Affordable Housing - In Bodega Bay?

While "affordable" might have different meanings to different people, Sonoma County defines it as the ability for a low-income family to buy or rent a home. Low income is defined as a maximum of $34,090 per year which gives one the ability to rent a home for $852 per month. And that's what will be available when 14 duplexes are completed in Harbor View (aka Romancia). Two of these units will be for very-low-income families with a limit of $28,409 per year and maximum rents of $710.

I'd guess that these units will be snatched up rather quickly since there are no other homes or apartments in Bodega Bay that have the designation of "affordable" and it will be interesting to see the effect that these units will have on availability and rents on existing properties in the area. My guess is that the average rent is twice these levels so I'm sure that any available rentals in BB will be impacted negatively, at least initially.

RJB Development intends to rent the duplexes for two to three years and then sell them at an "affordable" price, though I'm not sure what that means.

Waiting for prices to drop?

Don't. As you can see in the article below, the biggest factor in affordability is...interest rates. A 1% increase in interest rates could decrease the amount you can afford by $50K-$100K (in price).

So, if you happen to be waiting on the sidelines for real estate prices to become more affordable, you may end up costing yourself money in the long run. Check out the article and feel free to post your own comments...

Realty Times - Real Estate News and Advice

Final Approval for Harbor View (finally)

According to an article in the Navigator, RJB Development has finally (after 22 years and several developers) won final approval from the County for the Harbor View subdivision. The plans call for 70 units to be sold plus 14 low-income units to be managed by Burbank Housing. Currently approved CC&R's provide that none of the homes be rented for less than 30 days in order to prevent vacation rental usage.

There has been little growth in the area since Bodega Harbour began back in the 70's and while good arguments can be made for both sides of the development issue, I believe this is a much-needed boost for the Bodega Bay area and will help increase the tax base as well as fire department revenues. In addition to taxes, a $100,000 impact fee is being paid directly to the fire department as building begins in mid-2006.

If you're not familiar where the proposed subdivision is, it's directly across Highway One from Gourmet au Bay - in my opinion, you should visit this place...

My take on current conditions

A client recently asked me about the current conditions of the local market and here is my response...

While you'll see plenty of growth in prices over the last year, a vast majority of that took place in the first six months. Activity was frantic after the New Year and is now very quiet - with some signs of a potential increase. Buyers are simply taking much more time to look and offer on homes right now. I think that many people believed in the media-hyped "real estate bubble" and decided that they'd wait it out to pick up the pieces at pennies on the dollar. Fortunately, they'll soon give up that idea and realize that the California market will see no such thing - and is in fact expecting a small amount of growth, especially in the luxury market of $1M+. Activity should begin its trek toward normalcy after the beginning of the year.

In the meantime, we're seeing many more homes on the market for a much longer period of time. Inventory is up significantly with 26 homes for sale in Bodega Bay alone (twice what we had at times this year) and time on market has increased to 110 days on average (up from about 90 earlier this year).

So, with all of this drab news there is hope. As I mentioned, activity is slated to improve and while prices have been flat to down slightly over the last 3-4 months, I'd expect slight gains for the next year. The best news is old news - the Coast is a solid investment when compared to other areas. We're not going to see significant decreases in prices and there's generally a greater number of people wanting to be here than there are available places to put them (supply/demand).

In the beginning...

Being that this is my first blog, I won't go into too much detail - mainly because I don't know where I'm going with this. I'd like to see how this evolves - with input from you determining the direction of future posts and discussions. If you've taken the time to read this or future comments, please take a moment to add your two cents in - even if it's just a simple agreement or disagreement. I'd like this to be more about what you want to know than an ongoing update of current market conditions and such.

Regardless of what is said or isn't said, welcome to Sonoma Coast Real Estate...