Cirios TrendsLocation, Location, Location: Let The Data Be Your FriendThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: The Year Ahead What could be the oldest adage in all of real estate has never been more true: Location, location, location. According to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, a widely watched gauge of home prices in major metropolitan areas around the country, only four [...] Cirios Trends — Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate RoundupIn this month’s Cirios Trends — Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup, check out: State of the Markets: Year in Review Despite headwinds, opportunities abound. Foreclosure-Gate: What the Hell Is (Was) Going On? Shoddy paperwork ensnares country’s biggest lenders. Around the Bay: Big Bites from 2010 News that made the front page. Bay Area home [...] The State of the Markets: Year in ReviewThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup In February of this year, we wrote: “while many risks still remain for the housing market, we believe the time for being pessimistic about real estate is finished. That’s not to say there won’t be more price declines, more foreclosures, more [...] Foreclosure-Gate: What the Hell Is (Was) Going On?This post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup A 2010 housing market recap would be incomplete without a rundown of what has become known as “Foreclosure-Gate,” a foray into the procedural minutiae of distressed mortgage servicing. In September of this year – in the midst of the crucial mid-term [...] Around the Bay: Big Bites from 2010This post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup Spring 2010: Financial Crisis Goes Greek Believe it or not, Greece’s national debt is larger than its economy. Sound implausible? The United States’ national debt is also larger than its economy (but that’s another story). Years of uncontrolled spending, cheap debt [...] Bay Area Home Prices: Up, Down and Sideways in 2010This post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup This month, rather than looking at an individual zip code to spotlight a particular aspect of Bay Area real estate trends, we looked at the Bay Area as a whole (well, 5 counties worth: Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda [...] APPENDIX: Charts, Charts, ChartsThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: 2010 Real Estate Roundup For those of you fortunate enough to have attended the Cirios Holiday Party this year, you may have noticed a host of charts and graphs posted around the room. Those graphs, representing real estate markets from around the Bay Area, have [...] Cirios Trends — Special Edition: East vs. WestIn this month’s Cirios Trends — Special Edition: East vs. West, check out: The State of the Markets: East vs. West Where to deploy real estate dollars. East vs. West: Daly City vs. Hayward Prices diverge in two entry-level markets. East vs. West: San Mateo vs. San Ramon Higher incomes, lower prices. Got jobs? East [...] The State of the Markets: East vs. WestThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: East vs. West In the past few weeks, the housing market has been turned on its head. Revelations of sloppy paperwork at some of the country’s biggest mortgage companies have led to investigations into whether lenders are handling the foreclosure process correctly. Several banks, including [...] East vs. West: Daly City vs. HaywardThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: East vs. West Hayward and Daly City can both be considered entry level markets. Raw prices are dramatically different, but then again so are income levels, crime and demographics. Notably, from 1997-2007, homes in Daly City sold for around $100/sqft more than those in Hayward. [...] East vs. West: San Mateo vs. San RamonThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: East vs. West Despite having a median household income almost 50% higher, San Ramon home prices are 40% below those of San Mateo. Think proximity to jobs doesn’t matter? San Mateo is located smack in between San Francisco and the northern tip of Silicon Valley. [...] East vs. West: Millbrae vs. PiedmontThis post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: East vs. West Topographically, Millbrae and Piedmont could not be more different. Most of Millbrae consists of relatively flat, suburban neighborhoods with a few homes scattered amongst the hills. Piedmont on the other hand is an exclusive suburban enclave nestled in the Oakland hills. Population [...] East vs. West: Where to Buy?This post first appeared in: Cirios Trends – Special Edition: East vs. West So, what to make of all this number crunching? First, let’s point out a few notable pieces of data from the chart below. 1) Hayward is the only city of the six where prices are actually down since 2000. This shows the [...] The State of the Markets – 9/15/2010This post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities In a financial landscape marred with uncertainty, there is one constant, one thing that “everyone” knows: Housing is in trouble. And while the bears certainly have ammunition to support their pessimistic case, history tells us that when everyone [...] Feature: What To Do With Fannie and Freddie?This post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities Every couple months, the trials and tribulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively known as the Government Sponsored Enterprises, or GSEs), appear on the national radar. This typically happens around earnings season, when staggering loss numbers are [...] Zip Code Spotlight – Millbrae (94030)This post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities This month’s zip code spotlight falls on 94030, Millbrae, CA. A mid-peninsula locale providing a happy medium between ease of city access and warmer, quieter climes of the lower peninsula, Millbrae has excellent schools and is an all-around [...] Cirios Opportunities – High Fico Second LiensThis post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities Pay-Option ARMs, No Documentation Loans, 100% financing, 2/28 ARMS with stated income, High Fico second liens … These are just some of the numerous mortgage products that have essentially gone the way of the dinosaurs and boxing. Similar [...] Talking Charts – Sentiment RulesThis post first appeared in the September edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities One of the chief challenges in trying to be experts in home price trends is that you are constantly challenged. So, one of the most common questions we receive is “how can you predict what direction housing prices [...] Cirios Trends – August 2010In this month’s Cirios Trends Special Edition: Finding Real Estate Opportunities, check out: The State of the Markets – August 4, 2010 Demographics drive property values. Feature: The Storied History of Hunters Point Abandoned Naval Shipyard poised for dramatic development. Around the Bay: Local News Bites Goings on that move markets. Zip Code Spotlight – [...] The State of the Markets – 8/4/10This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities Humans, as a species, are lousy fortunetellers. A few intrepid visionaries aside, most people simply cannot grasp what the world will look like in 20, 10 or even five years. And for good reason. Trying to envision the [...] Feature: The Storied History of Hunters PointThis post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities Over the past several years, precious few shovels have broken ground in San Francisco. The credit crisis and economic slump have caused developers and investors to pull back, as builders have focused on surviving, rather than thriving. But [...] Zip Code Spotlight – Bay View/Hunters Point (94124)This post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities This month’s zip code spotlight falls on 94124, the Bay View/Hunters Point area of Southeast San Francisco. This area is well known as the most dangerous part of the city, but as we discuss elsewhere in this issue, [...] Around the Bay: Local News BitesThis post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities San Francisco Gives Hunters Point Redevelopment Thumbs Up (San Francisco Chronicle) In a nearly unanimous vote last week, the San Francisco supervisors approved plans to redevelop the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, pushing forward what has become one of [...] Talking Charts – Divergence ContinuesThis post first appeared in the June edition of: Cirios Trends: In Search of Real Estate Opportunities The concept that current housing data is masking true market activity is slowly gaining mindshare. Of course, readers of Cirios Trends will recall that this is a concept we have been pushing for months, even if the mainstream [...] |