"Homeless" in San Francisco

When I saw the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” with Michael many years ago, we both agreed that they chose the right city for the movie, as “Sleepless in Boston” or “Sleepless in New York” would sound much worse than “Sleepless in Seattle”. “Sleepless in Seattle” sounds good, and it sounds romantic.

Don’t know why I thought of that, as I am househunting in San Francisco Bay Area right now. I am not homeless yet, as we are still living in the rental house, although there is no longer a lease. I asked the agent over a month ago whether we could do month-to-month, and he said that he would check with the owner. Then I have not heard from him again. Not surprising - since the agent tries to do as little work as possible, so my guess is that he basically told the owner that it’s best to keep doing month-to-month instead of arguing with me for higher rent or longer lease term.

I feel as if I could be “homeless in San Francisco” - hmm, it still does not sound as rhymy as “Sleepless in Seattle”. Plus it is totally NOT a romantic situation!

The first time I bought a house was in San Diego. We flew into San Diego, started looking for a house, decided on one within a week, and moved in within a month. I don’t remember ever reading anything like disclosure documents (!), but I do remember signing a ton of documents. It shows that when you have no knowledge or experience doing something, out of dumb luck, you could end up in a great situation, like with my house in San Diego.

Now that I have learned what I dislike and like in a house, especially in the context of the different climate zones of Bay Area, I find it much harder to buy a house. Those that look decent are often indecently expensive; those that are reasonably priced are often not in reasonable condition. If there is any house that looks like a good deal, there wil be 10 bids immediately.

As it turned out, since we are planning to use only the Stanford loan (which is available for only eligible faculty and staff of Stanford University) and not planning to borrow a commercial mortgage, we need to get a pre-approval letter from Stanford in order for our offers to be taken seriously. The Stanford housing office staff certainly have no incentive to work fast – they are not competing for business with anyone else after all! We were told that we would get a pre-approval letter in two weeks, but two weeks have gone, and there is no apology that they have been slow – only a matter-of-fact “oh it may be ready end of next week.”

The agent I hired was recommended by a friend, although she said that perhaps for Menlo Park/Palo Alto area he is not ideal. Since he’s so eager for business (which agent is not these days?), I felt bad about firing him after a couple of househuting trips. So he stays on.

He’s probably in his 50s, and drives very carefully. We would be driving, and then I would say, “why are we waiting in the left lane for people to turn left, since we are planning to go straight?” He would say, “really? Oh I did not realize that this lane was also for left turns”, when cars were zipping by us on ther right! Or I would say, “why are we waiting on the far right lane to get on the freeway, when the carpool lane is completely empty?” - he would say, “Oh I did not realize that’s a lane too!” And he has lived in the area for over 20 years! I guess when I get old, I will be that slow, and Winston will be asking the same impatient questions to me.

And unlike some other agents who would spend the time and some money to make their clients feel good (i.e. Like a coffee break or a lunch), my agent is on the super low budget. We would go for 4 or 5 hours without a single stop for any refreshments. He has bottled water in the car, and that’s all we have!

Most of the time, Michael and I searched for the houses first, so the agent really does not add much value in terms of identifying properties for us. Come to think of it, the real estate agents are like the lawyers in this country. They create the rules to make themselves indispensable, so we have no way around them, but to hire them, supposedly to represent our interests, when of course they represent their own interests, which are often in conflict with ours.

I saw this house in Atherton that is so cute, quiet and beautiful, and believe it or not, the owner herself is both a Harvard and MIT alum! I love the inside and outside of the house. Given that Atherton is where mansions with 1-acre lots are, this house is one of the few small houses with small yards. She’s asking for $1.475 million, and I would be willing to pay $1.4 million if I could find nearby parks and playgrounds for Winston. But alas, in Atherton, all the kids play in their own 1-acre yards, so I guess they don’t need any public parks. And for that reason alone, we reluctantly have to rule it out.

I also saw a couple of houses that are decent looking in Redwood City – not a great town but with some nice neighborhoods. But often they come with swimming pools. Now, Bay Area is not Hawaii, where you can swim all year round. And these swimmig pools are not exactly big, so it’s perhaps only big enough for babies and toddlers. So why do people dig a swimming pool in an otherwise already small yard? I fail to understand the rationale, except to think that these people are stupid enough to think that having a swimming pool somehow indicates a certain status where they in reality don’t belong. It’s like buying and old and run-down BMW when it’s much wiser to buy a moderately used, reliable and functioning Honda for the same price.

In Palo Alto, we encountered a super agent, who apparently advertises very aggressively all the time. I saw her at an open house, where she had on display all the other houses that she was selling at the time. She was wearing this magenta-colored outfit with bright yellow hat indoors, and had heavy makeup on her face. I suppose all this was meant to catch attention. I asked her if they would consider offers below the asking price, and she said, “based on your question, I think you need a 30-minute tutorial.” I was completely confused, “why?” she said, “real estate is a highly local business. It sounds like that you want to save money, in which case you need a great agent. Have you heard about me before? I am famous.” - I left quickly afterwards as I felt that she could be bossing me around if she were my agent. The house was pending the next day, and so were the other houses in Palo Alto that were half decent. Apparently the Chinese (those who work and live in the Bay Area and those who send their wives and kids here while remaining in China themselves) have been bidding up the property prices in Palo Alto, because the most “famous” neighborhood in Bay Area for the Chinese people is Palo Alto.

So where else have I considered? Foster City – it’s too flat, too boring and too ugly. And in the end, it’s also not so convenient for driving to Stanford and Palo Alto area. San Mateo – well, it’s not completely out of the running, but it’s also quite some distance from Stanford, and we have yet to see houses that are in good location and good condition at the same time. Belmont – I can’t stand the hilly and windy roads of Belmont, and Hallmark area of Belmont is like Palo Alto in that for any decently priced houses there are usually multiple offers within a week. Redwood Shores – it’s like the “Truman Show”. Any place north of San Mateo – too cold. Any place in the East Bay – too far. Any place south of Palo Alto – too hot. Any place to the west of Menlo Park/Palo Alto/Redwood City? - too cold and too far.

What can I say? - I have become high-maintenance! :) Will I end up “Homeless in San Francisco”?