Comments on: Foreclosure Frenzy: Fact, Fiction, and Unexpected Victims

By: Will

Will — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:48:30 +0000

I never knew that stuff about Realtytrac’s data. Wouldn’t it make more sense to maybe collect that way, but to filter the excess out before releasing figures to the public to panic over?

By: scott

scott — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:46:12 +0000

Oakland is definitely as softening market. Try to buy into better hoods though, like Rockridge, so that when things trun around, you’re poised to appreciate more for what you buy.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:25:14 +0000

Yes, you might be able to do that. I know the prices in the East Bay have taken a hit (the kind of hit buyers like to see delivered; the kind sellers hope to duck). Redfin blogger Tracy Taylor has some great stuff about Berkeley and Oakland- take a look.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:15:38 +0000

Whose rent goes down? That’s amazing. Myself, I moved to Oakland last month because SF rents are out of control. They are better out here, but still (I think) more than they should be for what you get. I might be better off trying to buy in oakland since unlike SF, prices for houses have gone down out here.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:45:03 +0000

Surely fear drives the market down- isn’t that mainly what controls the stock market? And I have to agree that the rents going up as they have in SF (horribly) is so frusterating and ironic given that people are losing their homes right and left. America is a strange country- sometimes I wonder what we really get for our tax dollars.

By: anna

anna — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:31:06 +0000

Hi Bad Advice,
You are most fortunate. I can also see how the hirings in your area, or lack of hirings, would drive rents down. Unfortunately in San Fran, where I live and write from, rents are at all an time high, 12% higher or more than they were last year in February. I’m not sure why; seems like if people are renting because they can’t afford a mortgage, they won’t be able to afford rent that is as high as a mortgage…

By: Bad Advice

Bad Advice — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:38:00 +0000

I think the September article about rising rental prices isn’t expressly the current market trend in the Peninsula area.

I’ve been watching decent townhomes in Sunnyvale drop their prices from $2200/month to $1900/month. With google slowing its hiring, Apple, VMware, AMD stock getting hammered and the uncertainty at yahoo, I don’t see the uptick (at least in SV and MV).

In fact my rent has dropped $250. I’m renting a 2/2.5 with garage for $2100. The same unit in the complex is trying to sell for $650,000. I think the math is fairly obvious about whether rents are trailing or leading.

By: Will

Will — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:27:07 +0000

What does the media have to do with foreclosure? I’m sorry but I just don’t see how people connect the two with a straight face.

By: TC

TC — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:33:17 +0000

The media has little to do with the initial slump- for that we can thank interest only loans and a poorly planned US economy. I believe we will see the worst in SF later ratrher than now as many of the ARM loans have not readjusted yet; homes bought in the 2003 and later with a 5 yr arm have yet to face the music of the regular rate….

By: david

david — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:24:55 +0000

PS. One thing I do know–in a declining market, you want to “move up” to as nice of a neighborhood as you can afford, in order to both shield yourself from price declines and also because that nice ‘hood is probably more affordable. In an appreciating market, you want to buy or invest in marginal/border ‘hoods to take advantage of maximum percentage returns.