Here’s the weekly collection of the internet’s greatest hits (so to speak) from the past week. Some have something to do with San Francisco Real Estate, and some don’t even come close to being SF Real Estate related. Expect these to pop up sometime during the weekend – as my time permits. Enjoy!

Turning Your Walls Green (And I Don’t Mean Paint [Apartment Therapy]

102 Years Since the 1906 Quake [SF Gate]

Gavin Sides with Pot Clubs Medical Marijuana Dispensaries [Curbed SF]

San Francisco has 4th Worth Commute in the Nation [Realtor Magazine]

It’s Not Just My Imagination – It IS Windier in San Francisco! [SF Weekly] 

How a Garage in SF Can Keep You Out Jail [Redfin Sweet Digs]

Gas Prices in SF Keep Climbing [SF Gate]

Welcome back to Photo Friday – my little way of taking a break from San Francisco Real Estate and instead blogging about our great City’s past instead. All photos are published with permission from the San Francisco History Center and San Francisco Public Library.

Today is the 102nd anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  The earthquake shook the City awake at 5:12am.  Modern analysis rates the quake somewhere between 7.7 and 8.3 on the Richter Scale. 

Even those of us that felt the quake in 1989 cannot imagine the devastation that occured in 1906.  

One eyewitness account taken from The Eye Witness to History states:

“The most terrible thing I saw was the futile struggle of a policeman and others to rescue a man who was pinned down in burning wreckage. The helpless man watched it in silence till the fire began burning his feet. Then he screamed and begged to be killed. The policeman took his name and address and shot him through the head.” (Adolphus Busch).

(As an aside, I can’t imagine a police officer today helping someone out of their misery in that way – they’d likely be afraid the dead man’s family would sue – times have changed.)

The Eye Witness to History  goes on to tell more first hand accounts, each as dramatic as the one above. 

The quake was felt as far North as Oregon, as far South as Los Angeles and as far East as Nevada. 

Some estimates put the death toll at 3,000.  Others estimate as many as twice that number.

The fires that ravaged the city lasted for days, and destroyed most of the City east of Van Ness Avenue. 

But just 5 days after the earthquake, and while the embers of the thousands of fires that burned likely still glowed, California Governor George Pardee declared that:

The work of rebuilding San Francisco has commenced, and I expect to see the great metropolis replaced on a much grander scale than ever before.

And indeed, the City was rebuilt.  And indeed, it was rebuilt on a grander scale than ever before.  Just 5 years after the devastation, the City by the Bay was chosen to host the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and by the time the exposition began on February 20, 1915 – our great City was rebuilt and even better than before. 

Like a Phoenix that rose from the ashes - San Francisco was able to shine and show the world that it was a modern City that couldn’t be held down for long, and not even one of the worst natural disasters in history was going to keep us down.

Those of us lucky enough to call this City ”home” are some of the luckiest people in the world.  Our City is beautiful.  Our City is strong.  Our City is enchanting. 

Enjoy your weekend folks.  And enjoy every square inch of this amazing City we call San Francisco.  Never forget how lucky you are to live here.

According to this article in SF Gate, San Francisco rents shot up 14.4 percent from a year ago!

So here’s my hypothetical question to the renters that can afford to buy – (and I’d love to hear from some of you readers if you feel like answering):

If you can afford to buy and aren’t planning on moving outside of SF in the next five years, why are you still renting?

Now – don’t get me wrong – I get it.  Buying a home is expensive.  Lenders aren’t exactly giving money away.  In fact, there’s all sorts of stuff they want you to do to get pre-approved.  They want money in reserves in addition to your down payment.  They want good documented income.  They want your first born child.  (Just checking to make sure you’re still following along )

But the reasons I hear for not buying real estate just don’t make sense to me.  Shoot, they don’t even make sense to Donald Trump. 

In fact, the Don’s blog says:

Are you the type of investor that waits for a stock price to escalate before you buy? Do you wait for that sale to end before going into the store and purchasing the item you have been dreaming of? Of course not! “Buy low, sell high” is capitalism at its finest. The best times to make money in real estate as well as the stock market, is when you have volatility. 

The emphasis at the end was added by me.  But it’s a damn good point! 

Now - we’re not exactly seeing what I’d call “bargains” right now in the San Francisco real estate market, but we ARE seeing relatively good deals that you can buy without a lot of competition from other buyers.  In fact, the people that have the most at stake to lose if the real estate market collapses (that would be REALTORS) are the people that are out there and buying real estate right now!  They are “buying low!” or as low as this market will let them buy, that is. 

So, if you’re renting but have good income and a ton of money for a down payment AND aren’t planning on moving out of San Francisco in the next few years, get off your behind and buy something.  And then you can call me in five years and thank me for telling you to do it!

I forget sometimes that people actually read this blog.  In fact, I’m often surprised when I run into people that actually know who I am after reading my thoughts about San Francisco real estate.  Usually, the people that recognize me are other agents that read this blog, but sometimes, I run into strangers at open houses or other place that actually recognize my name – and they say that it’s from here! 

It’s nice to be reminded that people actually read what I write, and even nicer when someone takes the time to write in and ask a question to get my advice!  Occasionally, I find the questions (along with my answer) worthy enough to publish (with occasional edits to keep some of the person’s information confidential).

So here’s a question I recently received that I thought I’d share with the rest of you out there in blog land.

Q. I love reading your blogs! Your advice and expertise is awesome, I was wondering if you can give me some advice? I have the opportunity to buy a family home in district 1 for $650,000.  It needs approx. $80,000 of work. Is this a good deal in the overall spectrum of the real estate market? Do you forsee the market dropping more, and if so, for how long?Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time.

A. Hi S.M.!

Thanks for the kind words about the blog.  It’s always nice to hear positive feedback! 

First – about the place on (location not being revealved) Avenue.  On the surface, it sounds like a great deal for district 1.  (How many bedrooms/bathrooms does the place have?)  But a lot of other factors can make it a horrible deal – from the neighbors, to the layout of the property, to the fact that the $80K estimate to repair the place can easily double.  (Who gave you the estimate for repairs?)  So what looks like a good deal on the surface may very well turn into a bit of a nightmare once you actually buy the home.  The key is to look for neighborhood comparables, and if the price is good ($650K for District 1 sounds good, but to say for sure, I’d have to see it and see the repair estimate). 

As for the market in general – there are certain areas where there really hasn’t been depreciation.  There hasn’t been any major appreciation to speak of either, but prices in District 1 haven’t gone down (in fact, even with fewer sales, median price has increased slightly).  So in my crystal ball – I foresee that the market isn’t really going to be dipping down much further except for a few select neighborhoods in parts of Districts 3 and 10 where values during the “boom” skyrocketed to levels that were out of control, and in my opinion, the dropping values there are more a sign of a market correction (prices there shouldn’t have grown that rapidly) than a sign of the market falling.

A lot of it is also going to depend on your goals.  How long do you plan to stay in a place?  Are you single?  Married?  Kids?  Dogs?  Do you have plans for marriage, kids or dogs?  There are going to be more decisions that you’ll need to make to decide whether this home is right for you.  For that matter – the size of your down payment as well as cash reserves will make a difference as well.  As will who does the repair work – are you handy?  Is the work just cosmetic?  Or is there structural work? 

So – sorry for the lack clarity in my answer, there just aren’t any black & white or yes & no answers in real estate.  Every buyer/seller/house/neighborhood/lender etc. is different and that makes it difficult to give a cookie cutter answer to any question. 

If you want to talk more though, I’m happy to help you to try to get to the bottom of whether this place is a good deal for you.  My advice is always free and without any obligation to meet in person or to work with me as your agent.  However, if you do want to meet in person and do need help – well, I’m available for that as well.  Just let me know how I can help and I’ll be happy to accommodate! 

Please don’t hesitate to call me or email me if you want to talk further.   Hope my answers helped a little – even if they were just food for thought! 

Best regards,

Luba Muzichenko

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updates are provided almost weekly and each week is a different sector of the market (ie. Condos, Single Family Homes, 2-4 unit dwellings, etc.).

Here’s the latest Fast Facts update from the SFAR.

Check back next week for more statistics.

Fast Facts

Here’s the weekly collection of the internet’s greatest hits (so to speak) from the past week. Some have something to do with San Francisco Real Estate, and some don’t even come close to being SF Real Estate related. Expect these to pop up sometime during the weekend – as my time permits. Enjoy!

Nice Days Bring People to Ocean Beach [SF Mobile Photo Blog]
Protesting was the Theme in SF This Week [Curbed SF]
Cheaper than IKEA? [Dwell Blog]
Is SF Real Estate Still Holding On? [TheFrontSteps]
Trump Says it’s a Good Time to Buy Real Estate [The Trump Blog]
Small Cool Places – Contest! [Apartment Therapy]

 

 

The latest market report is here. (You can also view previous market updates by selecting the archives on the upper right portion of the screen).

A snapshot of what’s in store for your eyes:

Sales Continue Rising in March

Both single-family, re-sale homes and condo sales rose in March. The sale of single-family, re-sales homes gained 7.3% from February, a 24.2% decline year-over-year. Sales of condos and lofts rose 10.3% month-over-month, but were down 36% compared to last March.

The median price for single-family, re-sale homes rose 8.5% from February, and it was up 0.1% year-over-year. The average price rose 3.6%, yet, it was down 5.4% compared to last March.

The median price for condos in San Francisco rose 1.4% to $765,575 from February, up 7.1% year-over-year. The average price for condos gained 10.1% to $914,187, a new record high. The average price was up 14% year-over-year.

 

Welcome back to Photo Friday – my little way of taking a break from San Francisco Real Estate and instead blogging about our great City’s past instead. All photos are published with permission from the San Francisco History Center and San Francisco Public Library.

Postings have been light this week because I have procrastinated and waited till the very last possible minutes to take care of my taxes.  I had good reasons to procrastinate – my clients needed me.  A few want to buy a home and a few want to sell a home, and they all need fairly urgent assistance.  So, my taxes have gone untouched and my 2007 receipts are still stuffed into a giant manila envelope that exploded on my desk when I finally opened it. 

So, while I hide in in my cave and take care of the stuff that Uncle Sam needs from me this year – I give some thought to those people/machines at the IRS that are eagerly awaiting my 2007 tax return.  I don’t imagine any of them are very nice, or very pleasant and today’s Photo Friday picture seems to confirm my suspicions – people that work as Tax Collector’s just aren’t happy. 

The caption on the photo reads:

“TAX COLLECTOR’S OFFICE FORCE AT THE NEW CITY HALL, MCALLISTER AND LARKIN STREETS IN 1887; MR. TIM O’BRIEN, COLLECTOR. Back row, Left to Right: 1-W.D. Kane, 2.-Police Officer Sullivan, 3-H. Curran, 4-Unknown outsider, 5-R. Jackson 6-John Boyle, 7-M. Burk, 8-S. Neil, 9-Wm. Jones, 10-Wm. Gallatin, 11-P. Holland 12-Wm. Harrington, 13-T. Wilson, 14-Jake Rudolph. Front Row, Left to Right: 1-Reardon, 2-P Krause, 3-D. Levy, 4-Tim O’Brien, the Collector, 5-Chris Buckley, the Blind Boss, 6-S. Strause, 7-Lin Guion, 8-M. Fallon. The man with the beard in the background is Supervisor J. McDonald.”

Just take a look at this photo and tell me if there’s even one smiling face?!?!?!?  I see what looks like a smirk in the bottom left corner, but the rest almost seem like scowls.  I feel like they are all looking at me and silently thinking that there’s no way in hell I’ll get all of my receipts organized and my tax return submitting in time, less than 4 days from now. 

But they’re wrong!  I’ll make it.  I’ll get my receipts added up, and while I might not get much blogging done in the meantime (or much sleeping for that matter), I WILL get my tax return filed on time and nothing can stop me!

I hope you all aren’t in the same time crunch as I am in – but if you are – get to work, none of us procrastinators have any right to be enjoying this weekend!  We have tax forms to fill out!

To the rest of you – enjoy the sunshine, it’s finally feeling a bit like spring in San Francisco!

Clean City is pleased host another free monthly electronic collection and recycling events.

The next event will be held at Ocean Beach Parking Lot – Great Highway at Fulton – Beachside (directly across from the Beach Chalet) on:

· Saturday, April 19, 2008 from 9:00am to 2:00pm

San Francisco residents, businesses, schools and other organizations can drop off TV’s and monitors, computers, laptops, scanners, printers, cell phones, fax machines, Ethernet cables, telephone systems VCRs, DVDs and all networking equipment. SF Clean City is unable to accept appliances of any kind or microwaves. You must bring your California Driver’s License or Identification Card to the event. For further information and more event dates and locations please visit our website at www.sfcleancity.com or call 415.552.9201 x15.

Well – it’s not so much at staying at the YMCA as it is laughing for the sake of the YMCA!

It’s that time of year again, when the Richmond District YMCA throws their annual fundraiser event at the Punchline Comedy Club.

It will be an evening of laughs and drinks (at least TWO!). There’s usually a raffle and it’s always fun, especially if more people go (by that, I mean each and every one of you!).

Feel free to invite your friends, co-workers, family, clients, your significant other, whomever!

Buy tickets and then give them away at the door if you want! (It’ll earn you good kharma! )

Details are:

Punchline Comedy Club (at the Embarcadero)
Monday, April 14th
Doors open at 7pm
Show starts at 8pm
Tickets: $15 each
2 drink minimum (I know this isn’t a problem for you – Mondays are the new Fridays!!!)
18+ years and older please

Hope to see you there! And I’ll be there with my significant other, so stop by and say “hi!” if you come!

Oh, and if you want to reserve your tickets in advance, feel free to email Evelyn Kay, Senior Director of Administrative Services at the Richmond District YMCA. You can also give Evelyn a call to reserve your tickets at 415-666-9615.

Get ready to laugh, giggle and have a drink (actually TWO!) for a good cause!