Things that you must know about Bay Area Home Lending

Every Tuesday, I go into detail about a question I frequently get asked. This week, I'm going to how a Biden Presidency will affect real estate.Before we dive in, it’s important to understand the general plan before understanding what the impacts are. However, it’s not certain that these plans can be implemented given the Democrats do not have full control of the government. Given what we have seen of the current Senate race,my bet is that it will remain neutral and we will not have a blue wave which would limit what Biden can potentially do. However, let’s go through the items that may impact the market. Here are the fundamental principles for housing. The main things he will be focused on is creating more housing, subsidies for low income individuals, having more energy efficient and resilient homes. What does this mean for Bay Area owners, renters, and investors?Here are the main impacts: This is primarily for investors. Biden plans to eliminate 1031 exchanges. What is a 1031 exchange? A 1031 Exchange is where a landlord can exchange an investment property to a like-kind property deferring any sort of taxes on the gains. It’s a common strategy for people to be able to trade up or diversify to different properties. For example, someone owning a single family rental can trade up to a large multifamily unit somewhere else without paying taxes. Alternatively, someone owning a single family in the bay area can sell to buy multiple single family homes somewhere else. This ability causes more activity in the real estate market otherwise people have to strongly consider their alternatives if they were to have a capital gains tax implication.Now, what is a common strategy of deferring taxes? It’s pairing this up with the step up in basis tax policy. When people inherit assets after death of a friend or a relative, all those supposed gains are wiped out and the new person that inherits this home has their baselined adjusted. Let’s take an example. If a family bought a home 10 years ago for 100,000 and today it’s worth $200,000. If he passes away, the family can inherit the home and if they choose to sell it and it sells for $200,000, there is no tax on it since their stepped up basis is $200,000. I personally don’t see this as a bad thing but it’s up for discussion!This is the one that will hurt the wealthiest the most. Biden wants to tax long term capital gains as ordinary income for taxpayers with more than $1M in annual income. Right now, profits from the sale of assets you’ve owed for a year and a day are at either 15 or 20% depending on your income threshold. Biden proposes raising the top rate to 39.6% for the highest earners which is intense! This is not just for real estate but also for stocks which would surely hurt the stock market and real estate market. It’ll be very difficult for anyone to consider selling a home especially in the Bay Area. If you thought it was low inventory now, imagine that kind of effect.What are the positives for homebuyers? He will provide a stimulus for first time home buyers by creating a $15,000 refundable advanceable tax credit. The last time this was in place was when the government provided $8,000 checks in 2009 to boost the housing market. It had a strong impact at that time to boost confidence so it’s going to be really interesting to motivate people to go from rentals to ownership even faster.--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

24 Nov 20205min

Every Wednesday at 12PM PST, I interview and introduce a top real estate agent from all across the country to hear about how they got into the business, what they are seeing with real estate impacts with COVID, and the economic drivers of an area! This week, we have Amy Duong Kim out from the Chicago, IL area.--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

20 Nov 202030min

Every week, I go over news that can affect Bay Area Real Estate. I look into news and data that can affect the Silicon Valley Real Estate Market. Tune in weekly and ask me anything!https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Bay-Area-home-prices-hit-another-record-and-sales-15734562.phpHuge industrial center eyed in south San Josehttps://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/12/real-estate-huge-industrial-center-south-san-jose-tech-develop-amazon/One of the Bay Area's largest biotech landlords puts 1 million-square-foot Peninsula project togetherhttps://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2020/11/12/healthpeak-properties-peak-genentech-cove.htmlAirbnb IPO could generate billions for the Bay Area. How will housing prices react?https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Airbnb-IPO-could-generate-billions-for-the-Bay-15731893.phpMortgage applications see slight decrease, despite purchase gainhttps://www.housingwire.com/articles/mortgage-applications-see-overall-decrease-even-with-3-gain-for-purchase-apps/Builder confidence reaches 35-year high in Novemberhttps://www.housingwire.com/articles/builder-confidence-reaches-35-year-high-in-november/Latest Market Data for all counties in the Bay Areahttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P5T3T4doU9vutLotcKnZ0WCZahU0nvKn1khR-QQsrTI/edit?usp=sharing--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

20 Nov 202016min

If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

17 Nov 20203min

Every week, I go over news that can affect Bay Area Real Estate. I look into news and data that can affect the Silicon Valley Real Estate Market. Tune in weekly and ask me anything!Facebook expands again in Fremonthttps://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Facebook-expands-again-in-Fremont-as-big-tech-15717222.phpDropbox, Glassdoor list more S.F. office space for subleasehttps://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2020/11/09/sublease-space-dropbox-glassdoor-san-francisco.htmlAll loan types continued to experience drop in forebearancehttps://www.housingwire.com/articles/all-loan-types-continued-to-experience-drop-in-forbearance/Buyers and sellers agree its a good time to enter the housing markethttps://www.housingwire.com/articles/buyers-and-sellers-agree-its-a-good-time-to-enter-the-housing-market/--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

13 Nov 202016min

With this series, we will be looking over what developments are happening in every city across the Bay Area. Many of you that are local here see projects and construction happening but did you know that most cities have plans to redevelop areas over the next decade? Let’s dive into Sunnyvale! You will see that Sunnyvale is one of the most active cities when it comes to redevelopment.The City of Sunnyvale has a colorful history spanning almost 100 years since its incorporation. It began as a train stop in the agricultural promised land known as “The Valley of Hearts Delights” and with planning and foresight has transitioned into its current form as a desirable residential community and strategically located high-tech job center known as the “Heart of Silicon Valley.”Sunnyvale is now the second-largest city in Santa Clara County and the fifth-largest in the Bay Area. The City of Sunnyvale is in the flatlands of Northwest Santa Clara Valley. Less than an hour from the Pacific Ocean, it is 40 miles south of San Francisco, on the southern tip of San Francisco Bay. The City encompasses approximately 23 square miles and is at the crossroads of four of the South Bay’s major freeways and expressways, with three international airports nearby. Nearly all of the properties in Sunnyvale have development on them; only 0.5 percent of parcels are vacant. Residential areas account for the single largest land use in the city, amounting to 52 percent of the developed area. Industrial uses constitute 26 percent of the developed area.Sunnyvale has 20 parks comprising 223 acres which is 5.7 acres of park and open space for every 1,000 residents in the City. Sunnyvale has approximately 60,000 housing units (single-family, condominiums, apartments and mobile homes). Single-family detached homes accounted for 39 percent of the housing units; single-family attached homes (townhouses and condominiums) totaled 10 percent of the housing units. Another 42 percent were multifamily (duplexes, tri-plexes, apartments), and 7 percent were mobile homes.Sunnyvale began implementation of the Below Market Rate (BMR) Program, one of the oldest inclusionary housing programs in the country, in the early 1980s. The last major revision was in 2003, with the current ordinance requiring residential developments to provide a certain percentage of affordable units. Sunnyvale has been a model for local governments in addressing affordability issues. Through different programs they have rolled out over the years, they have created nearly 2,000 housing units with prices which are affordable to low and very-low income households.--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

12 Nov 20208min

Every Wednesday at 12PM PST, I interview and introduce a top real estate agent from all across the country to hear about how they got into the business, what they are seeing with real estate impacts with COVID, and the economic drivers of an area!--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

11 Nov 202023min

Every Tuesday, I go into detail about a question I frequently get asked. This week, I'm going to discuss how long does it take to buy a house here in the Bay Area?So I've been getting this question a lot from a lot of my clients and especially first-time home buyers. And they asked me like, how long should I prep? How long should I wait or expect it to take for me to be able to get a house? Let's do our math a little bit backwards.So typically even if you were able to make an offer today and get it accepted today, you have what they call a close of escrow time, which is the time it takes to go from offer acceptance to actually owning the home itself. Usually that's about 30 days. So if you work backwards, the earliest you can possibly even move in is 30 days from today, if you had your offer accepted today.Now you also want to take into different variables as well where you may be exploring for a few weeks, a few months. You may unfortunately lose for various different offers given. You're not the only person buying, so account for that buffer. However, at the same time I've helped many clients find a house within one weekend of searching. We would go see several properties on a weekend. They would stack rank what is important to them. What did they like, which ones they like. We also will understand when are offers due for each of the appropriate ones.And then you can create a game plan with myself based off of all of those different variables. So what I tell all of my buyers that are actively looking today is on one end you have to be patient because if you're especially looking for a single family house, it's very competitive these days. So you have to be patient because you just don't know when it'll come up. They move very quickly. At the same time, you have to be ready. The last thing you want to do, and the biggest thing that most people regret is not being prepared, number one. Or thinking that something better will come down the road. Because the worst thing you can have is going through the journey and just keep thinking about, "Oh, I wish I did that." Or, "I wish I made an offer for this house," right? So that's something very important to understand. Be ready, be patient, and don't live with regrets, because that's the worst feeling you can possibly have especially as the market is competitive, and it is a marathon. But at the same time, be ready. You may finish the marathon very quickly. That's how I'm able to provide my guidance, my expertise to give you a competitive edge. And so hopefully it will shrink that process altogether. But also through that you're mentally prepared to go through the journey.--If you’re interested in buying, selling, or investing in residential or commercial real estate in the 📍SF Bay Area, contact me today!📧Spencer@spencerhsu.com📞 (408) 547-4590⏰ Set up a time to chat: https://calendly.com/spencerhsure🌍 Find your dream Bay Area home https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/🎙️ Listen to my podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/bayarearealestate📸Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerhsure🧑‍💼 Let's connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerhsu🛎 Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest real estate tips and updates: https://forms.gle/c5xkznHLTBh7Yzgi7🏠💲 Track the value of your home and see if it's beneficial to refinance! http://bit.ly/3aFdyMW--My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!Spencer Hsu, MBA, RealtorSpencer@SpencerHsu.com408-547-4590EXP Realty DRE #02077253https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/#BayAreaRealEstate

10 Nov 20203min