Hello My Favorite People!

If you love getting these weekly updates as much as I do sending them, please pass them on. I love to make new friends. And remember that any good Realtor (like me) welcomes new clients, so keep me in mind anytime someone you know needs information on the SF real estate market. I believe there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

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First off, 7X7 Magazine is sponsoring an evening called “Meet Your Match at the SF Mart” on Wednesday March 29– this sounds like a singles event, but it’s really something that’s ‘organized specifically to connect young homeowners who need a little decorating direction with design professionals who have the talent to help.’ I think it’s a little bit of a meet and mingle with designers mixed with a silent auction of furniture and accessories.

I like the idea of being able to meet a number of home designers at one time. Chemistry is critical when the professional you hire will be intimately involved with your living space. I suspect they’ll also be toting portfolios so you can get an idea of their personal style—another important key when choosing just the right designer.

Anyway, I could always use some design help, so I think I’ll go. Even though I don’t qualify as a ‘young homeowner’ I bet they’ll still be happy to see me. Wanna’ come with? Just email me or call—I can give you a ride.

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The market continues to be brisk, especially for single family homes and Victorian condominium flats in Noe and Cole Valley. Hundreds of people are trooping through the open houses and multiple offers are common for these kinds of premium properties. Other segments, like SOMA lofts and condos in the Southern neighborhoods, are moving a bit more slowly – but they are moving, provided they are well-priced.

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This week, instead of ‘best buys’ I’m offering up ‘fun buys’—offbeat living spaces and other properties that inspire imagination and creativity (who doesn’t dream of owning their own shop, restaurant or cool studio space?):

1392-94 Pacific – Mixed use 2U for $1,488,000. A darling Victorian building (+/-2300 square feet total) in a dreamy Russian Hill spot right around the corner from the Hyde Street cable car. Downstairs is an established art gallery with hardwood floors, multiple rooms and track lighting. Upstairs is a nicely redone flat with new kitchen and baths. Parking is around back on Lynch Alley. No yard, but there’s a nifty roof deck with City views.

1817 19th Street- buildable Potrero Hill lot with views for $849,000. Delivered with plans and permits—a rarity for San Francisco. It’s nearly impossible to build something new right now. The drawings call for a big, Big, BIG 3br/3.5 bath home that maximizes the awesome views. The location is a hop, skip and jump to Potrero’s sweet little commercial district.

2169 Folsom, #107. Studio loft for $199,000. No, that price is not a typo. Yes, there is a catch—this is a commercial unit that is zoned for work only. However, if you’re looking for a place to set up your photo studio or meet with clients, this could be it. It’s not huge (just 419 sf), but it has a loft and high ceilings so it feels much bigger. 2169 Folsom is the Allied Box Factory building, a well known warehouse conversion loft development.

Other hot buys at good price points:

Mission District studio: $329,000. Yes the price really is that low. Good block near all the cool stuff on Valencia and Mission. Older building; lots of charm. Good light, hardwood floors, bay windows. Parking available on a rotating basis. You get wait-listed when you’re new to the building– each time a unit turns over a parking space is available to the next person in line.

If I were buying my first place and was price sensitive, I’d definitely put this one on my list to check out.

Parc Telegraph (220 Lombard): Junior 1-BR for $510K. Everyone wants the junior-one brs at Parc Telegraph because of their clever lay-outs and spacious feel. This place is a great pied-a-terre or corporate apartment. 6th floor, Bay Bridge view, and tenant occupied at a healthy rent.

The unit is being sold quietly without advertising or placement on the MLS. Please call if you have questions or would like a private showing.

That’s it for this week. Please call if you want more information about anything I’ve discussed here at 415-738-7040. I look forward to hearing from you.

Posted in Home Design, Hot Properties | Comments Off

Hello My Favorite People:This week I want to share some ideas about building equity outside of your home instead of inside— they come from two books: Missed Fortune by Douglas R. Andrew and The Truth About Money by Ric Edelman. Both were recommended to me by SF mortgage planner, Steven Hook (thanks, Steve!)

Thousands of financially successful people who have more than enough money to pay off their mortgage, refuse to do so. Instead, they build equity outside of their home instead of paying down the principal. This prevents a sizeable chunk of their net worth from being tied up in a single asset and gives them more financial flexibility and freedom.

To illustrate the benefit of not being eager to pay down your mortgage, here is the story of two brothers: Each secures a mortgage to buy a $200,000 home. Each brother earns $70,000 a year and has $40,000 in savings.

The first brother, Brother A wants to own his home free and clear as quickly as possible. He bites the bullet and gets a fifteen-year mortgage at 6.38% and shells out all $40,000 of his savings as a 20% down payment. His monthly payment out of pocket is $1,383, but the income tax benefit of the mortgage makes his real payment is $1,227. Brother A also pays an extra $100 to his lender every month to further push his mortgage balance down.

Brother B thinks a little differently and chooses to conserve as much cash as possible. He puts down 5%, or $10,000 and invests the remaining $30,000 in a safe money-making side account. He secures a 30-year interest only loan at 7.42% with a monthly payment of $1,175, leaving him a monthly net after-tax cost of $799. Every month he adds $100 to his investments (the same $100 Brother A is paying his lender), plus the $428 he’s saved from his lower mortgage payment. His investment account earns an 8% rate of return.

Five years later, Brother A has received $14,216 in tax savings, but made zero dollars in savings and investments.Brother B, on the other hand, has received $22,557 in tax savings and his savings and investment account has grown to $83,513.

67% of Americans have more of their net worth in home equity than in all their other investments combined. When you integrate your home equity into a total financial picture, however, you reduce your risk by diversifying your net worth into multiple investments.

This notion of separating your home equity from your home is a tough concept for me to put in practice. I’m still a bricks and mortar kind of gal who will always be more comfortable socking my money away into things I can see and touch. Even so, these are darn smart ideas—if I could rearrange my thinking, I’d be applying them in my own life to increase my net worth more rapidly.

What do you think? Are you like me? Or are you more like Brother B? I have excerpts of articles and books that expound these concepts in more detail. If you want me to send you copies, just call or email. See you next week!

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Hello My Favorite People:To find out where the deals are, scoot to the bottom of this email. To learn a bit about teaching your kids some financial basics, read on:

I’m not sure why, but money is a touchy topic in some families. Some parents I know would rather talk about sex with their kids before engaging them in a discussion about how to spend and save wisely. Maybe it’s because the subject isn’t interesting enough. Or maybe it’s hard to have a frank money talk with your kid when your own financial house isn’t in order.

Either way, your children don’t have to inherit your anxieties or problems related to money. Here are 5 ways to instill good financial habits early on:

1. The piggy bank trick. Nelson Rockefeller used this method to teach his kids the value of budgeting. Give your child three piggy banks– one for spending, one for saving, and one for charity. Then, each time your child earns or receives money, a third of it goes into each bank.

To get you started, www.moonjar.com sells a collection of stylish money boxes with a family guide and passbook to record transactions. And www.fatherville.com has a cute article on how to start teaching your child the value of saving and earning interest using a piggy bank.

2. Give your child a weekly allowance and don’t tie it to chores. Every expert on kids and finances recommends against tying an allowance to chores. Chores are done because kids are members of the family and everyone helps out.

Make sure the allowance is an amount that feels fair to both of you. You want to give your kid enough to make them think about how they will spend it.

3. Play Show and Tell. Nothing teaches a child like watching his or her parents. Invite them to sit with you when you pay your bills. Explain what you’re paying and where the money comes from. When I did this with my kid, I let her write out the amounts and payees on some of my checks. She got a real kick out of it.

4. Let them safely play with plastic. Teach them how to use plastic responsibly and ideally avoid graduating college with a mountain of debt from those credit card offers. Once in high school, get them a debit card tied to a checking account (their account, not yours, please!). Then move them up to a preloaded credit card.

5. Let them learn from their mistakes. Kids are bound to screw up and overspend, especially at first. Let them learn on their own the consequences of poor financial decisions and remember that experience is the best teacher.

6. Study up. There are a plethora of books out on the topic of children and finances right now. You can even send your kid away to Camp Start-Up. A local option is www.money-101, a mini-series of classes that teach kids financial literacy..

So much for kids and money. Now let’s talk about how to invest in real estate. Here are the week’s ‘best buys’:

Paragon Presents Landers Grove (at 15th and Landers)– These are 14 New Condominium Homes
priced from the mid $600,000’s to the low $900,000’s. All the units are either flats or townhomes. Some have cathedral ceilings. Others have views (and a few have both!) Stupendous finishings- big entry foyer, gas fireplaces, wide plank hardwood floors, only the best fixtures and finishings.

Landers is a sweet alley street between Church and Dolores—an awesome Upper Market location where you can park your car for days and get everything done on foot— all the goods and services you need are right nearby along with endless dining and entertainment venues.

While we aren’t taking reservations yet, I can get you into Landers Grove before its release to the general public. Let me know as soon as possible if you would like to be put on the guest list for a sneak preview later this month. But don’t wait. I predict these units will be sold out within a month’s time.

Another great listing coming up in District 5 is an Outer Noe Victorian right near Amberjack Sushi and Eric’s Restaurant. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, sun room, 1 car parking, square footage just a hair under 2,000. Drop-dead gorgeous designer kitchen with Wolfe Range. Price will be in the $1.3-1.4M range. Let me know if you want to get in early.

Please remember, if there’s anything I can do to assist you with real estate-related information, please give me a call. I’d be more than happy to help. Have fun counting pennies with your kids.

Posted in Hot Properties, Miscellaneous | Comments Off

Hello My Favorite People!

First off, let me tout my listing—I pitched it last week at the end of my email, but I want to put it up here now, where I can be sure you see it.

www.219Brannan-10B.com

—This is a 1br/1ba South Beach condo with a-m-a-z-i-n-g views. Logon to look– it’s worth it just to look at the pretty pictures. . .

Now onto some real estate gossip: There’s been lots of talk in the press lately about the softening real estate market. I think it’s because they’re looking at sales data on properties that went into escrow over the fall. There’s no question that the market was slower then and fewer sales were recorded. Just take a look at my SFRealEstateBuzz entries from last fall and you can read about how we saw a definite slowing in the last quarter of ’05.

Prices never went down however – just the number of sales. And since the beginning of the year, market activity has been brisk—especially as supply continues to not meet demand.

At Paragon, we’re experiencing some overwhelming traffic at open houses. On one rainy Sunday, more than 150 people went through a single family home on the 1500 block of Noe Street (listed for $1.5M). Multiple offers are anticipated for the property. In Cole Valley, on Woodland , a home listed for $1.4M had 200+ visitors and received four offers.

Homes in District 4 neighborhoods like Miraloma Park are also experiencing high activity. Last Sunday a house on Teresita listed for $975,000 had 250 potential buyers walk through and received 5 offers last week. It received 5 offers. And a home on Capitol in the Ingleside District listed for $599,000 received four offers.

And North of Panhandle is highly sought after. A fixer home on Fulton Street that was on the market last fall and never sold was re-listed recently for the same price as before ($1.2M). The property received three offers and sold for above its asking price. And a condo flat on Hayes at Broderick, listed for $775,000, received 13 offers and sold for over $900,000.

SOMA and South Beach condos and lofts are also moving, albeit not as quickly as other kinds of properties. Again, the laws of supply and demand are at work here. There is simply more inventory in these denser neighborhoods full of multi-unit condominium buildings. But any condominium or loft is assured of selling, provided that it’s properly priced.

Why is the media telling a different story? We’re not sure. Perhaps they need to sell papers. Perhaps they’re confused on their information. But if you want to know what’s truly going on in the market, ask a good Realtor (like me). We’ll give you the real story on what’s going on with San Francisco real estate.

Some great listings at Paragon that haven’t hit the market yet: (call me at 415-738-7040 if you want to get a preview)

Noe Valley: A 3br/1ba home with large 1br apartment down listed for $1,249,000. Good bones and stylish detailing, like a fireplace, moldings and hardwood trim.

South Beach: 1br/1ba condo listed for $519,000. Cute as a bug-in-a-rug.

Dolores Street: A 1600 square foot condominium flat listed for $749,000. That’s as big as most houses in San Francisco.

Upper Market: A 3br/2ba view home listed for $1,049,000. This last one is one of my personal favorite in terms of value. It has a killer master suite down, hardwood floors and dead on views that hit you as soon as you walk in the front door.

If you are interested in knowing more about how the market is progressing, or know of anyone else who wants the inside scoop, I’d love to hear from you. Just call or email and I’ll give you a play-by-play update. I hope to hear from you you soon.

Posted in Hot Properties, Market Conditions | Comments Off