FRIDAY - make space for more
- Most Home Buyers Keep Their Options Open
- More than 75 percent of Millennials Have Made Compromises to Find Affordable Housing
- Shocking new studies: Silicon Valley’s ‘megacommute’ even worse than L.A.
- Ahead of election, cannabis investors watch, wait
- Real estate doesn’t make an economy
- Entry Refresh: 7 Bright Ideas for Front Porch Lighting
Enjoy!
Most Home Buyers Keep Their Options Open - In today's competitive housing market, most of those who moved recently considered both buying and renting while looking for a new place to live, according to the Zillow Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends. It takes more than 10 weeks to find a new home to rent – and more than 12 weeks for those with low incomes or those searching in tight rental markets, according to an analysis of the Zillow Group Report and U.S. Census data. For home buyers, the search is longer – 17 weeks. More than half -- 54 percent -- of buyers do not get the first home on which they make an offer. First-time home buyers make up 47 percent of all buyers, so it's feasible for many potential buyers to keep their options open and return to renting if they aren't successful purchasing a home.
More than 75 percent of Millennials Have Made Compromises to Find Affordable Housing - As the issue of housing continues to be hotly debated, one group in particular has had to compromise in order to find suitable living situations that are also affordable: millennials. According to a new survey of 1,000 Americans aged 18-34 from The NHP Foundation, a majority of millennials have had to delay or rethink traditional ideas of the “American Dream” of homeownership. Affordable housing is housing for which occupants pay no more than 30 percent of their income. Those who spend more than that on rent or a mortgage are considered “cost-burdened,” and over 69 percent of millennials put themselves in that category.
Shocking new studies: Silicon Valley’s ‘megacommute’ even worse than L.A. - The Silicon Valley “megacommute” — defined as a single motorist driving 90 minutes or longer one way to work — is actually worse here in the Bay Area than is the case even in traffic-choked Los Angeles County. he studies were released just days before Santa Clara County voters decide on Measure B, a ballot item that would impose an increase of a half-cent in the sales tax and raise $6.3 billion for an array of transportation and transit improvements. Among the upgrades: bringing BART to downtown San Jose, improvements to Caltrain, expansion of nine expressways in Santa Clara County, street maintenance and repairs, and bicycle and pedestrian projects.
Ahead of election, cannabis investors watch, wait - Legal cannabis may join pumpkins and Brussels sprouts as one of the Coastside’s prevalent crops if Proposition 64 passes next week and if local agencies choose to license it. But land itself can be an even greater asset than the harvest it yields, which is why some real estate brokers and cannabis investors are eyeing the area’s greenhouse properties as voters head to the polls. Some cannabis cultivators are considering Coastside land as the county develops its medical marijuana regulations, and interest may increase if voters legalize recreational cannabis. But lacking a crystal ball to predict the future, investors are moving cautiously as they await regulatory clarity.
Price cuts signal ‘more balanced’ home market in San Francisco - San Francisco saw the highest percentage increase of for-sale listings with price reductions in the country this year. The number of price cuts on properties increased to 8 percent this year, up from 5 percent last year. Nationally, price cuts increased 0.5 percentage points. The increase might seem small, but brokers are noticing a shift, especially in the high-end market on properties valued over $3 million and on new condos.
Real estate doesn’t make an economy - More construction, of course, would be welcome, but it’s simply farcical to think that high-density housing, the only kind favored by Gov. Jerry Brown, can do much to relieve high prices. Due, in part, to higher construction costs, the new wave of apartments cannot accommodate working-class, or even middle-class, families without subsidies. Nor can affordability be reachable without scaling down regulation and speeding up permitting. Until these conditions change, California’s urban housing prices will remain 150 percent higher — or worse — than elsewhere in the country.
Entry Refresh: 7 Bright Ideas for Front Porch Lighting - Some of my favorites:
