# 1/2 The Homes In San Francisco Now  Over 1 MILLION dollars-Billionaire's Bay



## WhatInThe (May 20, 2016)

Over half the homes in San Francisco area are over 1 MILLION dollar. Numerous neighborhoods in the areas have 100% of the homes costing over 1 million dollars including tech areas. There has been rapid increases in the numbers between 2012 and 2016. The area is now called Billionaire's Bay.

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016...mes-in-san-francisco-and-the-bay-area/483485/

Some blame restrictions on new construction that some say keep supply low and demand high. The governor wants to lift construction restrictions with a mandate of new construction to include affordable housing.

Personally some of those restrictions might be for gentrification purposes but over building is no good either.


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## Lethe200 (May 20, 2016)

Homes in the Bay Area have always been more expensive than elsewhere. There's just not a lot of land compared to elsewhere. We could utilize it more densely, sure....but the cost of infrastructure improvements is massive. 

We're not the only area to discover you just can't cram infinite growing numbers of people into small geographic areas twice a day, in/out, even with high paying jobs.

Permitting is difficult out here. But it's the non-homeowners screaming loudest about "build more! build more!" They don't realize even if SF proper doubled its housing overnite, they STILL probably wouldn't be able to buy a home. 

I live in Oakland and was offered a job three times by my old boss to return. But he worked in Palo Alto! On a good day w/o traffic that commute is a full hour. On a bad day, at rush hour....I'd be lucky if it took me 1h 45 min. - ONE WAY.

But offer me a job in Pleasanton? I could be there in 30 mins. It takes me that long to get to Berkeley which is 1/3 the distance, at rush hour, LOL.

I'm a foodie and post often to Chowhound and Hungry Onion. We always laugh (kindly) at enthusiastic visitors who come to SF for three days and have a laundry list of places to go to that's the proverbial mile long. We tell them, "It's not how far it is from Pt A to Pt B. It's how long will it take you to GET there, which is going to depend on what time it is, what direction you're traveling, and what transit method you're using!"


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## Guitarist (May 20, 2016)

You couldn't pay ME to own a house in San Francisco.  I've lived in Tornado Alley but I have no desire to own property in an earthquake zone.


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## BobF (May 20, 2016)

Lethe200 said:


> Homes in the Bay Area have always been more expensive than elsewhere. There's just not a lot of land compared to elsewhere. We could utilize it more densely, sure....but the cost of infrastructure improvements is massive.
> 
> We're not the only area to discover you just can't cram infinite growing numbers of people into small geographic areas twice a day, in/out, even with high paying jobs.
> 
> ...



I bought a nice new home in north San Jose back in 1986(?) for $14,450, small 1,450 sq ft, 4 br, 2 ba, 2 car, hardly any yard around it.   I have looked it up on Google Earth and the neighborhood still looks well kept up and the prices of that neighborhood had risen to about $450,000 these days.   Wish I had kept it when I moved east.   I would think I was rich by now.   We still have family living out there south of SF and north of the Gate.   I will never go out there to live again.   How in the world would ordinary folks live?    Not all folks in the bay area are tech types.   They must really be hurting.


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## Lethe200 (May 20, 2016)

Guitarist said:


> You couldn't pay ME to own a house in San Francisco.  I've lived in Tornado Alley but I have no desire to own property in an earthquake zone.



Yes, but we wouldn't pay you. There's no need to. More people move to the Bay Area than move out, every year. 

Everyone decides what they want to live with and what they don't. Why do people still live around Mt. Etna or Mt. Pinatubo? They had to move an entire village in HI because the lava flow from Kilauea, its active volcano, finally reached them!

If you're scared of quakes, then why would anyone want to live on the New Madrid Fault Line, which runs right through the center of the US? More people live along the Mississippi River than have ever lived along the San Andreas (the SA Fault runs mostly out in the Pacific Ocean, actually). New Madrid is of such major concern that major corporations such as Wal-Mart have begun holding earthquake drills in preparation. 

In 2015 the USGS said, "...the frequency of earthquakes in the central and eastern portions of the United States has more than quintupled in recent years (2010-2015)." Due to unique geology there is a known geologic weakness, known as an aulacogen, which makes the region structurally weaker than any place else in the U.S.  

Heck, you couldn't pay me to live in Galveston (hurricanes), or the Georgia Islands (same), or Florida (hmmm...sinkholes, stifling humid summers, politics). But if anybody else wants to live there, fine with us. Every place has some beauty to it, and one either appreciates it or not.

We love the Bay Area, and retirement here has been a blast. And yes, it's nice to know our home has experienced considerable appreciation. My MIL loved her beautiful California Mediterranean 1930's home, and the appreciation in 36 yrs from a purchase price of $47K to $1.02M set her up for an extremely comfortable and secure old age.


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## BobF (May 20, 2016)

Your post above does not answer my question about how folks can exist out there.   More than just the price of homes must be going up.   Auto fuel for one is more than elsewhere and I suspect food is higher too.    Especially with so much land no longer farmed.   Regular wages are likely not enough for folks to buy into these expensive homes like my older home in San Jose.   I would never be able to buy my way back into California.   So how are these standard folks doing in California?


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## Ameriscot (May 21, 2016)

I had a boyfriend in the 90's whose sister owned one of the pretty Victorian row houses.  Can't remember the price she paid back then but it was a LOT.


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## Redd (May 21, 2016)

I would think that for average folks living in an expensive area it can only be done in one of two ways. 

First you bought many years ago and stayed put till your old age or for a young couple it would have to be two well paying jobs and a mortgage for a lifetime.

Guess another way is to have the parents re-finance their own home and give the youngsters a large down payment.


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## BobF (May 21, 2016)

Redd said:


> I would think that for average folks living in an expensive area it can only be done in one of two ways.
> 
> First you bought many years ago and stayed put till your old age or for a young couple it would have to be two well paying jobs and a mortgage for a lifetime.
> 
> Guess another way is to have the parents re-finance their own home and give the youngsters a large down payment.



Still not referencing wages so they can stay alive.   Those wealthy folks are not the regular ones that work the gas stations, grocery stores, malls, street crews, and so forth.   How do they manage in today's California.


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## BobF (May 21, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> I had a boyfriend in the 90's whose sister owned one of the pretty Victorian row houses.  Can't remember the price she paid back then but it was a LOT.



Are you speaking of California?    I don't remember much about Victorian row houses.   I do remember miles of large buildings with apartments in them.   And some miles of homes with hardly any land around them.   But not Victorian styles.    But then I am not sure what Victorian styles mean either.   So I looked it up.   I don't think there is much of that in the LA or SF areas where I have lived.

http://www.oldhouses.com/styleguide/victorian-houses.htm


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## Ameriscot (May 21, 2016)

Lethe200 said:


> Yes, but we wouldn't pay you. There's no need to. More people move to the Bay Area than move out, every year.
> 
> Everyone decides what they want to live with and what they don't. Why do people still live around Mt. Etna or Mt. Pinatubo? They had to move an entire village in HI because the lava flow from Kilauea, its active volcano, finally reached them!
> 
> ...



That area is beautiful.  Love San Francisco but not being a city person I wouldn't live there or in any city.  But it's great to visit.  Loved Berkeley as well.  And it's such an easy drive to so many gorgeous coastal areas.

And, no, I wouldn't pay Guitarist to live anywhere.


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## Ameriscot (May 21, 2016)

BobF said:


> Are you speaking of California?    I don't remember much about Victorian row houses.   I do remember miles of large buildings with apartments in them.   And some miles of homes with hardly any land around them.   But not Victorian styles.    But then I am not sure what Victorian styles mean either.   So I looked it up.   I don't think there is much of that in the LA or SF areas where I have lived.
> 
> http://www.oldhouses.com/styleguide/victorian-houses.htm



This discussion is about San Francisco so obviously I'm talking about a house in San Francisco.  Like these.  Guess they are called terraced.  I can't tell if these are attached to the each other, but I believe the home of the lady I knew was.  

View attachment 29525


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## Ameriscot (May 21, 2016)

Ohhh these are gorgeous:  Haight Ashbury area.


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## Jackie22 (May 21, 2016)

Love San Francisco too....one of my favorite cities, I envy you, Lethe200, being able to live there.


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## Don M. (May 21, 2016)

I've got some relatives in the Bay Area, and we have visited them a few times over the years.  San Francisco is a beautiful city, with gobs of "tourist" things to do.  One of my old Aunts and Uncles have lived in the Berkeley area for decades, and over the years, they bought 3 or 4 houses that they used as rental properties...which gave them a secure retirement.  Uncle Gene passed a few years ago, and Aunt Rose succumbed to old age in her sleep at age 97 this past Winter.  There were apparently some issues with her will, and now my two cousins are fighting each other over the substantial amount these properties are worth, and it has torn that brother/sister apart, and destroyed their relationship.  Money is nice, but it can have major "side effects".


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## BobF (May 21, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> Ohhh these are gorgeous:  Haight Ashbury area.
> 
> View attachment 29527



OK, I do remember the Haight Ashbury area.   I have been there on different occasions but never stopped or admired those buildings.   One reason not more often as it is just one small area of the San Francisco area.   One other place I have seen such houses was in San Jose and it was called the Winchester House.    Home of the rifle mans gun making business owner and his wife.

Unless they have fixed lots of things in SF a lot of it was trashy and had the hippies and whomever living in the parks and crapping on the sidewalks in front of stores.   SF was really mostly a tourist place and little else.   Go to Fisherman's Wharf, eat see the sites, then go drive the crookedest street, ride the cable cars around, but in the evening get out of town and find a safe place for shelter.

I would still like to live there as the bay area has a nice climate summer and winter.   Could not afford it today.   I would never want to live directly in SF but north over the Golden Gate are lots of nice places to live.   There are nice mountain properties in the mountains between the bay area and the ocean.   Many times in late afternoon and night the fog comes in and makes them pretty hard to drive around in.    So best to live lower and in the bay area itself.


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## fureverywhere (May 21, 2016)

We have a friend in the area. It sounds like there are many people that have multi-roomates. Not just young people but all ages. As many people as you can fit in. Unless someone is ridiculously wealthy it's very expensive to live there.


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## Ameriscot (May 21, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> We have a friend in the area. It sounds like there are many people that have multi-roomates. Not just young people but all ages. As many people as you can fit in. Unless someone is ridiculously wealthy it's very expensive to live there.



I can't remember exactly as it was at least 20 years ago, but my friend (boyfriend's sister) was single but co-owned the house with someone else as it was too expensive to own alone even though she was a lawyer.  They divided the house up somehow - one on top floor, one on bottom (?).  I believe it was purchased in the late 80's.  Their dad was born and raised in San Francisco.  When he died his ashes were sprinkled under the Golden Gate Bridge in a ceremony on a boat.


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## Mrs. Robinson (May 21, 2016)

BobF said:


> I bought a nice new home in north San Jose back in 1986(?) for $14,450, small 1,450 sq ft, 4 br, 2 ba, 2 car, hardly any yard around it.   I have looked it up on Google Earth and the neighborhood still looks well kept up and the prices of that neighborhood had risen to about $450,000 these days.   Wish I had kept it when I moved east.   I would think I was rich by now.   We still have family living out there south of SF and north of the Gate.   I will never go out there to live again.   How in the world would ordinary folks live?    Not all folks in the bay area are tech types.   They must really be hurting.



Just saw a news segment yesterday that said nothing is available in San Jose area for less than 1,000,000. Showed a home that just sold-was listed at 950,000,sod for 1,000,015.


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## BobF (May 21, 2016)

Mrs. Robinson said:


> Just saw a news segment yesterday that said nothing is available in San Jose area for less than 1,000,000. Showed a home that just sold-was listed at 950,000,sod for 1,000,015.



For some I think we are observing the set up for a major disappointment for many recent buyers.   A sudden market drop and losses of values.   It has happened in other places already.   Just waiting for California to catch up with the rest of us.   They are living in some sort of fantasy world if they really believe those homes are really worth a million.   Of course, it may be bigger than just California as the prices I hear about for other countries and territories makes me wonder how so many folks are getting so much money - or credit.   It is not just the need for a place to live as where I live there is still plenty of unfinished housing from our last real estate collapse.   Not sure at all that our home prices have ever caught up to where they were 10 or so years ago before the crash.

That news sounds OK as San Jose and San Francisco are both part of the bay area and that abnormal wealth covers most of the bay area and surrounding areas like Oakland of the East Bay area and the Peninsula along the coast and SJ is of the South Bay area.


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## Guitarist (May 21, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> This discussion is about San Francisco so obviously I'm talking about a house in San Francisco.  Like these.  Guess they are called terraced.  I can't tell if these are attached to the each other, but I believe the home of the lady I knew was.
> 
> View attachment 29525



I was going to paste something about the famous "Painted Ladies" of SF but after reading your rude and totally unnecessary comment about me, why should I support anything you have posted?

I'm starting to see what Bob was talking about.


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## Guitarist (May 21, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> That area is beautiful.  Love San Francisco but not being a city person I wouldn't live there or in any city.  But it's great to visit.  Loved Berkeley as well.  And it's such an easy drive to so many gorgeous coastal areas.
> 
> And, no, I wouldn't pay Guitarist to live anywhere.




How 'bout I pay you to just shut up?


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## Shalimar (May 21, 2016)

Guitarist, I am sorry if your feelings are hurt. I think Annie is just playing. It is so easy to misunderstand each other's intent, when the visual/audio cues are missing. Happens to me frequently.


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## Ameriscot (May 22, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> Guitarist, I am sorry if your feelings are hurt. I think Annie is just playing. It is so easy to misunderstand each other's intent, when the visual/audio cues are missing. Happens to me frequently.



She did say you couldn't pay her to live in San Francisco, someone else said they wouldn't pay her, and I said I wouldn't pay her to live any where.  Geez.  A bit of an overreaction.


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## Shalimar (May 22, 2016)

I didn't realise that Annie. I just don't get the problem?


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## Ameriscot (May 22, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> I didn't realise that Annie. I just don't get the problem?



She took it personally.  Of course a funny smiley would have been appropriate but someone else before me said they wouldn't pay her to live in SF and she didn't get annoyed by that.


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## Mrs. Robinson (May 22, 2016)

This is my niece`s house in San Francisco. To be honest,I`m not sure if it`s the one on the right or the left (I think it`s the left) as I have only been there once and that was ten years ago. At that time,it was all brown wood shingle type siding but they did a 2 million dollar (choke) remodel two years ago so I`m not sure which one it is. My niece and her husband are both 40,have three kiddos,he is a stockbroker and she is a consultant. They appear to have all the money in the world. Zillow estimates the home to be worth 4.5 million dollars. It even has a regulation bowling alley in the basement. However,I think they were actually given the house by my nephew in law`s parents. He grew up in this house and I see that the last date of sale was 1986. He would only have been 11 at the time so that has to be when his parents bought it. For 440,000. It has seen a 773% increase in value in 30 years.....https://www.google.com/maps/place/1...!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x1698f1703ca7e782!6m1!1e1


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## Debby (May 22, 2016)

Are you as shocked as I at  its $710,000 price tag.  363 square feet of prime San Francisco real estate!  The photos on the page at the link show a very cute cottage, but seriously, who could afford it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/0...a-british-columbia&ir=Canada+British+Columbia


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## Shalimar (May 22, 2016)

Cute, but way above my pay grade.


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## oldman (May 23, 2016)

Back around 1990, I had looked at buying a home in San Francisco, either in the Nob Hill District or out by the Marina District. I was considering flying international for the airlines, but wanted to be located in a city with an airport that flew the non stops to international cities. I fell in love with SF the very first time that I visited the city. While looking at real estate with a realtor, I soon learned that this city was not for the weak at heart. It was very expensive, even back then. I had looked at a beautiful refurbished Victorian home on Nob Hill and sat just on top of Fisherman's Wharf that had all of the woodwork redone, new floors,  new electrical and plumbing was also completed. It was only 1800 sq. ft. and had 2 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, 1 fireplace and a 2-car garage. Asking price was $595,000.00. Today, that house is probably worth twice that amount. Here's an example: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/640-Victoria-St_San-Francisco_CA_94127_M18490-58497 

I had just read an article recently about SF and the writer wrote that the middle class is all but gone from SF because it has become so expensive to live there. The writer also made a point stating that SF is still the number one favorite for the country's homeless. I still travel there when the opportunity arises. I used to fly there non stop from Washington, D.C. There is nothing like a stroll through Golden Gate Park on a warm Sunday afternoon. I went to a Grateful Dead concert on a July 4th several years back in Fisherman's Wharf right in front of Pier 39. It still remains one of my favorite cities.


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## Ralphy1 (May 23, 2016)

I own a few and rent them out...


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## Ameriscot (May 23, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> I own a few and rent them out...



Yea, and I own a private jet.


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## Ralphy1 (May 23, 2016)

But mine is most likely larger, and I have my name on the side...


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## Ameriscot (May 23, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> But mine is most likely larger, and I have my name on the side...



OMG you're not known as The Ralphy are you?


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## Ralphy1 (May 23, 2016)

People at the airports cheer when they see the Ralphy plane arriving...


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## Ameriscot (May 23, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> People at the airports cheer when they see the Ralphy plane arriving...



arriving....or leaving?


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## Ralphy1 (May 23, 2016)

Are you kidding?  I get more cheers than the Pope does when he arrives in Vatican One!


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## Ameriscot (May 23, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> Are you kidding?  I get more cheers than the Pope does when he arrives in Vatican One!



Do you know lying is a sin and you could go to hell??!  layful:


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## Ralphy1 (May 23, 2016)

But I confess to Father Ralphy regularly and he forgives me...


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## WhatInThe (May 23, 2016)

CEO Mark Zuckerberg demolishing 4 houses to develop one in a state where many cities have a housing shortage.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_29920573/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-replacing-4-palo-alto


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## Mrs. Robinson (May 23, 2016)

Well,he`s actually going to replace the 4 houses with 4 smaller ones-which probably isn`t a bad thing since the families in that area tend to be smaller than they were years ago. But I totally understand the neighborhood`s concerns as to what Zuckerberg plans on doing with the homes. Will they be used (sold or rented) as regular residences or be used as part of his compound....


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## WhatInThe (May 23, 2016)

The question is what is going to happen on that "compound" and will it increase neighborhood traffic. Four new structures doesn't necessarily mean 4 residences or places to live.


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## BobF (May 23, 2016)

Well Oldman, your comments do bring back old memories for me.    We had family in or near SF back then and still to today.   My wife's sister now lives near Petaluma they raised their family in San Rafael, her sisters two girls now live around SF in the suburbs.   I have friend also living just south of SF and telling about things occasionally.    My wife and daughter were out their last fall and met the relatives.   It was an all girls outage so I was not asked.   I sure do miss my old friends and family but have no love of how the economy is going out there and how in the way all us poor folks are being.   Too much federal meddling with things and we are in big trouble for it.


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