Marc Davis, provided by
Investopedia
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
If you're planning to buy a house right now, the next few months may be the best time to buy. Waiting for both housing prices and interest rates to fall may not be a good strategy for potential homebuyers since analysts don't expect any significant declines in these two most important home-buying factors. Here's nine real estate trends that suggest you should get into the housing market sooner than later. (To learn more, check out 5 Tips For Recession House Hunters)
TUTORIAL: Buying a Home
1. Lowest Housing Prices in Years
Nobody knows when the housing market will hit bottom, but prices are at their lowest in several years and may soon start inching back up again. So buying now or in the near future may be the right time. An abundance of bargain-priced housing is now available because of foreclosures and falling prices.
2. Interest Rates at a 50-Year Low
Interest rates are near a 50-year low, according to housing analysts. By the second week of May, 2011, 30-year fixed mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest rates of the year at 4.63%. Although mortgage rates vary from day to day, the 30-year rate at this level is an attractive inducement to first-time buyers, or buyers who want to either move up to larger residences, or others, including many empty-nesters wanting to sell and move to smaller houses or condos.
3. Interest Rates Expected to Go Up
As the economic recovery gains momentum, interest rates are expected to increase, making mortgages more expensive. Even a half-percent increase in mortgage interest can add a hundred dollars or more to your monthly payments, depending on the amount of your loan. (To learn more about interest rates, read Forces Behind Interest Rates.)
4. Adjustable Rate Mortgages at Record Lows
Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) are also lower now, although there are risks that interest rates may increase over the life of the mortgage and the balloon payment due at the end of the mortgage life, usually three or five years, could be substantial. Nevertheless, for new buyers who are sure they'll have enough income to meet payment obligations, an ARM may be the best way to buy a house. Keep in mind that payments may increase on a monthly basis. For a full explanation of advantages and risks in an ARM, visit the federalreserve.gov.
5. Low Down Payment Mortgages Available
Low-down-payment financing through Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages is available as an additional inducement to buy a house now. Down payment minimum requirements also fluctuate and may increase as the market heats up, so potential buyers with less cash to consummate a deal may be well-advised to buy now.
6. Easy to Qualify, Easy to Borrow
Lending standards have become less rigid recently, so qualifying for a mortgage may be easier. Experts advise that a potential buyer become pre-approved for a loan by a lending institution - meaning that a lender guarantees to make the loan contingent on an appraisal of the property. But the good news in seeking pre-approval is that lenders are now willing to let a potential buyer take on more debt than the previous formula allowed - a percentage of monthly income. (For more on getting a cost effective mortgage, see Score A Cheap Mortgage.)
7. Lenders Offer No-Fee Mortgages
Many banks and other lending institutions are waiving mortgage loan generation and other fees and points (each point represents 1% of the loan amount), thereby reducing the cost of buying.
8. Home Builders Eager to Sell, Offer Incentives
Home builders, competing with the resale market, are offering incentives to potential buyers to reduce their inventory of unsold new homes. Incentives may include cash for furniture or free refrigerators, washers and dryers. In Seattle, for example, builders have offered opportunities to win iPads or Smart phones, and $3,000 buyer bonuses. Specific demographic groups, including military personnel, police, firefighters and health-care workers, have been targeted by builders for special offers. But virtually anyone who can qualify for a mortgage is likely to get a good deal from a homebuilder who is eager to sell.
9. Motivated Home Owners Desperate to Sell
Desperate sellers of existing homes have also been offering attractive inducements to potential home buyers, including warranties on appliances, air conditioners and furnaces. Some sellers are even offering cash or have included furnishings, refrigerators, washers and dryers as a bonus to potential buyers. With so many existing homes in foreclosure or underwater - bargain prices are abound in this depressed market. (For help on buying a house, read Top Tips For First-Time Home Buyers.)
The Bottom Line
With a convergence of the factors above, all of which are favorable to the prospective home buyer, there may not be a better time to buy than right now. It's a buyer's market, but like everything else in life, the bargain deals won't last. (To help determine if it is the right time to buy, read Are You Ready To Buy A House?)
Original story - 9 Reasons To Buy A House Now
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Showing posts with label condos in san francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label condos in san francisco. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Friday, November 12, 2010
Hayes Valley Land sales hint at real estate upturn
Robert Selna, SF Chronicle, Friday, November 5, 2010
A developer has agreed to pay several million dollars for property inherited by the city of San Francisco when the Central Freeway came down, suggesting the area's real estate is heating up again following a recessionary slump.
The two parcels sit between Octavia Boulevard and Gough Street, one on Hayes Street, the other two blocks north. As part of a city auction Oct. 26, the developer paid $5 million for one 17,000-square-foot plot and $3 million for another that is 11,000 square feet - more than the minimum bids of $4.4 million and $2.95 million, respectively, set by the city.
According to city officials, the buyer is DM Development. The company could not be reached for comment, but it is widely believed that it plans to build housing on the land.
The two lots are among 22 parcels that once lined the streets along the double-decker freeway, which began to be torn down in 1992 after being severely damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Since 2002, the city has auctioned or attempted to sell the land, most of which is expected to be developed into housing units above retail space.
The auction results last week and strong sales at a new 31-unit condominium nearby have encouraged the city to auction three more parcels in the coming months. Once those are sold, the city will have nearly completed the distribution of the land.
The properties are an integral part of a neighborhood rezoning plan to add as many as 6,000 housing units while creating a walkable, thriving area accessible to public transportation.
New boulevard
Central to that concept is the new Octavia Boulevard, the poplar-lined thoroughfare that replaced a large section of freeway. Proceeds from city property sales are required to be used to pay off the debt incurred for the boulevard's construction.
The city's ambitious goals were slowed for years by debates over the plan's finer points, such as affordable housing, developer fees and parking space limitations. The bad economy has made if difficult for builders to obtain construction loans, but momentum appears to be building for new projects.
'Helping to heal'
"At one time the freeway bisected the area and developing the parcels is helping to heal the neighborhood," said Rich Hillis, deputy director in the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. "A lot of the changes in Hayes Valley were sparked by the removal of the freeway and we think the developments near Octavia Boulevard will close out a project that has been successful."
The first freeway parcel development is nearing completion at the corner of Octavia Boulevard and Oak Street. Meanwhile, the LindenHayes condominium project has seen brisk sales since it placed units on the market in June, according to Doug Shaw of Union Pacific brokerage.
Shaw said the sales probably were aided by the fact that not much other new housing has come on the market in the past few months. But he noted that Hayes Valley increasingly is becoming upscale, continuing to add boutiques, restaurants and shops.
"There was an encampment under the freeway overpass and after that came down all the merchants here say it was like night and day," Shaw said. "Octavia is being touted all over the place as a brilliant project in urban planning."
Developers, however, caution that many of the former freeway parcels probably will not be developed for at least a couple of years. The city permitting process and a dearth of construction loans are likely to make progress relatively slow, they say.
Only real concern
"All the arrows are pointing in the right direction and we are bullish on the market; the only real concern is getting a construction loan," said Lou Vasquez, a partner with San Francisco-based Build Inc.. The company owns one 49,000-square-foot freeway parcel that runs from Laguna to Octavia streets and plans to build 150-200 housing units there, he said.
Most see the recession as a temporary bump on the neighborhood's inevitable path toward gentrification. That concerns some residents involved in the area's planning.
High-end housing
The development of new high-end housing and the steep rents along the Hayes Street commercial strip already are starting to make the area unaffordable for working-class people, said Jason Henderson, who chairs the planning and transportation committee of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association.
Affordable housing
While there are public and private efforts to create new affordable housing, some residents question whether that can make much of a difference. They note that zoning in the area requires developers to rent or sell 15 percent of new units built in the area at below market rates. But builders also can meet the affordable housing requirements by providing the equivalent of 20 percent of the new housing at below market prices in other parts of the city.
"I'm of two minds about the economic boom in the area," said Henderson. "I believe it's only being (delayed) by the national financial crisis. I also know that we have to be more aggressive about affordable housing; it's a challenge we will face in the coming years as waves of people come in here."
A developer has agreed to pay several million dollars for property inherited by the city of San Francisco when the Central Freeway came down, suggesting the area's real estate is heating up again following a recessionary slump.
The two parcels sit between Octavia Boulevard and Gough Street, one on Hayes Street, the other two blocks north. As part of a city auction Oct. 26, the developer paid $5 million for one 17,000-square-foot plot and $3 million for another that is 11,000 square feet - more than the minimum bids of $4.4 million and $2.95 million, respectively, set by the city.
According to city officials, the buyer is DM Development. The company could not be reached for comment, but it is widely believed that it plans to build housing on the land.
The two lots are among 22 parcels that once lined the streets along the double-decker freeway, which began to be torn down in 1992 after being severely damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Since 2002, the city has auctioned or attempted to sell the land, most of which is expected to be developed into housing units above retail space.
The auction results last week and strong sales at a new 31-unit condominium nearby have encouraged the city to auction three more parcels in the coming months. Once those are sold, the city will have nearly completed the distribution of the land.
The properties are an integral part of a neighborhood rezoning plan to add as many as 6,000 housing units while creating a walkable, thriving area accessible to public transportation.
New boulevard
Central to that concept is the new Octavia Boulevard, the poplar-lined thoroughfare that replaced a large section of freeway. Proceeds from city property sales are required to be used to pay off the debt incurred for the boulevard's construction.
The city's ambitious goals were slowed for years by debates over the plan's finer points, such as affordable housing, developer fees and parking space limitations. The bad economy has made if difficult for builders to obtain construction loans, but momentum appears to be building for new projects.
'Helping to heal'
"At one time the freeway bisected the area and developing the parcels is helping to heal the neighborhood," said Rich Hillis, deputy director in the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. "A lot of the changes in Hayes Valley were sparked by the removal of the freeway and we think the developments near Octavia Boulevard will close out a project that has been successful."
The first freeway parcel development is nearing completion at the corner of Octavia Boulevard and Oak Street. Meanwhile, the LindenHayes condominium project has seen brisk sales since it placed units on the market in June, according to Doug Shaw of Union Pacific brokerage.
Shaw said the sales probably were aided by the fact that not much other new housing has come on the market in the past few months. But he noted that Hayes Valley increasingly is becoming upscale, continuing to add boutiques, restaurants and shops.
"There was an encampment under the freeway overpass and after that came down all the merchants here say it was like night and day," Shaw said. "Octavia is being touted all over the place as a brilliant project in urban planning."
Developers, however, caution that many of the former freeway parcels probably will not be developed for at least a couple of years. The city permitting process and a dearth of construction loans are likely to make progress relatively slow, they say.
Only real concern
"All the arrows are pointing in the right direction and we are bullish on the market; the only real concern is getting a construction loan," said Lou Vasquez, a partner with San Francisco-based Build Inc.. The company owns one 49,000-square-foot freeway parcel that runs from Laguna to Octavia streets and plans to build 150-200 housing units there, he said.
Most see the recession as a temporary bump on the neighborhood's inevitable path toward gentrification. That concerns some residents involved in the area's planning.
High-end housing
The development of new high-end housing and the steep rents along the Hayes Street commercial strip already are starting to make the area unaffordable for working-class people, said Jason Henderson, who chairs the planning and transportation committee of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association.
Affordable housing
While there are public and private efforts to create new affordable housing, some residents question whether that can make much of a difference. They note that zoning in the area requires developers to rent or sell 15 percent of new units built in the area at below market rates. But builders also can meet the affordable housing requirements by providing the equivalent of 20 percent of the new housing at below market prices in other parts of the city.
"I'm of two minds about the economic boom in the area," said Henderson. "I believe it's only being (delayed) by the national financial crisis. I also know that we have to be more aggressive about affordable housing; it's a challenge we will face in the coming years as waves of people come in here."
San Francisco sees boom in tech workers
By Mike Swift, 11/08/2010
Mercury news
San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog and the tourists. And increasingly, the city also has the geeks.
Just ask Harold Liss, a 26-year-old software engineer who walks three blocks through the Mission District each morning to catch the Yahoo shuttle bus to Sunnyvale, passing knots of other tech workers waiting to catch private shuttles south to Google and Facebook.
"I wanted to live in the city," said Liss, who believes the corporate bus systems at Yahoo and other Silicon Valley companies are "absolutely" helping to fuel a growing population of computer workers in San Francisco. "There is more to do; things are walkable; you don't need a car. There is a lot of great food, a lot of good parties, and you have everything you need in a really small area."
San Francisco's population of computer workers has boomed in the past four years, a Mercury News analysis of census data shows, with the city adding more resident computer workers even than much larger Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley. Newly released data show that San Francisco gained about 8,600 computer workers from 2005 to 2009, a 51 percent jump, compared with a 7,300-person, or 12 percent, increase in computer workers living in Santa Clara County. The data count workers where they live, not where they work.
With about one in 12 adult residents working in computer-related occupations, Santa Clara County has by far the highest concentration of computer workers in California, and among the highest in the nation. And as companies like Google, Facebook and Cisco Systems add jobs in the valley, that isn't likely to change anytime soon. Among U.S. counties, only much larger Los Angeles County and somewhat larger King County, Wash., the home of Microsoft, have more computer workers than Santa Clara County, 2009 census data show.
"Look at Facebook, they could they have gone to San Francisco. But they came to Palo Alto, to the valley, to flourish," said Phil Mahoney, executive vice president with Cornish & Carey, broker for Moffett Towers, which has struggled for tenants in the down economy.
"There is still a very small fraction of the (tech) employment that's in SOMA, versus the valley as a whole," Mahoney said, referring to San Francisco's South of Market Area. "Just one street in Sunnyvale has pretty much the total employees that the city has, and that's Mathilda Avenue," with the headquarters of Yahoo, Juniper Networks and NetApp.
But with the fast growth of San Francisco-based social networking companies like Twitter, Zynga, Yelp and a host of startups, and the free bus networks operated by big companies that allow tech workers to live in the city and commute painlessly to Silicon Valley, San Francisco now has the third-highest concentration of computer workers among California counties.
Some companies see a San Francisco address as a growing advantage in the cutthroat competition to lure engineering talent, if only because more of that talent now resides in the city. Zynga, the software gaming company that makes the wildly popular "FarmVille" and other social games on Facebook, tripled in size to 1,200 employees in the 12 months preceding September. Citing San Francisco's "unique ability to attract the combination of top creative and tech talent," Zynga recently signed a lease for 270,000 square feet of space in SOMA.
"We think it's going to speak much more to the culture at Zynga than being located someplace less exciting," said Dave Wehner, Zynga's chief financial officer, adding that "being in San Francisco is a differentiator" in the intense competition to recruit talent.
Google's free private buses transport an average of about 2,000 riders a day, up from about 1,200 daily riders in 2007. The Google Shuttle delivers Googlers to Mountain View from San Francisco, and as far north as North Berkeley, as far east as Pleasanton and as far south as Santa Cruz.
Yahoo's buses prowl through the Mission District and a number of other city neighborhoods, pulling over every 10 blocks or so to ingest clusters of workers waiting on the sidewalk, before turning onto Highway 101 and motoring to Sunnyvale. Like Google's buses, the Yahoo buses run on biodiesel, giving environmentally conscious employees another reason to feel good about their commute, besides comfortable seats, the cup holders and the Wi-Fi.
The Yahoo shuttles transport about 225 San Franciscans each day, starting pickups as early as 6:08 a.m. Facebook does not disclose the number of San Franciscans its shuttle delivers to the company's office in Palo Alto, while eBay's private shuttle delivers about 150 workers a day to San Jose.
Liss said there has always been a tech presence in his 31/2 years in San Francisco. But he's noticed it a lot recently, such as his recent birthday party that drew people who work at Google, Twitter and Yahoo.
"I think the growing trend is to live and work in the city, if you can," Liss said of San Francisco's tech presence. "It's definitely a growing, homogeneous social circle."
Mercury news
San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog and the tourists. And increasingly, the city also has the geeks.
Just ask Harold Liss, a 26-year-old software engineer who walks three blocks through the Mission District each morning to catch the Yahoo shuttle bus to Sunnyvale, passing knots of other tech workers waiting to catch private shuttles south to Google and Facebook.
"I wanted to live in the city," said Liss, who believes the corporate bus systems at Yahoo and other Silicon Valley companies are "absolutely" helping to fuel a growing population of computer workers in San Francisco. "There is more to do; things are walkable; you don't need a car. There is a lot of great food, a lot of good parties, and you have everything you need in a really small area."
San Francisco's population of computer workers has boomed in the past four years, a Mercury News analysis of census data shows, with the city adding more resident computer workers even than much larger Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley. Newly released data show that San Francisco gained about 8,600 computer workers from 2005 to 2009, a 51 percent jump, compared with a 7,300-person, or 12 percent, increase in computer workers living in Santa Clara County. The data count workers where they live, not where they work.
With about one in 12 adult residents working in computer-related occupations, Santa Clara County has by far the highest concentration of computer workers in California, and among the highest in the nation. And as companies like Google, Facebook and Cisco Systems add jobs in the valley, that isn't likely to change anytime soon. Among U.S. counties, only much larger Los Angeles County and somewhat larger King County, Wash., the home of Microsoft, have more computer workers than Santa Clara County, 2009 census data show.
"Look at Facebook, they could they have gone to San Francisco. But they came to Palo Alto, to the valley, to flourish," said Phil Mahoney, executive vice president with Cornish & Carey, broker for Moffett Towers, which has struggled for tenants in the down economy.
"There is still a very small fraction of the (tech) employment that's in SOMA, versus the valley as a whole," Mahoney said, referring to San Francisco's South of Market Area. "Just one street in Sunnyvale has pretty much the total employees that the city has, and that's Mathilda Avenue," with the headquarters of Yahoo, Juniper Networks and NetApp.
But with the fast growth of San Francisco-based social networking companies like Twitter, Zynga, Yelp and a host of startups, and the free bus networks operated by big companies that allow tech workers to live in the city and commute painlessly to Silicon Valley, San Francisco now has the third-highest concentration of computer workers among California counties.
Some companies see a San Francisco address as a growing advantage in the cutthroat competition to lure engineering talent, if only because more of that talent now resides in the city. Zynga, the software gaming company that makes the wildly popular "FarmVille" and other social games on Facebook, tripled in size to 1,200 employees in the 12 months preceding September. Citing San Francisco's "unique ability to attract the combination of top creative and tech talent," Zynga recently signed a lease for 270,000 square feet of space in SOMA.
"We think it's going to speak much more to the culture at Zynga than being located someplace less exciting," said Dave Wehner, Zynga's chief financial officer, adding that "being in San Francisco is a differentiator" in the intense competition to recruit talent.
Google's free private buses transport an average of about 2,000 riders a day, up from about 1,200 daily riders in 2007. The Google Shuttle delivers Googlers to Mountain View from San Francisco, and as far north as North Berkeley, as far east as Pleasanton and as far south as Santa Cruz.
Yahoo's buses prowl through the Mission District and a number of other city neighborhoods, pulling over every 10 blocks or so to ingest clusters of workers waiting on the sidewalk, before turning onto Highway 101 and motoring to Sunnyvale. Like Google's buses, the Yahoo buses run on biodiesel, giving environmentally conscious employees another reason to feel good about their commute, besides comfortable seats, the cup holders and the Wi-Fi.
The Yahoo shuttles transport about 225 San Franciscans each day, starting pickups as early as 6:08 a.m. Facebook does not disclose the number of San Franciscans its shuttle delivers to the company's office in Palo Alto, while eBay's private shuttle delivers about 150 workers a day to San Jose.
Liss said there has always been a tech presence in his 31/2 years in San Francisco. But he's noticed it a lot recently, such as his recent birthday party that drew people who work at Google, Twitter and Yahoo.
"I think the growing trend is to live and work in the city, if you can," Liss said of San Francisco's tech presence. "It's definitely a growing, homogeneous social circle."
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