Broker Tracy Sichterman at Berkeley Hills Realty recently published some interesting analysis on the local high-end market.
On her Home Spun blog Sichterman writes about the results of some research she conducted into recent sales of $1 million-plus homes in Berkeley and Oakland.
Her conclusion? Cash rules — with nearly one in three homes in this bracket selling [...]
Posts under ‘Real estate analysis’
At the High End, Cash is King
The Walkability Factor
“You (and most of your commenters) usually look down your nose at houses with low walk scores. But now that a house you love is on the market – suddenly walk scores don’t matter.”
So begins a comment from a reader who questions the importance of including a Walk Score in listings — and sparked an [...]
So this Recovery Thing? True or False?
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the housing market turning the corner, as well as the economy more generally showing signs of recovery.
Most of the latest data shows home prices beginning to stabilize and even rise in the Bay Area. And anecdotal evidence in Berkeley, at least, certainly suggests some improvement, with some [...]
High, Mighty, Big, Bold: That Was Then
I went to see this house at 117 Diablo Road a few weeks ago and then promptly forgot about it — which probably tells you something about the impression it made on me.
It’s a big house — nearly 5,000 sq ft, five bathrooms — on a ludicrously steep lot, way way up the in the [...]
Why People Hate McMansions
There aren’t too many really in-your-face McMansions in the Bay Area — which isn’t to say there aren’t lots of ugly, over-sized homes that we would really rather didn’t exist at all.
A new study reveals why it is people like me can have a visceral reaction to McMansions. Apparently it is when the homes [...]
Berkeley’s Two Hot Neighborhoods? I Think Not
Two Berkeley neighborhoods, zips 94702 and 94703 to be exact, have been identified as being “hot” in that, according to ZipRealty’s third quarter housing report, homes in those ‘hoods are selling, on average, over list price (hat-tip Curbed SF for the story).
I am skeptical. While I’m not disputing ZipRealty’s methodology — which relies on crunching [...]