Welcome to the Wishlist, the Standard’s column chronicling the roller-coaster ride that is buying a house in the Bay Area. In each edition, we will go deep into the home hunt with one buyer, the hopes they have, the problems they are trying to solve, and the harsh realities they sometimes need to face.
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The buyer
Christi Carmans, 31, mental health clinician in West Contra Costa Unified School District
The search
In late 2024, Christi Carmans was still living in her childhood bedroom in her parents’ Oakland home, her 30th birthday looming on the horizon. The situation is not uncommon given her Guyanese heritage, she said, as children in the Caribbean country typically don’t leave home until they marry. The arrangement also allowed her to save up a $50,000 nest egg, even while she paid back student loans for her Master’s in Counseling Psychology, got credentialed in school counseling and became licensed as an emergency family therapist.
By the time she got a full-time job in a Richmond charter middle school, Carmans was ready to head out on her own, especially after her younger sister got engaged.
“She moved out, and I’m like, ‘I gotta get out of here. I’m the big sister,’” she recalled.
The Wishlist
🔲 Budget $400,000
🔲 Short drive to work at a Richmond middle school
🔲 Multiunit property
🔲 Three bedrooms in her unit
🔲 Over 1,000 square feet
🔲 Move-in ready with no projects
🔲 Enclosed parking
Given her public school system salary, she knew finding an East Bay home near work would be a challenge. But just as she approached her milestone birthday she got an email about a free, six-week seminar from Nestment, a San Francisco-based homebuyer coaching and referral site.
During the course, she was introduced to the homebuying process, as well as a real estate agent and lender, and was assigned to Nestment coach Matt Trocker. Carmans was like many of his first-time homebuyers, he said, in that they often enroll in the course not quite believing they’ll be able to buy. People fear the possibility of being rejected by a lender or are worried they’re going to be wasting real estate professionals’ time. Others are concerned they’ll be pressured or scammed.
“It’s just a conversation,” he advises. “You have questions and they have answers.”
Carmans was particularly perturbed by her lack of rental history, but Trocker emphasized that living at home had allowed her to save and encouraged her not to give up.
“I was like, ‘I’m so glad you’re here. You are the person that we built this company for. Let’s keep going. Let’s find out,’” he recalled.
Carmans was attracted to this San Pablo townhome community because the units felt like homes, rather an apartments, with two levels, parking and small, private yards.
She also learned about cost-saving strategies like buying a multiunit building with a partner and convinced a friend, also still living at home, to take the course as well. They set out to find a multiunit building together to pool their resources.
They were pretty far along when her friend’s student loans were suddenly unforgiven by the Trump administration and Carmans found herself unexpectedly going it alone.
With Carmans’ $400,000 budget, her lender suggested she look for single-family properties. But by this point, she was discouraged.
“I live in the Bay. There’s no way I’m going to find something $400,000 or under, right?” she said.
The kitchen was already updated, a big plus.
At first, it seemed she was. Her search led her to far-flung locations that would’ve meant a long commute and leaving her family and friends behind. Closer in, she found some condos, but they felt more like apartments.
“If I want to say, ‘This is my house,’ I want it to give house,” she said.
As a single woman, she worried about the safety of coming home at night without an attached garage, but her agent warned her that finding anything but a carport at her price point was unlikely.
Then a friend who had recently bought in a San Pablo development told her about a new listing in her complex. As soon as she saw the enclosed garage, she was in love.
That unit was already in contract, and Carmans felt beaten once again. She rallied when another unit came on in the same complex, but pulled her offer after her parents let it be known that they thought she was making a mistake, given its smoky smell and long fix-it list.
“My parents hate the spot, and I’m a little disappointed, because every girl still wants their parents’ approval,” she said.
The turning point
In March 2025, a two-bedroom, 1.5-bath townhome in a complex next to her friend’s community came on the market. The list price: $400,000.
It felt like a real home, with two levels, the critically important enclosed garage, and a small, but private, backyard with a lemon tree. Though most of the entertaining space on the ground floor seemed dark and needed some cosmetic fixes, the kitchen was freshly updated. The upstairs was missing the third bedroom she had wanted, which brought the unit under her target size of 1,000 square feet. She was also concerned about the added expense of HOA dues, but otherwise it was tantalizingly close to being on budget and she knew it wouldn’t last long. Less than two weeks after it hit the market, she offered $5,000 over the asking price and it was accepted.
Other areas needed some TLC. After she moved in, she threw a party with several friends to add turf to what had been a rock-filled yard.
Once in contract, however, she began worrying that the financial pressure would be too much and nearly pulled out of the sale. What came next was no less than divine intervention, at least as far as Carmans is concerned.
At her mother’s suggestion, she prayed for her monthly payment to somehow come down by $600, the amount she needed to feel comfortable moving forward. That night her lender called her: mortgage rates had just dropped enough to cut her rate by $600 a month. Later that week, a districtwide pay bump that had been in the works for years was approved, and the sellers agreed to throw in $10,000 towards her agent’s commission and closing costs, plus leave her most of the appliances. A friend decided on a new dining set, which meant Carmans could have her old one for free. She even won a new TV in a church contest.
“God’s hands are all over it,” she said of the fortuitous chain of events.
Still, it didn’t feel real until after she had signed her loan documents. At that point, she realized there was no turning back. She no longer lived at home; she was a homeowner.
The aftermath
After the close, Carmans texted Trocker a picture of herself holding her new keys, but she soon found out home ownership is far from picture perfect.
It turned out that the stair railing was being held up with electrical tape, the driveway she had wanted so badly made her car bottom out and the heating system was on its last legs.
Among her new DIY skills: pruning the lemon tree in her backyard. 
She decorated her downstairs powder room with wallpaper and a painting. The safety bar is a remnant from the home’s previous, elderly, owners but is nice to have when older relatives come to visit.
She was also worried about making design decisions on her own, and said in an ideal world she would have hired an interior designer. Instead, she not only picked out the tile and wallpaper for her bathrooms, but installed them herself with just a crash course from “YouTube University.”
The Scorecard
✅ Budget
✅ Short drive
❌ Multiunit property
❌ Three bedrooms
❌ Over 1,000 square feet
❌ No projects
✅ Enclosed parking
“That sweat equity is real sweat,” she said.
When she went home to stay with her family last Christmas, she was still wondering if she had made a mistake.
“Man, why did I have to move out? I just wanted to go pay my own bills?” she said. But by the third day of staying with them, she was reminded of all the joys of having her own space and said she hasn’t looked back since.
Though, unbeknownst to her, she appears to have taken a bit of her childhood home with her to her new place.
“A lot of my friends that come, they’re like, ‘This looks like a smaller version of your parents’ house,’” she said. “I guess I didn’t realize that.”