San Francisco: Old Ladies, Beware!

So, you’ve decided you want to live in the Bay Area. Now what? If you are inclined to just jump in, consider my experience first. After some preliminary searching, I decided that befriending an elderly lady in the hopes that she would leave me her estate would be an easier alternative. But as there are not enough elderly ladies in the city for all of us, you just might have to brave the sometimes-daunting, fast-paced world of the San Francisco Real Estate market.

With over 500 active listings and the competitive nature of the current market, finding the home that will become one of your largest investments isn’t easy. The important thing to remember is to be decisive! If you know your stats when you start looking, you’ll know a deal when you find one. Here’s a quick how-to to get you oriented.

Know the average cost per square foot for comparable houses; it makes it easier to break down all the big numbers and figure out the bang for your buck. This information can be easily found on Redfin.

Know your neighborhood! Checking websites like the San Francisco Police Department’s crime maps page http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=23813 and the Megan’s Law webpage of California http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/ will help apprise you of the safety of your neighborhood. The SFUSD page can give you information about your local public school’s ranking http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/; while transit pages will give you an idea of the accessibility of your identified property http://511.org. All of these factors play into the resale value of your house, and the amount you should be willing to fork over.

Finally, don’t be afraid to act. Even with the slowing trend that the rest of California is facing, the market in the Bay Area continues to move quickly. Before you’ve decided whether you can live with the pink carpet and tile throughout the house, someone else has already outbid you and begun hacking up the carpet with a Wonderbar. Even in the Sunset, houses only stay on the market for an average of two months.

While this can be discouraging (I sympathize), don’t give up! You, too, may one day find yourself an old person fighting off the transplants who desire your estate. Keep checking back for properties that will swell the number of youngsters pounding down your door.