Author: Neil Collins (Neil Collins)

The housing market seems to be stuck in a fairly consistent pattern at the moment. Demand is still very strong as a massive wave of millennial buyers enter the market. Unfortunately, inventory is at an all-time low, off nearly 40% from this time last year. The net result from this constricted inventory is higher housing...

On June 7, more than 30 protesters from LUNA, the Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County, Unhoused Response Group, Working Partnerships USA, South Bay Community Land Trust and other San Jose-based nonprofit organizations trespassed on private property, harassed, terrorized and even verbally assaulted an employee at the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. What...

California was the first state in the nation to ban natural gas furnaces and water heaters—last September, the California Air Resources Board proposed banning the sale of all gas-fired water heaters and furnaces by 2030. This past March, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District moved up the timeline and locally banned the sale and...

The local housing market has been on a wild ride this year. Earlier in the year, the market seemed to be closely following the ups and downs of mortgage rates as the Fed tried to slow the economy and get a handle on inflation with a series of interest rate hikes. Now, as we enter the...

Over the last few years there have been many discussions about duplexes. This includes legislation around zoning changes driven by the state to encourage more duplex production, and more recently, a proposed local ordinance that would give corporate nonprofits a special priority in the purchasing of them and other multi-family properties. What I want to...

According to the California Association of Realtors, home sales in the state edged up in January for a second straight month. Existing home sales are up 0.04% from December, but down 45.7% from January 2022. “Thanks to slightly waning interest rates and tempering home prices, California’s housing market kicked off the new year with another...

The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, is once again up for consideration. This was first proposed nearly three years ago as part of an anti-displacement proposal from San Jose’s housing department. Last year, COPA was stalled from moving forward because it did not have the votes to pass. It’s back again with the new...

This is the time of year where we all like to pull out our crystal ball and make some speculations about what the local housing market will look like in 2023. This year, the Federal Reserve has been aggressive in raising interest rates at 0.75 basis points for four consecutive periods since June, in an...

As the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in an attempt to reduce inflation, there is growing uncertainty in the economy. Some are worried about the increasing interest rate’s impact on “kitchen table issues” such as credit card bills and utilities.  However, this anticipated economic downturn looks different from the last major economic decline of 2008....

What is the purpose of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)? The database, which is a makeup of several regional databases, is typically misunderstood and is actually an integral component of the entire selling process. It is the platform where real estate agents place their listings to provide the seller with the most visibility. Through a...