sf real estate buzz » 2008

A Room for a Few–	August 24th, 2008
Last week there was a great real estate rental story in the SF Weekly about the Tiger House– a seven bedroom home in Cole Valley, right where Belevedere dead ends into Frederick. It’s known as the Tiger House because the whole facade is covered with a painting of a fantastic Tiger sitting in the jungle. If you’ve seen it, you can definitely picture it in your mind right now. The SF Weekly story is about the fluid twenty-something bunch that lives there. The anchor tenant is Dan, the owners’ son. Known as the “Danlord, he oversees manages the tenant turnover. Whenever he posts a vacancy, the response is overwhelming and competition to get in is very tough. The alchemy of personalities is very important to the Danlord, and you have to be very funny, clever, smart and cool in all the right ways. When I first moved to San Francisco in 1986 and needed cheap rent I dreamed of finding a group household with funny, clever roommates. My life would be like a series of “Friends” episodes where we would share meals, be there to greet one another when we got home, and never, ever leave dirty dishes in the sink. My first place was a room in a giant flat in the Duboce Triangle with four roommates. I got hardwood floors, ceilings that went up forever, and little plaster cherubs nestled in the corners of my big bay window (I’ve never seen anything like them since). The downside was the careless sloppy people I lived with. My low point came at 2:00 am about four months after I’d moved in, when they decided to use a chain saw on some furniture because they had run out of wood for the fireplace. After that, two old high school friends invited me to live with them in a flat across town on Filbert, between Octavia and Gough. It was a good sized three bedroom, built in the 1960s with a lovely back yard that we were allowed to look at but not use– it belonged to Mrs. Chin, who lived with her husband downstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Chin were retired, old-fashioned and extremely noise sensitive. To this day I can’t figure out why they decided to rent the place above them to three young women. They peeked between the blinds each time we passed their kitchen window on our way upstairs, and Mrs. Chin’s days were spent banging a broomstick on the ceiling whenever more than one person walked across the living room at a time. My third shared rental was my last, in a two bedroom Victorian apartment on Carl Street. The trim on the outside and inside was thick with layers of paint and there was wall-to-wall beige shag carpeting with insanely ugly kitchen linoleum. We also overlooked the N Judah and there was a power surge each time a train went by. But it had a formal dining room and for the first time I could really entertain and try recipes like pot roast with Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix dumped over it. The market for rental housing has been getting tighter and tighter over the past few years and much of it is tied to the current real estate market. In my little real estate world, I see scores of renters who are staying put because they either can’t get a mortgage or are choosing to wait until the market bottoms out. I’m also hearing from friends with grown children who have scored big-paying jobs and are moving to the City. These kids can afford the big rents that drive the cost of housing up, making competition for reasonably priced rental housing even more fierce. Other renters stay put because they have cheap rent-controlled housing that they don’t want to give up. Then there are owners of smaller buildings who choose to keep their units vacant. I can think of two clients right now who have big flats sitting empty– they want to keep their options open in case they want or need to sell, and the value of their property goes down once they rent them out. I’m sure if I were to poll my associates at Paragon, I would come up with at least twenty other landlords who are doing the same thing. If I were a twenty-something seeking a rental today, I would probably be a stressed-out wreck. So kudos to any of you trying to find a decent place to rent at an affordable price today. Anyone willing to try it must be incredibly courageous, creative and resilient. Posted in Uncategorized \| No Comments »

Prices for The Hayes Condominiums in San Francisco - Effective August 08

August 18th, 2008

I frequently get updates on pricing for different new home projects. Even
though we’re in the ‘dog days of August” right now, developers still need to sell
their product just as much as ever and are offering extra incentives.

The Hayes is located at Page and Gough, three blocks from the Hayes
Street shops. It’s also an ideal location for ballet buffs, symphony fans, and
opera lovers. It’s a low key building in terms of amenities– no bells and
whistles like a concierge or doorman, but there is a health club on site and the units themselves have a kind of European charm, with outlooks across Victorian rooftops.

Here are details on pricing I got from the Hayes this afternoon. These
prices do not include the $25K incentive packages they are offering
on each sale:

Featured Homes

Unit #	Floorplan	Bedrooms / Bath	Sq. Ft.**	Price*
318	B	0 bd / 1 ba	401	$389,000
522	B	0 bd / 1 ba	404	$429,000
719	D	1 bd / 1 ba	666	$599,000
611	G	1.5 bd / 1 ba	646	$579,000
610	H	1.5 bd / 1 ba	738	$599,000
224	W	1.5 bd / 1 ba	1092	$699,000
513	A1 (OH)	2 bd / 2 ba	1037	$799,000
517	A1	2 bd / 2 ba	990	$829,000
326	A2 (SIM)	2 bd / 2 ba	993	$899,000
612	F	2.5 bd / 2 ba	1008	$829,000
327	F	2.5 bd / 2 ba	1023	$899,000

Please call The Buzz if you want more inside scoop on
these new homes– 415-577–0809.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Introducing You to Some of my Cool Clients	August 15th, 2008
Over my 22 years in the business of helping people buy and sell real estate, I’ve worked with everyone from artists and entrepreneurs, to attorneys and whiz-bang computer geniuses. Here are links to some of their websites– www.johngriffinphotography.com John is actually my hairdresser’s husband. But more importantly, he’s an a-m-a-z-i-n-g wedding photographer and his site is wonderful eye candy. I especially enjoy his black and white shots. John recently started a blog with photos from his recent shoots. His ‘about’ page is also thoughtfully written, and really tells me a lot about who he is and how he works. www.lesartssf.com John and Leslye Larson’s eclectic art collection has morphed and grown over the years to include English pop art, American figure painters and abstract painters of various schools. Their Rausch Street loft serves double-duty as their living space and gallery (where you can view works by appointment). Lately they have been gathering wonderful pieces by Latin American artists and recently closed out a successul Ed Hooper show at the Thomas Reynolds Gallery. Michel McIntosh I first met piano player Michael McIntosh over twenty years ago when he was living the Bohemian life in a tiny North Beach flat with three angst-filled roommates. He’s since settled down and become a family man, but continues to make his living as a mighty fine piano player. Most of his gigs are with the Cottontails, where he’ll rattle out gin-house blues, riff on a Charilie Parker tune, and rock out on Black Sabbath, all in a single set. Michael is also the first person I’ve found with a My Space page who’s as old as I am. If I’m lucky, maybe he’ll add me as a ‘friend’ after I join. Posted in Uncategorized \| No Comments »

New Listings and Properties Not Yet on Market	August 13th, 2008
We’re going from most expensive to least expensive today, starting with an investment opportunity on Russian Hill: $4,250,000 Russian Hill Investment Property – 13 units with nice Golden Gate Bridge views. Information is limited at this point. Please call Cece Blase for details - 415-577-0809. $2,150,000 Marina District Flats. 2 units, both owner-occupied. Some remodeling. Classic architecture with much original detail. This one is a pocket listing. Please call for address, details and showing information - 415-577-0809. $1,795,000 Anza Vista 1000 block of Broderick Street. 4100 square foot Victorian with 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 1 parking. Full renovation. This is the block that dead-ends into Kaiser Hospital. Well worth checking out. 415-577-0809 $1,359,000 Corona Heights Charming, quiet(!) street. Two level condo, 3br/2ba/2pkg. House-sized 2400+square feet, deeded garden. $898,000 Nob Hill. 1+BR/1BA. Top floor in 9-unit boutique building. Built 2006. Great light, sexy master suite. $869,000 Outer Richmond. 2+BR/2BA/3PKG. Spacious with formal living spaces, good architecture, eat-in kitchen. Bonus rooms and bath down. One block to GG Park. $799,000 Midtown Terrace 3BR/1BA/1PKG. Just shy of 1100 square feet, corner lot, sunny backyard, potential on lower level. First open scheduled for 9/7. I can get you in early. Call to preview and buy before it hits open market! 415-577-0809. Posted in Hot Properties \| No Comments »

New Intelligence on the Artani Condominiums in San Francisco	August 6th, 2008
One of my bosses is Artani’s developer. So Paragon is handling marketing and sales for the units. The sales office is scheduled to be up and running right after Labor Day weekend. The Artani has 52 units total, with a combination of one bedrooms, one bedroom plus dens and two bedrooms. There are no studios or three-bedroom units. All of the units come with one car parking. Square footages run from just over 700 sf for a one bedroom to the 1400 square foot penthouse units– . Tentative pricing puts an entry point at $599,000 to $1M+ for a penthouse unit with indoor/outdoor terrace and water views. Almost all the units have some outdoor space. There will be a ‘knockout, fabulous’ (sales agent’s words) roof deck with fountains with landscaping designed and installed by Living Green of SOMA The principal amenity will be a doorman/concierge. The Artani not heavy on bells and whistles– I like to call these kinds of buildings “stylish, not stylin.” High end finishings include Caesarstone countertops, and hardwood floors come standard in all the units. Multi-paned windows with floor-to-ceiling glass will be the building’s hallmark and a major architectural feature of the project. Relative to other large condominium buildings on the Van Ness Corridor (Chelsea Court, Symphony Tower, Opera Plaza), the Artani will have a much higher end feel with richer finishings and lobby attendant. Posted in Hot Properties, New Construction \| No Comments »

San Francisco’s Going to the Goats	August 6th, 2008
This is an ‘only in San Francisco’ story: Laguna Honda Hospital is competitively bidding out the task of brush clearing and is seeking a good, qualified goatherd complete with flock to complete the task. (Yes, goatherd is one word– and yes, you spell it without an ‘er’ at the end– at least according to dictionary.com). Here’s the description of the job they’re bidding out: Clear brush, shrubs, plants, weeds from 22 acres of property at Laguna Honda Hospital. . . must be performed by goats and supervised by goatherders (sp) who will stay on site with the goats to monitor cutting activity, moving fences and goats. This price to include all transportation, fencing, monitoring, herders, and all other charges pertaining to proper care and handling of these animals. The city to be held harmless for any loss of goats, theft or otherwise. This brings up all kinds of questions. Do the goatherds bring the goats in and out everyday or are they allowed to sleep with them like they do in the Bible and Joanna Spyri’s ‘Heidi?’ Is there a limit to the number of goats you can bring in? How long should this job take? And how hard is it to find a good goatherd these days? City Bidding Out Slaytanic Goatherding - SFBG Posted in Living in San Francisco \| No Comments »

How’s it Hangin’? Tips for Art Placement	August 6th, 2008
Another good article in today’s Chronicle shows how designers of this year’s Sunset House in Menlo Park chose to cover an entire wall with art in the dining room. The mosaic effect lends itself to San Francisco homes which can often be challenged by wall space. Here are tips on how to hang multiple pieces of art on a single wall– 1. Consider painting the wall a contrasting color to give your pieces a good ‘pop.’ 2. Map out how you want to place your pictures on the floor in front of the wall. The Sunset House designers spent two hours on this part. 3. Strive for a mix of small, medium and large pieces. If you go all small it will look tacky. Go all big and it becomes overwhelming. 4. Choose about three anchor pieces. This follows good design sense. Whether working with flowers, pictures or furniture, get the big pieces in place first, then add the smaller ones. 5. Start by aligning the outer edges and work your way in toward the center. Spacing can become irregular in the middle if all the outside edges of your mosaice are in lign with each other. Posted in Home Design \| No Comments »

“It Could Never Happen to Me-” Owners Kid Themselves on Property Value	August 6th, 2008
Zillow is not my always my favorite website– at least when I have my agent hat on. They have groovy maps that pinpoint homes for sale, homes that sold and foreclosures in different neighborhoods, but often their ”zestimates” miss the mark with under- or overevaluations. They are good at getting the ‘pulse of the market’ when it comes consumer surveys. And an article today in the Chronicle about a Zillow survey tells us that most homeowners think they’re the exception to the rule and that their property hasn’t lost value. According to Zillow, 62% of the nation’s homeowners believe their property has climbed or at least held its value over the past year. This counterintuitive viewpoint hits a wall of market reality– that 77% of properties have dropped and only 24 percent have risen or held firm. Western state residents are more realistic, but still way off the mark when considering the value of their personal piece of the American pie. 56% admit the market value of their home fell, while 44% believe it maintained or gained worth. This fits my own personal experience with the prospective Sellers I interview these days. About half are sanguine and realistic when I give them an estimated and value and half gasp in shock when they learn their home may be worth 10% less than what they could have gotten two years ago. Even so, the gap between reality and perception is still staggering as 88% of homes in the Western states have lost value, according to Dataquick. You can visit SFGate to learn the median home price in your Zip code. Posted in Market Conditions \| No Comments »

Green Eye Candy - Fun Websites for Eco-Friendly Home Design	August 6th, 2008
Plyboo Flooring - Bamboo flooring that comes from responsibly managed forests. Wonderful texture and color choices. PaperStone - PaperStone’s eponymous product is a durable architectural finishings for everything from countertops to furniture to bathroom partitions. It is made from recycled cardboard and office paper. They mix the stuff up with resin to make it tough enough for outdoor kitchen cabinetry and commercial grade needs. Windfall Lumber in Olympia, Washington has been committed to sustainable forest products since day one– and tries to deliver affordable products as well. Toto Plumbing Products - Toto’s website makes toilets and sinks look sexy with mood music and lighting. Posted in Home Design \| No Comments »