Happy New Year! I have this firm belief that the world is not going to end this year and that 2012 is going to be awesome, especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Everyone and by everyone, I mean Fox News and Rush, teases us for living in a bubble of fruits, nuts and flakes. Add in nerds, and yes, they are right. And we love it! Our bubble affords us a temperate climate, year-round produce, delicious, innovative food, wine and design, a stable housing market, jobs, an accepting culture, and so much more. (Read about the Bay Area's innovative & pioneering spirit on my SF real estate lifestyle site daniellelazier.com.)
Last week, the Brad Stone of Bloomberg Business Week wrote about Silicon Valley's recession-not and how Sean Parker's party for Spotify epitomized the current vibe of the valley. (Sadly, I had a prior engagement and could not make it.)
Every so often, the best parties come to represent moments in time. Think of Truman Capote's Black and White Ball in 1966, the celeb-studded Liberty Island launch of Tina Brown's ill-fated Talk magazine in 1999, and private equity maven Stephen Schwarzman's 60th birthday bash in 2007, which featured Rod Stewart. Sean Parker's bacchanal for the streaming music service Spotify on Sept. 22 in San Francisco may well join the ranks of these epic affairs.
In Silicon Valley, all the Sturm und Drang of 2011 seemed as relevant as the Cricket World Cup. High unemployment? Crippling debt? Not in Silicon Valley, where the fog burns off by noon, and it's an article of faith that talented, hardworking techies can change the world and reap unimaginable wealth in the process.
"We live in a bubble, and I don't mean a tech bubble or a valuation bubble. I mean a bubble as in our own little world," says Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. "And what a world it is: Companies can't hire people fast enough. Young people can work hard and make a fortune. Homes hold their value..."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/BU2J1MG1Q8.DTL#ixzz1iFS193PJ
As you know, I sell real estate in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Lucky for me and the rest of the local real estate market, many of the technorati like to keep their street cred by living in SF (at least part-time!) and in fact, many of the hottest companies are based here (Zynga, Twitter, etc).
When Silicon Valley does well, so does San Francisco, at least for the demographic we're talking about. My clients often don't believe me when I tell that the housing downturn in SF is long gone and the competition is fierce for the best listings until the first time they write an offer and compete with 6 other buyers to get the house they want.
Bring on the bubble.
