[quote=flyer]The many members of our extended family who live from SFO all the way up to Santa Rosa, and south, to the Half Moon Bay area, as BG mentioned, have all have been watching this show for years.
The general area has always been a desirable place to live, but, as we all know, the tech boom has definitely fueled a new level of real estate insanity.
It’s a very difficult situation for many people who simply want to work or retire there. At this point, there is no indication things will change in the near future, and I understand their concerns not only for themselves, but for their children.
Personally, we prefer SoCal over the Bay Area for many reasons, even on days like this when the temp at the beach is 89 degrees.[/quote]
flyer, I’m not even interested in “retiring” to any “bay-area counties” anymore. I gave up on that idea more than ten years ago.
I was interested in the likes of Sebastapol, Healdsburg, Ukiah, Cloverdale . . . yikes . . . even Yountville! But when a soon-to-be-retiree can’t even purchase a ~1000 sf (possibly run down) older home (with or without garage) in these small towns for less than $500K (less than $700K in two of them), it’s time to develop a new plan. There has been such a dearth of listings in recent years on either side of the 101 all the way from the top of Marin County to the top of the state! What becomes available goes very fast (which is fine if I was able to act fast) and all cash (which is also fine if I was in a position to make an immediate offer). I don’t do bidding wars so I suspect I would be outgunned a few times before getting my offer accepted.
It seems as if I’m going to have to sell my home in SD County and rent something up there temporarily if I want to be in a position to pounce when necessary. Or to even poll resident homeowners of properties I would be interested in owning (as to their desire to sell now or in the future)
I never would have imagined that these sleepy little towns would be “desirable” as vacation and retirement havens for the well-heeled masses. Especially to those who already live an enviable semirural life on the SF Peninsula (read: Hillsborough, Atherton, Woodside, Saratoga, etc) but with the nation’s very best in entertainment, amenities and medical care at their fingertips.
I guess this cohort of my brethren boomers wants a little nest which is far enough away to get them “out of dodge” whenever they feel the need to escape from civilization :=0
