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[quote=Anonymous]We just went through this. Moved to the SF Bay Area from DC for DH's job. Our budget was a little less than yours, but not by much. It took us two years, with me as a SAHP and home shopping as basically a part-time job for us to find an affordable property that was not in serious disrepair.

With respect to the East Bay, particularly Berkeley. Stop looking at list price and start looking at comps for similar properties. You'll see that there's a huge difference between list and sale. East Bay properties tend to be listed at prices that are about a quarter-to-fifty percent below what they sell for. Many, many buyers find this practice infuriating, but it's rampant. This is how realtors are handling buyers' sticker shock and sellers' expectations. Sometimes you can find a listing that advertises as "transparent pricing," which means it's priced realistically and usually fairly, but these go quickly. Our realtor advised us to only look at listing that were up to half our budget.

The other thing you need to know is that most of the housing stock on the market has been very, very poorly maintained. I'd say about 80% of the properties in our price range were estate sales, where the family had neither maintained nor updated in decades (if ever). The realtors slap a coat of paint on them and maybe put on a granite countertop so they look updated, but the bones are terrible and you'll likely need a repair budget in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the house to earthquake safety and modern standards.

The East Bay is also under court order to clean up residential sewer leaks, so you'll need to be prepare to fork out $5-$15k for a new sewer lateral at the sale. (Many sellers insist on passing on these costs.) The cities won't approve the sale until the lateral is assessed and replaced, if failing, which they all are.

Moreover, as we learned in a very, very expensive lesson, renovation and remodeling costs here are astronomical. (So high our insurer says they have to re-estimate almost weekly when writing policies.) This is partly due to demand for contractors coming from the North Bay, where they are still rebuilding after the devastating fires. For example, we were quoted $100k to rebuild 600 square feet of foundation on a single-story house on a flat parcel. $20k to replace knob-and-tube and a sub-panel in that same space. $10k to re-plumb, which would have had to be done before any further improvements, because the pipes were to small to handle the water pressure from modern appliances. We also had to deal with asbestos removal and lead paint, tho these may not be as big a deal for folks with grown kids.

Interestingly, you'll likely find that SF list prices are fairly close to sale as are properties on the eastern side of the tunnel between the East Bay and Walnut Creek. Lafayette, Orinda, and Walnut Creek all have options in your price range and are a short BART ride to Berkeley. We lived in a rental in this area and loved it. I also really liked the Hiller Highlands in Oakland (great views and newer buildings with less deferred maintenance). You will want to consider your tolerance for wildfire risk in many of these areas tho. This is a very real problem in these communities.

We ultimately ended up in a "foggy" part of SF. I would encourage you, even if you are intimidated by the weather, to look in these neighborhoods too. I have been shocked by how much sun we actually get here. Especially in the winter. Airport access here is fantastic. Much better than anywhere in the East Bay, even on BART.

Lastly - sorry for long post - the best local real estate economist used to be with Paragon realty, which was bought by Compass. Many of those reports are free online. They should give you additional insight.[/quote]

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