Seattle

East Bay Realtor Creates Website That Helps People Move Out of the Bay Area

Thinking of leaving the Bay Area? You’re not alone.

A local website created by an East Bay realtor to sell your home and help you move out of the Bay is getting flooded with requests.

Real estate broker Scott Fuller, the creator of LeavingTheBayArea.com, built the website with the goal of it being a full-service site that helps residents get out of their homes and into a new one outside of the Bay Area.

With the summer moving season fast approaching, it’s a busy time for them.

Maureen Gonsalves has lived in the Bay Area her entire life and has seen the increase in traffic and cost of living. Most of all though, she wants something new.

"Of course I’ve seen lots and lots of changes and things like that but it's just, I'm in my sixties," she said. "I’ve been here long enough."

Gonsalves sold her San Leandro home and bought a new one in the Phoenix area. She used the Leaving the Bay Area site to take care of it all.

"It's time to go and that was exactly what I was looking for, somebody to help me," she said. "It's not just to sell my house and me trying to find something goodness knows where, I needed a whole system."

Fuller seized the opportunity of creating the site after seeing multiple polls showing homeowners want to leave the Bay Area for cheaper housing markets. He helps them sell, move, and partner with a realtor in their new city.

"Most of the people we're working for on the brokerage side are selling properties. I would say 70 percent of those are moving out of the Bay Area," Fuller said.

He said the top places his clients are moving to are Sacramento, Reno, Portland, Seattle and Denver, among other fast-growing cities and tech hubs across the country.

Fuller added that most of his clients are either retired or working families who want their money to go further.

"When we talk to people we find out that they've thought about this for maybe six months or even a couple of years but they haven't made the decision because they're not sure where to start," he said. "They don't know how to put that strategy together."

Gonsalves was happy to sell in this hot market and though she’ll miss the Bay, she looks forward to her next chapter.

"So now it's time, now it's definitely time," she said.

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