My house has appreciated three times since I bought it. What should I
do with it now considering housing bubble situation in San Francisco
Bay Area? Option 1 - Sell, buy a more expansive place. Option 2 -
Sell, buy a smaller place, keep cash. Option 3 - Rent, buy another
house using equity loan. Option 4 - Do nothing.

I would try and talk to your local real estate agency or check
historical records. But the best thing that you could do is examine
your own situation. Are you happy to move, are you sure you can find
another house???. If the bubble does burst, then Option 1 starts to
look like a disaster. Sit down and talk with your family is the best
advice I can give you. Best of Luck.

Hi Vla-ga,
That sounds like good advice, though I suspect that a real estate
agent will have lots of reasons why he thinks it is advisable to sell:
 It's his business.

You know the area you live in.  Have the prices just gone up  - as
they have elsewhere?  Or has the area gone up-market?  Are houses
being improved or expanded, more young professionals moving in, that
sort of thing?
People talk about the "bubble", but SF is a unique area, and more
people want to live there, and there just isn't any more land.
I would estimate that if your area is "improving", it will survive the
"bubble"  - should there be one -  better than others.

But as you know, this is no professional advice.

Tax is another consideration (and one often asked about here).  If you
have grown children, depending on your financial situation, gifting,
selling or renting to them could be a possibility, but one that should
be discussed in depth with tax savvy lawyer, maybe even gifting or
selling and renting from them, again, very much dependent on your
financial situation.

Good luck,
Myoarin

My advice:

You seem to (wisely) be looking to put your money into the best
possible investment (as opposed to being driven by "I love this house"
or "I want to move to...". etc.)

So, put your money into what where you think you will get the best
return. Is that SF? I don't think so. Like you say, it's been hot for
a while now. If I were you, I would look at Reno, and also at the
California Valley. I believe that houses in these areas are very good
investments right now.

But, selling your house would give you alot of cash, I bet. Alot more
than you need to buy buy a house in Reno or the valley. So maybe
Option 3 is best. Keep the SF house as a good investment, if not a
particualarly upwardly-mobile one. Put cash into an investment
property elsewhere. With the kind of net worth you probably have as a
long-time Bay Area homeowner, owning more than one property is a wise
idea.

Either way, I tink #2 and #4 are the worst ideas. With mortgage rates
where they are now, it's not the time to stop borrowing and sit on
cash.

That's just my advice, but I do practice what I preach. I am from the
Bay Area, and have just purchased homes in Reno and Calexico as
investments.

-Dave