Your Real Estate Expert for Berkeley and Beyond
“Marilyn is exceptional. Her knowledge base, enthusiasm for her job, professional ethics, organization, sensitivity to our aesthetic requirements, loyalty and gentle perseverance set her apart.”
-- Bill and Carol Seidel
Marilyn Garcia, PhD
Broker Associate, Realtor®
DRE# 02014153
District Homes
1758 Solano Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
Direct:
(510) 390-5406
THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley, Fall 2018 wrap-up
There have been some real changes in the broader real estate market (in the Bay Area, statewide and nationally) since the beginning of 2018. With interest rates rising, and more limitations on the deductibility of property taxes and interest on home loans, homes are less affordable at any given price. Added to this, the tone of nationalist exclusion and the tariff wars coming to us from Washington have lessened the attractiveness of U.S. real estate to foreign investors. In light of these factors, it’s not surprising that the real estate market has cooled. We’re very fortunate, though, to live in [...]
THE OUTLOOK: Berkeley Hills, Fall 2018 wrap-up
We’re very fortunate to live in an area that historically has weathered real estate downturns well, but there have been some real changes in the broader real estate market (in the Bay Area, statewide and nationally) since the beginning of 2018. With interest rates rising, and more limitations on the deductibility of property taxes and interest on home loans, homes are less affordable at any given price. Added to this, the tone of nationalist exclusion and the tariff wars coming to us from Washington have lessened the attractiveness of U.S. real estate to foreign investors. In light of these factors, [...]
THE OUTLOOK: Berkeley Hills, Summer 2018 wrap-up
I mentioned in the last newsletter that there have been some rumblings of changes in the market, with higher inventory spreading out the buyer pool. This was true again over the summer in the hills. We had 68 active listings over the summer, compared to 66 last summer, 63 in summer 2016, and only 41 in summer 2015. Happily there were also lots of sales over the summer — 61 properties sold in the Berkeley hills. The higher number of properties competing for buyers did show in prices somewhat. The median sold price for the summer was $1,375,000, and the [...]
THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley, Summer 2018 wrap-up
There has been a lot of talk lately about changes in the market triggered by higher levels of inventory. Higher inventory was a factor again over the summer in other areas of Berkeley (see the post with data for the Hills area this summer, for example), but not in North Berkeley. There were only 26 active listings in North Berkeley over the summer, compared to 40 last summer, 33 in summer 2016, and 31 in summer 2015. 29 North Berkeley properties sold over the summer, at a median price of $1,400,000. This is up 8% compared to the spring, but [...]
THE OUTLOOK: North Berkeley, Spring 2018 wrap-up
I was excited to crunch the numbers for this spring season, with two questions in mind. First, there has been a lot of talk lately about the relatively high level of inventory on the market, so I wanted to see how the number of active listings compared to past springs. It turns out that there were in fact more active listings this spring (47) than in the past several years (36 in spring 2017, 35 in 2016, and 33 in 2015). This pattern — more homes for sale as the market has been rising — is not surprising, as more [...]
THE OUTLOOK: Berkeley Hills, Spring 2018 wrap-up
I was excited to crunch the numbers for this spring season, with two questions in mind. First, there has been a lot of talk lately about the relatively high level of inventory on the market, so I wanted to see how the number of active listings compared to past springs. It turns out that there were in fact more active listings this spring (74) than in the past several years (69 in spring 2017, 59 in 2016, and 55 in 2015). This pattern — more homes for sale as the market has been rising — is not surprising, as more [...]
Home Project Website
https://www.homewyse.com/ I saw a mention of the website above in a Money magazine article about home improvement projects, so I checked it out and thought it was worth passing along. It's a price calculator for home renovation and maintenance projects. You select a project, make some choices about the scope of the work, the quality of the materials and the type of contractor, enter your zip code, and they give you a rough estimated range for the cost. I found this really interesting. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of their numbers, but there is information about their methodology and sources on [...]