Homeowners Khoa Do, left, Erika Do, and their daughter Kestra, 7, take a walk along their new neighborhood in Hayward, Calif., on Friday, July 12, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
In 2018, Khoa and Erika Do bought a 700 square-foot, two-bedroom home in Hayward for $530,000. It was just enough space for the couple and their young daughter.
But then the pandemic happened, and with Khoa’s job moving entirely remote, the house started to feel a lot smaller.
“700 square feet is fine for two parents and a kid when I’m at work five days a week — but it became obvious that we were always getting in each other’s way,” Khoa said.
In 2021, the couple started thinking more seriously about upgrading. But the timing was complicated — Khoa’s company had just been acquired, and he’d been laid off from his job as a human resources manager. By the time he found a new job a few months later, the market was overheated, with prices in the Bay Area at record levels.
“At that point, we were mostly waiting to see if the situation would get better,” Erika said.
In the meantime, they refinanced their existing home to bring their rate from 5.6% to 2.6%.
“We didn’t like how small the place was, but at least it was cheap,” Erika said.
In the summer of 2023, even with interest rates close to 7%, they couldn’t wait any longer. They needed a new home.
With a budget of $1 million, they decided to search around Hayward. Even though both Erika and Khoa’s parents live in the South Bay, Hayward had more options in their price range. Each of them had a must-have request: for Erika, it was a garden. For Khoa, a view. And for their seven-year-old daughter Kestra, it was stairs (she loved going up and down them at her grandparents’ house in San Jose.)
There was another requirement — that their home fall within the Castro Valley School District. The issue, the Dos found, was homes falling within that coveted school district came at a 20% premium to a similar home in a neighboring district.
“You’d see where the school district line cuts right through the middle of a block of houses, and you’d look at prices on either side of that line,” Erika said. “The difference is crazy.”
To save money, the Dos also decided to work with a flat-fee broker rather than a typical agent, whose commission is usually 2% of the home sales price. Such flat-fee brokers have become more common since the National Association of Realtors in March reached a settlement making it easier for home buyers to negotiate fees with their agents.
“They’re a little bit less white glove — they left it up to us to use Redfin or Zillow to find the home we wanted,” Do said. “But they take care of the purchase and the paperwork.”
“It’s so easy to find homes for sale on your own now, it doesn’t make sense to have a realtor do that for you,” Erika said.
Here were the options that they considered:
A three-bedroom ranch in Castro Valley
This three-bedroom, one-bath ranch backed up to Proctor Elementary School, which would have allowed Kestra to walk through the backyard right to the schoolyard. Though built in 1952, the home’s kitchen and bathrooms had recently been remodeled. The home itself was small — around 1,000 square feet, but it came with a large lot, with enough space for a detached garage and the potential to build an accessory dwelling unit. It was listed at $998,000.
A roomier spot in San Leandro
This three-bedroom, two-bath home was located on a quiet street in San Leandro. It featured a sunroom with a vaulted ceiling, in addition to a family room and open kitchen. At 1,347 square feet, it would have been a clear upgrade in terms of size. It fell within the San Lorenzo Unified School District. The asking price was much less than the other homes they looked at — just $798,000.
A terraced yard with views in Hayward
At 1,834 square feet, this was the largest of the homes that the Dos considered. Located on a hilly street in Hayward, it offered views of the Bay. The backyard was located on a sunny, south-facing slope where the owners had recently installed a new deck and terraced the yard with concrete. Inside, the house’s three bedrooms were separated onto a second floor — stairs for Kestra. It was in the Hayward Unified School District, and listed at $999,999.
Which one did they choose?
The Dos were able to eliminate one option off the bat: the ranch in Castro Valley. It would have just been 300 square feet larger than their existing home.
“We couldn’t justify spending $1 million just for an extra bedroom,” Erika said.
The home in San Leandro wasn’t in the school district that they wanted. But the Dos had also applied to a nearby charter school. While they were searching, they found out Kestra had managed to secure a spot.
“That really opened up our ability to search outside of that school district, which was the only reason we were able to find a home,” Khoa said.
The Dos strongly considered making an offer — but it was a ranch, so Kestra wouldn’t get her stairs. So they decided to keep looking for something that would be perfect.
At nearly $1 million, the Hayward home was at the top of their budget. The Dos kept their eyes on the listing though, and after nearly a month on the market, they noticed the sellers had lowered the price by $50,000.
During their tour of the home, the real estate agent let it slip to the Dos that the owners were in a hurry to leave because of a job relocation. Khoa and Erika figured they could put in an offer exactly at the asking price. They did — and it was accepted.
At 7.63%, their mortgage rate was higher than they’d hoped. They jumped at the first chance to refinance their home, which came a few months later. With a new rate of 6.5%, they’re now paying $600 a month less than before.
With the extra space came a need for more furniture. One of their first purchases for the home was a game table that doubles as a dining room table. Erika and Khoa regularly host Dungeons and Dragons nights at their house — something they couldn’t do before in their smaller spot.
In the front yard, Erika’s tomatoes are starting to come in. On clear days, Khoa can see the San Francisco skyline in the distance through his kitchen window. And Kestra is just happy to have her stairs.
“It really checked all our boxes,” Khoa said.
