After 20 years in San Francisco, John Perry and Rob Picciotto, along with their children, Ben and Louisa, and three dogs, transplanted themselves to Oakland. “I didn’t think we would ever leave San Francisco, but a convergence of things made us consider moving,” said Perry.

In 1998, Perry and Picciotto had stretched to buy their Bernal Heights house and make it work as their family grew. In June it sold for more than triple what they’d paid, a windfall that allowed them to pay cash for a less expensive house in Oakland’s Leona Heights neighborhood in the hills above Mills College.

“We don’t have a mortgage anymore, which is awesome,” Perry said. “We doubled our square footage on more than an acre of land, and have phenomenal neighbors. Oakland is so diverse; it’s a whole new world to learn and explore. There’s more space, more mix.”

For a growing number of San Francisco residents, the math is compelling. Their houses now are worth more than ever. Meanwhile, although homes in the East Bay have had big price run-ups over the past year, they had fallen further during the downturn – meaning they’re still shy of their peaks.

“San Francisco is on the leading edge of the appreciation curve and other places are a step behind,” said Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst with Paragon Real Estate Group in San Francisco. “The majority of our San Francisco neighborhoods now have met or exceeded their previous peak values reached in 2007 or 2008.”

Huge price differential

The result is that the price differential between San Francisco and other Bay Area counties, especially the East Bay, is greater now than ever, he said. Silicon Valley’s price appreciation has been strong enough that moving there from the city is more of a lateral move.

For David and Tamra Biener, the rising real estate market meant they could finally trade their cramped Dolores Street condo for a bigger place in the East Bay. With children soon to turn 6 and 8, their family outgrew the two-bedroom condo a couple of years ago – they’d converted the dining room to a third bedroom to make do – but were stuck because they were underwater.

“Our kids running up and down the hallway sounded like a herd of elephants to the people above and below,” he said. “We wanted to move in 2011, but at that time the condo was worth maybe $50,000 less than I’d bought it for. I was thinking, it’s another $50,000 in (real estate) commissions, so it will cost us $100,000 to get out of the condo. We can’t do that because we have to come up with 20 percent down on the new house. It’s supposed to work the other way.”

Way over asking price

But now the tide has turned.

“The crazy thing is that two years go by, we list our house for $50,000 more than I paid and get another $125,000 over listing,” he said.

Listed at $875,000, the house went for just a tad over $1 million. As soon as they were in contract, the Bieners made an offer on a five-bedroom Walnut Creek house with lots of room for the kids. It was listed at $1.285 million; their offer was just $15,000 over asking.

“There are two things going on that favor moving from the city to outside the city,” he said. “The prices have gone up way faster in San Francisco than they have outside of it. And the demand is so much higher in the city that you get that extra 10 or 20 percent over listing.”

Agents around the region said they’re seeing a definite increase in San Francisco out-migration.

“There was a time when you could be a move-up buyer in San Francisco, taking the equity out of your home or condo and buying a bigger one in the city, but that’s not the story anymore,” said Steve Dells, an agent for 25 years with Zephyr Real Estate in San Francisco. “The values in San Francisco have escalated so quickly and so much that whatever a move-up buyer can afford likely won’t be enough space to accommodate their reason for moving.”

Ashley Langworthy and Peter Gleason would have liked to be move-up San Francisco buyers, but the financials didn’t pencil out. With twins on the way, the couple needed more space than their one-bedroom Hayes Valley tenancy in common.

‘Cold foggy areas’

“The places in San Francisco where we could afford more space were in cold foggy areas near the edge of Daly City,” said Langworthy, a landscape designer. “We would have stayed in San Francisco if we could have been in neighborhoods we liked.”

Instead, they looked in the East Bay. However, the competition over there meant they got outbid 10 times and ended up paying above asking for a two-bedroom Berkeley house.

Their Hayes Valley TIC went for almost $100,000 more than the $450,000 they paid for it in 2008, not a windfall but enough to help them get a foothold in a stand-alone house in the East Bay. “I think the East Bay is a little more affordable than San Francisco, but it’s still very competitive,” Langworthy said.

Christine Englund and Dean Charlton migrated from the city to the East Bay because she got a dream job in San Ramon.

“Our house in West Portal is in one of the foggiest neighborhoods in town; 2 miles up from the ocean, you’re totally socked in for the summer,” Englund said. “It’s a two-bedroom one-bathroom, with a little yard, just 1,500 square feet.”

Listed at $799,000, the house got 12 offers and sold in late May for $1.025 million. “We hit just the right time,” Englund said. “Interest rates were still a bit lower than now and inventory was so tight in San Francisco.”

Their East Bay house, located in upscale Piedmont, was cheaper at $905,000 but at least 50 percent larger, with a third bedroom, second bathroom, bigger yard, deck and even a wine cellar.

“We got so much more space for the money, and then the weather, the people, the restaurants, everything we value were also great,” she said.

Fewer school-age kids in S.F.

While the current exodus is too new to have official statistics, longer-range census data underscore San Francisco’s ongoing family drain. San Francisco has about 8,000 fewer school-age youngsters in 2010 than in 2000. Of the city’s 805,235 residents, just 13.4 percent are younger than 18 – a smaller percentage than any other major U.S. city, including the Manhattan section of New York City, where 15 percent of the population is under 18. In San Jose, 24.8 percent of the residents are children; in Oakland, it’s 21.3 percent.

What will it mean to San Francisco if families continue to flee?

Perry, the 20-year resident who recently moved out with his partner and their children, has some sanguine thoughts.

“San Francisco renews itself on a regular basis,” he said. “A lot of cities don’t sustain the same populations through all the stages of (the residents’) lives. There may be different cities for different times in our life.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Families-flee-S-F-for-East-Bay-with-cheaper-homes-4796027.php

After 20 years in San Francisco, John Perry and Rob Picciotto, along with their children, Ben and Louisa, and three dogs, transplanted themselves to Oakland. “I didn’t think we would ever leave San Francisco, but a convergence of things made us consider moving,” said Perry.

In 1998, Perry and Picciotto had stretched to buy their Bernal Heights house and make it work as their family grew. In June it sold for more than triple what they’d paid, a windfall that allowed them to pay cash for a less expensive house in Oakland’s Leona Heights neighborhood in the hills above Mills College.

“We don’t have a mortgage anymore, which is awesome,” Perry said. “We doubled our square footage on more than an acre of land, and have phenomenal neighbors. Oakland is so diverse; it’s a whole new world to learn and explore. There’s more space, more mix.”

For a growing number of San Francisco residents, the math is compelling. Their houses now are worth more than ever. Meanwhile, although homes in the East Bay have had big price run-ups over the past year, they had fallen further during the downturn – meaning they’re still shy of their peaks.

“San Francisco is on the leading edge of the appreciation curve and other places are a step behind,” said Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst with Paragon Real Estate Group in San Francisco. “The majority of our San Francisco neighborhoods now have met or exceeded their previous peak values reached in 2007 or 2008.”

Huge price differential

The result is that the price differential between San Francisco and other Bay Area counties, especially the East Bay, is greater now than ever, he said. Silicon Valley’s price appreciation has been strong enough that moving there from the city is more of a lateral move.

For David and Tamra Biener, the rising real estate market meant they could finally trade their cramped Dolores Street condo for a bigger place in the East Bay. With children soon to turn 6 and 8, their family outgrew the two-bedroom condo a couple of years ago – they’d converted the dining room to a third bedroom to make do – but were stuck because they were underwater.

“Our kids running up and down the hallway sounded like a herd of elephants to the people above and below,” he said. “We wanted to move in 2011, but at that time the condo was worth maybe $50,000 less than I’d bought it for. I was thinking, it’s another $50,000 in (real estate) commissions, so it will cost us $100,000 to get out of the condo. We can’t do that because we have to come up with 20 percent down on the new house. It’s supposed to work the other way.”

Way over asking price

But now the tide has turned.

“The crazy thing is that two years go by, we list our house for $50,000 more than I paid and get another $125,000 over listing,” he said.

Listed at $875,000, the house went for just a tad over $1 million. As soon as they were in contract, the Bieners made an offer on a five-bedroom Walnut Creek house with lots of room for the kids. It was listed at $1.285 million; their offer was just $15,000 over asking.

“There are two things going on that favor moving from the city to outside the city,” he said. “The prices have gone up way faster in San Francisco than they have outside of it. And the demand is so much higher in the city that you get that extra 10 or 20 percent over listing.”

Agents around the region said they’re seeing a definite increase in San Francisco out-migration.

“There was a time when you could be a move-up buyer in San Francisco, taking the equity out of your home or condo and buying a bigger one in the city, but that’s not the story anymore,” said Steve Dells, an agent for 25 years with Zephyr Real Estate in San Francisco. “The values in San Francisco have escalated so quickly and so much that whatever a move-up buyer can afford likely won’t be enough space to accommodate their reason for moving.”

Ashley Langworthy and Peter Gleason would have liked to be move-up San Francisco buyers, but the financials didn’t pencil out. With twins on the way, the couple needed more space than their one-bedroom Hayes Valley tenancy in common.

‘Cold foggy areas’

“The places in San Francisco where we could afford more space were in cold foggy areas near the edge of Daly City,” said Langworthy, a landscape designer. “We would have stayed in San Francisco if we could have been in neighborhoods we liked.”

Instead, they looked in the East Bay. However, the competition over there meant they got outbid 10 times and ended up paying above asking for a two-bedroom Berkeley house.

Their Hayes Valley TIC went for almost $100,000 more than the $450,000 they paid for it in 2008, not a windfall but enough to help them get a foothold in a stand-alone house in the East Bay. “I think the East Bay is a little more affordable than San Francisco, but it’s still very competitive,” Langworthy said.

Christine Englund and Dean Charlton migrated from the city to the East Bay because she got a dream job in San Ramon.

“Our house in West Portal is in one of the foggiest neighborhoods in town; 2 miles up from the ocean, you’re totally socked in for the summer,” Englund said. “It’s a two-bedroom one-bathroom, with a little yard, just 1,500 square feet.”

Listed at $799,000, the house got 12 offers and sold in late May for $1.025 million. “We hit just the right time,” Englund said. “Interest rates were still a bit lower than now and inventory was so tight in San Francisco.”

Their East Bay house, located in upscale Piedmont, was cheaper at $905,000 but at least 50 percent larger, with a third bedroom, second bathroom, bigger yard, deck and even a wine cellar.

“We got so much more space for the money, and then the weather, the people, the restaurants, everything we value were also great,” she said.

Fewer school-age kids in S.F.

While the current exodus is too new to have official statistics, longer-range census data underscore San Francisco’s ongoing family drain. San Francisco has about 8,000 fewer school-age youngsters in 2010 than in 2000. Of the city’s 805,235 residents, just 13.4 percent are younger than 18 – a smaller percentage than any other major U.S. city, including the Manhattan section of New York City, where 15 percent of the population is under 18. In San Jose, 24.8 percent of the residents are children; in Oakland, it’s 21.3 percent.

What will it mean to San Francisco if families continue to flee?

Perry, the 20-year resident who recently moved out with his partner and their children, has some sanguine thoughts.

“San Francisco renews itself on a regular basis,” he said. “A lot of cities don’t sustain the same populations through all the stages of (the residents’) lives. There may be different cities for different times in our life.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Families-flee-S-F-for-East-Bay-with-cheaper-homes-4796027.php

“The pendulum has shifted,” said Michael Reynolds, managing partner of developer Embarcadero Pacific, which specializes in high-density urban infill projects.

In 2009, his firm opened The Bond, a 101-unit complex in Oakland’s Jack London Square area, as rental apartments. Now it’s switching the building over to condos, taking advantage of buyers’ avid appetites for real estate and the dearth of for-sale inventory. About a quarter of the units have sold in less than three months.

“Rents are rising too quickly that if you can make a down payment, the cost of ownership is lower than leasing,” Reynolds said. With a boutique hotel feel, the building has units ranging from $350,000 for a one-bedroom to $1.25 million for a top-floor galleria penthouse.

The Bond was always intended to start off as rentals and then switch to condos when the time was right. But other complexes that opened during the downturn intending to be for-sale had no choice but to become rentals “when the music stopped,” as Reynolds put it.

Condo to rental, back

For instance, the 125-unit Broadway Grand in Oakland, developed by Signature Properties, first opened as a condo complex, sold 17 units, and then switched to rentals as the market tanked, said Paul Zeger, a principal at PolarisPacific, which is marketing it and some other conversion projects. Last year it went condo again, and now has sold all but 11 of its units.

Similarly, the Skyline in San Jose with 121 units is now switching to condos after opening as rentals during the downturn. In Emeryville, the 424-unit Bridgewater is switching from rentals to condos. The current phase II, which started in June with 174 homes ranging from $185,000 to $450,000, is finding a receptive audience, said Alan Mark, president of the Mark Co., which is marketing the complex.

Other Oakland complexes, including 288 Third and Uptown, have already made the switch.

With only a few dozen condos on the market, the conversions stand out.

“The (East Bay) condos that are for sale are snapped up quickly,” said Anne Feste, an agent with The Grubb Co.

Some buildings benefit from Oakland transport changes. “Transportation options have blossomed with the Free B downtown Oakland shuttle (which runs along Broadway from Jack London Square to Downtown, Uptown and beyond) and the SouthSF Ferry for people in the tech world to get to work,” Feste said.

‘More for your money’

Then there’s the affordability factor.

“You get a lot more for your money in the East Bay,” said Mike Wilkes, who recently relocated from Portland, Ore., with his husband, Grant Barth. “We would pay easily over $1 million in San Francisco for something comparable to what we bought for under $700,000 at The Bond.”

The East Bay and South Bay apartment buildings’ switch to condos is worlds away from San Francisco’s contentious condo conversions of tenant-in-common units, which generally are in buildings with just a handful of units. The current breed of condo conversions involve properties that were approved as condos before they were even constructed. That means going condo is relatively simple.

“Demand has spiked for for-sale housing,” Zeger said. “Buildings that have a ‘condo map’ (meaning they’re already approved for condo sales) in the local municipality can just go to the Bureau of Real Estate” to get final approvals.

When a rental building goes condo, generally existing tenants have the first right to purchase their units at the public price. If they don’t want to buy, they finish out their leases, which can then be terminated by the developer. There’s also turnover in the normal course of affairs.

Harder to get a loan

“We gain vacancies through natural attrition as renters move out,” Reynolds said. “We then refurbish the units with new finishes and put them out for sale so part of the building is leased, part is owner-occupied.”

However, that mixture can make it harder to get a home loan. In today’s stricter climate, lenders often require a minimum percentage of owner-occupied units before they’ll issue mortgages in a condo complex.

“It’s much more difficult to get Fannie Mae approval when you’re converting a building,” Mark said. The agency requires condo conversions to pre-sell 70 percent of units to owner-occupants before it will back mortgages, he said, but sometimes agrees to reduce that requirement a degree.

The apartment-to-condo trajectory is less likely to happen in San Francisco, where about 8,000 rental units are under construction. That’s because most were financed in a way that requires they generate rental income for many years, Zeger said.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Bay-Area-rental-pendulum-swings-to-condos-4740789.php

Would you pay $18K a month to rent this place, because it has a view of the Bay and thus the race action?

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The home, perched atop Clarendon Heights, is one of many being marketed as a temporary rental specifically suited for fans of America’s Cup, and is actually the least expensive example we’ll offer today. Per its write up through Trulia, this is a 3 bed, 2 bath, “available June 15th through August 15th.” For the  weekly rental price of $5,000, up to 12 people could share the home, which includes “sweeping views of the Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge, North and East Bay” plus two-car garage, patio, and utility costs (as long as they don’t exceed $250 a month, which if 12 people actually stay there, is possible).

$18K a month is a bargain, going by this next example:

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A relatively unremarkable loft-style condo of 2 beds, 2 baths, this 2,300 square foot unit is advertised as follows: “Available July-Sept 2013. Sleeping 6 comfortably, look no further for a conveniently located place to stay for the upcoming America’s Cup races.” The views aren’t featured (we can’t tell if there is one) but the fact that it’s walkable to the Embarcadero is. For that, you’ll pay $25K a month (that includes utilities and cable, plus one car parking).

Moving still higher on the monthly rent, we land at this home somewhere on Francisco Street with a view of the action from its roof deck.

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With 6 beds and 4.5 baths and a Marina District address, this condo asks $30K a month. Advertising on Trulia promises: “the master suite features a private deck, and there is a rooftop deck with extensive views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz… and full view of the Americas Cup Events this summer.”

Is America’s Cup fever  really this hot?

Can homes close to, or with a view of, the fabled race really command prices like these? The comments await.

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: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/07/11/americas-cup-sends-rentals-into-the-stratosphere/

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“Cash is king” is an all-too-true cliche in today’s Bay Area real estate market, where all-cash offers can beat out those with mortgages, even when the financed offers are higher. That’s motivating some folks — even fairly regular  people who don’t have Silicon Valley mega-bucks — to go the extra mile to be able to make cash offers.

Whether it’s borrowing from relatives, taking out a home equity loan, tapping retirement funds, or a combination, having that cash in hand can vault a buyer to the front of the line. For a detailed look at how some ordinary people took extraordinary steps to become cash buyers, click here.

“It’s an oft-told tale right now,” said Stuart Maus, an agent with Red Oak Realty in the East Bay. “The market is super-competitive. A cash buyer can afford to lay up a little bit, knowing that the terms of all cash and the ability to have a short close may counter a slightly higher offer with a longer escrow period. A buyer with all cash can sharpen their pencil and come in more aggressively with price.”

Consider 3361 Victor in Oakland’s Redwood Heights neighborhood (pictured above). The modernist home closed in late April for $820,000, 19 percent over asking.

“The winning buyer paid all cash with no loan or appraisal contingencies and a three-day inspection period,” said Aman Daro of Red Oak Realty (Red Oak’s Deidre Joyner was the listing agent). “There were three offers. The highest offer had inspection, appraisal and loan contingencies, so the listing agent got the lower, all-cash offer to up their price and the sellers accepted it.”

Shana Negin and her husband, who both work as technology creatives, got financial help from her parents for  an Oakland home, in which all four of them put their names on the deed.

“They wanted to put some of their retirement investments into something stable and also wanted to help us out,” she said. “Even though we have a pretty decent income, we were never going to have an opportunity to buy a house without that kind of help,” she said. “In a broader picture, people’s parents have been helping them throughout history. If this is a trend, people are just returning back to the way it was.”

Even people who buy with all cash may very well want to get a mortgage afterwards so they can pay back the source of the funds or simply have more liquidity. There are a number of issues cash buyers should consider in structuring their purchase to make sure that their cash-out refinance will go smoothly. For advice from mortgage pros on this, click here.

“A responsible buyer will not only have their cash lined up for the purchase, but will have a plan for how to manage ownership of the property in the year ahead,” said Dianne Crosby, senior vice president of RPM Mortgage in Orinda.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. For news and insights on Bay Area real estate, follow her on Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/06/07/regular-folks-transform-into-cash-buyers-to-compete-in-hot-housing-market/

In its monthly report on housing prices, the SP/Case-Shiller Home Price Index — considered to be the leading measure of home prices across the country — said Tuesday the average selling price for a home in the San Francisco area jumped 23.9 percent over a 12-month period ending in April.

Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist, told SFBay home prices in the East Bay showed even more dramatic increases:

“Trulia’s Price Monitor, which is a forward-looking indicator of price trends based on asking prices and reports the San Francisco and Oakland areas separately, showed prices up 31 percent in the East Bay year-over-year, the biggest increase among the 100 largest metros in the country.”

Kolko said home prices in other Bay Area counties also increased, but not as much as the East Bay:

“Prices in our San Francisco metro area, which includes San Mateo and Marin counties, were up 20 percent year-over-year, which is also a very steep increase but not as steep at the East Bay gain.”

Though the housing market is rebounding in most cities, a tight inventory of homes across the Bay Area and one of the fastest job growth rates in the nation is helping to boost home prices locally.

And as Kolko points out, home prices in the East Bay saw prices fall sharply during the bust, creating bargains for home buyers.

SP/Case-Shiller says nationwide prices the average price for a home during that same period of time ending in April jumped 12.1 percent — setting a monthly record.

David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at SP Dow Jones Indices said the housing recovery is looking strong:

“Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Francisco posted year-over-year gains of over 20 percent in April. San Francisco was the highest at 23.9 percent. … Recent economic data on home sales and inventories confirm the housing recovery’s strength.”

Behind San Francisco in showing strong growth was Las Vegas, which saw prices climb  22.3 percent and Phoenix, which saw prices rise by 21.5 percent.

Article source: http://sfbay.ca/2013/06/25/housing-boom-sends-bay-area-home-prices-soaring/

East Bay homes, like this house in Fremont, saw the biggest price gains during the past year in the Bay Area.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Home prices are shooting up across the nation with the Bay Area leading the pack — but which submarket has soared the most? Oakland.

Metropolitan Oakland — which includes much of the East Bay — saw home prices jump 31.2 percent from May 2012 to May 2013, towering above San Francisco with 19.6 percent growth and the San Jose metro area with 23.2 percent, according to Trulia, the San Francisco-based real estate information site. Nationwide, home prices grew by 9.5 percent during the past year.

Everyone keeps talking about how expensive homes are getting in San Francisco, but East Bay prices have more room to grow. Those growth figures over one year look pretty steep — and they are — but you have to keep in mind that prices dropped by greater percentages after the 2008 mortgage crisis.

“Inventory is really low,” said America Foy, an agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate who specializes in the East Bay.

A lack of inventory has led to bidding wars even in lower-cost areas or starter homes, Foy said, but more home owners are realizing that their homes are worth more and putting more homes on the market as demand shows no sign of slowing down.

“Some people have been saving up for the last four or five years, so they are ready to buy a house,” Foy said. “It’s smart to buy a house right now, that’s what people are feeling.”

Trulia looked at how much home asking prices had grown in 100 metropolitan markets in the United States and determined the 10 most expensive markets based on price-growth and percent of income going toward a mortgage.

You see the full list here. Here’s Trulia’s top ten:

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Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/06/where-home-prices-grew-most-in-bay-area.html

Apartment hunting in San Francisco is not for the faint of heart. The latest news on spiraling rents and brutal competition for rentals in San Francisco — as well as Oakland and San Jose — is covered here.

Many folks find that they can get more for their money by trekking across the Bay.

Here’s a look at two state-of-the-art lofts in converted industrial buildings — one East Bay (Emeryville), one West Bay (San Francisco) that underscore the price differentials. Both are from the same dynamic duo team — architect David Baker and developer Rick Holliday. Admittedly they aren’t direct comparisons, as the San Francisco penthouse is bigger and in a more chi-chi location, but they give an idea of the price differences.

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First up, here is a “gorgeous light-filled” one-bedroom, one-bathroom in an historic Emeryville warehouse. At $2,450 a month for 1,300 square feet, it was snapped up within a week, said leasing agent Jeanne Zimmerman of McGuire Real Estate/Urban Bay Properties in San Francisco. “It would be about $3,800 if it were in San Francisco,” she said, pointing to the Hueblein Building as an equivalent SF comp.

Share this gallery: 1 of 12 

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Share this gallery: 1 of 12 

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Next, take a look at this penthouse unit in San Francisco’s landmark ClockTower  building with one bedroom plus an office space and two bathrooms. It also found a tenant quickly. At 1,925 feet it went for $6,500.

Believe it or not, in the early 1990s when Holliday converted the 1907 ClockTower building, originally the home of a lithography company that printed  California fruit-crate labels, to 127  open-floor-plan live/work units, people “thought I was out of my mind,” he said. The South of Market/South Beach area seemed like a wasteland at the time. “Then the building sold out,” he said. “It blew everyone away; it was written up in Esquire magazine.”

The condos that sold for $250,000 “back in the day” now hover around $1 million with some of the better ones going for $2 million, Holliday said.

A side note on live-work lofts. Zimmerman said they have an unusual competitive situation where potential residents have to vie with corporate renters.

“I see a lot of small businesses and startups competing with residential customers for them,” she said. “The companies are looking to lease them for office space, and use the bed upstairs in the loft area for executives who travel or employees who work late.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. For insights and news on Bay Area real estate, follow her on Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/05/01/apartment-mania-sleek-live-work-lofts-in-east-bay-vs-sf/

Neighborhoods around the Bay Area, from Silicon Valley to the East Bay, are seeing home values near their pre-crash levels, according to the real estate site Zillow.com.

The Mercury News reports that 34 of 185 ZIP codes in the region have reached or come near their bubble-era peak home values and another 49 are within 15 percent.

The recovery is being felt in many parts of the East Bay, as well, though areas of Contra Costa and Alameda counties where subprime lending was heavy are still struggling.

But home values in some parts of Berkeley, Pleasanton, Oakland and Orinda have risen to 10 percent or less below their earlier peaks, the report notes.

Read more at the Mercury News.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/morning_call/2013/04/housing-recovery-spreading-in-bay-area.html