Published in July 2006 in 9 Bay Area Newspapers’ Sunday Supplement.

One Local Couple’s Journey from Sticker Shock to Home Sweet Home

Reading the Sunday paper over a cup of joe or mug of steaming tea can be a relaxing experience, indeed almost meditative in nature…unless you happen to be in the market for your first home in the infamously expensive nine-county Bay Area region. Instead of savoring the last few bites of a leisurely brunch, you may find that there is little left of your appetite as you peruse the latest listing for a “charming” fixer-upper with a pristine price tag. For many, the bad taste left in one’s mouth is enough to deter them from pursuing the dream of local home ownership. But for others, stalwart persistence and a little professional help eventually pay off in a big way.

“The biggest hurdle was getting over the sticker shock,” Courtney Bergin, a first time homebuyer in the East Bay, readily admits, “it was hard to accept how much it would cost to get into a decent home in a nice area.” Even with the ubiquitous nature of newspaper articles decrying the lack off affordable housing, the incessant hum of over-extended tenants bemoaning ever-increasing monthly rents, and the coveted waiting lists for all-too-seldom and evasive housing lotteries brimming over, Bergin and husband Hoon Kim, were still not quite prepared for the preponderance of zeros rounding out listed home prices. Once the couple realized the magnitude of the financial commitment that purchasing their first home would entail, they also came to terms with a new vision for their prospective home. “There were a lot of compromises,” Kim explains, “we had to make lists of what was most important to us...For example, we wanted a house with hardwood floors, a two car garage, and a lot of natural light. [Eventually] we wound up with two out of the three – the house was carpeted, so we had to lay the hardwood floors down before we moved in.”

As the initial home price trauma abated, the couple decided that the East Bay would be their best bet for finding a home that yielded the best value for the money. Kim summed it up quite simply, stating that, “for the same amount of money we get a lot more compared to San Francisco.” Bergin and Kim, who both work for Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, also wanted to be within close range of their workplace. “We decided to buy in [the East Bay] as our jobs are here and because of the quality of life in the area. Neither of us wanted a long commute to work, and we also wanted to be relatively close to San Francisco.”

With a vague vision of the ideal abode in mind, the couple began to scour newspapers and investigate listing, though without a great deal of direction. “We searched on our own for about a year off an on, not too seriously, we just wanted to see what was on the market,” Bergin says. Once they decided to get more serious, “[we] interviewed a few agents in July of 2005, but it wasn't until that September that we finally met with our agent…and went to look at homes with him.”

Once they sought the assistance of an experienced agent, Michael Friedman of Oakland and Berkeley based residential real estate outfit, The Grubb Company, their search began to take off. He helped the couple to organize their desires and expectations into a coherent game plan. “Consider that house hunting boils down to a simple three-part equation: the ‘what’ – size, style, condition of the home, plus the ‘where’ – location, equals the ‘how much’ [money],” he elucidates.

Apparently, the equation yielded a solution. “Prior to our agent we probably saw about two dozen homes during our own year-long casual search.  The day we went out with him we saw about seven or eight homes. We fell in love with one of the homes that we saw with him that day, placed a bid and had it accepted that week,!” Bergin gushes.

A great deal of the couple’s satisfaction lies in their appreciation of their new neighborhood. “We love our neighborhood… Redwood  Heights feels a bit remote, with lots of trees, but its really  only about 5 miles to downtown Oakland,” Bergin exclaims, “…and without traffic, you can be in downtown San Francisco in about 25 minutes!”

Friedman credits the charm of the East Bay with attracting a growing number of buyers. “The properties and community define a lot of what the market is about,” he muses, “Best of all, you get everything you want – the Mediterranean climate, scores of welcoming neighborhoods, thriving communities, the center of a great metro hub, minutes from San Francisco, arts, food, sports, UC, etc – at a much lower price than in San Francisco, Marin or the Peninsula.”

So while East Bay prices are still high compared with most of the rest of the nation, they’re still considered the best value by many Bay Area home seekers. Perhaps that morsel of comfort will make Sunday mornings a little more tranquil for those who dare to brave the real estate listings section.

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