That being said there are benefits to the kind of raw data Zillow gathers (that excludes nuances) in terms of viewing real estate trends in certain areas.   A recent zip code map released by at www.Zillow.com shows a smorgasbord of good news bad news in the nine county Bay Area region.

At least here in the Bay Area, there are positive numbers, according to the map that Zillow shows, areas such as Detroit have seen only decreases straight across the region.  This “good news” shouldn’t come close to overshadowing the fact that  by large, home values in the Bay Area are down over a year ago - by about 6.7% here in the Bay Area, compared to only a 3% average decrease across the rest of the nation. 

Of the nine Bay Area county’s according to Zillow, only San Francisco showed appreciation for the year at a modest 3.7% over the fourth quarter of 2006.

Meredith Martin is a Senior Real Estate Advisor in San Francisco and a regular contributor to several industry publications.  For more information please visit www.StreetsOfM.com

Meredith Martin is a Senior Real Estate Advisor in San Francisco and a regular contributor to several industry publications.  For more information please visit www.StreetsOfM.com. 

I personally think 2612 California our lowest price listing, is cute as a button, but some will be challenged by the uber busy California Street location, a major traffic artery cutting through San Francisco.  You can find more information about Pacific Heights and recent sales trends at http://www.meredithmartin.com/map/sfmapinteractive.htm Make sure to click on Pacific Heights and the market updates at the bottom of the neighborhood description. 

Meredith is a Senior Real Estate Advisor working in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is a regular contributor to several real estate publications and news media.    

It is often said about San Francisco weather that there are many micro climates within the city’s 7 square mile boundaries.  Pacific Heights can on any given day be 10 degrees cooler than South of Market.  The same holds true for real estate in this city, just as there are many micro climates, there are also various micro markets where sometimes two short city blocks can make a $100,000 difference in sale price. 

The follow is a list of average sales prices sourced by the San Francisco Multiple Listing Service Districts.  To find the correlating neighborhoods by district number, for instance Pacific Heights is within District 7,  go to http://www.meredithmartin.com/map/sfmapinteractive.htm

November 2007:

• District 1 -
  Number of Sales 22 
  Average Days on the Market 35 
  Median Sales Price $1,260,000
• District 2 -
  Number of Sales 23 
  Average Days on the Market 28 
  Median Sales Price $839,300
• District 3 -
  Number of Sales 15 
  Average Days on the Market 43
  Median Sales Price $680,000
• District 4 -
  Number of Sales 18 
  Average Days on the Market 41 
  Median Sales Price $858,000
• District 5 -
  Number of Sales 33 
  Average Days on the Market 30 
  Median Sales Price $1,390,000
• District 6 -
  Number of Sales 7 
  Average Days on the Market 32 
  Median Sales Price $1,825,000
• District 7 -
  Number of Sales 10 
  Average Days on the Market 33 
  Median Sales Price $2,762,500
• District 8 -
  Number of Sales 0
  Average Days on the Market 0
  Median Sales Price 0
• District 9 -
  Number of Sales 23
  Average Days on the Market 35
  Median Sales Price $850,000
• District 10 -
  Number of Sales 24
  Average Days on the Market 63
  Median Sales Price $608,600

November 2007 Condo Data to follow…

Sales in San Francisco contiue to defy state and national trends of lowered sale prices.  In San Francisco over the two week period from Wednesday October 24th Through Wednesday November 7th there were a total of  182 properties that sold and changed hands (as per the San Francisco Multiple Listing Service).  The following numbers were taken from the single family homes, condominiums and 2-4 unit buildings only (leaving buisness investments and commercial offerings off the table for now). 

• 96 sold over their asking price
• 54 Sold under their asking price
• 32 Sold at their asking prices

That translates into roughly over half the properties that sold in San Francisco over the most recent two week period sold over their asking price (53% to be exact).  29% sold at it’s asking price and 18% sold under. 

Meredith Martin is a Real Estate Advisory Expert and regular contributer to local publishings in the San Francisco Bay Area.  You can visit her website at www.MeredithMartin.com.

I was recently interviewed for ABC Nightline for a story called Bubble Blogger takes on Housing Market.  Patrick Killealea was the voice of the Bubble Blogger – something he’s turned into his career, and basically his premise is this:  It’s cheaper to rent than buy, and you make more money in the stock market than you will by owning your own home.   I ended up on the cutting room floor, due to time in the segment, but the piece - which can be read in the link above - was still interesting.  The argument that it’s cheaper to rent than own is one I’ve read before - the Wall Street Journal did a blog piece on it a while back.  What I found it interesting about that blog was it was written by a person who had a financial stake in making sure people invested in the equity market, rather than the real estate market – but no matter…numbers are number right?

Maybe.

‘According to Ken Rosen, a professor and chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at the
University of California at Berkeley, said Killelea’s math is wrong. “The advice not to buy a house is very bad advice.”

The entire article is published here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=3731415&page=3

My personal experience on the matter after having sold real estate now for the past 14 years, in which time I’ve seen people both make and lose money in real estate transactions is this: 

1.  If you are looking to flip a property – unless you are an expert and can afford to hold it for a while, it’s probably not a good time to buy. 

2.  If you are looking for a home that you are paying over 50% of your income to keep, you’re probably better off renting until you can raise more down payment.

3.  If however, you are like the vast majority of people who get W2’s in which their home is their primary tax write off, and you can afford the monthly payments…I would start to do my research in the area I was interested in living and seriously look into whether now is a good time to become a homeowner – because inventory in most areas is building – and that means a far more favorable temperature for Buyers.

In San Francisco – we are still seeing properties sell for over their asking prices.  In the past four weeks from September 24^th – October 16^th 2007; 275 properties sold per the
San Francisco Multiple Listing Service.  132 of which sold for over their asking prices, 92 that sold under, and 51 that sold at. 

It’s a city by city, and even neighborhood by neighborhood situation in real estate.  Good to get educated before you decide one way or the other.

Meredith brings with her a wealth of experience, a sharp eye, and a keen gut instinct with her along with impeccable ethics to every real estate transaction she is a party to. Naturally a hand holder, she’s also highly competitive and doesn’t like to leave money on the table for her clients if she can help it. Her primary focus is selling real estate in San Francisco however she also has experience selling in Half Moon Bay, where she grew up, Marin County, where she recently moved after 15 years in San Francisco, and parts of Oakland and Emeryville where she’s represented developers on large multi-unit condominium projects.