Home Prices Exploding in Silicon Valley Amid More Millionaires By Dan Levy June 15 Bloomberg) — A surge in wealth from technology stock sales and initial public offerings is spilling into the Silicon Valley real estate market as newly rich workers bid up home values in suburban cities south of San Francisco. The median price of single-family houses sold in Palo Alto, home of Facebook Inc., climbed 20 percent in May from a year earlier to $1.63 million, the biggest jump since 2008, according to preliminary figures from research company DataQuick. In Mountain View, the base of LinkedIn Corp., prices rose 3.1… read more.
Home Prices Exploding in Silicon Valley Amid More Millionaires
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011Ed Lee plans to pass tree costs to property owner
Friday, June 3rd, 2011City officials say they don’t have enough money to adequately care for San Francisco’s thousands of street trees and that local property owners will have to pick up the bill. The cost-switching plan is part of Mayor Ed Lee’s $6.8 billion budget proposal for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. Faced with having to close a projected $306 million deficit, the mayor wants to trim $600,000 from the city’s cost for street tree care next year. That would amount to a 27 percent decrease from this year’s budget of $2.2 million. The mayor’s solution: dump responsibility for 23,715 of the 38,559… read more.
How Long Will It Take For The Housing Market To Return To Normal?
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010At the recent Urban Land Institute (ULI) annual fall conference in Washington, D.C., the question on everyone’s mind was: “When will the real estate market see some normalcy?” Now that I’m back at the daily grind in San Francisco, I find myself reflecting on the discussions and unique perspectives shared by colleagues from around the world. A key point continually reiterated was that the real estate markets would not see any type of norm until 2013 or 2014. The good news was that we’re at the bottom, but we may have five years of excess supply, particularly tied to pending and upcoming… read more.
A six-point guide to selling your home
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009On the Block, an SFGate.com blog As with all the best blogs, some of the most incisive commentary on On The Block is provided by its readers. A post yesterday about homes that seem incapable of finding buyers prompted many responses. Almost everyone agreed that pricing was key and that, in the cases cited in the post, the home owners needed to revise their thinking on their asking prices. As one commenter pointed out, “A property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.” Reader “leftcurveball” went further and offered a concise but eminently sensible six-point guide to selling a… read more.
Price Security for Home Sellers
Sunday, October 18th, 2009New York Times By BOB TEDESCHI Would you be willing to give away 1 percent of your home’s value if it meant not having to worry about losing more? That is the essence of a product introduced this month by Working Equity Inc., a San Francisco company recently started by former financial services executives. Industry analysts and financial consultants suggest that the product could be useful to homeowners but should be approached with caution. With the product, Equity Protection, a homeowner is charged a one-time fee of 1 percent to 2.5 percent of a home’s value, which is determined by the company. (The fee can… read more.
Some Agents Inflate Estimate to Get Listing
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009Dian Hymer sfgate.com How would you like to find yourself in this situation? You need to sell your home, so you make appointments with three real estate agents. Each prepares a marketing proposal, including a recommended list price for your home. You list with the agent who recommends the highest price. Before you get your home on… read more.
How Home Improvements Affect Your Taxes When You Sell
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009www.TurboTax.com As a homeowner, you may be asking, “Can I ever get a tax benefit out of all the money I’ve spent fixing up my house?” The answer may be yes. You generally can’t deduct the cost of a new roof (or any other home improvement) in the year when you spend the money. But if you keep track … read more.
Commonly Asked Questions about 1031 Exchanges
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009What does the term 1031 refer to? 1031 is the number assigned to the Internal Revenue Code Section that provides for the tax deferred exchange of real and personal property. What does the term Starker refer to? It refers to the landmark 1979 federal case entitled, Starker v. U.S. 602 F2d 1341 (9 th Cir 1979) wherein the court substantiated the validity of the delayed exchange process. Prior to the… read more.
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Moneysworth Magazine The San Francisco real estate market is very competitive, and in spite of a downturn in the local economy, selling property in San Francisco can still be a hair-raising experience. Besides finding a real estate agent whom you like, there is the obvious matter of getting your property into tip-top shape. You will be competing with many other homes for sale. Don’t allow their property values to nudge you below your desired sales price. Make the real estate market work for you, not the other way around. Listen to your real estate agent. Let him or her advise… read more.
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
by Broderick Perkins www.homestore.com A three bedroom home in a neighborhood of fours isn’t going to sell as well, or for the best price. However, remodeled kitchens and home-office additions don’t come with guarantees that they’ll boost your home’s value – even in a hot seller’s market. Nor should you expect home improvements to shore up your equity… read more.
Real estate can tell you a lot about people and markets.
Hundreds of Web-savvy startups have sprung up in San Francisco’s oldest buildings in the South of Market district (called “SOMA” for shorthand). So behind that sleek new Apple iPhone whatever-it-does application… 
