With interest rates so low and Bay Area rents so high, it’s no wonder that a lot of younger people are considering buying their first homes. And because they are generally cheaper, many are considering buying a condo because… well… that’s what you are supposed to do. You buy something inexpensive, build up equity, and [...]

Both the volume of existing home sales and the median home prices of Bay Area communities fell in January. Statewide, CAR reports: Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 517,740 in January, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations [...]

While government policies and macroeconomic trends will determine home prices in the coming years, a snapshot of market velocity tells us what’s going to happen over the next couple of months. Pricing is simply a measure of Supply and Demand. If there is more Demand relative to Supply, prices increase. With housing, it’s easy to [...]

In an update to my previous article about what Bella Homes LLC is and how they do business, Bella has now been sued by the United States and the State of Colorado for fraud. Here is the full PDF. From the complaint: 4. Beginning in or around March 2010 through the present, Defendants have been [...]

I’m tired of NAR and the rest complaining that lending standards are tight. And that a housing recovery is being held back by unnecessarily-tight lending standards. Phooey. Thanks to the FHA, people with mediocre credit and hardly an cash can still borrow obscene amounts of money. In the Bay Area for example, to purchase a [...]