STRICTLY EICHLERS . . . Real estate broker Jerry Ditto has always had a thing for Eichlers. The man publishes an all-Eichler newsletter called Eichler Insights and is collaborating on an all-Eichler book due out this fall by Chronicle Books. Formerly a real estate broker with agencies that sell all kinds of houses, Ditto has opened his own all-Eichler real estate company in Palo Alto called, you guessed it, Eichler Homes.
STILL LAGGING . . . The rest of the nation may be coming out of a housing slump, but not California. Two recent studies show there are reasons for optimism everywhere else but here. First, a study conducted by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies and the Federal Mortgage Association found that a surge of new home buyers is expected to enter the market. The bulk of the new buyers will be baby boomers reaching the peak of their earning capacity. Second, a Fannie Mae study showed that Americans feel increasingly confident about the real estate market. But restrictive building codes, stagnant wages and a paucity of reasonably priced housing is expected to freeze the fever for California. Nationally, the median price for a home is $112,000. In California, it is $185,000.
For a copy of "The State of the Nation's Housing" write the Joint Center on Housing Studies, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge, MA 02138 or call (617) 495-7908. The study costs $15. The Fannie Mae National Housing Survey is free. Call (800) 732-6643 for a copy.
WOMAN-MADE . . . All right, women, grab your handbags and hacksaws. On Aug. 7, the Building Education Center presents the class "Hands-on Carpentry Basics for Women." The class is from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 812 Page St, Berkeley. The cost is $95. For information, call (510) 525-7610.
Midpeninsula Home & Real Estate is published every Friday by Embarcadero Publishing Company, 703 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301, 326-8210. It circulates by mail to 70,000 homes from Mountain View to Redwood City, as well as through local real estate offices.
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