January 2020 Market and Rent Update

Recent sales: 1023 E. 33rd and 3607 Maple. Email or call for more info.

The Holidays have passed and our Bay Area economy is still going strong.

Oakland/Berkeley Job market update

The Bay Area is still seeing job growth especially in tech and high income jobs. According to the most recent data, Bay Area unemployment is still at a record low.

Oakland/Berkeley Rental Market

We had a vacancy come up for December 1st (Adams Point), which is never a good time to do an open house. We had a lot of people tour. I was a bit surprised that I got it rented quickly and at a higher rent. That’s a good sign of our rental market. It appears that rents are still increasing, albeit more slowly than we saw in 2017-2018.

If we look around downtown Oakland and Berkeley we see a lot of new commercial buildings still going up. Most of the commercial space is pre-leased, and this should continue to drive demand for housing in Oakland and Berkeley. Rents should continue to stay strong going into 2020.

Current Market For Building Sales

We just closed a multi-unit property on Grand Avenue in Oakland, across from Lake Merritt. This property needed substantial updating. It received multiple offers and sold at full price to experienced buyers who have experience with this exact type of project. The high sales price reflected the irreplaceable location and opportunity to bring to market 15 units that will be in very high demand.

It is always important to get guidance and advice from experienced multi-unit brokers who will market your property extensively to all potential buyers brokers. Posting a new building on all websites and sending out emails blasts gives the property visibility to literally tens of thousands of potential qualified buyers.

I did a presentation on increasing your rental revenue at the East Bay Rental Housing Association in last year. Click Here: Maximizing the Return on your Investment for the highlights.

Interested in getting a valuation of your buildings?

Contact me and we can do an estimate with a quick drive by. Getting your current rents/number of units will allow us to get a estimate of value. Again, if you have any questions about rents for an upcoming vacancy, questions about tenant’s issues, or need advice on a repair person, please do not hesitate to call or email.

Why you’ll benefit from working with me

In addition to managing our properties for the past 20 years, I have worked on 45+ multi-units transactions in the past 10 years, as a real estate agent specializing in multi-unit properties. I have learned so much from both perspectives. Most importantly, this is a complicated process much different from working with single-family home buyers and sellers.
The goal of this newsletter is get feedback and share with this community our successes and challenges to make all of more successful and increase our cash flow! Questions about market rents for your units, tenant issues, or need specific repair people? I can help. Please give me a call or an email.

Looking forward to a great 2020!