The concept of “starter homes” cropped up after the end of the Second World War, when millions of young families took advantage of low-cost new developments to gain a foothold in homeownership: the emblematic first step in fulfilling the American Dream.
Today’s first-time local home buyers are a lot less predictable—just as the market itself is …
When real estate occupies most of your day (as it certainly does ours), you find yourself receiving no end of information. Some summarize points of view that are available elsewhere; some provide original information that isn’t particularly relevant to our local market.
One piece that gets more than the usual quick-scan-then-into-the-recycle-bin treatment is the HPI Data …
Who doesn’t want to know what will happen in the future? That’s a very small group, for sure, since good planning is a cornerstone of good management — for households as well as for organizations of every kind.
So, whenever area homeowners see headlines like “Home Prices Up ‘Unsustainable’ 5.9% in 2012,” above a MarketWatch article …
To the extent that local rentals reflect wider real estate movement, there is good news and bad news for area tenants. It all depends on how they view it (and how they chart their personal housing strategy). The bad news was not unexpected: for the third straight year, rents were up across the nation in …
The Weather Channel has nothing to do with it. What’s happening up in the ski resorts, likewise. The ‘snowball effect’ being discussed in print and on TV won’t soften anytime soon (even if the groundhog was right about winter being over)..
This is an economic snowball — one that’s gathering momentum following what CNN’s Money website …
The sun rises in the east and, almost as dependably, someone in Congress comes up with the bright idea of chipping away at the mortgage interest rate deduction. Think of all that money Washington could spend!
The National Association of REALTORS® is one of the main reasons that idea doesn’t get much traction – nor many of the …
The truism has it that real estate is the most local of assets. If you exclude California-style earthquakes, the land a home is built upon tends to stay pretty much in one place. That being the case, local home prices tend to reflect our local area conditions: when business is popping and everyone feels confident …
The real estate climate forecast for the coming year is partly sunny — and warming up! Yet, with no double-digit appreciation in sight, some who plan on selling a home in town face the very practical question: is the winter of ’13 the right time to sell?
For those who stand to make a gain from …
You could have easily missed it here in town — an attention-grabbing event that happened just before New Years Day. One of those San Francisco Bay Area luxury properties (priced at $25 million) made headlines when it was reported to have gone under contract through a little-known process…an online auction.
Come again?
In an increasingly digital age …
The holiday décor is down; neighborhood kids are back in school; January’s social calendar looks amazingly clear (compared with the previous two months, anyway)… so, what now? One suggestion we can offer: put some serious thought into acting on those financial New Year’s resolutions – at least the ones that are dealing with your local …