Another day of good news in the San Francisco housing market!

San Francisco’s Polaris Group has released it’s San Francisco Residential Development Report for December 2009.  The report analyzes new and resale condominium market trends and the performance of new condominium communities.

And the report highlights look like this:

• The resale market is showing positive signs with closed transaction volume increasing for the first time in 2009. During September-to-November 2009 sales were up 36.0 percent from the previous year. However, the median price for the same three month period was $641,000, a 9.5 percent decrease from the prior year.

• Radiance, a 99-unit community, sold out this month at an average absorption of three homes per month. Sales at Radiance began in March 2007.

• Two communities – 188 King & Cubix – recently returned to the for-sale market. 188 King is a 44-unit community located in South Beach that was repositioned to rentals in 2006. Cubix, composed entirely of 98 micro-units, had sales suspended in the Spring of 2009 when the original developer was foreclosed upon by his lender.

• There are a total of 21 new home communities on the market with a standing inventory of 1,036 condominium homes.

It does indeed look like 2010 will be bringing some positive momentum to the SF real estate market!

So, if you don’t yet know that the contest for the Sexiest Realtor in the San Francisco Bay Area is on and poppin’ – then you haven’t been keeping up with the blogosphere. 

As usual, this time of year, The Front Steps (one of my personal favorite local blogs) throws on their Sexiest Realtor contest. 

What is NOT usual, is that this year, yours truly was thrown into the mix when an anonymous little birdie wrote in and nominated me.  The nomination went something like this:

Hey Front Steps,

 

Oh I got your sexy realtor. Her name is Luba and she’s a Zephyr agent in SF. You didn’t ask people to say why they think their nominee is sexy, but I’m gonna tell ya anyways:

 

1 Look at her. She’s smoking hot.

2 She’s smart — and brains propel beauty into crazy-sexy-hot territory.

3 She’s got a full-back tattoo which is so way cool. I am attaching the full back piece as a photo since I think it just oozes SF to be a professional but also have a little edge too.

 

Here’s her blog: http://www.lubasf.com/blog/

 

 

ps.

I like your blog. And noearch should know sexy is not so much about looks and mostly about style and attitude — and that intelligence is one the sexiest things on earth.

Now – don’t get me wrong dear readers, I’ve seen the competition, and it’s fierce, but hell, it’s true what they say: it IS an honor just to be nominated!!!

And if you DO want to vote, either for yours truly, or for any of the other sexy boys and girls in SF Real Estate, head on over to The Front Steps and start clicking!  The first round ends this week and finals are next week!

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:

Median Price for Homes Goes Over $800,000

The median price of single-family, re-sale homes in San Francisco saw prices up, year-over-year, for the second month in a row. The median price also went over $800,000 for the first time since August 2008.

The median price rose 7.2% from October, and it was up 9.2% compared to last November.

Sales of single-family, re-sale homes fell 15.4% last month compared to October, but were up 34.5% year-over-year. That’s the fifth month in a row year-over-year sales have been higher than the year before. Year-to-date, home sales are up 1.4%.

Condo/loft sales were off 2.8% month-over-month, but up 103.9% compared to November 2008. This is the fourth month in a row condo/loft sales have been up year-over-year. Year-to-date, condo sales are off 5.1%.

The median price for lofts/condos in San Francisco dropped 0.5% from October, and was down 6% year-over-year. The average price gained 6.9% month-over-month, and was off 7.9% compared to November 2008.

Read on for full details.

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 11/04/09 – 12/04/09

As I do every month, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of November for you.  I’m actually surprised I managed to make it on time – it’s been one hell of a month and if the way my phone has been ringing is any indication, 2010 is going bring some positive changes to the SF housing market. 

This month, single family sales volume slipped a little.  But, it’s slipped less than it has in other years, and my feeling is that part of the problem is that lenders are taking A LOT longer to close deals these days (I haven’t had a deal close ON TIME in several months) so I’m guessing we’ll see some of these sales close in December.  Median price did increase and days on market remained almost the same.  Condos on the other hand increased in volume by a smidge and median price slipped by a smidge and days on market decreased.  And TIC sales have dropped -and they seem to keep dropping since TIC interest rates aren’t usually very desirable and these days, rates on condos and single family homes ARE awesome.  Without some sort of incentive from a seller, TIC’s just aren’t on everyone’s “to buy” list these days.

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 November 1, 2009 through November 30, 2009:

Single Family Homes

• 183 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $822,500
• Minimum Sale Price was $165,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $9,000,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 37
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 103.5% of asking price

Condominiums, Lofts & Co-ops

• 176 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $660,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $217,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $4,975,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 50
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 100% of asking price

TIC’s

• 29 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $526,320
• Minimum Sale Price was $230,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $1,125,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 60
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 101.5% of asking price

When I was growing up, my first “job” was helping my step-dad manage his rental properties here in San Francisco. 

He didn’t have a whole lot of property to manage, but there was enough to introduce me to some fundamental principles of property management.

It probably goes without saying that no matter where you own your income property, you want to have a good tenant.  You want someone to care about your property, to pay their rent on time, and overall to just be a good tenant. 

But to do that, you also need to be a good landlord. 

The Trump University Blog recently provided some simple, common sense tips on how to attract good tenants (many of which simply included being a good landlord.)

My favorite tips (paraphrased):

• Take care of your property and your tenants will too.  This should go without saying.  Keep common areas neat and clean and you’ll likely find tenants that want to keep the place tidy once they move in. 
• Send birthday cards.  YUP, your tenants are human.  They have feelings, emotions, and birthdays.  And who doesn’t appreciate a birthday card.  I know I do!!!
• And my personal favorite: “Be present.  Be available.  Lack of communication can quickly break down the tenant/landlord relationship.  Respond to their questions and concerns promptly.”  Yes, again, common sense!!!  But remember, as an income property owner your job isn’t just to collect a rent check.  Your job is to provide a home, a shelter, and a safe haven, so to speak, for your tenants.  Even if your response is, “I’m swamped but I’ll get on this ASAP” your tenant will appreciate that you actually care enough about their needs to respond right away.

To read all ten tips, check out the Trump Blog, but remember that you can start just by remembering that your tenants are human beings and if you treat them well, they’ll likely treat you well in return. 

San Francisco happens to be one of the few cities where school districts don’t have a direct impact on real estate prices, mostly because the way that school assignment process works for SF kids is not like it’s done in most places, but what do you expect from a City that just isn’t like most cities!

A lot of people aren’t happy with the way the system works, and this time, the San Francisco Unified School District is actually planning on listening to parents whose children are affected by the process.  So, check out the details below, provided by San Francisco’s one and only Zephyr Real Esate.

San Francisco parents have long been frustrated by the daunting student assignment process currently in place in the San Francisco Unified School District. In fact, dissatisfaction with our schools is often cited as a cause for
the noticeable outflux of young families from our city.

After many years of hard work, the SFUSD is preparing to move forward with a revamped and hopefully much improved student assignment process.

To get the new plan launched by spring, and in order to ensure that the new process is as effective and beneficial as possible, the SFUSD is reaching out to local families for
feedback.

If you are an SFUSD family, please consider attending one of the following town hall meetings:

• December 2, 6pm to 8pm, Washington High 600-32nd Ave
• December 15, 6pm to 8pm, Dianne Feinstein 2550 25th Ave
• January 7th, 6pm to 8pm Drew Elementary 50 Pomona St
• January 14th 6pm to 8pm, Francisco Middle 2190 Powell St

If you can’t make it to a meeting, visit sfusd.edu to take a survey and share your thoughts on the process.

And finally, the SFUSD Parent Advisory Council and Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco will organize a series of “Community Conversations” to keep busy parents in the loop.

Photo Credit: Robert Campbell Photography / Chamois Moon

San Francisco’s infamous Zephyr Real Estate (which happens to be the awesome company where I hang my Realtor hat) released it’s latest SF real estate newsletter.  And so, I’m sharing it with you!  (I’m pretty generous that way!)

Stay tuned for more articles from the best San Francisco brokerage’s newsletter over the next few days

For now, here the winter update for SF real estate:

As usual, the San Francisco real estate market is doing significantly better than the state numbers, or even the Bay Area region numbers would suggest. Sales have been noticeably improving since March and there is no reason to believe that a slow down over the holiday season is anything more than normal and expected.

The negative factors that do impact us include unemployment issues that are being experienced in the hi-tech industries that are located within commuting range of San Francisco. Consumer confidence numbers also appear to be weak.

There is some very good news to report, however. The number of San Francisco properties under contract is up 48% over what we were seeing at this time last year, and the number of closed properties is up 26% over this time last year!

Between buyer incentive programs, exceptional interest rates and great median home prices, there hasn’t been a better opportunity for buyers in recent memory. Since an improvement in consumer confidence only requires us to be optimistic, let’s expect a great Spring for 2010!