PG&E – San Francisco’s Big Bad Wolf

I hate meter reading day.  In fact, my alarm just went off to notify me that it’s time for me to call PG&E and give them my gas & electricity meter reading. 

But, I hate meter reading day.  Sometimes, I forget.  And the rest of the time, it’s just a pain in the ass. 

Unfortunately, my meters are located in places where PG&E can’t see them from outside my house.

So when I heard about PG&E Smartmeters, I was SUPER excited.

But the wind has been taken out of my sails somewhat.  Seems PG&E’s mew smart meters aren’t that smart.  They’re full of errors.  BOOOOOO!

In fact, apparently there’s SO many errors that the San Francisco City Attorney has asked them to slow their roll.

For the full article, click here. 

And of course, whether you own SF real estate, or rent in the City, you might be affected by this too. 

In my fantasy world, PG&E will work out the kinks, fix the errors and make my meter reading life easy.

Till then, I’ll be calling it in manually. Bah humbug.

More News on San Francisco Pay to Play Condo Converstion Policy

So I got a GREAT email from Plan C.  And while I usually love to add my two cents, they pretty much said it ALL for me.  So here it is, verbatim, for your condo conversion supporting pleasure:

We have good news to report regarding the proposed one time “condo bypass” for TIC owners, originally proposed in 2009 by Supervisor Elsbernd: the Mayor has included the condo bypass proposal as part of this year’s budget.

The details of the proposal are as follows:   TICs must have participated in the 2010 condo conversion lottery in order to be eligible for the condo bypass.  The fee for the bypass starts at $20,000 per unit for those who first participated in the lottery in 2010, and declines by 20% for each previous year of unsuccessful lottery participation. So, if 2010 was the first year your TIC participated in the lottery, your fee will be $20,000 per unit in the building. If 2010 was your second year, your fee will be $16,000 per unit. If 2010 was your third year of participation your fee with be $12,000 per unit. If 2010 was your fourth year $8,000/unit, and if it was your fifth year and beyond, $4,000/unit.  Note:  If your TIC only qualified to participate in the last 25 units which were drawn from Pool B of the 2010 lottery (because of eviction history), you are not eligible for the one-time bypass.

Plan C has worked with the Mayor’s office on this issue since it was first proposed, and we are very pleased that the Mayor has included the plan in the budget.  The proposal will bring significant revenue (likely in excess of $8M) to the city during this time of budget crisis – money that will provide funding to affordable and supportive housing programs that might otherwise be cut.  At the same time the legislation will bring much needed ownership and mortgage relief to middle income San Franciscans that owner occupy their TICs.  This is sensible legislation that helps everyone – it addresses the needs of TIC owners AND provides funding to low-income residents with special housing needs.  Tenants are also protected – to be eligible to participate in the lottery, the TIC building must not have been subject to recent Ellis Act evictions, must not have evicted any protected tenants and must not have more than one no fault eviction.

How you can help!

Email the Mayor and Key Supervisors. The Mayor and the Supervisors need to hear from us – contact them today by clicking here – let them know that you support the one-time condo bypass. Tell them that the program would help thousands of first-time homeowners, would hurt no one, and that it would help solve the City’s budget mess. And then tell them that you support overall reform of the completely broken condo conversion process! If you have the time and desire to call them, do that too. (contact information available here).

Attend the budget hearing on June 21.  The condo bypass will be considered at the budget hearing at City Hall on June 21. The hearing starts at 10AM, and the Condo Bypass is Item Number 4.  We don’t expect the Board to get to Item 4 until at least noon.  Please come and speak in public comment – tell the supervisors that you support the condo bypass! We know that the opponents of this program will be out in force – so it is critical to have supporters there as well.  If you are able to attend the hearing, let us know by email at info@plancsf.org- we may be able to give you better information as to exactly when to show up as it gets closer to June 21.

 

First Time San Francisco Homebuyers? HGTV wants YOU!

I guess I’ve always sorta wanted to be on TV. 

I’m not very photogenic – I always get caught with expressions that look like I’m smelling something rotten, or in some ridiculous shot where I am devouring piles of snow, or where I look like I’m actually taking a nap. 

But I figured that as long as the camera keeps rolling, maybe those expressions won’t get frozen in time – unless someone pauses the screen on their DVR, in which case, well… you can’t win them all.

Now, I’ve been talking to the casting folks over at HGTV’s show “My First Place” and they are ready and willing to work with my first time home buyers clients. 

So, if you’re ever wanted to be on TV like me, and aren’t afraid of your expressions being frozen on someone’s paused DVR, then read the details from the HGTV folks.   And if you want to have your homebuying experience taped (and get a nice little housewarming gift at the end to boot) shoot me an email and I’ll get you hooked up with an application!

BUYING YOUR FIRST PLACE?
Then HGTV is looking for you!

MY FIRST PLACE, HGTV’s hit series, is coming back for an eighth season and we’re looking for first-time homebuyers (and their agents!) in the Greater San Francisco area RIGHT NOW!

We are looking for fun, high-energy people who are just starting the home-buying process for their first place and would like to share their story with HGTV! Our goal is to capture all the trials and tribulations of looking for, bidding on and buying your first place.

Taping takes place this spring and summer.  Ideal candidates will be enthusiastic buyers with a great story to tell and a desire to share their experiences. Singles, couples and families are all invited to apply!

Candidates who complete taping will receive a surprise housewarming gift as part of the show and also a DVD copy of their episode to document their first home buying experience for all time!

Here is the links to apply from the HGTV and High Noon websites:

High Noon  

HGTV

Oh, and don’t forget to select your favorite Realtor to join you!

How to Tell You’re in a Safe SF Neighborhood

I hate to say it, but the title of this post is kinda of misleading.  It’s actually a bit of a trick question. 

Why?

Well, everyone has a different idea of what makes a neighborhood “safe.”  Frankly, each person has a different tolerance to risk. 

I live in the Outer Sunset where we seem have a higher than average amount of auto break-ins and thefts and grafitti tends to be fairly common (my fence AND my garbage can got tagged recently AND I chased down two teens I saw tagging on EVERYTHING they saw on the street) but I still tend to consider it a “safe” neighborhood.  Other neighborhoods have higher rates of drug dealing or prostitution.  Others, still, have a high rate of murders and homicides.   Others still have gang violence. 

San Francisco is diverse, and if you’re thinking about buying real estate here, you really need to examine YOUR tolerances. 

What YOU consider to be a safe neighborhood depends primarily on your personal aversion to risk.  Your standard of safety is not necessarily my standard of safety.  (Though I’d be so bold as to go out on a limb and say that most people feel less safe in areas with high murder rates, just sayin’.)

But that doesn’t mean that you need to jeopardize your safety by wandering the streets at night looking for crime. 

To find out about crime in SF, you need only look as far as your computer!

You can easily find statistics about San Francisco crime by pointing, clicking and filling out some parameters. 

CrimeMapping.com, according to their site, ”is a site developed by The Omega Group to help law enforcement agencies throughout North America provide the public with valuable information about recent crime activity in their neighborhood. Our goal is to assist police departments in reducing crime through a better-informed citizenry. Creating more self-reliance among community members is a great benefit to community oriented policing efforts everywhere and has been proven effective in combating crime.”

CrimeReports.com claims to be the world leader in online crime mapping, with over 600 law enforcement partners across North America. It also features sex offender data and allows you to create email alerts about crime in a specific area.

SF Crime Maps is a site that’s hosted by our very own sfgov.org.  To use the site, check out the various FAQ’s and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “I Agree.”  From there, click the crimes you want to search for (you’ll notice homicides are conspicuously missing from the list!) and select the area parameters.  You can search up to the last 90 days. 

San Francisco Crime Blog picks up where SF Crime Maps leaves off.  The SF Crime Blog covers a variety of crimes in the blog section but really focuses on the murders that have occurred in SF.  In addition to a countdown of the homicides that have occurred, you’ll find a map that details those homicides for 2007 and 2008. *While I liked the format of this blog, a little birdie dropped a note in the comments that informed me of some potential copyright type issues surrounding the blog, and since I HATE it when people copy my content and put it all over the internet (y’all know who you are), I removed the link.*

Once you have access to statistics, you can make your own decisions whether the neighborhood you want to live in is safe enough for you.

Swine Flue Vaccine Update – Kids Need a 2nd Shot!

You got your kids an H1N1 vaccination.  You thought they were safe, but apparently, one shot is NOT enough!

I got an update from San Francisco’s Supervisor Carmen Chu the other day, and she asked that we spread the news widely:

The Department of Public Health will be holding the mass vaccination clinic December 22, 2009 at the Bill Graham Auditorium from 10am-7pm.  I believe the booster shots will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  The follow-up booster is actually the exact same vaccine as the initial shot.

If you have a blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook account, etc. and live in San Francisco, please repost this wherever you can!  The swine flu is pretty nasty and a lot of parents think their kids are safe right now after the first shot!

San Francisco Real Estate Forecast Looking Good for 2010

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!

San Francisco Real Estate’s Sexiest Agents

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!

November 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:

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.

SFUSD Seeks Family Feedback in Ambitious Redesign of School Assignment Process

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.

San Francisco Housing Market – Winter Predictions from Zephyr Real Estate

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!