For teachers, Sonoma County houses 4th least-affordable in state

A new report says only 0.5 percent of homes in Sonoma County are within teachers’ reach.|

Of all homes for sale in California’s most populous counties, only 17 percent are affordable on the average California teacher salary of $73,536. Just six years ago, nearly 30 percent of all homes were in reach.

1. San Mateo 0.0%

2. Santa Clara 0.0%

3. San Francisco 0.2%

4. Sonoma 0.5%

5. Santa Cruz 0.7%

9. Napa 2.2%

10. Marin 2.6%

20. Solano 11.7%

24. Sacramento 31.7%

31. Merced 60.0%

It took Santa Rosa teacher Bev Barron more than 60 house tours, seven bids and almost two months of searching for a house every day before she stumbled upon one she could afford.

The two-bedroom, one-bath ranch-style home in Santa Rosa cost $425,000. Her mortgage payments eat up more than half of her monthly paycheck. She’s “broke all the time,” but it’s worth it, said the 61-year-old Brook Hill Elementary School music teacher.

“In each case I got outbid, or people would come in with trunks full of cash,” she said. “A lot of these people were coming in from San Francisco and looking for properties to flip.”

Faced with having to leave her Junior College-area rental in January, and after months of searching for a home to no avail, she was looking at homelessness.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said.

Her story is all too frequent among educators in Sonoma County, where only 0.5 percent of homes are affordable for teachers, based on average salary and median home price, a new report from real estate firm Redfin.com shows. Only three counties in the state are less affordable: San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco.

In Sonoma County, the median price of homes has climbed by more than 50 percent in the past four years, from $385,000 in August 2012 to $590,000 this August.

Meanwhile, the average teacher salary in the county has only risen by about 6 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. So while Sonoma County teachers are making more money now than they were four years ago, it’s not been enough to keep up with the increasing cost of housing.

Redfin.com, which describes itself on its website as a “customer-first real estate brokerage,” measured affordability based on 30 percent of teachers’ gross income, which means that in Sonoma County, a teacher making $64,800 - the average salary for teachers here - could afford a monthly mortgage payment on a $250,000 two-bed, one-bath, 680-square-foot house with 10 percent down, the report said.

In the state’s 31 most populous counties, based on average teacher salary, 17 percent of homes for sale are affordable, the report said.

It’s an issue Santa Rosa school officials have grappled with for years, including reviving the district’s Fir Ridge Drive project to create between 36 and 40 low- and moderate-income condominiums for district teachers on a 6-acre Fountaingrove property. Requests for proposals from housing firms familiar with affordable housing laws were due July 5.

The passage Tuesday of Senate Bill 1413 by Gov. Jerry Brown will make it easier for school districts like SRCS to create housing on district-owned property for teachers and staff, while still accessing federal affordable housing tax credits.

Steve Herrington, superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education, said many teachers in the county are forced to commute from Mendocino, Solano and Lake counties because they can’t afford to live where they work.

“You’d like to have a relationship with the families, with the community (where you teach),” he said.

Sonoma County teachers have long struggled to afford to live where they teach - in 2012, only 6.4 percent of homes were affordable.

Santa Rosa City Schools teachers who come in with a teaching credential and zero experience are paid about $55,000 a year, said Jason Lea, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources.

Barron never thought she would see the day when she could afford to be a homeowner in Sonoma County. She was able to make a down payment of about $14,000.

“As a first-time home buyer I was able to get away with a very low down payment,” she said. “The house is amazing. It’s tiny. It’s 825 square feet. ... There is travertine tile throughout the living room and kitchen. It’s got a gorgeous fireplace with a mantle.

“ ... I mean, this is the nicest place I’ve ever lived. It’s like a fairy tale.”

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 707-521-5205 or on Twitter @SeaWarren.

This article originally appeared in the Press Democrat at http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6114757-181/for-teachers-sonoma-county-houses?artslide=0.

Of all homes for sale in California’s most populous counties, only 17 percent are affordable on the average California teacher salary of $73,536. Just six years ago, nearly 30 percent of all homes were in reach.

1. San Mateo 0.0%

2. Santa Clara 0.0%

3. San Francisco 0.2%

4. Sonoma 0.5%

5. Santa Cruz 0.7%

9. Napa 2.2%

10. Marin 2.6%

20. Solano 11.7%

24. Sacramento 31.7%

31. Merced 60.0%

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