“Despite multi-billion dollar buying sprees by well-funded Wall Street hedge funds, real estate investors bought fewer properties in 2012 than they did in 2011, which was a record year for investors. Investment-home sales declined 2.1 percent to 1.21 million from 1.23 million in 2011, but those sales had been well under a million during the market downturn,” according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors.

Meanwhile, previously surging single family rents are flattening. Nearly 4 million more single-family homes have been added to the rental market since 2005, according to Trulia.com. Supply has finally caught up with demand, with single family rents up just 0.1 percent in March from a year ago. That has housing bears roaring again.

(Read More: Deep Freeze: Home Sales Barely Budge in Spring)

“In Phoenix—like Las Vegas, Florida, the Inland Empire, Central Valley et al—we now have a rental supply glut,” said Mark Hanson, a California-based housing and mortgage analyst.

“Wherever the institutional money has gone in and ravaged is high risk for housing investment or building. These regions have become highly volatile speculative regions in which prices can rise 20 percent one year and fall 15 percent the next. The insti’s have turned these markets into something I have never seen before…more like high-beta, speculative, volatile tech stock markets than housing markets.”

Prices are soaring in these markets because all-cash investors are finding very little left to buy. Regular buyers can’t compete with investors, so they are heading to the home builders. The builders were caught off guard, because they did not foresee this dynamic. Now they are rushing back to meet demand, while having no idea how long that demand will last. Why? Because when home prices get high enough, investors could cash out, pushing inventories higher and prices lower.

The birth of the new asset class, the REO (bank owned foreclosures) to Rent model, put a floor on home prices and reduced distress dramatically in the market. It also, however, added a new volatility to housing for years to come.

If investors hold and rent the homes, recovery will continue apace, but if sentiment shifts, and investors see bigger returns in sales than rents, the game could turn quickly.

RealtyCheck producer Stephanie Dhue contributed to this report.

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100627586

Real estate returns are not rocket science.  Because they’re such a huge portion of the consumer balance sheet they tend to be tied very closely to wage growth.  Wage growth, by definition, is very closely tied to the rate of inflation.  That explains why the long-term historical return of real estate is roughly in-line with the rate of inflation.  But this survey from Zillow shows that real estate “investors” are probably still too optimistic.

I can see why these assumptions are attractive, but they are not quite what drops out of macroeconomic analysis.

Fundamental Upward Pressure of Prices

Wage growth, per se, shouldn’t drive housing prices. What we might expect is that wage growth drives rents and rents drive housing prices.

The wage-rent relationship, however, is not an iron law.

Matt Yglesias and Ryan Avent are famous for pointing out that rents – and hence housing prices – could be much lower in coastal cities if residents would abandon restrictive zoning laws. For example, Dallas and Philadelphia have roughly the same median household income, but home prices in Philly are much higher than in Dallas.

In general, if a fundamental driver – regulation, technology, preference – causes rents to eat up a higher portion of folks pay checks then rents and home prices will be higher.

To some extent the national rise in home prices is due to both technology and preferences driving more people to want to live in high rent areas like the Northeast Corridor.

Those same forces are leading some people to want to live in Houston, Austin and Raleigh-Durham, but because of looser regulation that simply translates into booming housing supply and a booming population rather than higher prices.

In addition, the relationship between rent and housing prices depends on interest rates – both the real portion and expected inflation. A house is like a utility company. Instead of providing power services, it provides shelter services and keeps you from having to pay rent.

Many finance folks are familiar with the rule-of-thumb that utilities tend to trade like bonds. Higher interest rates lead to lower bond and utility stock prices. Lower interest rates lead to higher bond and utility stock prices.

This is because – like a house – you are receiving a fixed stream of services over a long period of time.

Though this framing is kinda technical, most of these factors can be summed up in a really straightforward comparison: monthly rent vs. monthly mortgage payment for similar homes.

When the market is balanced the monthly mortgage payment should be slightly higher than the rental payment because 1) Mortgages get a tax break and 2) Traditional rate mortgages offer you the stability of a fixed payment.

Adjustable rate mortgages  (ARM) need to produce a payment close to or even below rent to be a good buy. That’s because you lose the security of a fixed payment and depending on the terms of the ARM you may actually be facing more payment volatility than with renting.

Trulia crunches the numbers and it looks like under their baseline assumptions its cheaper to buy than to rent in every one of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States.

In traditional hotspots like the San Francisco Bay area, New York City and Orange County, CA, the discount is low. Still this is a recipe for fundamentals house price appreciation.

Bubble Territory

If housing prices merely stabilized into a sustainable equilibrium with rents then the future probably wouldn’t be too dramatic. We would see a rapid shoot-up in home prices now, followed by a long period of little to no price growth as the Fed raised interest rates.

Rents would still be going up and monthly mortgage payments would rise with them to maintain equilbrium. However, mortgages payments would be rising because interest rates were rising, not because home prices were rising.

Eventually, the Fed would stop raising rates and home prices would start to drift higher and eventually home price growth would converge to rent growth.

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2013/03/25/the-housing-bubble-is-back/

Real estate investors who want to invest their money in Alameda should get to know Victor Jin. Smart investors know that his name is synonymous with property investment. His company, Property Investment Services boasts an established reputation for superior service, knowledge, integrity and trust.

Jin is a commercial real estate broker who specializes in the sale of income property. He has been a Realtor for more than 35 years and a licensed real estate broker for 26 of those years.

Jin was born in San Francisco. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in business from San Francisco State University. He hold a masters in business administration from Golden Gate University.

In 1984 Jin helped establish Property Investment Services in San Francisco. Two years later, the company opened a second office here in Alameda.

Property Investment Services is the only real estate brokerage in Alameda that focuses and specializes in the sale of commercial and income properties in the Greater Bay Area.

Jin does more than sell real estate. He has served on numerous non-profit boards ranging from non-profit housing, to social services and business organization like the Chamber of Commerce.

His peers have recognized his talents. The Alameda Association of Realtors have named him Realtor of the Year. The Alameda Chamber of Commerce has award him the distinction of Business Man of the Year.

Jin is the president of the Northern California Commercial Association of Realtors, a California Association of Realtors director and a member of the National Association of Realtors.

“Real estate investors interested in buying, selling or need property management for their investments in real estate, need to call me,” Jin said.

“I represent real estate investors and truly know the market,” Jin said. “I analyze properties and patiently work with the investor to understand their objectives. Investors call me based on referrals and experience as a commercial broker representing buyers and sellers.”

Property owners also work with Jin once they realize that they need a company that specializes in income property sales and property management.

Jin’s services include;

• Real estate sales: Property Investment Services specializes in the sale of income and commercial properties throughout the Greater Bay Area.

This includes all types of residential income properties from duplexes to large apartment buildings, along with retail and office buildings.

“We also specialize in storefront properties with residential units, often referred to ‘mixed use buildings,” Jin said. “Our company prides itself on keeping clients up to date on the local market.”

• Property management services: As a service for its clients the company provides full property management service. This includes the collection of rents and payment of all expenses; coordination of maintenance and repairs; 24- hour emergency coverage and monthly reports for the owner.

• Comparative market analysis: If you’re an owner, trustee or real estate portfolio manager who needs to know what a property is worth we can offer a free comparative market analysis to determine a property’s current market value.

• Commercial property evaluation: A commercial property evaluation is a short appraisal used by financial institutions for loans less than $250,000.

The method of evaluation is only a sales comparison approach. Individual property owners may also request a commercial property evaluation for estate purposes or as part of a comprehensive financial portfolio analysis. This type of evaluation costs considerably less than an appraisal.

“My service is tailored for investors’ wants and needs, Jin said.

Call 523-1115 to learn more about Jin’s services.

Dennis Evanosky

Purchasing Victorian-era homes like the one at right can be a complex operation for new investors. Call Victor Jin for help

Article source: http://alamedasun.com/component/content/article/32-greater-alameda-business-association/11028-the-place-for-real-estate-investment

Droves of cheap foreclosed homes are drawing serious investor money. From mom-and-pop folks seeking retirement income to Wall Street-backed funds with hundreds of millions to spend, investors buy distressed homes to either fix and flip or, increasingly, to hold and rent out, mainly focusing on the most-affordable areas – those most devastated by the downturn.

“There is a tsunami of money coming into the market, billions of dollars to buy distressed single-family homes,” said Jeff Lerman, a San Rafael real estate lawyer, speaking about the national landscape. “The window of opportunity is rapidly closing (as prices rise). Over the next 18 months, profit margins in single-family opportunistic buying will be compressed quite a bit.”

But for now, many distressed homes – foreclosures and short sales – sell for about a third off their peak values, and often for less than it would cost to build a new home.

Investor impact in the Bay Area was magnified during the downturn. That’s because for many years, the Bay Area’s stratospheric prices made buying homes to rent out a losing proposition, so investors bought elsewhere.

“Historically the (sales) price-to-rent ratio for California single-family homes has never made sense to hold houses at any scale,” said Brian Burke, managing director of Praxis Capital, a Santa Rosa real estate investment company. “But the market dynamics have completely changed and opened up an opportunity for us to buy, hold and rent, as well as buying to fix and flip.”

A Chronicle analysis of sales data compiled by San Diego research firm DataQuick showed that absentee buyers, who once bought about 10 percent of homes sold in the nine Bay Area counties, account for about a quarter of all purchases this year, more than doubling their share. Absentee buyers are defined as those who have property tax bills sent to a different address than the house they just bought.

Absentee buyers

Absentee buyers were most common in Solano County, where they accounted for almost a third of sales. Solano has by far the lowest median home prices in the Bay Area, weighing in at $200,000 in September, for instance.

Flipped homes – those resold within six months of purchase – went from about 2.5 percent of all Bay Area sales in 2007 to about 4 percent of sales currently, with the biggest bump coming this year. Again, bargain-basement Solano had the most activity, with around 6 percent of sales being flipped homes.

Investors played a big role in helping the market start to recover, experts say.

“The real estate market hit a floor sooner because of investor appetite, so it plays into a stabilizing housing market and overall economy,” said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage.

But there’s a downside, too. Deep-pocketed investors paying all cash often elbow out prospective homeowners. “It makes it awfully frustrating for first-time buyers who have to compete with them,” LePage said.

Big draw for investors

For now, market dynamics continue to lure investors.

“There are a lot of investors out there, large and small, who continue to relish residential real estate in a market where many people either don’t want to buy a house or cannot buy a house and so are renting,” LePage said. “For a lot of these investors, it’s still penciling out at sometimes-record levels.”

Praxis Capital is a case in point. In 2009, Burke, who had 20 years experience buying homes at foreclosure auctions, partnered with Rivendale Homes, a large private builder, to form Praxis. It started buying about 100 to 120 homes a year to fix and flip in 12 northern California counties, including the East Bay, North Bay and Sacramento area.

A year ago, Praxis started buying houses to hold onto and rent out because home prices finally made the math work, generating positive cash flow. It now has about 100 rental homes, with more in the pipeline.

For instance, it paid $182,000 at a foreclosure auction for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom Santa Rosa tract home that is now getting a $15,000 “cosmetic rehab” of new carpets, paint, flooring and landscaping. The house should rent for $1,950, Burke said. Once it’s rehabbed, he projects its market value will be $253,000. After renting this and similar homes out for five to seven years, Praxis will sell, hoping for significant appreciation.

Praxis has spent $15 million to date on both its flipped and rental properties, and is launching a fund in January focused just on buying homes to rent out. It hopes to raise $25 million, primarily from high-net-worth individuals in the region – winemaking families, small business owners and professionals who are looking to diversify their portfolios, Burke said.

Finding tenants is easy because so many displaced families need housing.

Dominating the market

“Right now the dominating force driving the rental market in California is foreclosed-upon former homeowners transitioning to renters,” Burke said. “That demographic is an important market segment for us.”

Fixing up dilapidated foreclosures “is the home building of the current decade,” Burke said. “In the 2000s, people were building houses everywhere. The home building of today is taking an old rundown house that hasn’t been cared for and bringing it up to current standards and modernizing it.”

Despite its millions of dollars worth of investments, Praxis is small compared with the Wall Street-backed giants who have plunged into the distressed residential real estate market. Oakland’s Waypoint Real Estate Investment Group, for instance, hopes to pour $1 billion into single-family homes over the next couple of years. It owns hundreds of homes in eastern Contra Costa County and Oakland, as well as markets outside the Bay Area.

It’s since been joined by other private-equity backed heavyweights, including Blackstone Group, Colony Capital, Och-Ziff and American Homes 4 Rent.

Many of those big players are focusing on cheaper markets than the Bay Area, such as Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Likewise many mom-and-pop investors have shied away from buying locally.

‘Unlikely to last’

“California doesn’t have large cash flow; it’s more of an appreciation play,” said Kathy Fettke, CEO of Real Wealth Network, a Walnut Creek real-estate investment club. Her club usually steers members to lower-cost markets, but recently recommended buying California homes between $150,000 and $300,000.

“This is the first time we’re featuring California,” Fettke said. “We now have a combination of low home prices and low interest rates, which makes for better cash flow than we’ve ever seen.”

But it’s unlikely to last. “In the last six months, prices have gone up as much as 20 percent in certain neighborhoods,” she said.

“Investor activity eventually will taper off,” LePage said. “Prices will get to the point where it doesn’t pencil. That’s inevitable – but the big question is when. You have to know when the economy will gain a lot more traction.”

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

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Investors-rushing-into-real-estate-deals-4026281.php

But we aren’t San Francisco, New York or San Jose, Calif., either, the top-ranking (if high-priced) beauty queens of real estate next year.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg area lands pretty much in the middle at No. 29 in a survey of 51 major markets appearing in the 2013 Emerging Trends in Real Estate. The report was unveiled Wednesday by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers, now known as PwC.

“The Tampa-St. Pete market is one where real estate investors will proceed with caution,” says Mitch Roschelle, Emerging Trends, co-chair and head of PwC’s national real estate advisory practice in New York. But the same market may benefit, he adds, if investors sense the Miami market is overheating again and look for nearby Florida real estate opportunities.

“The enduring low-gear real estate recovery” will continue in 2013, says Emerging Trends. Safe but super-low interest rates increasingly will drive yield-hungry investors away from plain-vanilla financial instruments. And the “ever-seesawing” stock market will push those same investors toward real estate markets coming off recent bottoms.

Within battered Florida, Miami broke through in the survey at a solid No. 12 of national real estate markets. The ranking is based on three measures: investment, development and home-building potential. Orlando ranked 28th, just ahead of Tampa Bay. And Jacksonville, the only other Florida city measured, came in at No. 39.

On a map, the four Florida cities decline from south to north. Miami was ranked as “modestly good” while Tampa Bay and Orlando were deemed “fair” and Jacksonville was called “modestly poor.”

Here are the five most interesting nuggets from the 104-page online report:

5 “The amount of foreign capital in New York City and Washington, D.C., is ‘breathtaking.’ San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles and Boston also draw attention, but not much heads elsewhere.”

4 “Most areas can sustain little if any new commercial construction, given relatively lackluster tenant demand and the generally weak employment outlook.”

3 “Office users squeeze more people into less square footage, preferring green buildings with operating efficiencies, while retailers reduce store size in favor of various integrated e-commerce strategies.”

2 “The large generation-Y demographic cohort orients away from the suburbs to more urban lifestyles, and these young adults willingly rent shoebox-sized apartments as long as neighborhoods have enticing amenities with access to mass transit.”

1 “More intergenerational sharing of housing occurs to pool resources among children (seeking employment), their parents (reduced wages and benefits), and grandparents (limited pensions and savings).”

Bottom line? In real estate, smaller, leaner and more urban trends will all become big drivers in 2013.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@tampabay.com.

Article source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/tampa-bay-lands-in-middle-of-metro-pack-in-2013-real-estate-outlook/1257010

Heralded by the Obama White House’s Better Building Challenge that seeks 20 percent energy reductions by 2020, the California Best Buildings Challenge tasks participants to reach 20 percent reductions in energy, water and waste in existing commercial buildings in just two years!

Seven new companies, including Bayer, Integral Group, Lockheed Martin, Method, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Webcor Builders and XL Construction will join existing participants Adobe, Genentech, Google, Prudential Real Estate Investors, SAP and Zynga. Together the companies own or operate more than six million square feet of commercial building space.

Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of the USGBC made the announcement on-stage at the W Hotel in San Francisco during a Road to Greenbuild event leading up to the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, which runs from November 12 – 17 in San Francisco. The event was attended by 150 regional executives and included a luncheon, keynote by Fedrizzi, and appearances by executives from the participating companies.

“California companies have always been trail blazers,” said Dan Geiger, executive director, USGBC-NCC. “When President Obama initiated the Better Buildings Challenge, we thought California firms could go further with the California Best Buildings Challenge. In the lead up to Greenbuild coming to its birthplace San Francisco, these firms are stepping up to pursue aggressive environmental goals in a landmark accelerated time frame – and most importantly, to inspire others to do the same.”

USGBC-NCC developed the Challenge, launching it with former President Clinton at the closing plenary event of the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative America meeting, which focused on identifying solutions to the economic turmoil in the United States. CGI America identified the Challenge as an excellent approach to addressing clean electricity and efficiency.

“Some of the companies are committing to pursue the Challenge in already very efficient, even LEED Platinum, buildings,” said Ashleigh Talberth, of USGBC-NCC, director of the California Best Buildings Challenge. “This Challenge could kick start a new wave of unprecedented, cutting-edge sustainability.”

The USGBC is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings by utilizing its market-transforming LEED green building certification program, educational programs, a nationwide network of professionals, and the annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. USGBC-NCC is one of the largest chapters in the country with more than 22,000 constituents, 10,000 LEED accredited professionals and more than five percent of the world’s LEED-certified square footage.

Allen Smith, CEO of Prudential Real Estate Investors, said, “As a major investor in commercial real estate around the world, PREI is committed to our investors, our tenants, and each other to find creative, sustainable approaches to building, improving and managing property. We’re excited to be part of the California Best Buildings Challenge as it is an opportunity to demonstrate that commitment by bringing out the best in us while improving our environmental practices.”

“SAP is committed to developing innovations that help run operations more sustainably for ourselves and our customers. A key part of SAP’s sustainability leadership is our dedication to environmentally-sustainable buildings, including optimizing the efficiency of our existing buildings and when creating new buildings from the ground up. By participating in the California Best Buildings Challenge, all companies have an opportunity to demonstrate how they are driving sustainability into their core business strategy and communities,” said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP.

Phil Williams, Webcor Builders’ vice president of technical systems and sustainability, stated, “As the region’s leading builder, sustainability is pivotal for Webcor’s designs, job sites, business practices, and research and development. Through a combination of experience and innovation, we are fundamentally committed to improving the quality of the built environment and collaboratively delivering this knowledge to the industry.”

Dave Beck, vice president, XL Construction, added, “XL Construction is excited to be joining the likes of Genentech, Google and Zynga in the California Best Buildings Challenge. As a builder committed to sustainability, we are always seeking better ways to serve our clients and communities. In challenging ourselves to meet the 20% reduction of energy, water, and waste in two years, we will be implementing strategies at home that we can then bring to our clients with living proof of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. We also hope to lead the industry in continuing to push the boundaries of efficiency and sustainable building.”

Article source: http://www.costar.com/News/Article/13-Bay-Area-Companies-Join-USGBCs-California-Best-Building-Challenge/141700

It’s all about the Benjamin’s, baby.

The collusion violates the Sherman Anti-Trust Act — which outlaws monopolistic business practices — and the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine (or as much as double the profit gained from the crime).

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Article source: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/05/foreclosure_auction_conspiracy.php

Two real estate investors who do business in San Mateo County have pleaded guilty to mail fraud and rigging public foreclosure auctions outside the Redwood City courthouse by agreeing not to bid against each other, according to the Department of Justice.

Lydia Fong and Matthew Worthing, both of San Francisco, were charged yesterday in the case, joining 20 other individuals throughout four Bay Area counties who have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in similar bid rigging and public auction fraud cases.

According to federal prosecutors, Fong and Worthing conspired with others for varied stretches between October 2009 and January 2011. Worthing is also charged with participating in a similar San Francisco County conspiracy in September 2010.

During the scheme, those involved agree not to bid against each other for foreclosed properties auctioned off outside the county courthouse. Instead, they kept the winning price low which, in turn, federal prosecutors say, damaged the real estate market and defrauded those expecting a level playing field.

“The collusion taking place at these auctions eliminated competition from the marketplace and allowed the conspirators to profit from the financial distress of others,” said Sharis A. Pozen, acting assistant attorney general Sharis A. Pozen in charge of the DOJ Antitrust Division, in a written statement.

When property is auctioned, the proceeds pay off the mortgage and debt with any remaining money going to the homeowner. Squelching competitive bids limits how much money is available for both.

Fong and Worthing used the postal service to send title documents to others in the conspiracy, make and receive payoffs and divert money, leading to the mail fraud charges.

For their roles, the investors face up to a decade in federal prison and $1 million fine for violating the antitrust law known as the Sherman Act and up to 30 years and a similar fine for each count of conspiring to commit mail fraud.

The DOJ’s antitrust division has an ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in the Bay Area. Including Fong and Worthing, a total of 22 people have settled cases in San Mateo, San Francisco, Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Anyone with information about bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at (415) 436-6660 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm or call the FBI tip line at (415) 553-7400.

Michelle Durand can be reached by email: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.

Article source: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=233265&title=Real%20estate%20investors%20plead%20guilty%20of%20rigging%20auctions

The Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Black Panther party preached “power to the people,” but in the San Francisco Bay area’s thriving real estate market, the power is in the property.

In this March 14, 2012 photo, a for sale sign is placed in front of the former home of Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. The house where the Black Panther Party got its start in the late 1960s is now on the market after being sold and remodeled into a trendy showpiece. The bungalow once hosted young revolutionaries Huey Newton and Bobby Seale as they drafted their 10-point party manifesto and unloaded their weapons after their nightly patrols. (AP Photo/Bay Area News Group, Jane Tyska)

Realtors expected to close a deal Friday on the Oakland home where the militant black power group was founded in 1966.

Panther co-founder Bobby Seale’s family sold the house in October for $200,000 to real estate investors who renovated the home with chic maple and quartz upgrades, The Oakland Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/GSQhOX ).

After the improvements, the home was put on the market for $400,000 — almost 40 times what Seale’s parents paid for it in 1960.

Seale said he and Huey Newton drafted the party’s manifesto in the dining room.

“We would come in from patrol at night, unload our weapons at my house, and lay them all out across the long dining room table,” Seale wrote in his 1978 autobiography.

The surrounding streets that armed party members once patrolled in the name of black empowerment are quickly gentrifying, with longtime residents like Seale departing for less expensive suburbs.

Seale, now 75, has worked as a draftsman and a carpenter. He made improvements on the house and wanted to do more, but his sister persuaded him to sell.

The house’s dramatically increased selling price was part of “the same crap that got this financial debacle started in the first place,” he said.

But Seale didn’t hold the cutthroat realities of buying and selling homes in the Bay Area against the new residents.

“People move. Humans move. Power to the people, whether they’re black, white, blue, whatever,” he said.

___

Information from: The Oakland Tribune, http://www.oaklandtribune.com

___

March 23, 2012 05:21 PM EDT

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/home-where-black-panther-1396570.html

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Black Panther party preached “power to the people,” but in the San Francisco Bay area’s thriving real estate market, the power is in the property.

Realtors expected to close a deal Friday on the Oakland home where the militant black power group was founded in 1966.

Panther co-founder Bobby Seale’s family sold the house in October for $200,000 to real estate investors who renovated the home with chic maple and quartz upgrades, The Oakland Tribune reported ( http://bit.ly/GSQhOX).

After the improvements, the home was put on the market for $400,000 – almost 40 times what Seale’s parents paid for it in 1960.

Seale said he and Huey Newton drafted the party’s manifesto in the dining room.

“We would come in from patrol at night, unload our weapons at my house, and lay them all out across the long dining room table,” Seale wrote in his 1978 autobiography.

The surrounding streets that armed party members once patrolled in the name of black empowerment are quickly gentrifying, with longtime residents like Seale departing for less expensive suburbs.

Seale, now 75, has worked as a draftsman and a carpenter. He made improvements on the house and wanted to do more, but his sister persuaded him to sell.

The house’s dramatically increased selling price was part of “the same crap that got this financial debacle started in the first place,” he said.

But Seale didn’t hold the cutthroat realities of buying and selling homes in the Bay Area against the new residents.

“People move. Humans move. Power to the people, whether they’re black, white, blue, whatever,” he said.

Information from: The Oakland Tribune, http://www.oaklandtribune.com

Article source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/23/3509288/home-where-black-panther-party.html

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