What’s coming in the near future

Most experts seem to agree that the Federal Reserve will finally reduce interest rates this month. It’s been a long time coming, because most experts also believed that earlier ... Read More

Real Estate

San Francisco is the worst place to be a real estate agent

By Garey De Martini

New research has found that San Francisco is the worst place to be a real estate agent in the United States. According to Alyssa Evans, a public relation strategist with Clever Re... Read More

Real Estate

Not Quite ‘Impossibly Unaffordable’

By Garey De Martini

San Francisco was just ranked among the top 10 most “impossibly unaffordable” cities in the world, according to a recent CNN report. It wasn’t the planet’s most unaffordab... Read More

Real Estate

It’s a numbers game

By Garey De Martini

In San Francisco, the three-month rolling median sale price for homes in April was $1,725,000, up nearly 10% year-over-year, according to Ted Andersen with the San Francisco Busin... Read More

Real Estate

Home prices are climbing again

By Garey De Martini

My recent column mentioned that given current conditions, San Francisco’s real estate market may at any time take one step forward, and two steps back, or vice versa. It appears... Read More

Real Estate

Real estate rebound: not quite so fast

By Garey De Martini

Earlier in the year expectations were high that a real estate rebound was imminent. Inflation looked licked, the Fed was optimistic, sellers were preparing to put their houses on ... Read More

Real Estate

Optimistic outlook for San Francisco’s real estate market

By Garey De Martini

By all accounts, 2023 was a difficult year for San Francisco real estate. Mortgage rates were incredibly high, and inventory was terribly low. Buyer interest seemed to evaporate. ... Read More

Real Estate

Call it a holding pattern for the time being

By Garey De Martini

Traditionally residential real estate sales slow down over the winter months, and the market doesn’t really come to life until well after the Super Bowl. This year, the rebound ... Read More

Real Estate

The new year may bring new life

By Garey De Martini

In mid-December the real estate market received an early Christmas gift. The Fed held interest rates steady at its Dec. 13 meeting. What’s more, the Fed also forecast that it’... Read More

Real Estate

Bumpy 2023 is coming to an end

By Garey De Martini

Winter has finally arrived, and it’s almost time to put 2023 to bed. Couldn’t happen soon enough in the minds of many San Francisco real estate agents. “Stop me if you’... Read More

Real Estate

Expectations and realities in the current market

By Garey De Martini

San Francisco’s real estate market has remained much the same throughout the fall. Rising interest rates continued to discourage sellers from selling, and buyers from buying. In... Read More

When prices and mortgage rates are sky high, the haves are the only ones buying, and the have-less are not. PHOTO: Bishnu Sarangi - Pixabay

Real Estate

Starter homes and ‘nepo-babies’

By Garey De Martini

The book just closed on September — perhaps the most critical month of the year for residential real estate. The numbers aren’t available just yet, and so it will be a short w... Read More

Things look quiet from above, but underneath is building pressure that will be released when rates drop. PHOTO CREDIT: Armin Forster / Pixabay

Real Estate

These days, if it’s not one thing, it’s another

Cybercrime and high rates put a damper on activity

By Garey De Martini

As if the real estate market wasn’t challenging enough, on Aug. 9 there was a cyberattack on Rapottoni, a software and services provider that supplies multiple listing services ... Read More

A red hot market has been followed by a lull. Photo: Erik Larson from Pixabay

Real Estate

The numbers are good, but all is not well

By Garey De Martini

It’s been exhausting. You look at the numbers for San Francisco’s residential real estate, and it’s not that bad. Prices are down from last year, but not enough to suggest t... Read More

The matter of interest rates weighs heavily on the current market, for buyers and sellers alike. Photo: Loddar13 from Pixabay

Real Estate

The impact of higher mortgage rates

By Garey De Martini

Many would-be sellers are staying put rather than listing their homes for sale to avoid taking on a much higher mortgage rate when they purchase their next house. According to Red... Read More

Real Estate