Lee Ginsburg

Bay Area Prices up 20%????
April 7, 2010 · Lee Ginsburg · 1 Comment

The headline reads Prices Up 20%.

What do these numbers mean? I am sorry to tell you, your home did not increase 20%. Buyers don’t get scared off and sellers don’t put your home on the market for 20% more than you paid last year.

These numbers are totally misleading. Prices are increasing in some areas and in some price points but not by 20%. Possibly 3-5%.

You can make numbers do whatever you want. First you need to know if the numbers are for Single Family homes or Condominiums or both. Then are they comparing it to the same month in a previous year or just the previous month.  Are they talking about median price or average price. The Median price is the price that is in the middle; there are an equal number of transactions above and below. These numbers are very general. It is interesting and might give a slight indication as to the market in the country, in your state, in your city but Real Estate is very localized down to the neighborhood in the city. If you want to know the value of your home call your Real Estate consultant.   Read more

Karin Cunningham

10 Reasons you should NOT buy a house in 2008!
August 25, 2008 · Karin Cunningham · Comment here

1.  You don’t feel like taking advantage of GREAT opportunities while prices have stabilized.

2.  You enjoy renting over owning your own home.

3.  You believe in buying HIGH and selling LOW rather than what experts suggest which is buy low and sell high. Duh!

4.  Your  accountant told you that you have enough tax write offs.

5.  You don’t believe you can build equity if you buy at the bottom of the market. Read more