A community within Newport Beach, California, the area called East Bluff is an area with 460 single-family homes located atop a location where views can be seen of the Back Bay and Newport Beach’s city lights. The community is close-knit and family-oriented. The area is home to high-priced residential real estate and thus has only naturally suffered since the downturn in the U.S. housing market set in around late 2008. Prices have spiked and crashed throughout the past year, making the East Bluff real estate market a bit unstable at present time.

The Newport Beach Zip code in which East Bluff is located has seen its median price rise and fall like tracing the path of a roller-coaster over the past year. In April, it showed a more stable mark from the previous month, at around $1.68 million, basically constant month-over-month. Last year at this time, the median price was just around $1.7 million, showing that through all the ups and downs of 2009, perhaps the market now has gotten through the shocks and may continue on a more stable path.

The number of days East Bluff homes for sale and other homes for sale in the Newport Beach Zip code have spent on the market before selling has shown some improvement in the first quarter of 2010. The figure hit an annual peak at around 270 days in early January, but has since fallen to around 225 in mid-March, the lowest level seen since early December 2009. These figures are all still well above the 175-day range that existed in mid-April of 2009.

The number of new homes listed fell dramatically in the beginning months of 2010, hitting a 12-month bottom of around 150 in mid-January. That figure has since picked up again though, rising to around 225 in the beginning of April, about the same level as it was at during the same period last year. Meanwhile, price per square foot has traced a mostly downward trajectory over the  past 12 months, with the figure at around $545 in April, down form $585 at the same period one year ago.

The Ranch Mirage real estate market in the Palm Springs area of inland California has experienced many ups and downs in recent months as it struggles to combat the ill effects of the financial crisis plaguing broad swaths of America. In the past quarter or so, things have begun to look more positive for the market though, with increasing signs of optimism.

In February, the median price for a single-family home in Rancho Mirage was $544,750, a more than 32% increase from a year ago and a 9% increase from January’s figures. The average price was $758,194, an increase of 13.6% from 2009 and a 28.9% rise from January. Sales activity is up in general, though fluctuating month to month. In February, there were 24 homes sold, an increase of one-third from a year ago but a decline of nearly 30% from the previous month’s figures.

The condo market showed similar trends, with higher prices but fewer sales. In February, according to The Desert Real Estate Report, the median price for condos was $349,500, an increase of nearly 30% from the same time last year and a 6.7% rise from January. The average price stood at just over $344,000, a more than 9% increase from a year ago and another 12.3% higher than January’s figure. There were only 12 condos sold in February, however, a decrease by a third in activity from February 2009 and from a month prior.

Total sales activity in the city in February accounted for 43 sales, including Ranch Mirage homes for sale and condos for sale, according to DQ News. When taken together,  the median price of properties for sale was $459,000, up by more than 33% from a year earlier, when that figure was just $345,000.

Real estate experts hold optimistic views of the Berkeley real estate market’s future, as recent months have shown promising improvements with increases in both home sales and median prices.  Despite concerns over job security and another wave of home foreclosures, activity in the Berkeley real estate market has increased in the past few months as a result of the federal tax credit and affordability of housing due to the large inventory of “bargain” priced properties that were previously foreclosed on.  Although it is unsure whether the Bay Area real estate is out of the woods and working towards a full recovery, real estate experts are hopeful that the future will continue to bring improvements.

According to DQNews.com, the Bay Area in California has posted increases in both home sales and median sales prices to top levels seen during the previous year.  In November, the median price paid for new or resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area was $387,000, a 10.6 percent increase from $350,000 in November of 2008.  November was the second month that the Bay Area has posted year-over-year gains in its median sales price, but the current median price level is still 41.8 percent below the $665,000 average posted during the peak reached in the summer of 2007.  The Bay Area also posted 6,878 new and resale house and condo sales during the month of November, which was a 19.5 percent increase from the 5,756 sales posted in November of 2008.  There was a slight dip in the sales and median price between October and November, but real estate experts aren’t concerned since the market was only following the usual market trends.

Nuwire Investor has also reported the recent improvements made in the Bay Area real estate market in terms of its median prices.  Nuwire Investor has noted that most real estate experts feel that the reduced number of foreclosures selling and greater activity in the more expensive housing markets have been the major factors in the recent increase in the median sales prices.  The year-over-year increases posted in October and November of 2009 were the first time the Bay Area has had year-over-year increases since November of 2007.

Like so many other cities in the Golden State, Oakland, California, took a heavy hit when the residential real estate crisis began plaguing communities across America, helping to trigger the country’s worst economic recession in decades. Oakland saw more struggling mortgage holders, higher inventory due to foreclosures and a falling in prices. But lately the market there has shown signs of improvement and reason for optimism.

According to the California Association of Realtor’s data, prices in Oakland, unlike in so many other cities across the nation, actually saw a bounce back up in late 2009. In October, the median price for homes for sale in Oakland the sold, including ew and existing, condos and single-family homes, was $250,000, up slightly from the figure during the same time of 2008, when it was just $238,000. The figure makes for a 5% increase year-over-year.

The Oakland Association of Realtor’s data shows similar figures. In October, there were 454 homes listed for sale in the Oakland real estate market, at a median sales price of $402,113. The asking price was down from 2008′s $419,013, but the number of listings in the month has seen a steady drop. In 2008, there were 666 homes listed; this year, there were just 454.

Sales, too, show signs of improvement. The market for real estate in Oakland saw 388 homes closed upon in October, up slightly from 2008, when 368 homes sold. The homes sold had a median price of nearly $373,000, up from 2008, when that figure was just around $352,000. The days the homes spent on the market had fallen too — from 56 to 40. The coming of 2010 will show whether the Oakland market is back on its way up for good, or if these signs were just passing.

Anaheim, a neighborhood in the Los Angeles area, has suffered like many of its neighbors in the housing market downtown. With the onset of the financial crisis across the U.S., with ripples felt worldwide, the housing market in California began to take a dive, seeing home values plummet and foreclosures rise. Though the Anaheim real estate market is beginning to signs of improvement, it hasn’t made its way out of the woods yet completely.

Inventory is one area where the market has seen improvement in the area lately. According to the Orange County Housing Report, houses on the market as of Nov. 25 had spent an average of 2.74 months on the market before selling, down markedly from 7.14 months one year ago and 10.93 months two years ago. Much of the increased activity of these homes for sale in Anaheim can be attributed to the government’s program to offer tax incentives to home buyers in order to stimulate the housing market.

Prices in Anaheim, however, are still suffering and have not yet climbed their way out of the hole. One of the city’s ZIP codes featured a median home price in during a three-week period in November of $420,000, while another ZIP code featured a $375,000 median price. Those prices were down 9.7% and 35.3%, respectively.

The higher-priced market of real estate in Anaheim is also still suffering, with many homes stagnating on the market as buyers sit on the sidelines. As of November, according to local realtor Lesslie Giacobbi, there were nine homes for 29 homes on the market for more than $1 million, while there were more than 50 homes for sale in the under $1 million range, though those homes tend to spend less time on the market.

According to DQNews.com, many cities, including Santa Barbara, are beginning to post increases in home sales and slower declines in the median price of home sales.  In fact, October experienced the smallest decline in median home prices since 2007, primarily due to a smaller inventory of foreclosed and distressed properties on the market.  The median price for a home in Southern California was $280,000, up 1.8 percent from the previous month but down 6.7 percent from the previous year.  Some regions near Santa Barbara are even beginning to experience year over year gains in the overall median home price.  In October of 2009, about 22,000 new and resale houses and condos were sold in Southern California, which was a 2.8 percent increase from the previous month and also a 2.8 percent increase form the previous year.  October also marked the 16^th consecutive month ending in a year over year gain in home sales.  Experts also believe that the federal tax credit for first time home buyers has also been a major factor in the increase in home sales, as well as affordable mortgage rates and home prices.

The Pacific Coast Business Times also reports that real estate experts forecast that the Santa Barbara real estate market will rebound in the coming months as signs show that the market has already hit bottom.  Declining foreclosure rates will play a major role in the improvement of median home prices.  However, experts still believe that the commercial real estate market has a longer way to come, given that the market is still struggling with a 13.3 percent vacancy rate and virtually nonexistent construction activity.

Real estate experts are optimistic that the real estate in San Bruno and the surrounding Bay Area has hit bottom and is ready to rebound.  Realtors are reporting dwindling inventory of distressed properties and many communities in the Bay Area are even beginning to post year over year gains in median prices.  Although the recession of 2008 greatly deepened the real estate troubles in San Bruno, the real estate in the region was already struggling after experiencing a significant decline in sales and median prices during 2007.  However, many real estate experts still believe that the Bay Area might experience a few more slight declines in sales and/or median prices as the year comes to an end, with a full recovery not coming round till early to mid 2010.

According to DQNews.com, the Bay Area posted its first year over year gain in median sales price since 2007.  However, many communities are still struggling to sell, especially those with large inventories of luxury homes.  Currently, distressed properties and entry-level homes offering homebuyers the “bargain” prices that many are looking for are making up the vast majority of home sales in the Bay Area.  However, as the number of distressed properties for sale decreases, homebuyers are being forced to move up to the slightly more expensive homes, causing the increases in median sales prices.  The median prices for all new and resale houses and condos in the Bay Area during October rose 6.8 percent to $390,000 from $365,000 in September of 2009 and up 4 percent from $375,000 in October of 2008.  A total of 7,993 homes were sold in October, a 0.7 increase from the previous month and a 4.2 percent increase from October the year before.

The San Francisco Chronicle noted the recent success and improvements seen in the Bay Area real estate, but also noted the concern by many local real estate experts that the recent increase may not be proof that the real estate market in the area is ready for a full recovery.  Many experts believe that recovery is still a few months away, most likely sometime during the first or second quarter of 2010.  Experts also believe that the region might even experience slight declines during the next few months as the market may not have completely hit bottom.

According to a September 15, 2009 article in the Mercury News, home sales in a six county region including Orange County, and, of course, Southern Orange County declined slightly in the month of August. This is a bad sign for South Orange County real estate, as the article noted, stating that “Home sales in the six-county Southern California region declined 10.8 percent in August compared with July, while the median price rose slightly, a real estate information service said Tuesday. San Diego-based MDA DataQuick attributed the sales dip to thinning inventory of foreclosure properties and financial uncertainty among potential buyers…MDA DataQuick said the month-to-month decline was unusual because an increase for the season is normal.”

Unfortunately, like many things in real estate, there was no clear message regarding the future of South Orange County homes for sale, since a September 16th, 2009 article in the Insurance Journal found almost exactly the opposite using the same set of statistics. According to the article, “Southern California home sales rose for the 11th consecutive month in May as sales of $500,000-plus homes started to come back…The median price paid increased slightly from the prior month for the first time since July 2007, the result of a shift in market activity where sales of deeply discounted foreclosures waned and mid-to-high-end purchases rose.”

San Francisco is a great city home to thousands of restaurants representing ethnic cuisines from around the world.  With everything from that hole-in-the-wall coffee shop to that elegant, upscale, fine-dining restaurant, any person in San Francisco will be able to find a more that satisfying meal.

One of the highest rated restaurants in San Francisco is Restaurant Gary Danko.  Restaurant Gary Danko features a contemporary French Cuisine in a beautiful restaurant with a romantic atmosphere.  With a diverse menu and exquisite wine list, Restaurant Gary Danko is one of the top 40 restaurants in the nation.  However, be ready to spend about $90 for a complete meal.

The Blue Bottle Cafe is one of the most popular coffee shops in San Francisco, with frequent customers coming not only for the excellent coffee, but also the cozy atmosphere.  Customers have also rated the New Orleans style iced coffee and oatmeal very highly.

Another extremely popular restaurant in San Francisco is Frascati, which is a mid-priced restaurant with a romantic atmosphere.  Frascati features a diverse menu featuring cuisines including American, French, Italian, Mediterranean, and Contemporary.  The restaurant is known for its excellent waiting staff, great priced food, and overall positive experience.  However, it is highly recommended to call ahead for reservations because the restaurant is popular but small.