Welcome back to the “Over, Under, At” weekly feature. It’s a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price. 

*Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don’t get posted on the MLS.

Happy Monday folks. I can report a little sign of what might potentially be good news (yes, I’m a little wary of jumping for joy just yet.)  Sales SEEM to be crawling upwards.  (OK, buyers, this may not be good news for YOU, but I think you still have plenty of time to take advantage of the good values out there.)  And the Over/Under/At numbers are showing that not every property is selling for under the asking price.   

SINGLE FAMILY HOME SALES AND CONDO SALES HAVE DOUBLED SINCE LAST WEEK!  TIC’s haven’t but there’s no real need to gamble on a TIC (I think they’re great investments under the right circumstances, just not for everyone, evertime) when there’s a good supply of condos and demand still has us in a buyer’s market.  HOWEVER, they STILL all sold AT ASKING!!!  

Seeing the increase in sales in JUST one week is enough to make me do a little dance.   

And like I said last week, I’m not saying the market is recovered, or even already recovering… but I feel like things are stabilizing and that qualified buyers are jumping on the opportunities in the market.  And eventually, we’ll come out of this slump.  And some of you will have a shiny new (or maybe old) piece of real estate to show for it! 

Keep in mind that these reports are meant to be helpful for potential buyers and sellers – but to really understand the pulse of the SF real estate market, talk to a local real estate agent. We’re in the trenches and these closed sales went into escrow a month ago (sometimes less, sometimes more). We are much better in tune with what’s going on in the market TODAY and can give you much more in depth information than any set of statistics can. If you need advice from a San Francisco Realtor, feel free to email me or call me at 415–307–1392. I’m always happy to talk real estate.

Here’s a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from February 23 – March 1, 2009: 

Single Family Homes - 39 Homes Sold

Condos/Lofts/Co-ops’s - 19 Homes Sold

 

Welcome back to the “Over, Under, At” weekly feature. It’s a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price. 

*Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don’t get posted on the MLS.

Happy Monday folks. I can report a little sign of what might potentially be good news (yes, I’m a little wary of jumping for joy just yet.)  Sales SEEM to be crawling upwards.  (OK, buyers, this may not be good news for YOU, but I think you still have plenty of time to take advantage of the good values out there.)  And the Over/Under/At numbers are showing that not every property is selling for under the asking price.   

In fact, last week, we had JUST TWO properties that sold over the asking price – this week we have TEN!  Now, I’m not saying the market is recovered, or even already recovering… but I feel like things are stabilizing and that qualified buyers are jumping on the opportunities in the market.  And eventually, we’ll come out of this slump.  And some of you will have a shiny new (or maybe old) piece of real estate to show for it! 

Keep in mind that these reports are meant to be helpful for potential buyers and sellers – but to really understand the pulse of the SF real estate market, talk to a local real estate agent. We’re in the trenches and these closed sales went into escrow a month ago (sometimes less, sometimes more). We are much better in tune with what’s going on in the market TODAY and can give you much more in depth information than any set of statistics can. If you need advice from a San Francisco Realtor, feel free to email me or call me at 415–307–1392. I’m always happy to talk real estate.

Here’s a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from February 16 – 22, 2009: 

Single Family Homes - 18 Homes Sold

Condos/Lofts/Co-ops’s - 10 Homes Sold

Welcome back to the “Over, Under, At” weekly feature. It’s a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price. 

*Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don’t get posted on the MLS.

Happy Monday folks. Sales are still kinda sad this week.  Single family homes sales increased, condo sales decreased and TIC’s stayed the same (one closed last week, one closed this week.)  But, these are still most likely sales that went into contract in 2008 since a typical escrow these days is 30–45 days with longer escrows being more and more and more common.  And I’m hearing about a lot of new construction sales going into contract, but those won’t show up in this report so we can’t comment on them (but I do know that sales are happening). And of course, one thing I can’t help but comment on is how many properties are selling UNDER the asking price.  In face, MOST are under asking.  But asking price is really, just a marketing tool.  What this tells me is that the strategy of listing low to create a marketing buzz doesn’t work nearly as well anymore – unless the seller is willing to list REALLY low to create an auction type atmosphere.  Case in point: the one single family home that did sell over asking was listed at $399K and sold for $530K because the seller was willing to let the market determine the properties true market value.        

Keep in mind that these reports are meant to be helpful for potential buyers and sellers – but to really understand the pulse of the SF real estate market, talk to a local real estate agent. We’re in the trenches and these closed sales went into escrow a month ago (sometimes less, sometimes more). We are much better in tune with what’s going on in the market TODAY and can give you much more in depth information than any set of statistics can. If you need advice from a San Francisco Realtor, feel free to contact me. I’m always happy to talk real estate.

Here’s a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from February 9 – 15, 2009: 

Single Family Homes - 12 Homes Sold

Condos/Lofts/Co-ops’s - 10 Homes Sold

Are you looking to buy a house in San Francisco?  Or maybe you’re pondering selling that little SF condominium or TIC? 

Whether buying a house, condo or TIC, investment property,etc. or looking to sell any of the above in the City, you want TOOLS!

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The City Update(TM) is a little SF real estate newsletter delivered straight to your inbox (almost) every Friday.  It has ALL sorts of awesome features including:

• San Francisco Market Reports from the Altos Research folks
• All of the NEW San Francisco real estate listings from the last 30 days
• All of the SOLD San Francisco real estate listings from the last 30 days
• Links to SF Open Houses, SF Foreclosure Listings, and more
• Commentary about the SF Real Estate market from yours truly
• SF Property “Pocket Listings” that I hear about (properties that AREN’T available to the general public!)

You can SIGN UP HERE or you can check out the site (just keep in mind that frankly, the site sucks – but I created it myself and since my HTML skills are LACKING, I’m just happy I got THAT far with it!)

 

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It also lets you save your searches and new listings that match your criteria emailed to you as soon as they hit the market!  And you can save your favorite properties, watch them go into escrow, and if they’re in your “favorites” folder, you can even see the price they sold for (which we all know is super secret data.)  You also get notified of any changes that occur to the property listings that match your criteria AND Friday Open House reports.  Cool or what?

You’ll have to give up some personal info, and “agree” to work with me as your REALTOR (it’s a technicality that the MLS requires), but I NEVER EVER EVER hold you to it.  To really build a client/agent relationship, we have to meet in person to decide if we’re a good fit to help you achieve your real estate goals.  And you’ll have to CONTACT ME to make it happen.  WHY?  Because I’m just not into stalking and I’m easy to find. 

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So, go ahead, get your SF real estate information fix on!  Sign up for one, two or all three of the San Francisco real estate tools above! 

And if you think you’d like me to represent you in the sale or purchase of a property, call me at 415–307–1392 or shoot me an email.  I’m happy to schedule a free consultation with you to see if we’d work well together.

Oh, and as a reminder, should you sign up for any of the tools above, as always, your info will not be sold, rented, shared, abused, danced on, or in any other way misused. Just thought you’d like to know.

Welcome back to the “Over, Under, At” weekly feature. It’s a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price. 

*Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don’t get posted on the MLS.

Happy Monday folks. Sales are kinda sad this week.  Single family homes sales slipped, condo sales increased and TIC’s stayed the same (one closed last week, one closed this week.)  But, these are mostly sales that went into contract in 2008 since a typical escrow these days is 30–45 days with longer escrows being more and more and more common.  I am hearing good news, though, about sales picking up.  32 homes went pending in San Francisco in December (Single Family Homes, Condos, Lofts, Co-ops &TIC’s), 89 homes went pending in SF in January and 45 homes have already gone pending in just the first week of February!!!  OK, this is, by no means, indicative that the market is recovered just yet, but it is an indication that there are plenty of folks out there taking advantage of low interest rates, and lower prices.  And my feeling is that maybe, just maybe things are heading in a positive direction. 

Keep in mind that these reports are meant to be helpful for potential buyers and sellers – but to really understand the pulse of the SF real estate market, talk to a local real estate agent. We’re in the trenches and these closed sales went into escrow a month ago (sometimes less, sometimes more). We are much better in tune with what’s going on in the market TODAY and can give you much more in depth information than any set of statistics can. If you need advice from a San Francisco Realtor, feel free to contact me. I’m always happy to talk real estate.

Here’s a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from February 2 – February 8, 2009: 

Single Family Homes - 6 Homes Sold

Condos/Lofts/Co-ops’s - 12 Homes Sold

For years now, the condo conversion process in San Francisco has been a royal pain in the ass.

For 2 unit buildings, the process of converting a TIC (or Tenancy in Common) to a condominium process has been relatively simple (or at least as simple as anything the powers that be in the City can get their hands on, if ya know what I mean.)

But TIC owners in 3–6 unit buildings have had to suffer a much longer conversion process, that includes 3 years of owner occupancy prior to entering the building into the lottery.  While the process itself isn’t that horrible once a TIC owner has secured their winning ticket in the lottery, getting that ticket is almost as hard as getting Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket.

Plan C, an organization, that among many things, supports reforming SF’s condo conversion process gave us some stats on the current state of TIC’s waiting to convert to “win” the condo conversion lottery.

As the results shown below show, with only 200 “winning” units each year, the odds of winning have gotten steadily worse.

Year – Units

2003 – 994
2004 – 1405
2005 – 1512
2006 – 1652
2007 – 1736
2008 – 1944

 

Because the number of units entered goes up each year, the backlog of units seeking conversion keeps growing. New applicants can now expect to wait 12-15 years or more before winning the right to own their home. Condo conversion reform to increase the number of condo conversions is needed now more than ever!

But this year, things are different.  San Francisco needs money!

So, according to SF Gate, “this year San Francisco is considering letting people skip the line, offering a one-time chance to the hundreds of folks on the lottery list to go condo now – for an extra fee. The goal is to generate more revenue for the cash-strapped city and to create building-industry jobs, because condo conversions generally require some construction work to bring buildings up to code.”

Hmm…. could this really happen in SF? 

The City has been notoriously friendly to tenant interests that claim that condo conversion hurts tenants because property owners evict tenants in order to convert multi-unit buildings to condos.  However, there are now controls in place that will keep a building with a history of Ellis Evictions or other evictions that are not “just cause” evictions (such as a tenant not paying rent) out of the running for condo conversion forever – so that excuse, is frankly, no longer valid.

But as SF Gate points out, “A proposal to expedite condo conversion would require approval by either the supervisors or the voters – no easy task in a city where housing issues are famously contentious.” 

The article goes on to say:

Supporters say the sour economy could change the dynamics this time around.

“What’s different this year is that the city is in such a financial hole, this is a way to help,” said Mike Sullivan, board chair of Plan C San Francisco, a moderate civic organization that supports the idea. “If all the city did was grandfather in the 1,500 people waiting behind the lottery, just doing that would help the city’s budget.”

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, the proposal’s instigator, said the extra fees would directly benefit affordable and supportive housing, as a way to remediate the plan’s impact on the rental housing market.

So, while the odds of this thing passing through San Francisco’s powers that be are, frankly, anyone’s guess, I can tell you that there are going to be a lot of folks keeping their eye on the outcome – including yours truly.  And I’ll be sure to keep you posted as I hear new about the process. 

 

 

 

 

As I do every month, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of January for you.  I’m a little late this month since the weather was soooo nice, and frankly, I really didn’t want to deal with pulling reports from the MLS (if you’ve ever had the opportunity to witness any sort of MLS search, you know it’s easier and less painful to pull teeth out with a pair of tweezers.)  But here it is, raw and unfiltered, just how you like it.

Compared to December 2008, everything looks like it took a dip.  Sales volume fell, median prices fell, days on market increased – nothing really improved.  Of course, it’s more difficult to squeeze accurate information out of data when the sample is smaller, so having the sales volume decrease gives us less data to work with.  And of course, new construction sales are not usually included in this data because those don’t end up on the MLS.  This is going to affect the sales statistics for at least the next few months, and I can tell you that I’ve heard from various sources that due to the price breaks and incentives that developers of new construction are offering in SF, there have been many more new construction condos going into contract in the last few weeks.  Unfortunately, which we’ll never be able to count any of those sales in our statistics.  Which is a bummer, because I’m certain they would have made the numbers look at least a little better than they look here.  But alas, we don’t have those stats, but we do have the MLS. 

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 January 1, 2009 through January 31, 2009:

Single Family Homes

• 77 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $608,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $196,500
• Maximum Sale Price was $4,500,000
• Median Selling Price was 101% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 47
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 102% of asking price

Condominiums, Lofts & Co-ops

• 43 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $690,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $160,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $3,200,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 76
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 99% of asking price

TIC’s

• 11 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $637,500
• Minimum Sale Price was $278,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $735,000
• Median Selling Price was 98% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 75
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 95% of asking price

Welcome back to the “Over, Under, At” weekly feature. It’s a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price. 

*Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don’t get posted on the MLS.

Happy Monday folks. Single family home sales have just barely dipped, but there were many more listings that sold under asking this week, including one that sold for $354,000 or 27% UNDER the asking price!  Most other “under” single family homes in SF sold from anywhere from a few thousand dollars to 10% under the asking price.  Condos sales climbed up a smidge, and the over/under/at stats stayed pretty much proportional to last week.  And TIC’s, well, those sales have slipped a little (3 sold last week, to 1 sold this week.)   

Keep in mind that these reports are meant to be helpful for potential buyers and sellers – but to really understand the pulse of the SF real estate market, talk to a local real estate agent. We’re in the trenches and these closed sales went into escrow a month ago (sometimes less, sometimes more). We are much better in tune with what’s going on in the market TODAY and can give you much more in depth information than any set of statistics can. If you need advice from a San Francisco Realtor, feel free to contact me. I’m always happy to talk real estate.

Here’s a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from January 26 – February 1, 2009: 

Single Family Homes - 16 Homes Sold

Condos/Lofts/Co-ops’s - 9 Homes Sold

I know I’ve skipped a month or two, but I’m back to my regular blogging schedule, so once again, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of December for you.  The year had it’s ups and downs and lots of speculation about where the market is heading.  I still don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have data.  So here it is, raw and unfiltered, just how you like it.

Sales are down drastically from the summer months (about 30%), median price is down from the summer months (about 15%) and days on market numbers have increased drastically (about 33%).  However, properties are still selling.  And some are still selling over the asking price.  The market has no doubt changed.  Some of the changes are seasonal – the market slows every winter, but this winter has, indeed, been slower than the last several years. 

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 December 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008:

Single Family Homes

• 125 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $710,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $180,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $4,000,000
• Median Selling Price was 101% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 53
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 102% of asking price

Condominiums, Lofts & Co-ops

• 91 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $250,000
• Minimum Sale Price was $665,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $3,900,000
• 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 99% of asking price

TIC’s

• 29 Homes Sold
• Median Sale Price was $595,300
• Minimum Sale Price was $286,000
• Maximum Sale Price was $1,475,000
• Median Selling Price was 101% of asking price
• Median Days on Market was 52
• Median Selling Price for homes that sold within 30 days was 100% of asking price

As I do every month, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of September for you.   (And yes, because of the blogging break – these stats are coming to you a little late, but better late than never, right?)

This month, volume is down from August.  Median price is also down, but days on market and list price vs. sale price – didn’t change very much in either direction. 

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.

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!”