Bay Area House-Hunting ‘Pro Tips’ from the Bridgepoint Funding Team

Based on our own home-buying ventures and those of our many clients, we consider ourselves pretty knowledgeable when it comes to house hunting in the San Francisco Bay Area. So today, we are serving up five “pro tips” and strategies for Bay Area house hunting success.

Top 5 Bay Area House Hunting Tips For Buyers

Our real estate market is unique when it comes to cost and competition. The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro area is one of the most expensive in the nation, when it comes to average home prices. It also tends to be highly competitive, due to occasional imbalances between supply and demand.

Even so, there are certain strategies you can use to increase your chance for success when buying a home in this market. With that in mind, we present our top-five Bay Area house hunting tips for buyers.

1. Plan on it taking longer than you think, but hope for the best.

You’ve probably heard the expression: “hope for the best but plan for the worst.” This sage advice applies to the Bay Area house hunting process as well.

Obviously you want to hope for the best. The ideal scenario is that you will find a suitable house with minimal time and effort. And sometimes it actually works out that way.

But the truth is the Bay Area house hunting process can often be complicated by low inventory and high competition. So there’s a chance it might take you a little longer than expected to find a suitable property within your budget. So be prepared for that.

Hope for a short and sweet house-hunting process … but plan for a longer one.

2. Do your financial homework ahead of time.

The Bay Area real estate market can also be fast-paced. This is especially true when inventory levels drop. Low supply and high demand within the local housing market can result in lightning-fast home sales.

This is why it’s so important to have your financial “homework” completed before you enter the real estate market. Your Bay Area house hunting process will go more smoothly if you have your financing squared away in advance.

At a minimum, you want to have a basic housing budget that includes the maximum amount you can afford to spend each month.

And if you’re planning to use a mortgage loan, it’s wise to get pre-approved before moving on to the house hunting stage. This will allow you to narrow your search to a specific price range, increasing your efficiency and your chance for success.

The idea is to have these things completed before you start house hunting in the Bay Area. Following a logical sequence of events will increase your chance for success.

3. Choose your housing market carefully.

We often talk about “the Bay Area real estate market,” as if it’s one uniform entity. But the truth is, there are many “micro markets” scattered across the region. And they’re all different when it comes to home prices, supply and demand, and level of competition.

Before you start house hunting in the Bay Area, spend some time researching real estate conditions in your chosen area. You might even want to expand your search box to include second-choice and third-choice communities. Doing so could increase your chances of finding a suitable property within budget.

In a recent blog post, we explained that Solano County is the most affordable housing market in the Bay Area. The average home price there is significantly lower than in places like San Francisco or Marin County. That’s just one example of the variations you get from one city and county to another.

4. Work with an experienced real estate agent.

Your Bay Area house hunting experience will likely be more successful if you work with a knowledgeable real estate agent. This is true for home buyers across the country, but it’s especially important in our highly competitive housing market.

An experienced real estate agent can assist your house hunting efforts in several ways.

For one thing, they can help you review the seller’s asking price and make a strong offer based on recent sales data. This is arguably one of the most important skills a real estate agent brings to the table. But their contributions don’t end there.

They can also help you focus your house hunting efforts on the communities that match your needs and budget. An agent will also assist with the plethora of paperwork you’ll encounter during the home buying process. And remember, it’s usually the seller who pays the agent commissions.

5. Understand the buyer / seller negotiating dynamic.

Real estate market conditions change over time. Sometimes, high inventory levels and low demand create a buyer’s market scenario. This is when the home buyer has more negotiating leverage, in terms of price and terms.

Other times, tight supply commissions and strong demand create more of a seller’s market scenario. That’s where we are right now, as of summer 2021 (and here are some thoughts on 2022.)

When house hunting in the Bay Area, you need to understand the current real estate dynamic. Does the local housing market currently favor buyers or sellers? And how does that relate to you, when it comes to the offer and negotiating process?

Ideally, you can get answers to some of these questions before you even start the house hunting process. This is another area where a real estate agent can assist you. But you can do your own research as well, using the Internet.

The goal here is to know what you’re up against, in terms of price negotiations and other dynamics. A little homework goes a long way!