Mortgage Rates Keep Slipping, Slipping, Slipping – Into the Future……

Was just surfing the interweb through my RSS reader and caught that the interest rates for mortgages just keeps on slowly slipping (reminding me of that “Fly Like an Eagle” song which is now stuck on a loop in my head.

The Zillow folks say:

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed rates decreased slightly this week, with the weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 5.02%, down from 5.04% the week prior. For 15-year fixed mortgages, borrowers were quoted on average, 4.42% and for 5/1 ARMs, 3.94%.

This morning, the national rate for 30-year fixed purchase mortgages was 4.93%.

Good news for BUYERS!    Get more purchasing power and lower monthly payments.

Good news for SELLERS!    Get more qualified buyers to come see your listings. 

Long story short – it’s good for the housing market.  The stats are out there, but thanks to the Zillow folks, it’s in a pretty little chart for you to look at. 

Of course, rates DO change from day to day – so be sure to talk to your mortgage specialist about your situation. 

What?  You don’t have a mortgage professional on your side?  Well, then Marc Geshekter will come to the rescue!  You can call Marc at (415) 722-3196 or email him.

The Easiest Way to Buy a Car in San Francisco

My lease was almost up on my old SUV, so I went out on a hunt to find a new car.   Not to toot my own horn, but I’m a damn good negotiator (I would make a crappy real estate agent if I wasn’t.)  So I rolled up my sleeves and started doing research. 

I was over the whole SUV thing.  So I started looking for small sporty sedans.  I narrowed my search down to a few makes and then the whole thing started to get very overwhelming. 

I vaguely remembered getting a recommendation for a company called Cartelligent.  They do all the shopping for you, for a price.  But, they DO give you a best price guarantee – meaning if they can’t can’t you the car you want at the best price, you get the fee you paid them refunded to you.

So, I put them to the test.  I called the company and was put through to Barbara vong,  a senior account executive, who told me how the service worked, and after getting my credit card info and list of “must haves” for my new car, she sent me a list of cars that met my criteria.

Long story short, I put the Cartelligent guarantee to the test by trying to negotiate directly with the dealership – and after much due diligence on my part, I realized that the Cartelligent folks really did have the best deal AND skipped all the sales mumbo jumbo.   In short, Barbara treated me the way I want to be treated (the same thing I do for MY clients!)

I signed all the paperwork to get my shiny new car, which was actually shipped to me from Southern California.  it arrived earlier than expected and I drove to Sausalito to go pick it up.  I got a full tour of my car’s options, signed a few papers and was DONE! 

I should have saved myself a world of hassle and skipped any talks with the dealership at all.  Next time, I’m going straight to Barbara to get my car. 

If you’re not into stress, pain and a world of headaches (hey, some people are – I’m not one to judge ), give Barbara a call next time you’re in the market for a new vehicle.  She handles leases, purchases and might even be able to search used car inventory.  The service is relatively inexpensive and in the end, saves you time, stress AND money.

Barbara can be reached at 415-339-4574 or by email.

San Francisco’s AlertSF: Emergencies in your Inbox

I’ve talked about AlertSF before. It’s a text based emergency notification service that sends emergency updates for San Francisco.

You can set it up to send text message updates just for the zip codes you care about (like where you live or work or where your kids go to school) or if you’re like me and travel between zip codes in the blink of an eye, you can subscribe to all San Francisco emergency alerts. (AlertSF can also email you if that’s your preference.)

Best part – text messaging works when nothing else does. During Hurricane Katrina, while other methods of communication failed, texting didn’t.

Registration is free. Go to http://www.alertsf.com to set up your account today.

Oh, and if you’re reading this San Francisco Real Estate blog, you can scroll down and see the latest SF emergency alerts on the bottom right hand side.

Stay safe, San Francisco!

One Sunny Day – a Test Post

just testing out mobile postings.

A Sunny Day on the Embarcadero

San Francisco Real Estate Blog is Under Construction

Pardon the dust.  We’ve been having some troubles here at the friendliest San Francisco Real Estate Blog.  Techinical difficulties have started creeping into our midst, so we are going on a bit of a hiatus while we exterminate the bugs, do some upgrading, and maybe, just maybe come back with an all new rockin’ design for the blog. 

In the meantime, if you need to get your SF real estate fix – sign up for The City Update(TM) – San Francisco’s Friendliest Newsletter!

See you in a few weeks!  And if you miss me – call me at 415–307–1392 or email me.

Waves to Wine – Give up Some Money

CLICK HERE TO GIVE MONEY

I have a friend in her early thirties.  Several years ago she discovered she had MS.     

At this point, her symptoms are minimal – but it’s obvious that even at this young age, the effects are setting in. 

Because she’s not just a friend, but an incredibly awesome person, she has other friends to help fight the battle in ways she can’t. 

Personally, I can barely ride a bike – at least not without crashing into a car (that’s a totally different story)…. But luckily, one of our friends can.  And she’s riding to raise money for MS. 

Whatever you give will help.  Even if each of you gave just 1 dollar, we’d raise a couple hundred bucks.  If each of you gave $5, we’d easily hit the $1000 mark and then and then and then some. 

Here’s the request:

Dear Friends & Family,

This is my eighth year participating in Waves to Wine, the bike ride from San Francisco through Sonoma County, to raise awareness and funds for MS research. This weekend I’ll be riding a total of 90 miles (40 on Saturday; 50 on Sunday). This year, our team of six riders will be cycling farther than ever before in Team TNT history, for a total of 840 miles!

I’m super excited about the event this year because I have never ridden this far in one weekend before. Despite my history with this event, I’m not a cyclist. In fact, I’ve only had my own bike since last year (I bought it the night before the ride). Before that, I rented a bike for the ride every year. So let me tell you: it’s a big deal doing the ride as a non-cyclist. It hurts. A lot. But it’s worth it. Waves to Wine is an awesome event and it’s for a great cause. I ride for my amazing father-in-law, Bernie, and my friends with MS. 

Thanks to the efforts of the MS Society and the dollars you donate, researchers are making great progress, but the cause and cure are still over the horizon. Last year, cyclists and volunteers raised almost $1.6 million. This year, with the registration being the largest ever, we hope to hit the $1.75 million mark.  Please help me meet my fundraising goal by making a tax-deductible contribution. Small or large, all contributions are appreciated! 

Whatever you can give will help! I really appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and thanks in advance for your support! I will even oblige those who are interested with unflattering shots of myself in biking spandex, which–even if you don’t know me–are good for a laugh. 

Nikki

P.S. If you would like more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the MS Bike Tour are used, or the other ways you can get involved in the fight against MS, please visit http://www.facebook.com/l/;nationalmssociety.org.

Click here to get to my personal page and make a secure, online donation.

To send a donation: Make all checks payable to: National MS Society and mail to: Nikki Jong 1265 Washington St Apt 5 San Francisco, CA 94108. Don’t forget to keep your copy of the check for tax records!

San Francisco Real Estate Sales Data – August 2009

As I do every most months, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of August for you.  Last month I published three month’s of data, but this time, here’s the data for August, raw and unfiltered, just how you like it.

This month, as is common for August, volume is down from July across the board.  The other numbers, including days on market, median sales price and percentage where all across the board.  Another reason sales volume might be lower might have something to do with lenders taking their sweet ass time closing deals.  They seem to like to throw up a lot of road blocks these days, but if you’re a good agent and happen to have internal GPS (the kind that lets you think outside of the box so you can still get deals closed), you just look for a safe detour and keep driving the speed limit.  Yes, it’s a weird analogy, but believe me, it fits. 

So here’s this month’s summary of home sales pulled directly from the MLS. Remember, these are all closed sales and not pending sales.

Check back monthly to get the latest facts and figures – and if you have any questions about these statistics, or the market in general, feel free to give me a holler! I’m always happy to talk “real estate!”

Here’s a quick snapshot of the market from August 1, 2009 through August 31, 2009:

Single Family Homes

• 196 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $705,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $170,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $5,500,000
• Median Selling Price was 101% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 40
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 104% of asking price

Condominiums, Lofts & Co-ops

• 151 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $712,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $135,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $6,000,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 71
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 98.5% of asking price

TIC’s

• 31 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $508,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $299,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $1,340,000
• Median Selling Price was 99% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 68
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 98.5% of asking price

San Francisco Real Estate – Sunshine is Peeking through the Clouds