What are the best organizations to contact about buying land or an inexpensive home in SF?

Santa Claus.

Isn’t inexpensive home in San Francisco an oxymoron?

If you are serious, can you provide more context? Are you talking about government agencies that might help fund housing?

Yes, I’m serious. I’m from SF and well aware of how expensive it is. Hence the question.

I’m looking for any orgs – govt, non-profit, individual real estate types, or otherwise – that might be relevant. I’m looking to get info on buying property/homes, building homes, low-income housing systems, etc—- specifically for a tight budget.

Could be unconventional efforts to make housing more accessible – rent-to-buy, etc.

http://www.sfclt.org/ might be an example

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?229 is an article about (shockingly) inexpensive home building happening in other parts of the country – any such people/groups in the Bay Area?

OK, Here’s an article on plans for that in Burlingame from Jan 2008.

Based on the number of REO properties held by banks nationally and in the Bay area, I would expect some deals coming down the pipe in the next, 12 months. SF RE market is lagging a bit behind the rest of the country, so the “so called bottom” of the market may still be 12–18 months away. I say that since much of the recent financing there were “Option Arm” loans that have yet to reset, these are the loans that caused Indy Mac to implode and soon will bring down WAMU. Watch WAMU, when they tip over or get bought out, your bottow should be near. There are auction houses and foreclosure companies, but unless you are seasoned RE investor, the risk outweights the potential upside. As much as I detest Realtor
s, I suggest getting an agent to give you listings of Bank Owned Properties, and offer the bank 20–30% less than list price.

That said, the cost of owning in Bay area is around 3500–4000 per month, and the cost of renting is around half that, and so unless there is an explosion of high paying jobs, one may be better to rent.