r/BayAreaRealEstate

We’re considering an unpermitted bathroom remodel that would convert a half bath into a full bath with a shower. What issues could arise when we want to sell the home, and would there be any way to list it as a full bath?

I feel like people dream about moving because they can’t afford $2m for a condo or small house in SF

But I’m literally looking at places in Barcelona and Paris and London thinking “Europe is cheaper“ and $2m is what you need to also buy a 2-3 bed apartment in those cities anywhere nice and safe.

Maybe the apartment is slightly nicer or in a slightly nicer area but it’s still $2m at the end of the day.

- Check rates with credit unions, especially for jumbo loans. Many currently have substantially lower jumbo rates than big banks. Credit Unions rates haven’t increased as much because they don’t have the same global risk exposure, while many big banks have tightened up recently.

- Consider a 5, 7 or 10/6 ARM instead of a 30-year fixed. ARMs are often 0.5%+ lower and can make sense if you don’t plan to keep the loan (refi) long term.

- If your loan amount is above $832,750, check credit unions. Many treat that as jumbo, which prices lower than conforming loans right now. Keep in mind jumbo loans usually require at least 20% down.

- Ask about relationship discounts. Some credit unions and regional banks reduce rates if you move deposits or investment accounts over. Example: bringing $250k+ in assets may qualify you for about a 0.25% rate reduction.

- Ask about streamline or low-cost refinance options later. If rates drop, refinance costs matter too — not just today’s rate.

I’ve been on both sides and I’m so sick of this.

On the listing side, I’ve never been told by the seller to not give updates to “maintain fairness”. Why would any seller ever do that? Even if a seller did say that, I would highly recommend against it since their goal should be obtaining the highest price for their property possible.

On the other hand, I’ve had multiple times where I’ve called listing agents and they have said that same excuse. “Sorry, we’re maintaining fairness, no updates”.

Last time I checked the listing agent has a fiduciary duty to the seller, not other buyers. I’m not sure how it’s unfair but it seems to be truly a Bay Area phenomenon. Even in SoCal you usually get Seller Multiple Counters or a chance to go up with general updates. In the Bay Area that’s just not the case majority of the time.

A lot of the time this hurts the seller because other parties don’t have a benchmark to increase against and usually do nothing without a concrete update.

Have any sellers on this thread actually told their agent not to give updates to maintain fairness to the buyers?

Looks like vouchers for CA dream for all have been issued as of this morning. I got waitlisted at #350 so I think I will have a chance later on?

Looking for recommendations on home, auto, and umbrella insurance. I currently have GEICO for auto + one home, State Farm for my primary home, and umbrella insurance through another company.

I have two cars, including a Tesla Model Y, so I know insurance isn’t cheap, but GEICO has been increasing my premiums year after year without any claims or major changes, and it’s getting frustrating. At this point I’m pretty determined to move away from them.

All in, I’m paying close to $6k/year across home, auto, rental property, and umbrella insurance, which feels pretty high.

Curious what companies people here have had good experiences with lately, especially for bundled home/auto/umbrella policies in California. Any recommendations on who to shop around with, brokers you trust, or companies that gave you significantly better rates/service?

Exhausted by this tactic … SF residential realtors are just one big marketing cartel at this point

edit: deliberately pricing a home way below its estimated value. In this case $1.7M listing price vs $3M estimated value

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2031-9th-Ave-San-Francisco-CA-94116/15115314_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

This is always tricky. I'm trying to estimate the walls-in dwelling coverage I need for a condo in the Bay Area (on the peninsula). Per sq. ft. rebuild rates are sky high and climbing of course, but I find it's easiest to use a $/sq ft calculation for this kind of coverage.

For SFH's, I've heard $550/sq ft is a good rule of thumb to estimate dwelling coverage, or 20% of your purchase price. But what about for condos? Any recommendations for a $/sq ft calculation to use as a starting point?

I've found that most insurers and online calculators grossly underestimate the dwelling coverage needed in our crazy hcol areas.

Saw recently that mortgage rates are close to 7%. Maybe that matters nationally. But are Bay Area buyers immune?

We are in contract to buy a penthouse condo in our dream neighborhood. I know all the reasons not to buy a condo but we couldn’t afford SFH without compromising on location and we by a unique set of circumstances found a unit that we loved that is off market, placed an offer, and were super excited. It has great views of the Bay, a massive wrap around deck, and at 1500 sq ft was as big as a lot of the SFH we were looking at.

We got our appraisal and it’s $125,000 less than our contract price. We were absolutely stunned as we thought we were getting a great deal. The comps in the area put the sq ft at slightly above the rate we are paying. I’m a little shocked that our per square foot price would be lower.

Part of the issue is that there is nothing directly comparable in the unit or neighborhood in terms of size or its features. I’m a little worried now as I can’t imagine sellers will come this low. They will probably want to test the market and see what they can get. But we don’t have the means to front this big of a gap without our lender. I’m very worried about losing the home now. And also simultaneously worried that maybe we were completely overestimating its worth and overpaying? Although even looking at the comps the appraiser used I still feel its value is much higher than what he is estimating.

Has anyone seen a gap this big? We are first time homebuyers and our real estate agent has made a few mistakes so any guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Edit: our appraisal contingency was set to expire today but our under our realtor’s advice we are asking for an extension.

Edit: the unique features were not all part of the appraisal as the deck is owned and maintained by the HOA but this unit has a private easement giving exclusive rights. So essentially we wouldn’t own our deck but it would be “ours” in that it’s the deck on our unit and our furniture would be on it. For this reason the appraiser doesn’t consider it.

Edit: learning how to read an appraisal report for the first time and understanding how he got to his number now. He seems to have counted our deck but valued it as a typical apartment balcony (not a huge wrap around deck), he doesn’t count the den as a third bedroom/office but it has a French door and functions as a third room so he comps to two bedrooms but we have been so excited about having three rooms, he couldn’t find a comp in our exact neighborhood so he went one neighborhood over which is not a bad area per se but it’s an area that’s a little more sketchy (there was a drive by shooting not too far from there last week) whereas our unit is surrounded by a golf course. It’s apples and oranges in my book. But that “comp” is a three bedroom townhome that is modern and turn key so he’s valuing as way above ours. It’s a perfectly nice and well priced place but tbh I avoid that area when I look at Zillow in map mode!

Got into a weird headspace last night messing around with payment scenarios. We've been renting in the East Bay for six years and finally have enough saved that buying isn't totally hypothetical anymore, but every time I try to pencil it out I end up more confused than when I started.

Like the sticker price on a place doesn't mean anything to me until I see the actual monthly. And the monthly changes wildly depending on what you assume about property tax, insurance, HOA if it's a condo, what rate you can actually lock, how much you put down. I was sitting there with the Hauser calculator open in one tab and Zillow in another, plugging in different down payment amounts on the same listing just to see how much my life would change at 15 percent vs 20 vs 25. Spoiler, the difference between what I thought I could afford and what I can actually afford comfortably is like 200k of house.

The part nobody tells you is how much the property tax assumption swings things in CA. A place that's been owned by the same family since the 90s shows this tiny tax number on the listing and it's completely meaningless for you as a new buyer because you get reassessed at purchase price. So the "monthly cost" estimates on listing sites are basically lies for anyone who isn't inheriting.

Anyone else go through this phase where you're just running numbers every night before bed? How did you figure out what your actual comfortable number was vs what a lender said you qualify for? Those are very different numbers in my experience and I don't trust the bank's version at all.

We bought a home on Mary Ave in Sunnyvale. It is a busy road, with 4 lanes. But it didn’t bother us, and the location and other factors like Cupertino schools were enough to motivate us to buy.

Now we are thinking of doing an expensive (400K) renovation to this home (adding 600 sq ft), and the main concern is whether we’ll get an ROI on this investment. If we do the renovation we see ourselves staying here for 10+ years because like I said, the busy road which is the only con has not bothered us. But 400K is also a lot of money and would grow much better as an investment elsewhere. We could do a bare minimum renovation for 200K too with adding 180sqft for a bigger master bedroom. But it wouldn’t be the perfect home.

Any thoughts on whether the investment will be worth it on the house, given it’s on a busy street? Our main concern stems from reading / hearing about people not preferring to buy on a busy street.

I’m looking for advice if I’m in the right over a dispute with a roofing contractor. Background story is we purchased a home earlier this year in Contra Costa county - California. Right after we entered an offer there was a leak in the living room detected by the sellers. The leak occurred under where solar was installed 3-5 years ago. They engaged with a licensed roofer, had it repaired and there was a 2-year warranty on the work with a “2 year/2 free return guarantee against leaks”. Minimal damage to the interior that just required fresh touch-up paint. Moving forward, we close on the house and move in, a few months go by and after a major rainstorm, we didn’t find any leaks. A second major rainstorm happens a few weeks later and we return home to standing water on the hardwood floors in the same area, causing the floorboards to swell and disjoint, plus visible drywall damage where the water penetrated. Call the roofer and they send out the same guy twice who takes pictures, walks around, and then says there is nothing he can do each time and the “previous repair clearly wasn’t good enough”. After finally getting ahold of the owner of the company, he says I need a new roof on the rear half because a repair won’t cut it and they need to remove the solar panels and install a whole new section of roof in that area to guarantee any further work. They’re quoting $5800 with a discount given their previous work. I go back and forth him asking what the guarantee is worth if I’ve had a massive leak causing interior damage, plus risk of mold growth. He says that’s the best he can do and will defend himself litigiously if needed.

Roof is composite shingles, approximately 15 years old but in good shape according to the inspection, covers 1300sq foot first floor.

In my mind, what’s the guarantee against leakage worth from the original work if they aren’t willing to repair or replace for free, or at least there should be a much steeper discount. By sending their staff out twice, is that their guarantee satisfied? Am I getting a bum deal or being unrealistic? Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi everyone,

We are gearing up for a pretty comprehensive home renovation project and are looking for recommendations for an interior designer who specializes in or has a strong portfolio in Modern Indian interior design (sometimes called contemporary South Asian or "Global Desi" fusion).

We love the warmth, rich textures, and heritage elements of traditional Indian design (think brass accents, intricate woodwork, vibrant textiles, or localized art), but want to seamlessly blend it with a clean, functional, modern aesthetic—avoiding anything that feels overly heavy, dark, or cluttered.

Ideally, we are looking for a designer who:

• Offers virtual consultations/remote design services (or is based in the US).
• Has experience bridging traditional South Asian elements with modern layouts, lighting, and finishes.
• Can provide spatial planning and material/furniture curation.

If you have personally worked with someone you loved, or if you are a designer yourself with a portfolio that fits this vibe, please drop a link or send a DM!

Thanks in advance!

Are there any companies in the Bay Area that use advanced devices like Termatrac (thermal + motion sensor + moisture sensor) or scopes to inspect behind walls?

We did our final walk through this past weekend and found keys to a very nice custom built wooden shed with electrical. The shed is right against the fence between us and our neighbor's backyard. Turns out water collected and small chunk (approx 2' x 1')of the back wall has rotted through. It was covered with a construction bag and duct tape. I peeled it back and saw the studs of the shed and nothing else -- the interior wall, exterior wall and the fence had completely rotted through. I have direct line of sight in the neighbors backyard.

This was not noted on the inspection report because the shed door was locked. It was also locked during the open house. Sellers did not disclose this themselves.

I spoke with the neighbor who said his fence has been in this state since the shed went up over 10 years ago. He did not know the shed had a hole in it and was surprised to learn this. I think there is a very good chance the neighbor will report this to San Jose code enforcement.

Not sure what the best way to proceed is. Their agent has said they will have it repaired, but we haven't discussed any details on what that entails. It sounds like it would be a pretty expensive fix. My agent is pushing me to wire the downpayment so we don't miss closing, but I don't really want to do this because then there is no guarantee this will be addressed. My thoughts are to request a credit and am trying to figure out what is a reasonable amount.

I'm brainstorming what is worst case scenario for me -- rotting shed with active electrical sounds like a big hazard so I will potentially need to budget for demo, electrician to deal with the wires, debris hauling, fence repair. Is it reasonable to ask for a credit for this? Should we consider loss of value?

Edit: from the ROASTING I got in the comments it's clear that I am WAY overthinking this. I'll patch up the hole from the inside and likely never think about it again. Thanks!

We're planning some renovations (mostly, for now, knob & tube replacement) on a 100 year old house in the East Bay.

It has quite rough walls - Claude tells me it's called "sand finish" - which we don't love.

We'd prefer a more modern wall with no texture, but it seems like the cost and timeline for doing a skim coat is going to be insane.

We're going to be repainting the house either way.

Folks who've bought an older house with these kind of walls - do you see it as part of the charm and just leave it as is? And if you did the skim coat, how did it work out and how painful/expensive was it?