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Those of you who follow this blog will find the following to sound familiar>  When the jobs market is strong, the local housing market usually follows suit.  The latest statistics in the Bay Area once again bear this out.  Interested in the reasons? Take a look at the following. The Bay Area’s high-performance economy has been driving demand for housing for the past five years, and the region’s job market appears stronger than ever in 2018. A new analysis from job-search website Indeed.com ranks the 25 best U.S. markets for job seekers this year on a 100-point scale. The company bases its rankings on four criteria: the favorability of  the labor market, the average salary adjusted for...

There are a number of ways to have your home's value increase with time.  One is allowing normal appreciation to take its effect over time.  A better one, which takes less time, is to spend the time and money necessary to improve the home by improving or remodeling the home.  A large number of owners are taking the latter tack.  Read on. Fifty-eight percent of homeowners will funnel money into a home-improvement project this year, according to a recent poll. For the fifth straight year, outdoor renovations are the most popular with homeowners in 2018. Twice as many homeowners are improving their properties so that they can age in place than those who are renovating in advance of a sale....

Frequently when prices in a real estate market climb at a rapid pace, and, no matter what news happens, continue to do so, people begin talking about the possibility of a bubble in the market.  When this happens, these same folks start chattering about t he likelihood of the bubble bursting, collapsing the market and home values along with it.  So, in the current market, people have begun worrying about the possibility of a bubble as values climb higher and higher.  Who's right? Read on for some relevant information that may help answer that question. Analysts at Arch MI do not believe that home prices are overvalued, nor do they foresee a looming bubble. The chances of home prices...

As home prices resume their upward track, again threatening to breach the million dollar price level as a median in Marin, it's worth asking if there are buyers capable of playing in this range.  The answer is a resounding "Yes", with the largest numbers of  them directed toward California.  Of those, the heaviest focus is the San Francisco Bay area, including specifically Marin's San Rafael locale.  Read on for details. Households that earn $1 million-plus per year bought more homes in the San Francisco metropolitan area than anywhere else in America in 2016, accounting for nearly 2 percent of transactions. San Rafael ranks as the third most-popular U.S. housing market for millionaires,...

One segment of the market that often gets a lot of attention is that of "Luxury Homes'.  Clearly, the term 'luxury' has different meaning to different people, but, for purposes of the conversation, we're referring here to those priced at or above $3 million. As the headline above proclaims, the market for these homes is still hot.  In fact, as the following clearly indicates, it is more than that.  It is incendiary!!.  Buyer or seller you may be, but this information shows you the benefits of being a Seller or why you should increase the pace of your search if you're a buyer. Executive Summary: • Sales of Bay Area homes priced above $3 million doubled in February, with most local regions...

One constant in determining value and desirability of homes in a given area is the number of new homes constructed in a given period.  The reason is simple.  Developers aren't going to go through the time and expense of building new homes if the return on their investment--read profit--isn't there.  If there is good profit opportunity to be had, developers will be among the first to seize it and get to work. Building-permit activity increased by almost 95 percent in San Francisco last year when compared with the historic average over the previous 36 years, ranking the city No. 1 the nation for new-construction growth. San Jose ranked No. 8 in the U.S. for home building gains, issuing a...

So now you own a house!  Or maybe you're thinking of owning one.  After that big expense of buying it has passed, the question arises: " How much should I spend annually on keeping it in good shape?"  Well, there are a variety of answers.  Read on to get some info. A recent survey found that the average homeowner pays $2,000 per year to outsource maintenance services such as housecleaning and landscaping. Sixty-three percent of homeowners use at least one recurring home-maintenance service provider. Housekeeping is the most expensive service to outsource, an average of $285 each month.   Most prospective homebuyers have considered the major costs of ownership, including the down...

One thing we frequently hear from buyers is that they want to be able to walk to town from where they live.  Sometimes it's a 'must have'; others, it's a wish, but further down their want list. The following will explain people's interests in these regards. About 60 percent of millennials and Americans aged 73 and older prefer living in communities in which they can walk to amenities. More than half of those surveyed believe that living in a walkable neighborhood is key to their satisfaction. Regardless of age bracket, one-third of Americans believe that living near public transportation is important.   More than half of millennials and older adults prefer neighborhoods that allow...

Well, as with everything, in recent years we have had our vocabulary, not to mention our daily activities and culture, altered by a new word--and what its place in the world is.  Today's new word is MILLENNIALS.  It is having an increasing effect on society, as well as all real estate aspects of said society. A recent report by The Brookings Institution took a deep look at the millennial generation (defined as those ages 25 to 34). Millennials are important because they are currently the largest generation since baby boomers. Millennials make up about 25 percent of the U.S. population, 30 percent of the voting population, and 40 percent of the working-age population, and they are...