by Jennifer | Thursday, 3 March, 2011
In the news, we’ve all be hearing a lot about the “Foreclosure Crisis,” “Distressed Properties,” and homes that are “underwater.” Many of us even have family and friends who are suffering as a result of the sharp decline in real estate values that began about two years ago.
Even though it’s been reported that in San Francisco specifically and the bay area in general that prices are leveling off, the disposition of so called “toxic assets,” will go on for some time to come. I’m not going to attempt in a 600 word article to tell you how to buy a distressed property, but I think that starting with some terminology would probably help most of us to do what many like to do best – talk about real estate.
Let’s start with a “foreclosure.” I hear people talking about buying a “foreclosure,” all the time. There are three ways to do this: Trustee’s sale, public auction and buying an “REO” through the regular sales process. Continue Reading…
by admin | Tuesday, 11 January, 2011
“Over the past 20 years, residential Tenancies In Common (TICs) established themselves as an affordable pathway to home ownership in an otherwise unaffordable San Francisco marketplace. TIC ownership offered a solution to the City’s vexing condominium conversion rules, which allow for easy and affordable conversions, but require a waiting period before conversion can begin. As a short-term bridge to condo ownership, problems inherent in TIC ownership were tolerable, often even invisible and thousands of 2-6 unit buildings were transformed from tenant-occupied investment properties to owner-occupied homestead. However as the waiting time for condo conversion has lengthened from 3-5 years to over 20 years, the challenges of long-term TIC home ownership have become more apparent, heightening the need for a clearer understand of how TIC disputes are resolved.”
Read the rest of the article here:
2011 TIC Disputes Brochure
by Jennifer | Wednesday, 25 August, 2010
I have to hand it to him. James really knows how to make my life more fun and interesting – especially since my main game is cruising around San Francisco viewing (and selling) fine examples of residential architecture.
Many of San Francisco’s neighborhoods were built in the boom times of the 1920s and 1940s and identifying the style of the homes has often been difficult for me. With James’s rules of thumb regarding tell-tale characteristics and years built, I can now tell my deco from my Streamline Moderne and my Spanish Eclectic from Mediterranean Revival. It’s really worth a look.
See also, James’s summary of Victorian & Edwardian Residential Architectural Styles in San Francisco, which contains information I use every single day.
To find out more about James Dixon and his work on Residential and Commercial projects, see his Website.
And to see my favorite project of James’s, click here. CAN YOU GUESS WHERE THIS IS? First five people to email me the address get Peets cards!
by Jennifer | Friday, 16 July, 2010
San Francisco will introduce a newly revised real estate map on August 10, 2010. This may seem academic, but it really can have a huge impact on the value of your home. For example, my good friends David and Melissa have had the luck to move from the Inner Mission to Noe Valley at no expense and without packing a box! Now some of us think the Mission is cooler, but we’d all admit Noe is more expensive. The simple placement of the line that moved the Noe border from their back fence (where it was for the prior 10 years or so) to the back fence of their neighbors across the street will change what searches they are included in, how their property might be perceived and what buyers would be willing to live there. Ditto goes for areas annexed from Sunnyside and Miraloma Park by Glen Park.
Here’s a list of the changes (to see the new map, click here):
A summary of the changes appears below.
Boundary Changes:
- Dividing line between 7b (Pacific Heights) and 7d (Cow Hollow) jogs south for one block at the west end and changes so that both sides of Green are in 7d (Cow Hollow) between Lyon and Divisadero. The boundary between Divisadero and Van Ness remains the same, keeping both sides of Green in 7b (Pacific Heights).
- 9h (South Beach) expands into portions of 9f (SOMA) and 9d (Mission Bay).
- Dividing line between 6b (Hayes Valley) and 8f (Van Ness/Civic Center) moves from Gough to Franklin. Dividing line between 6c (Lower Pacific Heights) and 8f (Van Ness/Civic Center) moves from Gough to Franklin between Sutter and California.
- Dividing line between District 8a (Downtown) and 8j (Tenderloin) moves from Geary to O’Farrell.
- 5f (Buena Vista Park) expands to include Ashbury Heights, and is renamed Buena Vista/Ashbury Heights, accordingly.
- 5e (Parnassus/Ashbury Heights) changes to include a portion of 5b (Haight Ashbury) which is commonly known as Cole Valley, and is renamed Cole Valley/Parnassus Heights, accordingly.
- 9a (Bernal Heights) expands to include portions of 9c (Inner Mission) south of Cesar Chavez between San Jose and Mission.
- Dividing line between 5c (Noe Valley) and 9c (Inner Mission) moves from Guerrero to San Jose between 24th St to 26th St.
- 5a (Glen Park) expands to include portions of 4s (Sunnyside), 4h (Miraloma Park) and 5c (Noe Valley).
Continue Reading…
by Jennifer | Friday, 16 July, 2010
Of the 11 neighborhoods we are tracking for 2 bedroom condominiums in San Francisco, 6 showed sale prices higher in the first half of 2010 over 2009 numbers. For the 13 neighborhoods in which we are tracking single family homes, 8 showed improvement in the same period. Interestingly enough, for TICs, all three of the neighborhoods under consideration showed improvement.
I can almost hear you asking, well, what does this mean? I think it means that the market is stabilizing and sluggishly trying to improve, but that it depends very much on the inventory being offered. In Glen Park, for example, there were a couple of very large, brand new homes sold that were very dissimilar to the inventory that closed in 2009. The extreme sale prices for these homes (over 1.6MM) had a dramatic affect (+19%) on the average sale price out of only 11 sales in the first half of 2010. I would say this is an anecdotal improvement in values. I would contrast this with the 3.3% improvement in values in Pacific Heights/Cow Hollow based on 27 sales, which I think is a more valid reflection of marketplace recovery.
As always, if you want to check in on the value of your home, I’m happy to work it up for you!
Now for the details (click on image to see larger):
