Gonna throw this out there in case anyone is interested. Although I live in LA, I have some family in the Bay Area and find myself looking at housing in the region from time to time just to see what the market is like for future reference, should we decided to move up there once the kids are out of the house.
I see a lot of "well California is off the table due to housing costs," which I totally understand.
And yet, I continuously see home prices in Berkeley that defy explanation. I get that Berkeley is not for everyone, but I've always enjoyed it up there. Here's just a few homes that are currently on the market. Honestly, compared to prices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, it doesn't seem THAT expensive. Obviously the PPSF is much higher. So perhaps, coming from Texas, it does seem exorbitant to pay over $1m for something under 2000 sqft. But man, these are some solid homes with beautiful views of the bay and the city. My wife claims that its because Berkeley is a bit out of the way from the Tech hubs, so it removes those folks from the market. Not sure if there's something to that. Maybe @We’reTexas can offer an explanation?
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1626-Le-Roy-Ave-Berkeley-CA-94709/24839512_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/981-Indian-Rock-Ave-Berkeley-CA-94707/24845573_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/851-Grizzly-Peak-Blvd-Berkeley-CA-94708/24848632_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2314-Russell-St-Berkeley-CA-94705/24829827_zpid/