FRIDAY - wrapped up in daisy chains
- Dwarf Citrus Trees Offer Miniature Size With Maximum Flavor
- Homeowners Can Spend More Than $9,000 a Year on Hidden Homeownership and Maintenance Costs
- Here’s what $500,000 will get you in the Bay Area housing market
- Bay Area real estate prices between a simmer and a boil
- Report: Rents rise in San Jose for sixth straight month
- San Jose flood response: An ‘A’ in aftermath, ‘F’ in foresight
- 9 Smart Charging-Station Solutions for Decluttering Your Cables
Extra credit reading:
- Addressing California’s Greatest Real Estate Need
Enjoy!
Homeowners Can Spend More Than $9,000 a Year on Hidden Homeownership and Maintenance Costs - "Determining how much a home will ultimately cost you each year and what you can afford is one of the most challenging aspects of home buying, especially for first-time buyers," says Svenja Gudell, Zillow's Chief Economist. "Before starting a home search, take a good look at your finances to determine a monthly payment range you can comfortably afford. While that big back yard or larger home may be appealing, it is important to consider how much maintaining those spaces could cost you."
Here’s what $500,000 will get you in the Bay Area housing market - The Mercury News has highlighted five Bay Area listings that range in price from $196,500 to about $439,000. The lowest of the five is a 1,526-square foot mobile home with two bedrooms and two baths in Pleasanton, Calif. The space is age-restricted to buyers 55 and over and requires $1,226 in monthly rent for the spot on which it sits.
Bay Area real estate prices between a simmer and a boil - Alameda and Sonoma counties set new median price records in June of $838,000 and $612,000, respectively, while Santa Clara matched its previous peak of $1,100,000. Contra Costa county’s median sale price was $597,000.
Report: Rents rise in San Jose for sixth straight month — though they’re even higher elsewhere in Silicon Valley - After declining in January, San Jose rents have now ticked back up for six straight months. July rents in the city were up 0.5 percent from June and up 2.0 percent from a year earlier. Elsewhere in the San Jose metropolitan area, rents were up more steeply on a year-over-year basis: by 4.9 percent in Mountain View and 4.5 percent in Santa Clara.
San Jose flood response: An ‘A’ in aftermath, ‘F’ in foresight - An independent analysis of San Jose’s response to the devastating Coyote Creek flood in February gives the city high marks in how it handled recovery efforts, but says an inadequate initial response indicates the city didn’t learn lessons from a similar flood two decades before.
Extra credit reading:
Addressing California’s Greatest Real Estate Need - This discussion examines four sectors of commercial real estate—apartments, retail, industrial, and office, plus traditional for-sale housing and specialty products like hotels and assisted-living facilities. The goal is not to predict future returns by asset class: experts in asset classes can do extremely well with their understanding of the nuanced trends within their area of expertise. Instead, this article looks at the entire state by sector and predicts where growth likely will occur and why.
9 Smart Charging-Station Solutions for Decluttering Your Cables - Bring some sanity to your gadgetry with these nifty solutions for storing, charging and organizing your devices. Some of my faves:
