, the share of delinquencies overdue by 30-59 days fell from 2.3 percent in July 2016 to 2 percent in July 2017. The “seriously delinquent” rate fell from 2.5 percent to 1.9 percent during that same one-year period — and remains near the 10-year low of 1.7 percent.

Still, Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, pointed to some “worrying trends” in other parts of the nation.

“For example,” he said, “markets affected by the decline in oil production or anemic job creation have seen an increase in defaults. We see this in markets such as Anchorage, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana, where the serious delinquency rate rose over the last year.”

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/bay-area-real-estate-home-loan-delinquencies-go-down-down-down/

At 1 a.m. local time this morning, real estate agent Sarah Carlson was awoken by her teenage daughter as she became alarmed by fast-approaching fire.

“We could see the flames over the hills,” said Carlson, who lives in in Skyhawk, Santa Rosa, and works for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wine Country Group. “We left immediately; we were concerned about traffic.” There is only one way in and one way out where she and her family live.

Wildfire destroys Round Barn Inn in Fountaingrove / Photos courtesy of Otto Kobler, Summit Funding

She isn’t alone. Many California residents evacuated this morning as wildfires took hold overnight in the North Bay Area.

As of press time the San Francisco Chronicle reported at least 1,500 homes and commercial facilities had been destroyed in 14 fires burning across eight counties in Northern California, including Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Yuba counties, according to Chief Ken Pimlott of the California Department of of Forestry and Fire Protection. Twenty thousand acres have burned in Santa Rosa alone, the LA Times reported.

Pimlott said there was zero containment on any of the fires, the largest of which was in the wine region of Calistoga. The Chronicle reported one fatality as of late morning. Amid what’s being deemed one of the worst firestorms in California history, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.

Carlson, who relocated with her family to stay with friends in Sebastapol, is communicating mainly through social media and text message with her community to get news updates on the fate of homes and public buildings. In Santa Rosa, major landmarks and historical structures Carlson has known all her life have been burned down. A winery just three miles from her home is gone.

“It’s a devastating thing that this is happening in our hometown. I am seeing the places I frequent burning down,” she said. “Nothing like this has ever happened as quickly as this has spread and it’s in populated areas. So it’s affecting homeowners and businesses.”

Carlson has clients whose homes have been destroyed. One house that she recently listed survived while the surrounding area burned down.

The agent, who maintains strong community ties, shuddered to think of the cost of the fire to the area.

While Santa Rosa median sales are $580,000 right now, many of the ravaged homes were $1 million-plus properties or mobile homes, Carlson said.

And danger looms. Her advice to those in Santa Rosa is “get your animals, get your kids and get out of Santa Rosa. It’s still zero percent contained.”

Other agents in the North Bay were not immediately affected by the fires but are keeping a close eye on where they were spreading next (much of southern California is under warning, according to the Chronicle, while one subdivision in the area has gone up in flames). Some are posting useful information to their Facebook pages for clients and friends in case of emergency.

Jessica Callison, based in Vacaville with Keller Williams’ Callison and Vasquez Real Estate Services, shared a post by the Solano County Sheriff’s office advising that residents not call 911 to report smoke, as emergency responders were aware and working to provide assistance to evacuees.

She recommended that locals keep an eye on additional reports coming out of the sheriff’s offices.

Mike Cohen, meanwhile, with Bradley Real Estate, had a number of practical tips for his Facebook friends, including keeping propane BBQ appliances away from the house and turning off the home gas.

En route to Petaluma, he said he was driving through thick smoke and receiving news updates from relatives. “Waking up this morning it all happened so quickly; it had just spread so rapidly,” he said.

As is common with disasters like this, communications were down.

A spokeswoman for Pacific Union had put a call into the Sonoma office and was told they had no power and were accessing Wi-Fi at a coffee shop. Many of their people have been told to evacuate, she said.

Email Gill South

Article source: https://www.inman.com/2017/10/09/northern-california-firestorm-shocks-real-estate-community/

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 09, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Inna Rubinchik, a Leasing Director with Zephyr Real Estate, recently attended a Young Professionals Network event through the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®. That event featured several guest speakers, one of whom was Zephyr agent, Saba Shoaeioskouei.

That sparked an interest that led to Zephyr’s creation of its own version, wherein mature, seasoned agents share their experiences and best practices in a relaxed and comfortable environment with their peers who are newer to the industry. The sharing of proven methods as well as pitfalls to avoid provides an invaluable educational opportunity for those just beginning their careers.

The first Zephyr event was held last month with featured speaker Josh Nasvik from Polaris Pacific who spoke about new construction in the Bay Area and throughout the West. Polaris is the West Coast leader in high-density real estate sales and marketing, and Nasvik is Project Director who serves as the main point of contact with clients. His experience and background provided a comprehensive view of the industry, which he shared in his workshop with Zephyr agents.

Next in the line-up is Laura Kaufman, an experienced, top-producing agent from Zephyr’s Noe Valley office. Her straightforward, perceptive approach has made her rise to success an enviable one, and one that she is happy to share with her up and coming colleagues. She is strongly committed to giving back to her community and is actively involved in a number of charitable causes. A donation is made to the charity of her client’s choice for each transaction.

Other speakers from both inside and outside Zephyr are planned including consultants and professionals in supporting businesses such as lenders, appraisers, design and architecture to round out the program.

Thus far, the events have been eagerly anticipated and very well received. Inna is President-elect of Women’s Council of Realtors for 2018, and will be networking to recruit speakers through both entities to enhance the learning curve for young professionals.

“New agents are always looking for ideas and directions, and established agents can provide valuable insight,” commented Inna. “Zephyr invests considerable time and money on training and education, and it is an ongoing process. That’s why we are known in the industry as having the best agent support.”

Inna launched a leasing group within Zephyr last year to augment their value as a full-service firm for all their clients’ needs. She may be reached at innar@zephyrre.com or 415.238.8202.

About Zephyr Real Estate
Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco’s No. 1 real estate firm with nearly $2.3 billion in gross sales and a current roster of more than 300 full-time agents. Zephyr’s highly-visited website has earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate; global luxury affiliate, Mayfair International; the local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco; and the regional luxury real estate affiliation, the Artisan Group. Zephyr has eight locations across San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo County and two brokerage affiliates in Sonoma County, all strategically positioned to serve a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ZephyrRE.com.

Article source: https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/10/09/1142895/0/en/Zephyr-Real-Estate-Launches-Growth-and-Development-Series.html
							

The share of Bay Area households that rent their homes has grown significantly over the last decade — by about 5 percent — while the share that own their homes has declined in kind.

That change in lifestyle – part of a national trend – is pinpointed by a new study of rental patterns in the 53 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. It also shows that the San Jose and San Francisco metro areas have the nation’s highest median rents and renter household incomes, that their rental populations have increasing numbers of high-income and college-educated members – and that the burden of paying rent here is considerable, nonetheless.

In the San Jose metro area, 45.1 percent of all renter households are “rent burdened,” meaning that more than 30 percent of their pre-tax income goes to paying monthly rent, according to the report by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.

But the burden increases for renter households in the San Jose metro area earning less than $50,000. Among those households, 83 percent are “rent burdened” — and 56.5 percent are “severely rent burdened,” meaning that housing eats up more than 50 percent of their income.

The figures are similarly dramatic in the San Francisco metro area, which includes Oakland, as well as all of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin counties. There and throughout Silicon Valley — and most of the country — there is “a change in rent composition,” said Sewin Chan, a professor of public policy who co-authored the study. “There’s more renters and more of them have high income and higher education. So that’s sort of masking an affordability problem for people at the lower end” of the income spectrum.

The study, which looks at U.S. Census data from 2006 to 2015, does not identify specific reasons for the change in composition of the renter population. But it adds a new layer of evidence that more Americans are opting for apartment living.

That may partly be due to the fact that many homeowners went into foreclosure during the Great Recession and haven’t been able to get back into the real estate market, especially in a place like the Bay Area where the median price of a single-family home now tops $1 million in several counties. But it may also be because so many people — millennials, in particular — have come to prefer the rental lifestyle, where it’s easy to pick up and move to the next job and the next city.

“Maybe there’s just less of a stigma to renting than there was before,” said Stephanie Rosoff, a project director for the new report, titled “2017 National Rental Housing Landscape: Renting in the Nation’s Largest Metros.”

In the San Jose metro area, which includes Santa Clara and San Benito counties, 43.7 percent of all households rented their homes in 2015, up from 39.2 percent in 2006. In the San Francisco metro area, there was a similar jump: to 46.3 percent in 2015, from 41.5 percent in 2006.

During the same time period, the share of households that owned their own homes fell from 60.8 percent to 56.3 percent in the San Jose metro area and from 58.5 percent to 53.7 percent in the San Francisco metro area.

Among the report’s other findings is that when renters change apartments in the San Jose and San Francisco metro areas — or move from outside the area to an apartment here — they in effect pay a “premium” on their rent.

For instance, in 2015, the median rent for a two-bedroom unit in the San Jose metro area was $1,850. But recently available two-bedroom flats — those that had new occupants within the previous 12 months — had a median rent of $2,460. In other words, moving to another two-bedroom flat meant coughing up an extra $610 a month. In the San Francisco metro area, the “premium” was $470.

Among the 53 metro areas in the study, those are the two with the most costly “premiums” for switching apartments. And in both of those metros, there was a sharp drop in the share of lower-income households that can afford to move to recently available apartments.

“Recent movers are paying higher rents than people who haven’t moved,” Chan said. “And we’re seeing this is more of a problem in high-rent cities. It’s kind of what you would expect when rents are going up rapidly in a metro — landlords are going to be charging higher rents as they change their tenants.”

In the San Jose metro area, the share of renter households earning 120 percent or more of the area’s median household income was 29.2 percent in 2015, when the median was $100,000. That share of high-income households was up from 21.8 percent in 2006, when the median was $93,820. During the same period, the share of renter households with a college degree rose from 45.5 percent to 53.1 percent.

Paradoxically, the share of “burdened” renter households rose over the course of the decade in the San Jose metro area — but dipped between 2012 and 2015 when the tech-fueled economy was helping to drive up housing prices.

It’s “because wealthier people are renting,” Rosoff explained.

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/05/lifestyle-switch-more-bay-area-residents-are-choosing-to-rent-than-ever-before-and-theyre-paying-through-the-nose/