SF Snapshots: San Francisco Living

originally uploaded on by Leiflet  

It’s Photo Friday again here on Luba’s San Francisco Real Estate Blog! 

I’m not sure which pier this is, but I’m guessing Pier 7?  It’s just another of those random little glimpses of the City that make me fall in love with it over and over again.  Whether I’m seeing the City through my eyes, or through someone elses, I know I’ll never love another City more than I love San Francisco.   

Don’t forget to check back next week for another glimpse of San Francisco as seen through the eyes of Flickr’s photogs.

And if you’d like to throw your photos into the pool of candidates for my SF Photo Friday collection, tag your SF Photos from Flickr with LubaSF.

Happy Friday!

Who Wants to Be a Farmer?

So, when I was a kid, I thought I might like to be a farmer.  The idea of living on a farm seemed very romantic.  Getting up early to till the soil and reaping the fruits of my labor.

But when I grew up, I realized two things that sort of shot that dream to bits:

1)  I’m a City girl at heart.  San Francisco to be exact.  I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the world.  I love the City.  I love every nook and cranny.  I love coming to the top of some seemingly boring hill on a nondescript block and being smacked in the face with a random vista – from a glimpse of the downtoan skyline to the tippy top of the Golden Gate Bridge with the Marin Headlands in the background.

2) I kill every plant.  Farmers can’t kill plants.  Seriously, I have killed every plant I’ve ever owned except for some lucky bamboo I once had.  It must not have been THAT lucky though since the plant folks at my office swiped it and decided it belonged in the office’s bathroom instead of on my desk.  For some reason, I decided not to bring that plant back to my desk for fear that cooties from the bathroom would follow it. 

Anyhow – my tangent has a point.  Really, it does.  Even though I can’t be a farmer, that doesn’t mean you can’t.  If City living has just gotten to you and you have a propensity towards doing a little growing, specifically avocados and lemons, then I may have found the place you want to call “farm” or, er, um, “home!”

Rifleman Ranch is a one of a kind property located in the Las Posas Valley in Ventura County, CA between Somis and Moorpark.

The home has ocean, island and mountain views overlooking 20+ acres of avocados, lemons and assorted family grove. PLUS there’s a 3BR/2.5BTH custom farmhouse with incredible details and wrap-around porch (what’s a farm without a wrap-around porch?) and amazing third-story lookout. And if your farmhouse isn’t enough home for you, a breezeway connects the main house to the garage with a separate office/studio apartment above.

Oh, and there’s a BARN!  (Again what farm wouldn’t be complete without one?!)  The brand new custom barn makes a great workshop or artist’s studio and the separate upstairs 2BR/2BTH guest quarters is a perfect guest home or rental. 

And what farm would be complete without a place for a horse or two????  There’s two acres that are perfect for an equestrian facility and horse arena. And you get all of this farm living just ten minutes from town, a train station and award winning schools. 

Now – if you want more info, check out the property’s website.  And if you decide to call it “home” give me a holler and I’ll come and hang out and will bring my overalls!!!

Homebuyer Tax Information for San Francisco Home Buyers

The California Association of Realtors recently came out with a handy chart summarizing the two tax credits that can benefit first time buyers in SF(and throughout California) and/or buyers of new construction as well.  Here’s what they had to say:

For California homebuyers, tax time is now tax relief time too.  Thanks to two recent laws, a California homebuyer may qualify for $18,000 in tax credits for buying his or her piece of the American dream.  The two tax credits are a first-time homebuyer credit up to $8,000 under federal law, and a new home credit up to $10,000 under California law.  For more information on the tax credit laws, C.A.R.’s Legal Department has a legal article entitled Housing Stimulus Laws of 2009 which is available for members only.

Here’s a quick summary of the two tax credit laws:

March 2009 San Francisco Home Sales Data is Here!

Yet again, Luba’s San Francisco Real Estate Blog brings you latest San Francisco Real Estate market report here. (You can also view previous market updates by selecting the archives on the upper right portion of the screen).

Heres’s a little glimpse of the report:

Read on for full details.

San Francisco History Exhibit

Want to know a little secret?  I know where you can find the largest permanent exhibit on San Francisco History anywhere.

Distributed over 4 floors at the top of 450 Golden Gate, the program details the tales of the City from 1850’s through the construction of the TransAmerica Pyramid. Vignettes feature the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915, the creation of the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island,the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition, the Palace Hotel, the Earthquake and Fire of 1906, the Cliff House and Sutro Bathes, Civic Center, Recreation, Districts around town, the Waterfront, transportation and cablecars, the City’s great hotels, notable characters, as well as selected content from others areas around the 9th District the Court serves. Each images has a detailed narrative telling the story behind the picture.

The program was conceived as a gift to the public from the Court, led by Judge Breyer in San Francisco and Judge Seeborg in San Jose. The intent was to express the integration of Courts with the community, providing education heritage content, foregoing conventional decorative art for the interior walls. Displays are located throughout the public space of the San Francisco and San Jose building, as well as chambers and Jury Rooms. The project started by considering the Jurist experience in the deliberation rooms, which often were windowless.

Business Image group, led by Bennett Hall, design and developed the content, accompanying narrative, refined the often faded original images and framed and install the pieces through his production company in San Francisco, Eco-Framing.  Each photograph was digitally mastered at the highest possible resolution.

Remember to bring your ID when you visit – it is a Federal building and security check-points are at the entrance

San Francisco Real Estate Facts March 2008 vs. March 2009

For those of you that like your San Francisco real estate market data without commentary, here ya go.  Take a look, check it out, come to your own conclusions. 

Or – you can always ask me questions. 

(Editor’s Note: Set forth below are Supply/Demand, Sales Rate and Median Price charts for the month of March, as well unit sales/DOM/monthly supply charts for the same month for single-family homes, condominiums and 2-4 units.)

 

 

 

 

 

NUMBER OF UNITS is the equivalent of number of sales/transactions. For condominiums, each unit is treated as a sale. For 2- to 4-unit buildings, the “building” is treated as a sale.

NUMBER SOLD is the number of properties in the market segment that closed escrow during the month.

NUMBER FOR SALE is the number of active properties on the market for one day or more during the month.

MEDIAN PRICE (SOLD) reflects the “middle” price point of a group of properties that have successfully closed escrow on a monthly basis, i.e. half sold for more and half sold for less than the median price. Tracking the movement of median prices over time provides a good indicator of the direction market forces are moving.

If the percentage change is positive between the two periods then there is upward pressure on prices in that market segment. If the percentage change is negative between the two periods then there is downward pressure on prices in that market segment.

AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET (DOM) reflects how long it has been taking (on average) to draw an offer on a reasonably priced property exposed to the market. The AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET is defined as: The average number of days it took all of the properties that went under contract during the period to accept a first position offer.

MONTH’S SUPPLY OF INVENTORY (MSI) is a measure of how long it would take, in months, to sell the existing inventory at the current sales rate for the specific neighborhood and property type. The MONTH’S SUPPLY OF INVENTORY is defined as: The number of active properties on the market for one day or more during the month, less the number of properties that have been withdrawn or expired, divided by the number of properties that have gone under contract during the month.

* * * * *

Data provided by Terradatum.

Preserve California Beaches and Wildlife

I live out in the Outer Sunset across the street from Ocean Beach (it’s the closest you’ll get to ocean front property in San Francicso!), so maybe I am a little biased, but I feel like we all like Oceans right?  And we’d like them to be clean and pollutant free for future generations, yes? 

Well, on April 16^th, you can help do something about it. 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Ocean Action Team recently sent out a request that I think is worth sharing.  If you’re free on April 16^th, please take a little time out of your schedule to share youro views about preserving out oceans.

Got SF Real Estate Tools?

Are you looking to buy a house in San Francisco?  Or maybe you’re pondering selling that little SF condominium or TIC? 

Whether buying a house, condo or TIC, investment property,etc. or looking to sell any of the above in the City, you want TOOLS!

I’m not talking hammers, table saws and drills – I’m talking about tools that provide you with HONEST and UNBIASED information about the San Francisco Real Estate Market!

So – you want to know what kind of tools you can get your hands on?

The City Update(TM) – San Francisco’s Friendliest Real Estate Newsletter

The City Update(TM) is a little SF real estate newsletter delivered straight to your inbox (almost) every Friday.  It has ALL sorts of awesome features including:

• San Francisco Market Reports from the Altos Research folks
• All of the NEW San Francisco real estate listings from the last 30 days
• All of the SOLD San Francisco real estate listings from the last 30 days
• Links to SF Open Houses, SF Foreclosure Listings, and more
• Commentary about the SF Real Estate market from yours truly
• SF Property “Pocket Listings” that I hear about (properties that AREN’T available to the general public!)

You can SIGN UP HERE or you can check out the site (just keep in mind that frankly, the site sucks – but I created it myself and since my HTML skills are LACKING, I’m just happy I got THAT far with it!)

SF Real Estate Market Updates

If you just can’t get enough San Francsco real estate market updates between this blog and The City Update(TM), you now have one more option when it comes to getting the latest deets on what the market is doing. 

Again, brought to you by the Altos Research folks, you can narrow down your reports by zip code or property type AND you can sign up for as few or as many zip codes as you like (you just have to reenter your info for each new zip code/property type). 

Go ahead, get your SF real estate data fix on!  You can SIGN UP HERE.

100% Complete Access to the San Francisco MLS

Know everything that’s on the San Francisco market in real time.  Just like a REALTOR, you’ll get access to ALL of the listings in the MLS. 

Unlike other Real Estate search sites, Zephyr MLS Direct gives you the most complete, accurate and up-to-date listing information available, which lets you find properties as soon as they hit the market. 

It also lets you save your searches and new listings that match your criteria emailed to you as soon as they hit the market!  And you can save your favorite properties, watch them go into escrow, and if they’re in your “favorites” folder, you can even see the price they sold for (which we all know is super secret data.)  You also get notified of any changes that occur to the property listings that match your criteria AND Friday Open House reports.  Cool or what?

You’ll have to give up some personal info, and “agree” to work with me as your REALTOR (it’s a technicality that the MLS requires), but I NEVER EVER EVER hold you to it.  To really build a client/agent relationship, we have to meet in person to decide if we’re a good fit to help you achieve your real estate goals.  And you’ll have to CONTACT ME to make it happen.  WHY?  Because I’m just not into stalking and I’m easy to find. 

Want your own MLS access?  You can SIGN UP HERE.

So, go ahead, get your SF real estate information fix on!  Sign up for one, two or all three of the San Francisco real estate tools above! 

And if you think you’d like me to represent you in the sale or purchase of a property, call me at 415–307–1392 or shoot me an email.  I’m happy to schedule a free consultation with you to see if we’d work well together.

Oh, and as a reminder, should you sign up for any of the tools above, as always, your info will not be sold, rented, shared, abused, danced on, or in any other way misused. Just thought you’d like to know.

SF Snapshots: San Francisco Living

Carriage Entrance of the Palace Hotel, originally uploaded on by Bennet Hall

It’s Photo Friday again here on Luba’s San Francisco Real Estate Blog! 

This photo is sort of a early-days shot of valet service.  According to SF Images “the Carriage Entrance of the Palace Hotel was used for grand entrances upon its opening in 1876. The area was renovated to become a restaurant due to guests’ complaints over the smell of manure.”

I’ve had bad valet service before, but never did the valets smell like manure.

This week’s photo was brought to you by Bennet Hall but if you love the image, or a variety of other historical SF Images, you can get them yourself, in a variety of sizes, to hang on your very own wall.   

Don’t forget to check back next week for another glimpse of San Francisco.

And if you’d like to throw your photos into the pool of candidates for my SF Photo Friday collection, tag your SF Photos from Flickr with LubaSF.

Happy Friday!

30 Days of Sold San Francisco Property Listings

We’re starting a new feature here at Luba’s San Francisco real esate blog. 

It’s a rolling average of the last 30 days of sold listings. 

We’ll also be bringing you the last 30 days of new listings in a different blog post. 

Check back next week to see the sold properties stack up. 

Sold Listings 03/10/09 – 04/09/09