1896 San Francisco Firehouse For Sale!!! (And a Tour Business and Memorabilia to Boot!)

**UPDATE** 

We’ve determined pricing for the Firehouse and the Tour Business!!!! 

The Firehouse is $975,000

The Tour Business is $249,000

And if you are interested in grabbing the torch and taking over the complete lifestyle, then make a reasonable offer for both!!!  For once, the sellers are not JUST interested in the price (though money DOES talk), but more than anything, they would really love to see someone carry on the legacy they created.  And frankly, I’d like to see the dream kept alive as well! 

(And ideally, I’d like to reserve the right to slide down the firepole from time to time, but that’s not a deal breaker. )

I’m giving you a fair warning – this video is addictive, amazing and has a jingle you may not be able to get out of your head for days!!!  It is NOT your typical property listing video.  TRUST me. 

And thanks to the video, I’ve been singing the “The Big Shiny Mack Truck Fire Engine!” for DAYS now!  I haven’t had anyone complain yet, and may have been the cause of people all over San Francisco singing that jingle now too!

But the video and the song are just bonuses…. along with the song, you get over 4000 square feet where you can whirl around the firehouse which, to my knowledge, is one of the last San Francisco firehouses (if not THE last one) that has still maintained it’s historical integrity. 

The couple that owned it lovingly restored it (a before & after pic are below), and fell so much in love with the place and the lifestyle that they added a “Big Shiny Mack Truck Fire Engine” to their collection and used it to create a profitable tour business that had made kids (of all ages) from ALL over the world smile!!! 

But as many stories go, it’s time for the current owners to move on.  Which means you can pick up this HOT (badumpum) piece of real estate for yourself.    As a fellow colleague joked, it would make an especially “HOT” Valentine’s present. LOL!

Though the price is still not yet determined, numbers are being crunched and the list price will be announced in the next few weeks.  The building, business and historic collection will all be for sale – together, or separately. 

In the meantime, email me at luba@zephyrsf.com or call me at 415-307-1392 for more information. 

San Francisco Real Estate Sales Data – December 2009

As I do every month, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of December for you.  Obviously, I’m a little late, since it’s almost February, but as they say, better late than never, right?  

This month, single family sales volume increased.  Median price dipped and days on market increased (not a surprise with lenders dragging their feet at every corner.)  Condos increased in volume by a smidge and median price increased by a smidge too.  and days on market increased (same as single family homes.)  And TIC sales almost doubled from the month before -a BIG surprise 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 Deccember 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009:

Single Family Homes

• 200 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $757,609
• Minimum Sale Price was $169,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $14,000,000
• Median Selling Price was 99% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 53
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 104% of asking price

Condominiums, Lofts & Co-ops

• 181 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $680,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $212,900
• Maximum Sale Price was $3,375,000
• Median Selling Price was 97% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 70
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 98.4% of asking price

TIC’s

• 55 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $587,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $340,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $1,635,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 72
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 101.5% of asking price

30 Days of Sold San Francisco Real Estate

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 12/25/09 – 1/28/10

San Francisco’s Ocean Beach – 107 Years Ago! (Plus Info on a Beach Clean-up!)

Cliff House & Ocean Beach Panorama, 1903 from Richmond SF Blog on Vimeo.

I’ve got my FOURTH cold of the year.  Yeah.  I’m thinking of buying stock in Nyquil. 

But in between blowing my nose and wiping the water pouring from my eyes, the one thing that is keeping me sane is being able to work from home while I watch the ocean from my window (which you can coincidentally do too if you buy my listings at 2458-2460 Great Highway - and as a bonus, you’ll be my neighbor! )

I also happened to find some cool videofootage from the Richmond SF Blog of Ocean Beach back in the days when appropriate beach apparel was a 3 piece suite instead of a wetsuit. 

Since I love San Francisco history, and I LOVE Ocean Beach, I thought I’d share the video here.

And a fat “high-five” the Richmond SF Blog folks for finding this awesome footage!  Keep it coming!!!

Oh, and coincidentally, there’s a clean-up scheduled at Ocean Beach on January 31st at 9am.  From the invite:

Starting at Lincoln Blvd. and moving south, we will pick up the trash that has been deposited by the recent large storm swells on the beach. There is ALOT of very small plastic and styrofoam that is VERY hazardous to the environment and animal life on la playa. Please join us; bags and gloves will be provided.

Please, Won’t You Be My Neighbor! SF Ocean View Flats for Sale!

Ocean Beach Living!

It’s always a beautiful day in my neighborhood.  If you read the blog regulary, you know I live here on Great Highway in the Outer Sunset. 

You’ll also know that I LOVE my neighborhood.  Even on a crappy day like today, with the wind blowing and the rain pouring, I can sit in the comfort of my very own house and watch the Pacific Ocean waves land on Ocean Beach. 

It’s a different vibe over on this side of San Francisco.  There’s an amazing community feel, and the local businesses are fantastic.  Whether we’re talking about the Riptide Bar or Noriega Produce or Java Beach or The Pizza Place, you’d be hard pressed to find another group of business owners in the City that care more about their neighborhood than these folks do.

And, we also have amazing neighbors.  People actually care about the neighborhood and they get involved.  And with Carmen Chu making herself available to the community to both hear our concerns and respond to them (yes, she listens AND acts on what she hears!  Crazy, right?) the hood just gets better and better.

So, I’m thrilled to announce that you’ll have an opportunity to be my neighbor.  We won’t be living next door to each other, but when you live on Great Highway, all of your nighbors feel close, even if they’re a few blocks away.  And better yet, your neighbors become your friends!

I won’t give you the whole spoiler about the listing because I think to REALLY appreciate it, you need to see it for yourself.  But the website, www.2458-2460GreatHwy.com will give you a little tease as to what living at the beach can be like.  Besides the ocean views and daily access to sunsets over the horizon, and your own ginormous landscaped yard perfect for parties (complete with bonfire pit!), you get an enclosed outdoor shower (the folks at Socketsite should appreciate that!) where you can get down to your birthday suit and not be afraid of neighbor’s prying eyes.

The Enclosed Outdoor Shower!

Check out the website (www.2458-2460GreatHwy.com) or give me a call at 415-307-1392 for more info. 

And, “Won’t you please, please won’t you, please…….. Please won’t you be my neighbor???  Hello Neighbor!”

San Francisco Real Estate Fast Facts: December 2008 vs December 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. Or – you can always ask me questions.

Single-Family Homes

Condos

2-4 Units

* * * * *

Data provided by Terradatum.

Single Female in Search of Home for Sale

The title of the post almost sounds like a personal ad, right? 

Well I was taking a look at my list of San Francisco clients that are looking for a home or have recently purchased a home and I realized that about 35% of them are single women.

While it does appear that I tend to work with more single female home buyers than national averages, across the country, I did find some interesting statistics while searching the net:

Not bad for girl power, eh?

The demographic includes all women, including never married, divorced or widowed.

Each person’s motivations for buying a home is, without a doubt, different.

Past generations waited for Mr. Right to come along and give the poor helpless female financial security.

But TODAY’S woman is ready to take her financial destiny into her own hands. According to an older article from USA Today:

The trend is striking, because in 1981, the number of single women and single men home buyers was virtually the same. Since then, the percentage of buyers who are single women has almost doubled, while the percentage of single men buyers slipped 1 percentage point to 9% last year.

The article goes on to say:

“For the first time in history, women have access to the same resources men have always had — money, social status, power,” says Donald Hantula, professor of organizational psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia.

“Women can go and acquire them on their own rather than searching for a mate to provide them. These demographic and social changes are not in line with how we adapted in the hunter-gatherer era.”

In SF, women have a number of options when it comes to buying a home. My clients’ searches have included houses, condos, TIC’s, lofts, fixer-uppers, new construction, Victorian architecture, modern design and so many other variables that there’s just too many to list.

And now that we are seeing some better deals in the San Francisco housing market, I’ve been getting more calls from single women ready to take the plunge and buy a home. In fact, now that the real estate prices have softened in SF, I’ve gotten calls from some past single female clients that are ready to jump in and buy investment property, with a big enough down payment, they are actually able to see a positive net gain on a rental property in San Francisco.

If you’re a single woman and you’re thinking about buying property in San Francisco, whether for your primary residence or for investment purposes, give me a holler – I’m happy to help you decide whether now really is the right time for you to buy.

Oh, and the embedded video???  Just a gratuitous baby dancing to the Single Ladies song because who doesn’t like to watch babies boogie!

San Francisco Real Estate Fast Facts: November 2008 vs November 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. 

Or – you can always ask me questions. 

Fast Facts

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.

Newsom Facebook’s his Press Release about Treasure Island Transfer from Navy to SF

According to a Facebook update (yes, I’m Gavin’s FB friend, I’d like to think we’re actually really close and he reads my status updates and laughs. ):

[Mayor Newsom] just announced an agreement with the Navy to transfer Treasure Island (TI) to San Francisco. The development of TI will create thousands of jobs and one of the most environmentally sustainable developments in US history.

Um, pretty cool! 

In fact, if you haven’t heard about the plans for Treasure Island, Inhabitat.com had some good details about the path to a green and sustainable mini City.  It could be one of SF’s new awesome AND green neighborhoods in the near future!

So if you’re a real estate developer planning on, say, selling any awesome new green developments in the next 50 years in that area and need an awesome San Francisco realtor, give me a holler so that I can fit you into my business plan.

You can read the press release (I found the link in the FB post) HERE.

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.