I'm a huge huge huge fan of real estate and housing, so I almost compulsively check redfin for the newest listings. Currently I only monitor the following (5) areas: Carmel/Carmel Valley/Salinas-Monterey Hwy/(Pebble Beach), CA; Berkeley, CA; Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; and Potomac/Rockville/North Potomac, MD.
I go through the area codes 93924, 93923, 93908, and occasionally 93953 (Pebble Beach). In this area, I skip over apartments, condos, multi-family homes, and townhouses in favor of single-family homes. I generally draw my borders at Carmel Valley Village east or ~Yankee Point south. In the 93908 zip code, I focus on San Benancio and Corral de Tierra areas, although I also look into Toro Park and Las Palmas subdivisions. I'm a huge fan of the "fairytale-castle" and "hyper-modern" aesthetics many homes have in the Carmel Highlands area. A few notable estate homes in the Aguajito Rd. area also share the same looks. The market is not horrible for buyers nor sellers, as things seem fairly balanced. Houses usually go under asking, so things might be a bit in favor of buyers. Many listings have sat on the market for over a year (but with no reductions, so I consider that the fault of the seller for not reading property values correctly, not necessarily market conditions).
I generally focus on North Berkeley/Berkeley Hills/South Berkeley, centralizing on the 94709 zip code and areas around the UC Berkeley campus. I like looking at single-family homes as well as multi-family homes, particularly if they look like they'd make a good investment property. There are a lot of unique single-family homes, particularly in the Berkeley Hills, which make for fun open houses! This market is extremely competitive for buyers, with usually two scheduled open houses before sellers accept an offer over asking. Most houses are off the market immediately after the second open house, although things have slowed down a bit (probably considering winter time is coming).
I check the Downtown/Belltown/First Hill area for apartments. I also check Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard, North Beach, Eastlake and (occasionally) University District neighborhoods for properties of all types. I'm a huge, huge admirer of the houseboats in Eastlake (some of them are so neat!!) as well as the many Craftmans and Victorians in Queen Anne. I love Ballard and Magnolia for their family-vibe and the University District for the huge potential just by virtue of being near the University. While I can admire a nice multi-million dollar apartment in the heart of the Downtown area - on 1st or 2nd Ave - I have recently found a nice stash of what look like warehouse-reno lofts neat S Jackson St. The exposed brick and woodbeams are absolutely to die for!
I love the mcMansion feel you get from some of the houses here! I focus on 20854, 20855 and 20878, mostly. Occasionally I'll venture to McLean or Great Falls across the river as well. I'm a fan of the mcmansions around Falls Blvd & Democracy Blvd (Bentcross Dr, Iron Gate Rd) as well as many of the properties by the river (Cripplegate Rd, Luvie Ln). While I do like colonial style homes, this area unforunately has a lot of large, white, tastless boxes - which just seems wasteful. I don't like to get too deep into subdivisions, as all houses seem identical there (Potomac Glen area) so I focus on estate homes.