You want to buy a home in the Bay Area? Great. Take a number. The Bay Area is the country's hottest and most expensive residential real estate market. How on earth do you get started? How do you find the home of your dreams in a market where homes are snatched up before they can even hit the paper's real estate listing section? How do you find a home in a market where competitive buyers vie for homes no matter what the cost, continually driving up bids until initial asking prices become a distant memory?

Realtors are, of course, a tremendous help, particularly for first-time buyers. These days, however, Realtors are no longer the gatekeepers of information. It's up to consumers to do a little research first; indeed, we almost have a responsibility to do our homework before we pick up the phone to contact a Realtor. After all, knowledge is power -- especially in the Bay Area. A little research and comparison can and often does work in a home buyer's favor. And these days, if you own a computer and an Internet account, there's little excuse for not doing your homework. Because it's never been easier to seek out the facts you need.

Many real estate sites on the Web cater to large audiences -- sellers, Realtors, brokers as well as buyers. A Web site called Soma Living, however, narrows its focus to the needs of Bay Area buyers, specifically in the regions of SOMA, Yerba Buena, South Beach, Mission Bay, and Potrero Hill. Soma Living determines buyers' specific needs and offers them online tours of properties that match those criteria.

Each Soma Living customer is assigned a team of advisors, dubbed "the home team," which includes a buyer's agent, resource Coordinator, managing broker, loan counselor, and transaction manager, as needed.

Soma Living actually maintains a store in downtown San Francisco, where consumers may browse properties and obtain information at one of the store's many kiosks. These kiosks, much like the Web site, enable users to read profiles of recently sold properties, get pre-approved for home loans, learn about financing, search a database of recently sold properties, search properties for sale and for rent, and more. By choosing to become an "active buyer," consumers may gain additional access to important buyers' information.

If a trip to San Francisco isn't in your immediate plans, however, fear not: Soma Living online offers consumers a look at "comps," a list of recently sold properties, from which they may gauge what they can afford based on what homes are selling for in their desired neighborhoods. The comp database offered by Soma Living is both searchable and customized.

Particularly noteworthy is the company's extensive offering of services to its buyer-customers. A mere sampling: home inspections, title searches, home warranties, babysitting, house cleaning, packing and unpacking, change of address notification, catering and shopping, carpet cleaning, painting, wallpapering, security systems, plumbing, holiday decorating, and much more.

A neighborhood tour link is one of this site's best features. Each neighborhood link (SOMA, Yerba Buena, South Beach, Mission Bay, and Potrero Hill), lists the primary reasons people choose to live there, the neighborhood's features, home types (townhomes, Victorians, condos, etc.), and history.

The company's "Dream Home" program recommends various consultants and contractors to help home owners embark on large and small renovation projects. Soma Living also gets plans approved, obtains permits and coordinates financing for any necessary renovation construction as part of the consumer's mortgage.

The site also gives consumers the scoop on local real estate headlines and neighborhood news. The neighborhood link is particularly helpful, giving prospective residents an insider's view of the latest happenings, information they probably wouldn't receive from a major newspaper. Each neighborhood link includes that neighborhood's median home price and updates on such news items as new restaurant openings, new residential developments, and more.

If you're serious about buying in the Bay Area and simply want the facts instead of taking the time to peruse the more interesting features of this site, selecting the site's "Find, Buy, Live" feature will cut to the chase -- leading you step by step through the buying process and giving you the information you need at every stage of the game. The "Find" section contains a home needs profile, a home search tool, and gives consumers e-mail access to their respective buyer's agent. The "Buy" section contains various tips on home-buying: negotiations, loans, title searches, and closings, for example. When you're ready to close escrow on your Bay Area home, head to the "Live" section, where the site enables home owners to store their important home-buying documents online for quick and easy access. This section also allows home buyers to document the history of their homes and includes information about refinancing, home insurance, home maintenance, renovation, and Soma Living's near-endless list of extended services.

Whether you're a serious Bay Area buyer or merely considering a move to the country's hottest (and perhaps most beautiful) residential real estate market, Soma Living online is an excellent place to start. In addition to providing you with the facts and the resources you need to make a smart purchase, the site gives you the inside scoop on life in these vibrant, colorful neighborhoods -- a feature most real estate sites (most of which are more national in scope) aren't able to capture.

Published: November 17, 1998

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