October 2009 San Francisco Housing Sales Data is Here!

Yet again, Luba’s San Francisco Real Estate Blog brings you the latest San Francisco Real Estate market report right 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:

San Francisco Home Sales & Prices Up in October

After eighteenth months of declines, the median price of single-family, re-sale homes in San Francisco recorded it’s first year-over-year median price increase of 0.7%.

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes gained 26.3% last month compared to September, and were up 18.8% year-over-year. That’s the fourth month in a row year-over-year sales have been higher than the year before. Year-to-date, home sales are down 1.2%.

Condo/loft sales, on the other hand, were off 1.4% month-over-month, but up 9.7% compared to October 2008. This is the third month in a row condo/loft sales have been up year-over-year. Year-to-date, condo sales are off 9.6%.

The median price for lofts/condos in San Francisco dropped 1.2% from October, and was down 11.9% year-over-year. The average price fell 9.8% month-over-month, and was off 13.8% compared to October 2008.

 Read on for full details.

SF Real Estate Blog is Back

You may have noticed that there’s been a lack of posts the last few weeks.  Well, they’ve been pretty damn long. 

They started a with a crappy cold.  Achy, sniffly, sneezy, coughing – all the stuff that makes the invention of Nyquil a dream come true. 

As soon as I started feeling a TEENSY bit better, I attended the It’s About Sea Life event (thanks to all of you who made it! I was a proud sponsor and an even prouder winner of a few REALLY cool auction items!) 

And then, since I wasn’t recovered from my cold and had TOOOO much fun at the event, I lost my voice. For a week.  And a half.  Good news for my other half, bad news for me. 

And then, well, then it was time for the gluttonous holiday we call Thanksgiving.    It’s the one time of year when I allow myself to eat turkey, cranberry, mayo and bacon sandwiches (preferrably on sourdough) for 4 days in a row.  (Followed by another 4 days of sandwiches when I defrost the rest of the turkey from Thanksgiving night! )

But, now, I’m back and read to rock n’ roll.  Or post n’ roll, actually.  :-D 

So stay tuned, the blog is back to it’s regularly scheduled San Francisco real estate programing.

From the San Francisco Zoo: 6 Ways to Have a Greener Holiday

I love the San Francisco Zoo.  In fact, I love it SOOOOO much that every time I help someone buy or sell San Francisco real estate, I donate a part of my professional fees directly to the Zoo. 

Prior to my career in the SF real estate biz, I actually used to work at the Zoo, and I strongly believe in their mission of education AND their mission of conservation, not only on a big scale (like when they were a part of the program that brought Bald Eagles back from the brink of extinction) but on a small scale as well, by hosting e-waste recycling events, and teaching people the importance of living a greener lifestyle. 

So, on that note, the SF Zoo has shared a few tips for a greener holiday season in their latest Animail:

1.  GIVE THE GIFT OF A ZOO MEMBERSHIP – THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING ALL YEAR LONG! Cross an entire family off your shopping list at once with the click of a mouse!

There are many Membership Levels for you to choose from for your gift – all of which pay for themselves in only two visits.

HURRY – ONLINE ORDERS MUST BE PLACED BY DECEMBER 16 TO BE FULFILLED. PURCHASE HERE. Also, come visit us during our gift Membership drive at Stonestown Mall on December 5 & 6. Gift Memberships can also be purchased at the Zoo.

Your friends and family will be surprised to receive such a unique, thoughtful and useful gift. Plus, you have the added satisfaction of supporting a good cause as our Members are a critical source of support for the care of our animals and our conservation and education programs.

Recipients will be thrilled that they can skip the ticket line and visit as often as they like for an entire year. No more pressure to get their admission tickets’ worth by making a fussy toddler stay past his nap time. They can even drop by this urban escape by the ocean on their lunch break to see what’s blooming in the gardens and take a few photos. No two visits are ever the same – they can watch our Zoo babies grow up and build priceless memorable experiences that will last a lifetime. Their family will become closer with each visit to ours.

Thank you for supporting this historic Bay Area family institution that serves to connect people with wildlife, inspire caring for nature and advance conservation action.

 

 

2. SEND CARDS AND INVITATIONS ONLINE. The holidays don’t just have to be about buying trees – they can be about saving them, too! There are many Web sites that offer electronic greeting cards and invitations to your holiday events.

3. MAKE YOUR OWN WRAPPING PAPER. Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in stores is not recyclable and ends up in landfills. Instead, here’s a great chance to get creative! Wrap presents with old maps, the comics section of a newspaper, or children’s artwork. If every family wrapped just three gifts this way, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

4. BUY ENERGY-SAVING “LED” HOLIDAY LIGHTS. Now you can decorate your house with LED lights that use 90 percent less energy than conventional holiday lights, and can save your family up to $50 on your energy bills during the holiday season! LED lights are available at many major retailers, including Target, Costco, and Ace Hardware.

5. GET A PESTICIDE-FREE TREE. Demand is on the rise for Christmas trees that are not covered in chemicals; some growers use 40 different pesticides, as well as chemical colorants. The good news is that there are now a number of tree-farms that sell pesticide-free trees, so ask your local Christmas tree seller, or search for an organic tree farm near you.

6. RECYCLE OR COMPOST YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE. Ninety-eight percent of Christmas trees were grown on farms, not in forests, so at least it’s not as if you’re cutting down an ancient tree. Each year, 10 million Christmas trees end up in the landfill. Many cities offer programs to turn your tree to mulch or wood chips. Call (800) CLEANUP or visit www.earth911.org to find the tree-recycling program near you. If you live in a city like San Francisco that has a compost program, you can cut up your tree and put the pieces in your compost bin.

Some items courtesy of the Sierra Club.

How Will Rising Mortgage Rates Affect San Francisco Real Estate?

I just got a question from a reader:

Q: I just heard that mortgage rates might be heading upwards.  Do you think prices in San Francisco will keep falling?

Well – first thing to note, is that prices have actually stabilized and in some neighborhoods, are actually rising, albeit slowly.  So the term “keep falling” may not apply to SF at all.

Some say that the low interest rates that we see now will be a thing of the past in just a few more months.  The Fed is keeping short-term rates low, but rumor has it, will be buying fewer mortgage-backed securities, which would cause rates to rise.

This would definitely decrease the purchasing power of home-buyers and may have an impact on prices, but with San Francisco, it’s hard to tell since we have consistently bucked the trends that the rest of the country seems to experience. 

In fact, right now, multiple offers over the asking price are fairly common in SF. 

So, unfortunately, there’s no crystal ball in real estate, especially in San Francisco real estate.  Since we’re not even sure that rates will increase soon, we have too many unknown variables to even make an educated guess at to what 2010 will bring.

Readers, do you have any thoughts?  If so, email me, or drop a note in the comments.

San Francisco – Parking Ticket Roulette (And How to WIN!)

SF Parking Roulette

If I wasn’t sick on the couch today nursing a  death-defying cold, I’d be out today, with the other masses of San Francisco real estate agents looking at all of the homes that are on the market.  It’s what we do to make sure we stay on top of our real estate game.

But that game can be dangerous.  Few parking spaces exist at most listings, and we (meaning Realtors) park illegally, and I mean we park illegally A LOT. I have 3 parking tickets in my car to prove it.  But, I always pay on time, and consider it a cost of doing business.

But because parking in SF is SUCH an issue (especially for those of use with professions that require us to live in our cars), this post on SF Appeal today caught my eye.

Apparently, a guy wrote a book about how to beat the SFMTA ticket writers at their own game. AWESOME!

Some of the tips?

– Check the white zones first because they often don’t have meters.

– Most passenger loading zones are ONLY ENFORCED during business hours, and many yellow commercial loading zones are only in effect until 1 PM.

– Red capped parking meters, which signify six wheel parking spots, are often only in effect for four hours at a time.

– Out of order meter=free parking

– Avoid towing by: remembering that parking restrictions are enforced until 100 feet from the sign, curb your wheel on any street with more than a 3 percent grade (basically, every street in San Francisco), keep wheels within 18 inches of the curb, and remember your front license plate.

Not bad, not bad at all.  I might also suggest buying an SFMTA parking card (which you can get online) and keeping a close eye on your watch when in a 2 hour zone, or parked at a meter.

Oh, and I recently had a panic attack when I read a post on another local blog that said that SF was going to enforce an ordinance that would no longer allow residents to parallel park in your own driveways!?!!????!!!

Since my garage is used for storage (like many other San Franciscans I know) I checked with Supervisor Carmen Chu’s office about this outrage!

I got a PROMPT response that said:

I just checked with the SFMTA and there is no ordinance against blocking your own driveway by parallel parking.  You just cannot block the sidewalk.

Thanks to a few $100 tickets, I already knew you couldn’t block the sidewalk, but I am relieved to hear that you can still parallel park in front of your own driveway (or a really nice friend’s !)

Anyhow – good luck to you in all of your San Francisco parking adventures – may the parking gods smile upon you.

This San Francisco Realtor’s 15 Seconds of Fame

Work in Progress

I have a feelings that postings will be pretty light thig week… I do believe I have a flu.  Body aches and sinus pressure  and just a general feeling of crappiness are taking over and if I find the time to write about San Francisco Real Estate, it’ll be a miracle.

But in the meantime, I wanted to share with you a piece that the SF Weekly Blog did about me.  I can’t help but be excited – and, well, if you’re a fan of tattoos and body art, they I think you’ll enjoy it.  And, it’ll probably teach you a thing or two that you didn’t already know about me. 

So, withour further adieu, click here for the full article.

San Francisco Real Estate Fast Facts – October 2008 vs. October 2009

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

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

Single-Family Homes

Condos

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.

San Francisco Real Estate – Sold!

Want to know know what sold in San Francisco in the last 30 days? Sign up for The City Update(TM) – San Francisco’s Friendliest Newsletter. You’ll get the details, and then some, in your inbox (almost) every Friday.

If you just want the round numbers, you can check them out below.

Sold Listings 10/13/09 – 11/12/09

Plant SF Helps Create Permeable Landscaping

I just got Carmen Chu’s latest newsletter and it had this news for residents of the Sunset District:

Sidewalk gardens can not only make our streetscapes beautiful, but also help recharge the aquifer and reduce sewer overflow contamination of the ocean.

Plant*SF and the San Francisco Parks Trust are offering the free installation of a demonstration sidewalk landscaping garden in the Sunset District using native and drought tolerant plants and permeable pavers.

Corner properties are especially encouraged to apply.

To have a property be considered to receive free sidewalk landscaping, interested parties should email their contact information and property address to info@PlantSF.org by 5pm December 10, 2009. See www.plantSF.org for examples of sidewalk gardens.

About Plant*SF:

Plant*SF exists to promote permeable landscaping equally as sustainable urban infrastructural practice and as a beautification effort; by providing information to the public and by partnering with city and neighborhood organizations.

Plant*SF:

* Encourages and enables individuals to use an existing permit process to convert areas of the public right-of-way (sidewalks) to exposed-earth gardens;
* Advocates for and educates about the use of native and drought tolerant plant species;
* Coordinates with local organizations to facilitate plantings (neighborhood associations, Neighborhood Parks Council, Friends of the Urban Forest, WalkSF, SPUR);
* Works with city agencies to encourage permeable landscaping strategies as urban infrastructure (SFPUC, DPW, Parks & Recreation, Department of the Environment, Mayor’s Office);
* Researches related materials and methods;
* Advocates for sustainable water practices, such as ground water recharge, roof drain diversion and water reclamation; and
* Is dedicated to increasing the amount of urban plantings for the enjoyment of all.

San Francisco Stylephile – Your Guide to Living in Style in SF

San Francisco Stylephile

So I have a friend.  Her identity is a secret.  But her blog is not.  It’s the San Francisco Stylephile Blog.

Things I like about the blog (and the super secret author):

• She’s a San Franciscan
• She has her own style (as in San Franciscan)
• She believes in vintage shopping which is a much more “reduce, reuse, recycle” friendly approach
• She loves handmade items
• She tells you where she finds her fabulous fashion gems
• Many of the photos involve gorgeous scenes of San Francisco
• Many of the photos involve gorgeous real estate in San Francisco
• And many of the photos involve gorgeous scenes of shoes
• OH, and other vendors and bloggers and crafty people from all over the place like to give free things to her readers.

Now, that I’ve got your attention, go check out her blog and add it to your feedreader so you can follow her fashion escapades at your leisure.  Visit: http://sanfranciscostylephile.blogspot.com