Fremont Real Estate Blog

​​ Government Affairs Action for the Week of September 17, 2017 by David Stark, Public Affairs Director, Bay East Association of REALTORS® Property Management in Fremont and San Leandro New rules are coming to  Fremont and San Leandro that will directly impact property managers: Fremont: This week the Fremont City Council took the first step towards expanding  its current Residential Rent Increase Dispute Resolution Ordinance (RRIDRO). The new "Rent Review Ordinance" will create new dispute mediation resources and establish a Rent Review Board.  Tenants could access these resources if their rent is increased by more than 5 percent during a 12-month period.  The ordinance will apply to all rental properties including single family detached homes and condominiums.   San Leandro: The San Lenadro City Council has approved a tenant relocation

from CAR Department of Real Estate Restoration Bill Moves Forward The effort to reestablish the Department of Real Estate moved forward last week as C.A.R.-sponsored SB 173 (Dodd) has passed the legislature. In 2012, the Brown Administration made changes to the state's organizational structure in an effort to streamline government practices.  These changes included moving the Department of Real Estate to the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency (BCSH) to function under the Department of Consumer Affairs as a Bureau.  SB 173 would return CalBRE to its standing as the Department of Real Estate within BCSH. Despite the Administration's intention to save the state money and improve operational efficiencies; under the Department of Consumer Affairs, the cost to operate the CalBRE has increased. $3.5 million of CalBRE's budget is diverted through a "pro-rata assessment" (administrative overhead)  to the Department of Consumer Affairs. It is estimated that by

from CAR HOA Disclosures – CAR Sponsored Law This  new law  holds down the costs that an HOA may charge a seller for the HOA documents by requiring a clear statement on the billing form (C.A.R. Form HOA2) that the seller is not required to purchase all of the listed documents, but may provide the buyer, at no cost, current copies of any of the disclosures that the seller already has in their possession. Moreover, the annual budget report must individually identify the cost of each separate disclosure document on the billing form thereby giving advance notice of and transparency to these fees.  HOA managers must disclose to the HOA whether they receive a referral fee or other benefit from a third party who provides disclosure documents, and must provide a written acknowledgement that the disclosure documents are the property of the association and not those of the manager or the manager's firm.  Effective January 1, 2017. -- Sunil Sethi  /  REALTOR,  Broker, MBA, CPA(inactive), GREE

If you are a landlord in Union City, pay attention to this new fee and restrictions put in place by the city Rent Review Ordinance - Effective  10/2/17 On June 27, 2017, the City Council of Union City approved an ordinance that adds Chapter 5.55 "Rent Review" to the City's municipal code.  The ordinance regulates most residential rental units in Union City and provides a mediation process for qualifying rent increases. Renters will have the right to request non-binding mediation when: A renter receives a rent increases over 7%;  OR A renter receives two or more rent increases in a 12 month period  and  the total of all rent increases exceeds 7%  in the 12 month period Landlord participation in the mediation process is  mandatory ;  however, all recommendations are non-binding. Landlords are required to notify tenants of their rights when issuing a rent increase on or after  October 2, 2017 .  The full ordinance and additional information can be found at the following link

I hope you will find the following snapshot of local Real Estate inventory interesting. The table represents aggregated values based on MLS data for the specified date. Housing Inventory Snapshot August 31, 2017   Average List Price 30 Days Trend Median List Price 30 Days Trend Average DOM: active/sold 30 Days Trend Number of Listings Alameda County, CA Single Family under $1M $687,208 -2.66% $699,000 -0.14% 29 0 636 Single Family over $1M $1,796,776 -2.37% $1,450,000 3.03% 46 -4 321 Condo/Townhome under $600K $461,449 -3.07% $459,000 -6.33% 24 1 151 Condo/Townhome over $600K $777,209 2.15% $749,000 2.62% 37 7 120 San Mateo County, CA Single Family under $1M $853,298 3.63% $859,000 7.38% 26 / 13 -2 / 3 83 Single Family over $1M $4,736,046 4.37% $2,484,000 8.57% 62 / 28 -14 / 4 303 Condo/Townhome under $600K $483,81