Pizza Alley

Posted on September 12, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services
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Pizza Alley – Adeline Street, Berkeley, CA

Berkeley, California is a unique community in a unique region. My travels are limited to the U.S. and a good chunk of Europe many years ago but I’ve seen more than a few burghs up close. When you strip the outer onion skin off Berserkeley it’s still wild and unique. Dig deeper and it gets downright weird. The streets were clearly planned with insanity as a desired goal. Tiny roundabouts in residential neighborhoods and speed bumps that appear designed to rip the bottom out of anything other than a hybrid SUV. Wildly divergent architecture and frequently wild paint jobs lend many shades to the colorfulness. Cal Bears form the center of the town’s universe and the crowds of students mixed with aging hippies reading paperbacks on self-improvement make for a visual feast. Visit on a day when class is in session at Cal for the full banquet.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea

Posted on September 3, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Okay. So I’m open to new challenges. In this instance a photo challenge. Nothing to do with real estate but, whatever. The challenge is, “What does the sea mean to me?” Having grown up on the East Coast of the U.S. and, since, lived most of my life on the West Coast that should be a pretty easy answer. The sea is that vast space from which the Sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. The sea is about a beginning and an ending with life happening in between. Carpe Diem.

Pacific Sunset from Malagra Ridge Open Space, Pacifica, CA

Pacific Sunset from Malagra Ridge Open Space, Pacifica, CA

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Obsolescence

Posted on September 2, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services
Ranching on the Coastside

Ranching on the Coastside

This ranch is still working, but many farms and ranches on the San Mateo County Coastside compete with high-end homes as possible uses. It’s no wonder. As I was driving along Highway 84 between San Gregorio and Woodside last Sunday I counted two Ferraris, two Ford GT 40s and a couple more Teslas plus an Audi R8 as I got on the 280 Freeway. The Teslas, at $80,000+ per copy, were the cheaper cars by large measure. And don’t let that Highway 84 moniker fool you. Between Woodside and San Gregorio, Highway 84 is a narrow, twisty, two-lane asphalt trail of switchbacks, sweepers and “Bump Ahead” torture if you’re in a softly sprung sedan. Many weekend drivers shift with their feet and ride on only two wheels. If you don’t like narrow road no shoulder driving and motorcycles that pass on curves, head south down the Coast Highway from Half Moon Bay, turn left onto Stagecoach Road to enjoy the view on your way into San Gregorio (basically an intersection). Spend a weekend day at the San Gregorio General Store (http://www.sangregoriostore.com/) and you can buy a beer at the bar or a cast iron skillet or flannel shirt in the store (same room), listen to music or mail your postcard while watching the techies blow stock option funny money on fancy cars.

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Like So Much Blue Sky

Posted on August 24, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

20130818-2umb_01_DSC_6734What’s up with the Golden State? Employers have been talking about hiring but for the second month in a row the employment figure for the Bay Area has dipped below the trendline (see July 2013 data in Bay Area Employment Trends page at top). I follow the Not Seasonally Adjusted figures published by the CA EDD. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in California bumped up from 8.5% in June to 8.7% in July. The Not Seasonally Adjusted figure jumped from 8.9% to 9.3%. In both measures, the number of employed people in the state fell between June and July.

Bay Area unemployment now stands at 7% (Not Seasonally Adjusted). This is the highest rate since March and it also reflects two months of higher unemployment. The number of people employed in the Bay Area reflects a 0.4% drop from the recent peak set in May. It will be interesting to see how this correlates with real estate sales and leasing activity in the coming months. Perhaps the “growth” in the economy is just so much blue sky.

http://www.sec.gov/answers/bluesky.htm

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One Way Prices

Posted on August 21, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

20130818-2one-DSC_6731The Bay Area median home price trend remains positive. (See July 2013 data in the SF Bay Area Housing Trends Page above) The big year-over-year percentage gains are reflective of the depressed prices of a year ago when short-sales and foreclosures were still dominant characteristics in the market. Locally, there is talk that things are cooling off a little but the July inventory of homes for sale in San Mateo was about 1.8 months. Not much different from the month before and so much better than a year ago. The big question in the near future remains, “What direction will mortgage rates go?”

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The Value of a Sunroof?

Posted on August 15, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

I don’t know. That’s not really a good answer. “I don’t know the value of a sunroof,” is not an equivocation (is that a word?). It’s just a statement of fact. But a sunroof came in handy today as a friend and I w20130815-2sf_01__DSC6695v2ere tooling through San Francisco on a bright, warm summer day. He was driving so I got to play paparazzi by shooting out the sunroof as we were jammed up along the Embarcadero. All I know is that I wish my car had a sunroof. Value of a sunroof today? Priceless.

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Plateau? Top? Bottom?

Posted on July 28, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

My visual reading of Bay Area employment trends suggests a leveling off of growth. (see See the Bay Area Employment Trends page (at top) for June 2013 data)

Is this a plateau before the next leg up or a top before employment growth stabilizes? Charts are visual representations of something (numerical) that happened in the past. Some stock traders believe they are predictors while others could care less as they focus on the fundamental 20130721-2Ross_DSC_6471_panunderpinnings of economic trends. The employment trend line is not a stock price but economic trends do not follow straight line paths for long.

Of more interest, is Apple’s planned hiring binge a sign of the end of the upward trend?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505124_162-57587719/apple-plans-hiring-spree-in-silicon-valley/

A contrarian might say yes!

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Wet Real Estate

Posted on July 23, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Wet Real Estate

If you haven’t been yet what are you waiting for? Try it. On the way through San Francisco last weekend we stopped at the Marina Green to watch the America’s Cup race. It was fun! Nice venue. Nice people. Nice time. Do it!

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Where Were You in ’92?

Posted on July 8, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Walking down Church Street in San Francisco to look at a building I saw a familiar image. A Catholic church that played a role in the 1992 film “Sister Act” with Whoopie Goldberg. My kids were young and (it seems) so was I. It reminded me of a time many years ago in Salzburg, Austria while waiting in line at a tourist attraction I fell into conversation with a tourist from Australia. He was rattling on

St. Paul's Church, San Francisco, CA

St. Paul’s Church, San Francisco, CA

about four weeks of ABC, ABC. I asked what he’d been doing for those four weeks and he explained, “ABC: another bloody church, another bloody castle.” Have to give credit those of strong religious conviction, they know how to create iconic buildings.

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SF Bay Housing May 2013

Posted on June 23, 2013 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Added a new page with a table and chart I compile on median home prices in the nine county SF Bay Area. Home prices dipped during and after the 2007-2009 recession and the median figure in many counties was pounded down by the weight of REO (bank Real Estate Owned) and short sale transactions. With transactions down, agents reporting a limited inventory of homes for sale and prices jumping o20130622-2SM_02_DSC_5771ff the chart, I suspect some buyers feel like they’re being taken to the cleaners.

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