East Bay Homebuyers Pay $200-400K Over Asking As Home Prices Soar To Record Levels
DANVILLE (KPIX) -- It's not just the weather, the red-hot real estate market is sizzling right now. The pandemic continues to push home prices in the East Bay to record levels.
That's why East Bay resident Jeffrey Pey is so happy he just found and about to close on his dream home in Danville.
"It feels amazing. It feels great to know that 'okay we finally got our house. We finally got our offer accepted and finally get to move into the house that we want,'" said Pey.
He said he offered $200,000 over the asking price for the fixer-upper located on Cameo Drive, bringing the total sale price to $1.3 million. He planned to pour even more money to renovate the house.
"That's my first, never put $200,000 over asking before," said Pey.
He said it took six months and a lot of heartaches.
"We got our offers rejected so many times, you know? It was really tough putting multiple offers out there, and they're not even looking at your offer," Said Pey.
"We fought tooth and nail with each other, with everyone else. It was not fun. It was not pretty," said homebuyer James McGoff.
McGoff dealt with the bidding war for six months. He and his husband finally closed on a house last month. James said he paid $400,000 above the asking price to get into Hayward.
"There's three things going on. The first thing, lack of supply and high demand. The second thing, the ability for people to work from home, which means they want homes. And the third thing is the low interest rates," said David Stark, the public affairs director for the Bay East Association of Realtors.
Bay East tracks housing prices in the East Bay. Stark said the East Bay is seeing double-digit price increases year over year. In Alameda County, most cities' median prices are over a million dollars. Some parts of Contra Costa County are still under a million.
"The East Bay has traditionally been a bit more affordable than any community that's close to either Silicon Valley or San Francisco. But we're seeing that might be changing as the demand for the East Bay type of property continues to go up," said Stark.
As for Jeffrey, he was happy to be done with house hunting. His agent said the house should close next week.
"It feels great, it feels amazing," said Pey. "We know that raising a family in Danville could actually benefit us with the kids going to a great school."
