From the San Francisco Business News
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Bay Area Home Prices Up 12% In One YEAR!
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Category Archives: Housing
SF Housing about to get even pricier
From San Francisco Business Times:
San Francisco only built one home for every 10.4 new jobs created in 2016, a recent report says, after comparing new data from the San Francisco Planning Department to estimates by the U.S. Census.
A new report from housing site Curbed S.F. arrived at the ratio of homes to jobs by comparing the 27,048 new jobs created in the city in 2016, as tallied by the Planning Department, to the only 2,600 new homes the Census estimates were built during the same period.
Curbed notes that while the Census and the Planning Department categorize job and population growth slightly differently, “unless the Census somehow missed 10,000 new homes, it’s not going to make a big difference.”
Some other takeaways from the Planning Department’s “2016 Commerce and Industry Inventory” report, released last week:
- Total wages in San Francisco shot up 6 percent overall in 2016, to $71.5 billion total, or a median wage of $101,640, a massive jump from the median wage of $83,570 in 2011.
- Building permits issued citywide fell 2 percent to 29,117 new permits.
- Job growth went up 4 percent in 2016 across San Francisco, creating a new record of 703,230.
How Much Do You Need To Afford a Home Outside Humboldt?
More than you thought. See this slide show from Sacramento Biz Journals. Chicago’s lookin’ better all the time.
It’s HERE.
BAY AREA Renters say they want to move. Will they come here?
The high rents in the Bay Area continue to be a destabilizing factor in the Bay Area. Read about it HERE.
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Short Ribs and Random Thoughts July 4 2017
Independence Day and our country is in the process of being wrecked by a cretin who has no wisdom, no knowledge and no shame. Happy Fourth!
Hurricane season began June 1- and continues to the end of November. But our lazy President has yet to name anyone to lead FEMA. Do lives have to be lost before this jackass gets serious about his responsibilities??? Apparently.
The Housing Shortage- A month or so ago the AEDC sponsored a forum on our perpetual housing shortage. I didn’t cover it in the blog because Gregg Foster and others did so very well. I just found out that a young relative in the Bay Area has just been accepted for Section 8 housing after ELEVEN YEARS on the list. The plight of the poor and disabled in the Bay Area economy- heck, ANY high cost area- is real and under-reported.
Is Jeff Sessions the LEAST impressive person in the Federal Government? There are counter clerks at Six Rivers Forest who show more wisdom and presence than he does. An Attorney General should have a memory; that should be a basic qualification. Every response in his recent testimony was “I don’t recall”. He looks like Howdy Doody and he sounds like Gomer Pyle. And he wants to restore the War on Weed. What a winner.
Venus Williams will likely pay a pretty penny for her car accident in Florida but the whole incident will have a good effect if it reminds people that you don’t have to be driving FAST to have a fatal accident.
Trump’s horoscope- is available at AstroDienst. I will only make some brief observations. The first is that a “normal ” or “balanced” scope is one in which the planets are spread around the wheel, not bunched up in one place. Trump’s are bunched up in the left half of the ‘scope, which indicates a limited point of view, or limitations in his personality. He also has Mars conjunct his ascendant which indicates belligerence. And his moon is opposite his Sun/Uranus conjunction indicating major conflicts between his inner and outer personas. His four planets in Cancer indicate a home-loving person with domestic proclivities. Let’s see how well he does on his trip later this week.
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The April 2017 Economic Index is IN
Dr Eschker’s hardworking crew has published their April update. They show retail sales down and home sales up, as you would expect as we head into summer. Gas prices in Eureka edged up, from $3.06 to $3.11.
The whole report is HERE.
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“ROOM FOR RENT”
It’s been officially acknowledged and certified by the Lost Coast Journal that we indeed have a housing shortage, if not a crisis, on the North Coast. Apparently something like 500 students who started school in August are still looking for housing. That is ridiculous! Why hasn’t a public health crisis been declared? What is HSU doing about it??? Many unanswered questions.
I rent out my extra room and bath. I resisted it for years, then got smart. A tenant solves a lot of problems. An extra hand for heavy chores, someone to watch the dog when I’m out of town, lots of advantages. Plus the extra income is like crack; you are instantly addicted. What’s puzzling to me is that with all the shortage talk, the PRICE for a room hasn’t really gone up at all. I charge $600 for a furnished room with private bath, in a decent area. I’ve only seen a couple of ads on Craig’s List that want more for a room. So the law of supply and demand doesn’t seem to be applicable.
Craig’s List is always a good read. It’s amazing how many folks want to rent a room for nothing or “work in exchange for rent”. Who does that except for growers? I usually don’t have to list my vacancy. I just scan Craig’s lIst for people looking for housing who sound reasonable.
Anyway, my new tenant is moving in this week. Happy New Year!
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The Cost Of Living IS Too Damn High
You’ve certainly heard by now that Social Security recipients, including SSI recipients, aren’t getting a cost-of-living increase this year, a fairly rare occurrence. Apparently the way they calculate the cost of living gives great weight to the cost of gasoline, which hasn’t risen much in the last couple of years while everything else has skyrocketed.
All I know is that at Winco, a lot of the stuff I buy has increased by at least 50% from a couple of years ago. Broccoli used to be $.99 a pound, now it’s often $1.99. Tuna used to be $.59, now it’s $.89. It all adds up.
My cousin, also a retiree, shared with me the following statistics from EPI. Bloomberg and the USDL.:
Since 1978, the cost of college tuition has increased by 1,120%.
Medical care has increased by 601%
Food has increased by 244%
Shelter has gone up by 380%.
MEANWHILE the pay of typical workers rose by just 10%
The pay of minimum wage workers fell by 5.5%
And the pay of average CEO’s increased by 937%.
No wonder everyone’s feeling squeezed, whether on a “fixed income” or not. I really feel for the many folks who have no other income and hope that Sen Elizabeth Warren’s bill or some other fix will be appllied, and soon. For those who, like me, have other sources of income, it’s just an annoyance but it cannot be denied that increased discrepancies between income and expenses force more people into homelessness. The rent IS too damn high.
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Home Values Compared
Here, courtesy of Zillow and the HSU Economic Index, are some figures to ponder.
Current Median Home Value US: $180,100
Current Median Home Value Humboldt County: $251,950
ALL TIME HIGH Median Home Value Humboldt County: $340,000 briefly in Jan 2008
Current Median Home Value Sacramento: $339,600
ALL TIME HIGH Median Home Value Sacramento: $442,300 in December 2005
Current Median Home Value San Jose: $894,700
Hopefully you didn’t buy in Sac in 2005. Take heart: you can still get houses in Cleveland for less than $70K. Hey, if it’s good enough for Michael Symon…
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Craig’s List Ads That No One Will Respond To
Here, without comment, are genuine “Housing Wanted” ads that have appeared within the past year on our local Craig’s List. They are transcribed exactly as they appeared. Enjoy!
“Need free space for band practice.”
“Looking for room for couple with two toddlers and a dog. Must have hi-speed internet for our business and space for homeschooling kids. Also RV parking. Can pay $300.”
“Chill dude looking to settle in Humboldt. Will have to work for rent since I don’t have any cash. “
“Homeless student entrepuner (sic) with four dogs, two ponies.”
“Fun couple seeks room.”
“I wanna live with couscous(sic), real farmers.”
“WANTED: HOUSE FOR PARTY”
“I’m 20 turning 21 this year and have experience working with people but my life revolves around bud. “
“Viking Pagan needs place to live.”
“Occultist seeks new magickal (sic) space.”
“looking for a house to rent for 2-3 weeks till my rental house comes available. i have a small dog, trained, also i will have two house guests for the next 6 days till they fly home. need a place by tomorrow.”
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