An East Bay Point Of View

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Bay Area home sales subside, but prices increase

Bay Area home sales continued lurching toward normalcy in August, as the median price rose compared with a year ago while sales volume was flat, according to a real estate report released Friday.

The real estate market may improving for buyers. Read the entire article at Sfgate.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Alameda Open Homes 6/15 - 16

Address	Price	Day	Time
1500 Alameda Ave B	$220,000	Sunday	2-4:00pm
104 Cypress	$289,900	Sunday	2-4:00pm
2035 Otis Dr Unit E	$339,000	Saturday and Sunday	2-4:00pm
1124 Fontana Dr	$485,000	Sunday	2-4:00pm
1722 Everett St	$489,000	Saturday	2-4:00pm
3027 Flora Vista	$489,000	Saturday and Sunday	2-4:00pm
602 Ironwood	$525,000	Saturday and Sunday	2-4:00pm
2820 Burgner Ave	$560,000	Saturday and Sunday	2-4:00pm
308 Santa Clara Ave	$585,000	Sunday	2-4:00pm
1816 Alameda Ave	$649,000	Sunday	2-4:30pm
2904 Otis Dr	$649,000	Saturday and Sunday	2-4:00pm
624 Tarryton Isle	$749,000	Saturday and Sunday	2-4:30pm
38 Argus	$749,000	Sunday	2-4:30pm
1604 Fernside Blvd	$749,000	Sunday	2-4:30pm
1616 Lafayette St	$749,000	Sunday	2-4:00pm
2904 Johnson	$759,000	Saturday	2-4:30pm
1610 High St	$799,000	Sunday	2-4:30pm
1335 Caroline St	$879,000	Sunday	2-4:30pm
1733 San Jose Ave	$979,000	Sunday	2-4:00pm
7 Castlebar Pl	$1,375,000	Sunday	2-4:30pm

Friday, May 24, 2013

Alameda Open Homes May 25th & 26th

1611 Lea Ct | $399,000 | 1 BD/1 BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

887 Oak St. | $628,000 | 2 Units
Sunday | 2 - 4

101 Orr Rd. | $638,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA
Sunday | 2 - 4

1735 Broadway | $629,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA
Sat - Sun | 2 - 4

1735 Broadway | $629,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA

Sun | 2 - 4:00pm

2262A San Jose Ave | $399,000 | 1 BD/1 BA

Sun | 2-4:00pm

3021 Lincoln. | $775,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA

Sunday | 2 - 4:30pm

1073 Holly St. | $699,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sat | 2 - 4:00pm

75 Sea Bridge | $749,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sun | 2 - 4:00pm

512 Tideway Dr | $1,350,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA

Sun | 1:30 - 4:30pm

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Alameda open homes May 18th & 19th

If you are interested in any of the homes listed but cannot make the open homes please give me a call and I can arrange a private viewing.

1611 Lea Ct | $399,000 | 1 BD/1 BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

1107 Oak St. | $749,000 | 3+BD/2+BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

887 Oak St. | $628,000 | 2 Units
Sunday | 2 - 4

1617 Gould Ct. | $370,000 | 2 BD/1 BA
Sunday | 2:00-4:00pm

218 Centre Ct. | $389,000 | 1 BD/1 BA CONDO
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

1735 Broadway | $629,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA

Sun | 2 - 4:00pm

2262A San Jose Ave | $399,000 | 1 BD/1 BA

Sun | 2-4:00pm

1536 Hight St. | $495,000 | 2 BD/2 BA DUPLEX

Sat - Sun | 2 - 4:00pm

1944 Otis Dr. | $769,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2-5:00pm

1439 Eastshore Dr. | $875,000 | 4 BD/3.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2-4:30pm

3021 Lincoln. | $775,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA

Sunday | 2 - 4:30pm

1616 Lafayette St. | $749,000 | 3 BD/2 BA

Sat - Sun | 2 - 5:00pm

75 Sea Bridge | $749,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2 - 4:00pm

368 Hollister Ave. | $729,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2 - 4:30pm

926 Pearl St. | $699,000 | 3 BD/2 BA

Sunday | 2 - 4

1073 Holly St. | $699,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sunday | 2 - 4

219 Bannister St. | $670,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA

Sunday | 2 - 4

523 Pacific Ave. | $639,000 | 4 BD/3 BA

Sunday | 2 - 4

101 Orr Rd. | $638,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2 - 4

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Alameda Open Homes May 11th & 12th

If you are interested in any of the homes listed but cannot make the open homes please give me a call and I can arrange a private viewing.

1132 Verdemar | $529,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA TOWNHOME
Sat - Sun 2 - 4:30

1617 Lea Ct | $399,000 | 1 BD/1 BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

1107 Oak St. | $749,000 | 3+BD/2+BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

3323 Central Ave. | $675,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA
Sunday | 1:30-4:30pm

2901 Madison St. | $630,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

1735 Broadway | $629,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2-4:30pm

1928 Sandcreek Way | $648,000 | 3 BD/2 BA

Sat - Sun | 2-4:00pm

219 Bannister Ct. | $670,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA

Sunday | 1-4:00pm

1944 Otis Dr. | $769,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sat | 2-5:00pm

1439 Eastshore Dr. | $875,000 | 4 BD/3.5 BA

Sat - Sun | 2-4:30pm

1944 Otis Dr. | $769,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sat | 2-5:00pm

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Does the Fast Rise in Home Prices Equal a Bubble

The fast rise in U.S. home prices has some in the housing market murmuring the dreaded "B" word. New numbers out Monday only add to that "bubble" hypothesis. The nation's top 10 and top 20 market composites on the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index recorded their highest annual growth rates since May 2006 -- up 8.6 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. "It is a solid rebound," said S&P's David Blitzer in an interview on CNBC. "I would not call it a bubble, but I'll admit a bubble is one thing you don't see when you're in it. You only see it after it occurs."

housing bubble

Looking back on the index, the biggest home price jumps were in 2004 and 2005, when values were up as high as 16 percent annually. Those prices were fueled by cheap and easy credit, which certainly does not exist today. They were also fueled by speculators who bought and flipped homes at a fast clip, putting no skin of their own in the game.

The concerns today are in certain local markets where gains in home prices look meteoric. In Alameda I checked median home prices for Q1 of 2012 vs. median home prices for Q1 2013 and saw prices rose 19 percent, but you have to put that in perspective. From the peak of the housing boom to the trough in August of 2011, home prices fell over 35% percent. Home prices are approaching their peak levels in 2007 in some cases.

The difference this time around is that the investors are not flipping homes as much, they are holding them to rent. They are also using mostly cash, and therefore they have all their skin in the game. The reason prices are rising so fast? There is very little to buy and demand is coming back. Inventories are down significantly across the nation, and even in the supposedly busy spring season, fewer new listings are coming on than normally do this time of year.

"From my perspective, prices have not gotten out of line with incomes yet," said Eric Belsky of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. "When you look at the extent to which prices fell and they've come back, while some of the double-digit gains are sort of eye-popping, both the fundamental price-to-income level and when you layer in mortgage interest rates, I don't see any market being that frothy or that inflated now."

The East Bay in general is very hot right now. Alameda, Oakland and Berkeley remain highly desirable and have been drawing people who cannot afford to live in San Francisco for years. That and the quality of life issues; schools, backyards, access to public transportation keep these cities desirable.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Alameda Open Homes May 4th & 5th

If you are interested in any of the homes listed but cannot make the open homes please give me a call and I can arrange a private viewing.

1821 Broadway | $479,000 | 2 BD/1 BA
Sunday | 2-4:30pm

1132 Verdemar | $529,000 | 3 BD/2.5 BA TOWNHOME
Sunday | 2-4:30pm

909 Centennial | $549,000 | 2 BD/1 BA
Sunday | 2-4:30pm

1504 Fernside | $649,000 | 3 BD/2 BA
Sat & Sun | 2-4:00pm

3 Parfait Lane | $619,000 | 3 BD/2 BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

887 Oak St. | $628,000 | 2 Units
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

3008 - 3010 Jackson St. | $689,000 | 2 BD/1 BA 2 Unit Duplex
Saturday & Sunday | 2-4:30pm

3323 Central Ave. | $675,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA
Sunday | 1:30-4:30pm

2901 Madison St. | $630,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA
Sunday | 2-4:00pm

1735 Broadway | $629,000 | 3 BD/1.5 BA

Sunday | 2-4:00pm

523 Pacific | $688,000 | 4 BD/3 BA

Sunday | 2-4:00pm

1944 Otis Drive. | $769,000 | 4 BD/2.5 BA

Sunday | 2-4:00pm

128 Anderson Rd. | $879,000 | 4 BD/3 BA

Sunday | 2-4:00pm

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