Herman Chan has too many TV, magazine and internet credits to list.  Born 35 years ago in San Francisco’s Bay Area, this handsome gay guy is a no nonsense and very funny property guru whose pearls of wisdom help buyers and sellers alike. 

OUT Magazien Cover Boy Herman Chan

I'm sandwiched between George Clooney, Anderson Cooper and a Gaysian angel!

Ten percent of ZIP codes in the San Jose metro have median home values of more than $2 million....In the Bay Area... housing has become so expensive that much of the middle class has been effectively priced out of home-ownership. Forty-four ZIP codes have median home values above $1 million, just nine have median home values below $300,000, and not a single ZIP code has a median home value below $200,000. 

Rent growth exceeded 6% over the past year in San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle....But household incomes have stagnated, resulting in a financial squeeze for a growing number of renters. 

Prices shot up during the tech boom in the late 1990s then dropped after the bust. They peaked even higher in 2006 before hitting a recession low in 2011. They have been on the upswing again, but as of April, the region as a whole is still 14 percent lower than its previous peak in May 2006.

That's not true everywhere. Several cities in the region have already zoomed past previous peaks such as San Francisco, Fremont, Berkeley, San Mateo, Redwood City, Alameda, Pleasanton, Menlo Park, Foster City and Lafayette.