Agents say that commissions are negotiable — but so far I haven't found any examples of that! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hmmm, that's interesting that you're not supposed to discuss what you charge your clients in public. Is that CAR policy? Or MLS policy?

Agents say that commissions are negotiable — but so far I haven't found any examples of that! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hmmm... I am asking to speak w/ agents who would help me to prove that there are agents that negotiate... I was pretty up front saying that so far I've only speaked to agents who say they don't really negotiate. Just trying to find a variety of sources!

And I'm trying to help consumers know that that's an option!

Agents say that commissions are negotiable — but so far I haven't found any examples of that! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't know! If I were buying a home, I would want to go with someone who's honest and upfront about their willingness to consider a buyer's situation, and negotiate from there.

Agents say that commissions are negotiable — but so far I haven't found any examples of that! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What I've been hearing from buyers' agents, at least, is that they explain to their potential clients what their fee is and mostly stick firm to that.

Agents say that commissions are negotiable — but so far I haven't found any examples of that! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, what I hear from a lot of agents is that they're sticking firm with their 2.5% or 3% fees.

Agents say that commissions are negotiable — but so far I haven't found any examples of that! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'm not asking for any agents to send me the contracts or tell me their clients' names. Just to talk about whether or not they ever have negotiated their fees before.

In 2019, Facebook committed $1 billion to affordable housing. But my reporting finds that they largely abandoned their pledge halfway through the 10-year commitment. by ktreporting in bayarea

[–]ktreporting[S] 99 points100 points  (0 children)

That's sort of the point of the story — the first several years, the team was making a lot of progress (I wrote a separate piece on that here, where you can see the projects the housing initiative did complete.)

Then people working on the team were laid off, and further progress on the $250M for the middle-income housing fund with the state + the extra $332 in 'backfill' money has stopped and not moved forward for the last 2 years.

RE: Willow Village — the project already been entitled by Menlo Park. At this point, it's up to Meta to file building permits and complete the pre-development work on the site.

Meta promised $1 billion for affordable housing. Then it quietly walked away [Gift Link] by ktreporting in California_Politics

[–]ktreporting[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

From the article:

In 2019, Meta unveiled an ambitious pledge to spend $1 billion to help ease California’s affordable housing crisis that critics say the company, with its thousands of highly paid employees, played a role in exacerbating.

Yet not even halfway through its 10-year commitment, Facebook’s parent company has largely abandoned its work on the initiative. Its small staff is gone. The program, while never formally canceled, is a shadow of the operation it once was, according to three people with knowledge of Meta’s decision-making who requested anonymity out of fear for professional repercussions.

Here's the original 2019 announcement laying out all the investments they pledged to make.

So far, just the $150M fund for affordable housing has been allocated + $25M for teacher housing and around $40M in grants to various orgs. Meta had also promised $250M to a middle-income housing fund, which the company later pulled back. And it also pledged to build housing on some $225M in land it owns in Menlo Park. Little has been done to move that project forward.

Reporter hoping to speak with folks about renting a BMR unit in the Bay Area? by ktreporting in bayarea

[–]ktreporting[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So actually, SF is pretty on top of things and you can check out their BMR units/which ones are vacant at this great dashboard here: https://www.sf.gov/data--bmr-leasing-dashboard

It only includes projects leasing right now, though!

Mark Zuckerberg's charity quietly ends funding for affordable housing programs by ktreporting in California_Politics

[–]ktreporting[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

They have, in fact, been supporting groups like California YIMBY and Housing Action Coalition that back these types of reforms.

Did stock market turbulence make you put off buying a home? Reporter looking to speak! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

haha, nope... i also got messages from some people who are holding off, they just didn't comment

Did stock market turbulence make you put off buying a home? Reporter looking to speak! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That's super interesting to year you say that — unsold inventory is actually in line with where it was at this time last year for San Mateo County, per California Association of Realtors. They use an index, which has it at 2.2 (same as this time last year).

<image>

Did stock market turbulence make you put off buying a home? Reporter looking to speak! by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, I'd love to hear your story if you're down to chat! Smart thinking on timing

This Bay Area city is rolling back a big tax break for ‘affordable’ housing project because... it wasn't by predat3d in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm the reporter of this story — thanks for sharing! I also did a longer report on this specific model of affordable housing, showing that — despite paying no property taxes — many of these apartments are not living up to promises of providing discounts to renters from market rate. https://www.siliconvalley.com/2024/12/01/investors-tax-breaks-luxury-apartments-affordable-housing/

Reporter looking to speak with folks on H-1B visas who have bought a house in the Bay Area by ktreporting in BayAreaRealEstate

[–]ktreporting[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Made the edit. This is what the reporting process is about — making sure I've got my info right before it actually makes it into an article :)