SFHomeBlog.com - A San Francisco Real Estate Blog

Divisadero Farmer's Market to remain open till Dec 28th

2008-09-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

Gotta assume that the organizers are happy with the turnout at the Divisadero Farmer's Market on Divisadero @ Grove Street in NoPa, as they just announced that they'll remain open through the fall, until December 28th!

Divisadero Farmer's Market [official site]
NoPa Farmer's Market begins trial run on July 13th [SFHomeBlog]

Pfizer moves to Mission Bay

2008-08-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

It’s a good sign for all the new developments in Mission Bay that Pfizer just announced the corporate headquarters for their Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center are moving from South San Francisco to the Mission Bay.

"This move to be next door to U.C.S.F.'s Mission Bay campus will position Pfizer's Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center for success in the aggressive pursuit of the most exciting and innovative science and the recruitment of the very best scientists," said Corey Goodman, Ph.D., President of the Pfizer Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center.

Our mayor Mr. Gavin Newsom is quoted in classic politico speak as saying that it is ‘…a clear indication that Mission Bay is one of the nation’s premier life science centers’ and I for one hope that turns out to be true. More people to support some of my favorite arts, the Ballet, Symphony and Opera, plus interesting intelligent clients to work with, count me in.

Assuming Pfizer becomes the first of many 'anchor tenants' if you will ….the question becomes what buildings will emerge as the front runners in the Mission Bay development housing game? My early money is on Esprit Park. New idealistic developers, run by an experienced, detail-oriented agent who knows what sells and what is the ‘right’ thing to do. Great location - across from a park and a block from a Blue Bottle Coffee serving Café…a short decent walk to Potrero shops and Café Mama – I endorse. Ok so they are a bit ‘off’ on their delivery dates. You cant rush perfection – let’s hope it is perfect by the time it’s done.

I looked but was unimpressed with my preview of the Radiance (warning irritating music on web site), - but they do throw a great party. With the exception of the water facing units, which will be nice, and rare in their own way, the building felt too….I dunno…vanilla. The fire pit overlooking the water was also a possible serene outlook, but a little too open to all the other units for my liking – nice to overlook I suppose if they keep it lit.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what a building will shape into until it’s occupied. My worst bet early in my career was pooh poohing the Oriental Warehouse - which although the sound transferrance is abysmal - has maintained some impressive resale values and continues to be one of the most highly sought after South Beach conversion loft buildings.

I’m also hearing good initial responses from the Arterra (see note about music on the Radiance) – it ‘smells nice’ which counts for much in this world of toxic building and chemical sensitivities. I’m thinking despite the location that building will also hold it’s value in years to come.

I’m starting to like the look of Mission Bay, and may I say it’s been a L O N G time coming….let’s see what happens. Biotech Alley…urban density and a cure for cancer - how can it be a bad thing?

Feng Shui for Architecture Design and Environment

2008-08-10T11:58:00.001-07:00

Feng Shui often gets a bad rap among conservatives, mostly in my opinion, for good reason. The little chimes and Ba-Gua's most people use are nothing more than superstition, although the information they attempt to mimic is rooted in science that has been studied....well, for a long long time.

Why did I start to pay attention to Feng Shui? Because as a real estate agent, I noticed, after a while - that certain properties, seemed to go on the market every year or two, repeatedly. To me that was an indication that for whatever reason, it was impossible for the occupants to get comfortable and settle in.

Even within the same Condo complex, certain units will constantly change hands while others stay settled - and that is true even for units with identical floor plans and finishes. Unit 1 will change hands 3 times in a five or seven year period, while Unit 2 (same floor plan flipped) stays put for years.

I have a confession, I have not yet had my home 'Feng Shui'd' if you will. The reason is simple, a Feng Shui master is expensive and VERY hard to come by which is why the true masters end up working for the high end homes and corporate clients.

If you are interested in learning a little more my favorite web site is maintained by an architect friend of mine, Simona Mainini, located in LA county. For most people flying her up to consult on their home will be too cost prohibitive, but her newsletter is free and full of interesting facts and information.

FengShuiArch.com

For those who are just curious, like myself...

NoPa Farmer's Market begins trial run on July 13th

2008-07-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

From The Tablehopper:

...a ~NEW DIVISADERO FARMERS' MARKET~ begins a three-month trial period on Sunday July 13th! Rad. It's through the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association, who also do the weekly Fillmore market. The NoPa market will be hosted in the parking lot at Divisadero and Grove—yes, the lot by the old Brother-in-Law's BBQ pit, and the medical Mary Jane trailer. (Now you can get a different kind of herb.) Everyone in the neighborhood, and nearby, please come out and support this market! Sundays 10am–2pm. Divisadero St. at Grove.

The neighborhood has been working on this for quite some time now (it was originally going to be in the Panhandle @ Ashbury Street, but too many folks complained about potential traffic and parking problems- imagine that!).

Congrats to the organizers for getting it done, and I wholeheartedly echo Marcia's sentiment: please support this farmer's market, and it'll be more likely to return next summer!

Discussion Tuesday on Proposed Divisadero Transit Changes

2008-06-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

One of the transportation elements, and possibly the most controversial (due to the parking restrictions) of the very impressive Divisadero Streetscape Renewal is up for discussion this coming Tuesday. The city is inviting anyone with an interest to come hear the proposal and weigh in - or forever hold your peace.

Improving transit service along the street is one of the goals of this project. The 24 Divisadero bus line currently averages only 5.4 mph in this area due to traffic congestion, so part of the overall proposal includes a part time transit lane in the southbound direction from Fulton Street to Oak Street. To create space for this lane, which can also be used by taxis and right turning traffic, no parking would be allowed Monday to Friday on the west side of the street from Fulton to Hayes between 4 and 7pm. The existing tow-away lane from Hayes to Oak would be extended one hour.

The proposal is to install the transit lane this year to see how it works before the streetscape improvements occur in 2009. We will monitor how the change affects transit and traffic, and feedback w ill be solicited from people in the area so that the design can be modified and improved as necessary. We understand that there are tradeoffs involved with this proposal and want to work with you to determine the best design.

We invite you to a meeting to discuss the details of the proposal and to answer any questions you may have.

The meeting will take place at:
Club Waziema, 543 Divisadero Street
Tues June 10, 5pm to 6:30pm

SFMTA Notice [SFGov]
Divisadero DPW Great Streets project and MTA Traffic Study Update [SF DPW]
Divisadero Streetscaping to begin in Spring 2009 [SFHomeBlog]

The Giant Pool of Money - The Hands-Down Best Explanation of the Credit Crisis

2008-05-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

I've read more articles and descriptions of the Sub-Prime Mortgage Mess and current 'credit crisis' than I care to admit.

It wasn't that I was looking for answers myself, per se. And I always felt I had a fairly good handle on what went down from having witnessed it, more or less, from my front row seats.

Really, I kept looking because I was searching for someone, intelligent - neutral and capable of telling the story in its entirety in order to better explain the situation to my clients. Mostly because they were getting a lot of sound bites with very little substantive answers.

There was a Money magazine editor who tried - and he did a pretty good job. A NY Times article came out last year that was also really good, a bit technical, but fair I thought. Almost all the blog postings I came across that attempted it ended up with extreme views on either side, 'greedy mortgage broker' this and 'evil stock broker' that, fueled by the 'always deceptive real estate agents'...

...(Cue the angel music)- then along came Ira Glass. My hero!

All joking aside - this week's free download of This American Life narrated by Ira Glass, entitled 'The Giant Pool of Money', single-handedly explains, in layman's terms, what happened, why it happened, and how it affects everyone - not just those who are homeowners or those who are facing foreclosure. I have to say, there wasn't any description or story included that I disagreed with, and more to the point I learned several things that I previously did not know.

I highly recommend taking the time to download and listen - you can also subscribe to the podcast for free at the iTunes Store where they post a new podcast every Monday. It is well worth the time regardless of whether you are a past, present, future or never-to-be homeowner.

And ultimately, the current credit crisis has ended up impacting everyone. More so than I even realized before listening to this podcast myself.

Read more about the episode here.

Download the MP3 of the podcast here.

To Rent Control or Not to Rent Control - That is the Question - Prop 98 Heats Up

2008-05-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

From today's SFGate,

Proposition 98 was written as a restriction on eminent domain that would prohibit the government from taking property for the benefit of a private party. Opponents say it would do far more: define "private" and "take" in terms so broad as to effectively overturn the state's approach to managing development and affordability.

The clause attracting the most attention is one that would ban government-imposed limits on what landlords can charge tenants. The change wouldn't affect existing leases, but once renters move out, property owners in cities with rent control laws, such as Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, no longer would have to limit price increases on those units. [more...]

Differing views on measure to end rent control [SFGate]
How Rent Control Drives out Affordible Housing [CatoInstitute]

Individual Tax Bills for Tenancies in Common One Step Closer

2008-05-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

As we first reported back in September of last year (courtesy of the 'head's up' from Gordon over at Plan C), it looks as though Phil Ting from the San Francisco Real Estate Assessor office is looking to make good on his offer to help clarify the oft confusing, record keeping nightmare facing many Tenancy in Common owners come tax time.

As it stands, there is one stunning tax bill sent out to all Tenancies in Common, regardless of how many individual units exist within the TIC, or how long the TIC has been in existence. That tax bill, in it's simplest form, is split by the individual owners based on their percentage of ownership of the Tenancy in Common. The trick begins once an owner sells, or remodels - thereby triggering a reassessment (aka increase) in property taxes - the increased portion of the tax bill then becomes the responsibility of the offending owner whether they are the new kid on the block or someone looking to update.

Now, take a six unit TIC that's been around for oh, I dunno, say 10 years, which has seen several resales, a few remodels, and voila! - Dante's Hell of accounting.

To stave off any confusion, Ting plans to send out notices in July to all known Tenancies in Common, along with the yearly notice of assessed value, clarifying the city's policy on separate assessments for TICs and how to request one. It's important to note that simply getting a separate tax bill does not exclude every owner of the TIC partnership from being liable for both their share as well as the whole, in the event one owner falls behind. Thus reiterating the importance of a great TIC agreement and reserve account.

S.F. may clarify TIC units' tax liabilities [SFGate]
Calling ALL Tenancy in Common Owners [SFHomeBlog]
Mapping San Francisco's TICs [SFHomeBlog]

A Tale of Two Cities - A breakdown of Active Listings in San Francisco

2008-04-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Tour and Tax Day prompted me to run a few numbers on the Active Listings in San Francisco. The total number of active real estate listings, not pending or contingent, and excluding any of the numerous new development listings that are not currently in the multiple listing service, totals 1545.

What caught my attention was the fact that close to half of all listings in San Francisco (42% to be exact) are in Districts 9 and 10 whereas only 58% of all active listings are in the entire rest of the city Districts 1-8.

On some levels the contrast is not as sharp as it initially appears, only in so much as Districts 9 and 10, which include South of Market, Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights, Mission Bay, Excelsior, Bayview, and Hunters Point take up geographically a large percentage of the actual land mass of the city and county of San Francisco, so one would expect there to be more listings.

Originally, I was looking to find, out of all the Active listings, what percentage had gone through price reductions (roughly 5%). However there was such a huge difference in the number of price reductions on a District by District basis that I ended up snooping further (District 9 had by far the most at 7% vs more or less 4% on average for the rest of the Districts in the city).
What do I make of it?

Looking for the best negotiating room in San Francisco....head South. The Northern portions of the city are still seeing multiple offers for move-in condition well priced product. If you're a Seller and you need to sell in South of Market - price it appropriately (well that goes for all of SF really, mistakes are just going to be more forgiving in the traditional neighborhoods).

S.F. OKs plan for 6,000 housing units

2008-04-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

From today's SFGate,

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved two plans Tuesday that would add high-rises and thousands of residents to the upper Market Street area.

The first plan is a sweeping rezoning of the so-called Market-Octavia area, which stretches up both sides of Market Street from Ninth Street to Noe Street. The effort is nearly eight years in the making and was inspired by the demolition of the Central Freeway and its ramps extending north and west from Market Street following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

The city Planning Department sought to remake the area with an emphasis on walking and public transportation by concentrating new housing close to major transit stops. The zoning allows developers to construct buildings that pack more residential units into a project, including boosting tower heights from 20 stories to 40 stories on some parcels near the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Market Street.

Officials estimate the plan could mean an additional 6,000 housing units in the Market-Octavia area. [more...]

S.F. OKs plan for 6,000 housing units [SFGate]
Progress on Octavia Boulevard housing? [SFHomeBlog]
RFPs issued for Octavia Boulevard housing parcels [SFHomeBlog]
Market-Octavia plan mired in red tape [SFHomeBlog]

Sex in the City - San Francisco Real Estate Condo Rules

2008-04-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

This question came from the current Davis-Sterling newsletter (titled 'Renter Headaches'), a legal update written for homeowners associations. For some reason (I can't think why), it caught my eye. More importantly, it reminded me that I haven't yet clued those of you who own, rent, or invest in California condominiums into this valuable resource yet.

QUESTION: We have an owner who has been observed engaging in sex with a female guest at the pool. Can we immediately suspend his pool privileges, or do we have to schedule a hearing prior to the suspension?

ANSWER: You cannot suspend privileges without a hearing.

There are a myriad of reasons to stay informed, and while most associations endeavor to be reasonable it is important to know both what your Associations rules are, and what is and is not legal in enforcing them.

Many people don’t realize that homeowners associations can, and sometimes do, initiate and foreclose on a property for non-payment of HOA dues. Rules an association adopts can impact not only the pets you can have, but the length of time you can sign a lease as well as if you can even lease your condo at all (some associations have a maximum of 75% owner to renter ratios). Is it legal to ban smoking in individual condominium units, not just in the common areas? It is, and the entire city of Belmont recently did so. Here in San Francisco, at the Bridgeview in South Beach (400 Beale Street), the homeowners narrowly defeated a proposal to ban smoking on private patios.

The newsletter also features some great real estate humor...

To sign up for the newsletter or simply to access their previous newsletter articles, some of which are amusing, all of which are highly informative go to http://davis-stirling.com/newsletter.html.

Divisadero Streetscaping to begin in Spring 2009

2008-04-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

A HUGE project is going to hit Divisadero Street next spring, with repaving happening from Castro to Sutter, and a large-scale redesign of sidewalks and medians from Waller to Geary.

The project will add width and trees to the medians, new streetlights, wider sidewalks, better bus stops, and corner 'bulbs' that will make for a more pedestrian-friendly experience in this now-hot neighborhood street that is full of great restaurants and shops.

See the Department of Public Works site for more details, or this Powerpoint presentation that has great mock-ups of the streetscape work to be done, and some examples of other streets that have had similar work done in recent years.

SF Department of Public Works [official site]
Divisadero Streetscape Project (PDF) [SF DPW]

Here goes my pet peeve again San Francisco Case Shiller Index

2008-03-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

So I woke up this morning to NPR singing that the new S&P/Case-Shiller Index is out and San Francisco is down over thirteen percent?!!! My heart skipped a beat for a second because I was half asleep and I had a mini panic attack thinking 'When did San Francisco drop so much when I wasn't looking? That hasn't been my experience in this market where did that number come from?'

Then I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and woke up to remember (and this will always frustrate the life out of me), it's not San Francisco County they are speaking of, my favorite 7x7 square mile bit of California. It is the dreaded/oft misstated San Francisco BAY AREA which includes Oakland, Fremont, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and of course San Francisco. All of which are different markets with very different average sales prices and very different price appreciations/depreciations.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for keeping an eye on numerical trends - GENERALLY. It's just it makes my life difficult when I get clients that believe they are going to be able to write an offer 13% below asking on a single family home, that in fact is getting multiple offers. Details media! The devil is in the details.

So what is the true San Francisco proper (meaning SF county) S&P/Case Schiller index? God I would love to know. They do have that information - I did call a poor soul at Fiserv Inc, the parent company of the Case-Shiller Index, today out of pure curiosity, but it's available on a subscription basis only for industrial clients - and for the $3500/mth subscription cost I figured I would let my curiosity die on this one....

What I did sniff out is the huge discrepancy in depreciation between the price tiers even within the SF Bay Area index. For example the low Tier (under $545,294) went from 269.67 in Jan. 2007 to 192.12 in Jan 2008 - a 77.55 difference; whereas the high Tier (over $794,192) changed from 182.06 in Jan '07 to 175.75 in Jan '08 only a 6.31 difference. And since those numbers are proprietary to the Case-Shiller index I thought I would pop in a little memo on how they calculate them from their press release.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Composite of 20 Home Price Index is a value-weighted

average of the 20 metro area indices. The indices have a base value of 100 in January 2000; thus, for

example, a current index value of 150 translates to a 50% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a

typical home located within the subject market.

The Sky is Falling!

2008-03-06T16:49:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it would appear that way per all the negative press that abounds regarding real estate. NOT that I am burying my head in the sand - there's no question a good chunk of California is experiencing some serious pains, and even here in SF where in 14 years, I rarely if ever, saw a short sale until last October; I'll admit to it becoming far less of the rare example, at least for the southern part of the city.

That being said - the doom machine has long been at work where the press is concerned and no where is there a better way to see that, than to revisit some historic headlines from era's gone by.

Please do enjoy, North American Title passed them my way several months ago...

"The prices of houses seem to have reached a plateau, and there is reasonable expectancy that prices will decline." Time Magazine, 1947

"The goal of owning a home seems to be getting beyond the reach of more and more Americans." Business Week, 1969

"The era of easy profits in real estate may be drawing to a close." Money Magazine, 1981

"Most economists agree...a home will become little more than a roof and a tax deduction, certainly not the lucrative investment it was..." Money Magazine, 1986

"Financial planners agree that houses will continue to be a poor investment." Kiplinger's Personal Financial Magazine, 1993

"A home is where a bad investment is." San Francisco Examiner, 1996.

New Increased Conforming Loan Rates no help as of yet

2008-02-25T10:49:00.001-08:00

So the new conforming loan rates have been signed into law, and many of us have been waiting to see how those new guidelines will actualize themselves in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately it's not shaping up to be much of a boost to the jumbo loan affordability, at least for the moment.

As reported by Matt Carter from Inman News - The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association announced that the new conforming loan increase of $729,750 will not be put into the same pool of secondary market where most conforming loans are traded, presumably to avoid contamination and an increase in interest rates to existing conforming loans.

The primary concern for investors of the new 'jumbo light' loans is early pre-payment ironically, not default of the existing loans.

Meantime interest rates, while still at historic lows overall, have been inching up steadily since the Fed's began lowering rates the beginning of the year - presumably on fears of inflation, is the latest buzz explanation I'm being told.

Thanks for Stephen Barber at Pacific Guarantee for passing the Inman News article onto me - it's well worth the read for any mortgage interest watchers.

2008-09 San Francisco Allowable Rent increase and Security Deposit Interest is Posted

2008-02-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Rent Board has published the 2008-09 allowable rent increase for units that qualify under rent control (commercial units, and any residential units built after June 13, 1979 are exempt from San Francisco rent control) and it's up slightly .05% from last year, to 2%.

Which means a monthly rent of $2800 can be increased starting in March, on the anniversary of the lease date to $2856.00.

In addition the yearly interest owed on security deposits (which applies to all units rent control or no) stayed the same as last year at 5.2%

From the San Francisco Rent Board Site:

Calculation of Interest Owed: Generally, the tenant is owed simple interest at the rate in effect when the security deposit interest payment is due. If the deposit held is $1,000.00 and the applicable interest rate is 1.7%, then the interest payment due is $17.00. Pursuant to Chapter 49, if interest is owed for multiple years, the interest may not be compounded. For example, if the deposit held is $1,000.00 and interest for two years is to be paid on the annual due date of November 1, 2005, the landlord would owe the tenant 1.2% or $12.00 for 2004, plus 1.7% or $17.00 for 2005, for a total of $29.00. Other than payment of the past interest owed, Chapter 49 does not provide for any penalties for the late payment of interest.

Snapshot of the Market for two weeks

2008-02-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

73 Properties Changed hands in the San Francisco Real Estate Market during the two week period of January 23rd - February 5th 2008

SFH Single Family Homes
17 sold Over Asking ↑
13 Sold Under Asking ↓
7 Sold At Asking ↔

Condos
9 Sold ↑
12 Sold ↓
10 Sold ↔

2-4 Unit buildings
1 Sold ↑
3 Sold ↓
1 Sold ↔

Which means that even though we are down on the volume of sales year over year we still have over 61% of properties that are selling at or over their asking prices...

By far still the best deals are to be had in the Southern Part of the city, District 9 but interestingly enough South of Market is also posting (unofficially) the current highest price/per square feet for sales with the Infinity garnering $2000/sf for their penthouses - and due to close soon by all accounts.

Condo's sold do not include the numerous new developement sales which will eventually show up in the tax records.

Source: San Francisco Multiple Listing Service

'Final' Economic Stimulus Package Includes $729,500 Conforming Loan Limits

2008-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

From an email I received this evening from the California Association of Realtors...

Congress agreed to an economic stimulus package today and sent the bill to President Bush for approval.

The Senate's version of the bill expands rebate checks for seniors and disabled veterans and includes the same increases in conforming loan limits found in the House stimulus package. The House also passed the Senate's version of the bill, and it will now be sent to the White House. The President is expected to sign the legislation by the end of next week, ahead of the Congressional self-appointed deadline of February 15th. The increase in conforming loan limits is currently slated to last through 2008, although many groups (read: Realtors) are lobbying to make them permanent.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a stimulus package last week that raised the FHA and conforming loan limits to as high as $729,750 in high-cost areas (such as San Francisco). By increasing the loan limits, borrowers will see immediate relief with new liquidity in the mortgage market and the nation could see an additional 300,000 home sales. Research shows that an increase in the FHA limit would enable an additional 138,000 Americans to purchase homes, and 200,000 families to refinance their homes safely and affordably.

Increasing the FHA loan limits is critical to bolstering California’s housing market. Current law restricts FHA loans to levels well below the median home price in many areas of the country and caps loans in high cost states at $363,790. These limits are preventing many homebuyers from using FHA to purchase or refinance their loan. The proposed provision will increase FHA loan limits nationwide by raising the floor to $271,050 and the limit to 125% of local median home prices.

Additionally, raising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s (GSEs) conforming loan limit will provide immediate relief to borrowers and alleviate downward pressure on current housing markets. For instance, increasing the GSE loan limit could result in more than 300,000 additional home sales and strengthen current home prices by 2-3%.

The critical role that GSEs play in providing liquidity to the mortgage market has never been more evident than it is today. The national subprime meltdown has had a dramatic impact on both the cost and availability of mortgages in many markets. Since August 2007, the interest rates for jumbo borrowers have been more than 1 percentage point higher than conforming loans, which can cost homeowners up to $400 month in higher interest payments.

SFGate has an article from the Associated Press this afternoon about this as well...

California Association of Realtors [official site]
Congress Sends Economic Aid Plan to Bush [SFGate]

Plan C's TIC protest makes the News

2008-02-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

Plan C made headlines in the Chronicle today, with 60 demonstrators making it to the protest at city hall yesterday to bring attention to the antiquated lottery system for TIC condo conversions.

Not a bad turn out for the middle of a work day in the middle of a work week.

This year, 1,994 tenancies-in-common entered the lottery in an attempt to join the ranks of the condominium converted - a 51% increase from 6 years ago. This is indicative of the fact that, with only 200 units winning each year, the backlog re-entering the pool of hopeful condo conversion winners is going to continue to increase dramatically in the years to come.

You can read the full story HERE

Don't miss rally to support condominium conversion reform on Feb. 6th!

2008-01-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

San Francisco will hold its annual condo conversion lottery one week from now, on Feb. 6th - if this is of interest to you, you might want to show up and let them know that this outdated lottery method unfairly penalizes first time homeowners. Join organizers Plan C and the SF TIC Coalition at this rally to support condominium conversion reform.

Peet's coffee will be waiting for you, provided by Plan C, as well as petitions for you to sign to let the City know that you are in favor of reforming the lottery process. Meet us at the steps of City Hall at 8:15am to enjoy your coffee and sign the petition, then just a little before 9am you'll head to the Board of Supervisors' offices to drop of the freshly signed petitions requesting condo conversion reform...then on to Room 400 where the lottery will be held.

So many are waiting for the good news that you have "won the lottery", but the sad fact is that only 200 "winning" units are chosen each year and it could take many years, perhaps more than a decade, for your building to "win". The odds are just getting progressively worse and are definitely not stacked in your favor. In 2003 there were only 994 units, climbing to 1736 units in 2007 - that's an average of just 186 unit increase per year, definitely not coming anywhere near close to keeping up with our housing demands.

Plan C is opposed by those who think that condo conversion reform would increase evictions and lessen rental stock. Those supporting Plan C have alternate opinions. San Francisco passed a law in May of 2006 which banned all condo conversions in buildings with more than one "no fault" evictions or in buildings with "protected" tenants. This legislative act pretty much negates what opponents of Plan C most fear. 2007 eviction numbers were down significantly over 2006, and are down over 60% from the numbers recorded in the late 1990s - this proves the opponents wrong.

7770 units, according to the San Francisco Business Times, were under construction in 2007 and expected to be completed by the end of this year. This number includes 2052 rental units, 717 of which are classified as "affordable".

Now is the time to make a stand and fight for rights of first-time homeowners. We need condo conversion reform and we need it now. TIC owners need to do their part and show up on February 6th at 8:15am on the steps of City Hall - we can "fight City Hall" and win, if we are organized and do it together, it will only take an hour - join us!

Whether or not you can attend on Wednesday, please click this link to email all of the city supervisors and Mayor at one time and let them know that you are for Plan C and condo conversion reform!!!

San Francisco One step away from becoming Solar City

2008-01-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission approved a plan to grant healthy incentives to help cover the costs of installation for solar panels. The plan, would grant between $3000 - $5000 per private residence, depending on whether you use a local installer and how close you are to a local power plant, and $10,000 per business. I'm not clear on whether the myriad of non-profit Home Owner Associations throughout the city qualify under the business category, but one would assume they will.

The plan, which has one final vote to get through next month by the Board of Supervisors is expected to win handily. It would make the cost of installing solar near to half the price by the time one includes a $7000 state tax rebate and a federal $2000 tax rebate.

'For a typical homeowner in San Francisco, installing a 3-kilowatt, rooftop solar electric system costs $24,000, according to Barry Cinnamon, president of the California Solar Energy Industries Association.'

The proposed rebate collectively could close to half the costs of installation and help put San Francisco in the forefront of one of the most progressive solar incentives by a city in the nation.

How many Contractors does it take?

2008-01-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

Stay safe and drive out there folks....gonna be hairy for a couple of days.

San Francisco Inventory Decreases by over 10% Sept thru Nov 2007

2007-12-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Altos Research recently debuted their first monthly housing market update which tracks real estate data from 20 major metropolitan cities. The full report can be downloaded as a PDF here.

While the data is significantly flawed, at least for San Francisco being as they excluded condo and new home inventory, it does gather statistics rarely seen, such as 'Percentage of Inventory with at least one Price Reduction'.

How does SF compare?

Monthly Average Days on the Market in November = 83 days on the market. The third lowest with 19 out of 20 cities reporting (Phoenix coming in at 78 and San Diego coming in at 75 for November)
Percentage of drop in Inventory over the past three months = 10.5%. The third highest with Washington DC coming in at 11.1% and Boston coming in highest at 12.4%
Number of listings with at least one price reduction - again the magic number of 3rd highest with an average of 8.6% increase in price reductions over the past three months (Denver came in 2nd highest at 9.2% and San Diego at 13.3% taking the top honors there).

Again, without condo stats, it's impossible to get a true picture since that accounts for such a large percentage of the overall housing in our fair city. But it is more fuel for market watchers to debate and worthy of keeping an eye on.

By all reports from the new developments and other random open houses there was an interesting anomoly of increased activity of buyers poking around this 2nd to last weekend of the year. Look for the third week in the New Year to give us at least a few clues as to what the market has in store for 2008. It's then that we'll really start to see who's going to blink first, the Buyer's, or the Sellers in the age old game of chicken....

San Francisco in the Top 5 best performing Housing Markets

2007-11-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

Of course the agents pounding the pavement in San Francisco didn't need this to let us know we've been fortunate thus far in avoiding the national housing crisis so many other counties are working through.

However, because realtors are generally considered to have an alterior motive regarding reporting the truth of that; it's nice to have a 'neutral' party come out and say so for a change.

Compiled by Forbes magazine, this is a list of the top 10 best performing Housing Markets in the nation. It shows the third quarter median home sale prices and the percentage that prices have risen compared to third quarter 2006.

Salt Lake City, UT; Median Home Sale Price: $246,700; Percent Change: 14.1 percent
Charlotte, NC, $220,000, 11 percent
San Jose, CA., $852,500, 9.4 percent
San Francisco, CA, $825,400, 8.6 percent
Raleigh, NC, $229,500, 7.5 percent
Austin, TX, $188,200, 7.2 percent
Pittsburgh, PA, $127,700, 6.1 percent
Seattle, WA, $394,700, 6 percent
San Antonio. TX, $154,700, 5.7 percent
Portland, OR., $299,700, 5.2 percent

Source: Forbes, Matt Woolsey (11/21/2007)

San Francisco Out-Perfoms the Bay Area

2007-11-17T08:47:00.000-08:00

According to DataQuick as reported in the SF Examiner, comparing October year over year sales (2007 to 2006), every other county in the Bay Area saw declines in volume of home sales between 28% and 54%.

SF County saw a decline of only 8.2% in volume of home sales, with an increase in median home sales price of 3.9%.

CBS news reports:

'Median home values were flat or declined in October compared to the year-ago period in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties. They were up in Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.'

Will the sun continue to come out for San Francisco real estate? Good question. I of course have my theory's but no one knows for sure.

What I do know is that when I moved to Sydney, one of the things I missed most about home, were the foggy San Francisco days. It forces everyone to slow down just a little - everything gets a little more still and quiet and you never know what might emerge from just beyond your vision.

Hope you're out and about enjoying the fog this misty Saturday morning. I certainly intend to (300 emails behind or no...)