I just realized that it's been a really long time since my last post. I haven't exactly been neglecting the blog, there just hasn't been anything significant to report. I do want to check in with some quick status information for posterity's sake.
All of the SMCU stuff got squared away after some initial confusion. I'm now officially a member, and the letter is totally good. Just for a few more days, though. I will almost certainly renew, but might wait until October or later to do so.
I've started collecting real estate recommendations from family, friends, and co-workers. So far I haven't found the perfect recommendation yet - I'd love to find someone who has actually bought in San Mateo County in the past year or so and been extremely happy with their agent. However, I do have a good number of second-hand recommendations, friend-of-a-friend style.
Right now I'm kind of sitting on it. Under my original timeline, I wouldn't be making an offer until November or later, so I'm not exactly in a huge rush to start looking at properties right now. It is getting closer, though, and the last thing I want is to feel rushed into making a decision. I'll likely continue the passive referral collection thing for another month or so, then interview the most promising to find a good match.
On the local front, it sounds like the market is beginning to firm up again. We're finally seeing month-over-month increases, and the San Mateo County Times reported today that foreclosure activity in the Bay Area is down. That said, year-over-year values are still significantly down, and I'm a little skeptical that we've seen the bottom of the market. Interest rates have nowhere to go but up, and unemployment will continue to rise for at least another year. I get the impression that the worst has passed for the subprime mortgage market, which around here was mainly based in Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties. The trouble will continue as prime interest-only ARMs reset, and those were extremely popular in San Francisco and San Mateo, where I'm focusing.
So, we'll see. Anybody who claims to know the future is lying, and I don't want to hold out forever in the hopes that I'll be able to buy a great condo for $100k. When it makes sense to buy, I will; until then, I'm content to wait.
Showing posts with label scheduling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scheduling. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Origins
I intend to use this blog to chronicle my attempts to purchase a dwelling in the San Francisco Bay Area. The blog will serve several purposes. First, much like my primary blog, it is a journal of sorts, something that I use today to capture my thoughts and experiences in the expectation that I will re-read it years from now to get a fuzzy nostalgic feeling. Second, since this process will likely be long and confusing, I hope that by setting out my thoughts "in stone," as it were, I will be able to ground myself in the process. Merely by articulating what I want, I hope that I will be forced to fully understand my desires. And, months from now, I hope to be able to re-visit posts to remind myself of my priorities, and see if they have changed (unlikely) or if my judgement has grown clouded (much more likely).
For the most part, I imagine this blog as being an irregularly updated progress reports, perhaps with one or two posts a month, describing the home search. When things are slow, posts will be less frequent; when it picks up, I'll write more often or longer. In addition, I may write about more general thoughts that aren't tied to specific experiences but that seem relevant to my overall goals.
So, first things first: where am I right now?
I think I've more or less finished the self-education phase of my search. I have a very rough plan of action in mind that, if everything goes smoothly, should see me in a new home within a year. I have a pretty decent idea of what kind of building I want, and a slightly more vague idea of where I want to live.
Where do I go from here?
Again, I'm speaking very roughly here, but I'm thinking of applying for mortgage pre-approval in July and collecting real estate agent recommendations. I'd like to settle on an agent around August or September, and start touring homes a bit after that. Because I'm pretty flexible on my moving timeframe, I think the ideal time for me to move would be somewhere in the December to mid-February timeframe, which is traditionally when the market is slowest and prices are lowest. I'd like to be able to take action earlier if a great opportunity presents itself, though, and not feel pressured to buy by any particular time.
What am I looking for?
Several things are most important to me. One of the biggest is having good access to urban centers. I wouldn't be able to stand living in, say, the central valley and being a super-commuter. Ideally I would be able to get to my office in a very short time and minimize commuting. One complication here is that my office will probably change location before I do - either from changing jobs or because we've outgrown our space. So I'm really looking more at zones or corridors than points - identifying spots that will be most convenient to the most likely employment locations.
On a very related note, I'm focusing on public transit options. Right now I live more than 50 miles from where I work, but it's surprisingly bearable because of the transit options available. Distances that would drive me nuts to drive can be tolerated if covered by train or on bicycle. I'm not a fan of buses, but appreciate Caltrain and BART. Looking to the future, I expect that the coming decades will see a return to rising energy costs, and employers increasingly supporting transit by employees, meaning that as long as I can reach a major station nearby, I'll be able to rely on them to get me the rest of the way there.
Of course, work is only a part of what's important to me. Besides a convenient commute, I also want access to the things I enjoy doing. Fortunately for me, the entire Bay Area is rich in opportunities for things like hiking. Access to a public library and a farmers' market would be nice as well. One thing that would be much better than my current location is convenient access to San Francisco. I can easily get to the city for things, but getting home is more of an obstacle, especially late at night. It becomes a lot less convenient to take Caltrain late at night, and trains stop running entirely at midnight. It's frustrating to have to pass on fun-sounding events, speakers, concerts, plays, etc. when I know that I won't be able to make it home afterwards. I also hope to do more in the city when it becomes easier to go there. Even when it works out for me time-wise, on the weekends it takes over 90 minutes just to get into the city by train, and few activities are worth a 3-hour round trip weekend ride.
Going to San Francisco is a blast, but the truth is that I'm an introvert and ultimately a bit of a homebody... I enjoy going out to do specific things, but by default I spend much of my leisure time at home. As such, having a comfortable space is important. Something fairly quiet would be nice - finances dictate that I'll be getting a condo, so I'm not expecting complete silence, but the less noise the better; I don't want to be edged up against Highway 101 or above a Market Street hot spot. I don't need a ton of space, but it'd be nice to have at least as much as I have now, about 650 square feet... that's enough to comfortably store all the stuff I need, and feel like I have enough room to live, breathe, and move around. I do a decent amount of cooking, so a workable kitchen is important. I don't do much entertaining, so I don't really care about designer accents or anything like that.
And, since I'm paying big bucks to live in California, I want to be able to enjoy it. That means having some kind of balcony, porch, or small yard so I can take full, gleeful advantage of those warm and sunny February days.
One of my litmus tests is that I don't want to live anyplace where I need to mow the lawn. While I do like the idea of becoming a homeowner, the domestic tasks that come with being a houseowner - mowing, painting, gardening, and so on - don't do anything for me. I can't say that they never will, but right now I just feel like there are a lot of things I would rather spend my time and attention on than looking after a physical property. Because of this, and because they're (relatively) cheap, I plan to buy a condominium.
So, there you have it, my first take at what I'm looking for. Coming soon: locations currently under consideration.
For the most part, I imagine this blog as being an irregularly updated progress reports, perhaps with one or two posts a month, describing the home search. When things are slow, posts will be less frequent; when it picks up, I'll write more often or longer. In addition, I may write about more general thoughts that aren't tied to specific experiences but that seem relevant to my overall goals.
So, first things first: where am I right now?
I think I've more or less finished the self-education phase of my search. I have a very rough plan of action in mind that, if everything goes smoothly, should see me in a new home within a year. I have a pretty decent idea of what kind of building I want, and a slightly more vague idea of where I want to live.
Where do I go from here?
Again, I'm speaking very roughly here, but I'm thinking of applying for mortgage pre-approval in July and collecting real estate agent recommendations. I'd like to settle on an agent around August or September, and start touring homes a bit after that. Because I'm pretty flexible on my moving timeframe, I think the ideal time for me to move would be somewhere in the December to mid-February timeframe, which is traditionally when the market is slowest and prices are lowest. I'd like to be able to take action earlier if a great opportunity presents itself, though, and not feel pressured to buy by any particular time.
What am I looking for?
Several things are most important to me. One of the biggest is having good access to urban centers. I wouldn't be able to stand living in, say, the central valley and being a super-commuter. Ideally I would be able to get to my office in a very short time and minimize commuting. One complication here is that my office will probably change location before I do - either from changing jobs or because we've outgrown our space. So I'm really looking more at zones or corridors than points - identifying spots that will be most convenient to the most likely employment locations.
On a very related note, I'm focusing on public transit options. Right now I live more than 50 miles from where I work, but it's surprisingly bearable because of the transit options available. Distances that would drive me nuts to drive can be tolerated if covered by train or on bicycle. I'm not a fan of buses, but appreciate Caltrain and BART. Looking to the future, I expect that the coming decades will see a return to rising energy costs, and employers increasingly supporting transit by employees, meaning that as long as I can reach a major station nearby, I'll be able to rely on them to get me the rest of the way there.
Of course, work is only a part of what's important to me. Besides a convenient commute, I also want access to the things I enjoy doing. Fortunately for me, the entire Bay Area is rich in opportunities for things like hiking. Access to a public library and a farmers' market would be nice as well. One thing that would be much better than my current location is convenient access to San Francisco. I can easily get to the city for things, but getting home is more of an obstacle, especially late at night. It becomes a lot less convenient to take Caltrain late at night, and trains stop running entirely at midnight. It's frustrating to have to pass on fun-sounding events, speakers, concerts, plays, etc. when I know that I won't be able to make it home afterwards. I also hope to do more in the city when it becomes easier to go there. Even when it works out for me time-wise, on the weekends it takes over 90 minutes just to get into the city by train, and few activities are worth a 3-hour round trip weekend ride.
Going to San Francisco is a blast, but the truth is that I'm an introvert and ultimately a bit of a homebody... I enjoy going out to do specific things, but by default I spend much of my leisure time at home. As such, having a comfortable space is important. Something fairly quiet would be nice - finances dictate that I'll be getting a condo, so I'm not expecting complete silence, but the less noise the better; I don't want to be edged up against Highway 101 or above a Market Street hot spot. I don't need a ton of space, but it'd be nice to have at least as much as I have now, about 650 square feet... that's enough to comfortably store all the stuff I need, and feel like I have enough room to live, breathe, and move around. I do a decent amount of cooking, so a workable kitchen is important. I don't do much entertaining, so I don't really care about designer accents or anything like that.
And, since I'm paying big bucks to live in California, I want to be able to enjoy it. That means having some kind of balcony, porch, or small yard so I can take full, gleeful advantage of those warm and sunny February days.
One of my litmus tests is that I don't want to live anyplace where I need to mow the lawn. While I do like the idea of becoming a homeowner, the domestic tasks that come with being a houseowner - mowing, painting, gardening, and so on - don't do anything for me. I can't say that they never will, but right now I just feel like there are a lot of things I would rather spend my time and attention on than looking after a physical property. Because of this, and because they're (relatively) cheap, I plan to buy a condominium.
So, there you have it, my first take at what I'm looking for. Coming soon: locations currently under consideration.
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