A story from the Wall Street Journal Reports:

The majority of the mortgage modification programs are available to only homeowners who either already are in default or are at risk of defaulting on their primary residences.  But if you can’t pay the mortgage on your vacation home rather than your primary residence — you still have options.

Any property owners who are in default or at-risk of defaulting should contact a reputable credit counseling agency to discuss possible options other than foreclosure. When calling a credit counseling agency, the homeowner should have their loan number, most recent mortgage statement, bank statements and a letter demonstrating financial hardship. To find a local credit counselor, visit the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Web site at or the non-profit organization National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

Owners should contact their loan servicer as soon as possible to try to work out potential solutions. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), some borrowers who do not meet the requirements for an existing mortgage modification program may still be considered for a loan adjustment based on personal circumstances.

If a mortgage modification is not possible, owners want to consider a short sale – sell the home for less than the amount of the mortgage. Although a short sale enables an owner to avoid foreclosure and often causes less damage to a credit score than a foreclosure, the lender must agree to accept the loss and in some cases the owner may have to pay taxes on the difference. Also, many lenders are overwhelmed by the large number of short sales being submitted by homeowners, so it could take longer than usual to receive a short-sale acceptance from the lender.

If an owner cannot qualify for a mortgage modification or a short sale, some lenders will consider a deed in lieu of foreclosure, where the homeowner transfers the title to the lender in exchange for debt forgiveness. Properties that have additional debt, such as home equity lines of credit or additional mortgages, may not qualify for a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Homeowners who have additional debt tied to the property must share this information with their lender for consideration when applying for a short sale.

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Carole Rodoni is a rare combination – a real estate industry veteran with on-the-ground experience as a real estate sales person and investor.  She’s an addict to any and all information about the economy.  She lives and breathes CSPAN and CNN.  And she’s sharp as a tack.

I’ve never seen anyone synthesize information and deliver it in a more entertaining way than Carole. She’s whip-smart and very funny. And she’ll leave you informed about what’s really happening with local real estate in a way that no talking head can ever equal.

Carole’s brief seminars are usually only offered to industry professionals, but for the first time she will be presenting a quickie course in ‘Real Estate Economics’ for Buyers and Sellers.  Topics presented at warp speed will be:

The Theory of Real Estate Economics: Add a “0” every 30 years.
Creating Wealth ~ It’s easy if you use real estate.
Learn the Golden Real Estate Title and Escrow Principles.
Find out how your first house could be “Free!”
Find out how a title company’s products and services can enhance your success in real estate,

Date: Wednesday, December 3
Time: 5:30-6:30
Place: Fort Mason Center, Room C370

If you go, you could make evening of it and follow up with dinner at Greens or somewhere on Chestnut Street. Cost is $10.00 (I swear this is better than a movie), but I have a limited number of free tickets available. Call me if you want one. 415-577-0809.

Posted in Selling Strategies, Investors | No Comments »

The market continues to be. . . weird.   Things I think will sit awhile wind up selling, while properties I think are great deals languish.  I’d love to be one of those agents who thinks they can whip out a crystal ball and tell you exactly what’s going to happen, but it’s a scientific fact that predictionists are wrong 50% of the time.
 
One phenomenon I’m seeing are people who understand that this is a great time to buy but are unsure about what they want. Are you intrigued by current market’s possibilities? If so, I’d be delighted to help you explore the options  and see what kind of investment best meets your objectives. Just call me at 415-577-0809.

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Indoor and Outdoor Decorating
 
Here’s an item for ApartmentTherapy.com (if they haven’t picked it up already) – An art show called “Home 1996-2008″ is happening in the artist’s own home on Nob Hill. Megan Wilson has spent the last twelve years turning her home into an art installation and is ready to show it to the world. A Chronicle review of her Victorian flat describes rooms that have been lavishly overhauled with bright colors and textures inspired by everything from Asian textiles to Montana sunsets.
 
I’m most intrigued by Wilson’s “elegant stacks of glass jars - each containing “. . .a flower floating in shampoo, mouthwash, hair gel, wine or oil, depending on the color of the room - glowing like some mysterious science project.” I think I gotta go see this—the show is open 2-5 pm Monday through Wednesday (or by appointment) and ends November 30.
 
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Those who prefer their art outdoors rather than indoors can check out Precita Eyes, a mural arts organization responsible for most of the glorious murals you see in and around the Mission District. Precita Eyes offers walking tours of the murals they’ve helped create each Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 pm. The tour, costs $12.00, includes a brief slide presentation on the history and process of mural art in addition to a tour of over 70 murals within a 6-block walk.
 
If you fantasize about making one of those big murals yourself, you can sign up for one of Precita Eyes’ workshops on how to direct, design, and plan a community mural.  The workshops are held every third Tuesday of the month from 7-9 pm. They also offer private lessons and a remarkable array of drop-in classes for kids and youth. You can see all their offerings on their website, www.precitaeyes.org.

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If our troubling economic times are keeping you from buying up, don’t despair! You can still give your current a home a boost with some remodeling.

There are advantages to just making what you’ve got better instead of moving. It can be less expensive. You can stay in the neighborhood where you’re established and familiar (provided you’re happy there). And you can customize your space to your specific needs.  

The two most popular rooms to remodel are the kitchen and baths. These are also normally the most used areas in a home. They are also the ones that will give you the best return on your investment.

Another popular trend to accommodate those who are choosing to stay put are ‘flex spaces.’ These are areas that are re-purposed for another use (like turning a dining room into a family room) or taking a fresh look at an underused space for a playroom, office or craft room.

The most common update I see in San Francisco is a conversion of space adjacent to the kitchen into a family area. In Edwardian or Victorian homes, this is usually accomplished by combining the dining room (or living room, depending on how you use the space) and kitchen to create a kichen/family room. Often there is a breakfast bar that divides the two spaces which also serves as an eating area.

Another frequent ’repurposing’  in Victorian and Edwardian flats happens at the back where the old laundry porches are.  Usually these porche are glassed-in rooms with sloping floors that allowed for water run off. They are almost always directly behind the kitchen. The most ambitious change homeowners make when repurposing these spaces is to level the floor and knock out the wall between the rooms. The extra space can then be incorporated into a kitchen remodel. Another, simpler alternative is to level out the floor and have the room serve as an office or craft room.  

I’ve also frequently seen owners ‘repurpose’ their basement rooms. It’s amazing to me how a little dark room below ground level can be turned into an attractive useable space with a resurfaced floor, good lighting, new sheetrock and a thoughtful color scheme.

Remodeling baths are often a challenge in our older homes because they are so small. The most dramatic change I’ve seen with baths has happened when an owner is willing to grab space from an adjacent closet.  But this choice often takes away valued storage space– which is a premium in older homes (where Victorians kept their clothes is still a mystery to me– I imagine they used lots of armoires and simplified their problem by not having much clothing to begin with.)

One of my favorite ways to add storage is by installing a false wall at one of a bedroom to create a full-length closet. Owners often think that this can only work in a big bedroom but I’ve seen it work effectively in smaller rooms that don’t require much furniture (like a child’s bedroom or home office).  Custom closet organizers can also make the little closet space you have more effective. I personally like the Elfa systems. The Elfa system is an alternative to a custom closet system. They aren’t as attractive as California Closets, but they take up less depth and are less expensive.  If you are intimidated about installing the Elfa system yourself, CraigsList has postings from handymen who specialize in furniture assembly and installation of closet and storage organizers.  

Posted in Home Design, Buying Strategies | No Comments »

Two real estate related propositions passed this month. Proposition M set up new categories and descriptions of tenant harassment by landlords, and clarified what harrassment meant with 22 paragraphs of specifics.

Proposition N will increase the real property transfer tax rate to 1.5 percent for the sale of real estate selling for $5 million or more, and extend the transfer tax to real estate lease of 35 years or more.  This part of the proposition is mostly aimed at sales of large commercial pieces of real estate, although it will also affect the upper-end luxury housing market.

More significantly to Sellers of SF residential property,  Proposition N will reduce the transfer tax for your property by up to 1/3 if you have installed a solar system or made improvements ot increase earthquake safety.  On a $1M sale, this would equal a savings of $2,266.00.  On a $5M sale (investment property owners, take note!), this could equal a $25,000 savings!

It’s unlikely that for a small property owner these savings would pay for an entire solar system, but they could cover some simple seismic upgrades. If San Francisco follows Berkeley’s lead about which upgrades qualify  (Berkeley has incentivized owners to retrofit since 1992), then credit will be given for  foundation repair or replacement, mudsill repair or replacement, wall bracing in basements, foundation-to-mudsill bolting, shear wall installation, water heater anchoring, and securing of chimneys.

If you are planning on doing any of the above listed work, keep your receipts and check about getting permits. The City may not allow simple handyman jobs to qualify without proper documentation.

Posted in Living in San Francisco, Selling Strategies | No Comments »

Researcher Paul Anglin, who teaches real-estate and housing trends at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, studied the wording of more than 20,000 Canadian home listings from 1997 to 2000. His aim was to see how the language of the ads affected the speed and price a property sold for.  Here is some of what he learned:

Buyers go for style over substance:  words like “curb appeal” or “beautiful” made homes sell faster than cut-and-dry terminology like “value” and “price.”

Homes described as “beautiful” moved 15 percent faster and for 5 percent more in price than the benchmark. A home pitched as a “good value” sold for 5 percent less than average. Another dead-in-the-water phrase is “must see!” which had a statistically insignificant effect on the number of days homes took to sell.

If you’re selling, it’s important to think about how words that sound good can be misunderstood. Here are some commonly used ad words and how buyers and/or their agents often interpret them:

Motivated Seller - Please low ball
Good Value - Not much to look at but definitely a bargain.
Must Sell - Possible short sale
Starter Home - Itty-bitty, teenie-weenie 
Handyman Special - Money pit.
Quiet and/or Tranquil - Possible lightwell views

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When I write about  my listings, I try to help someone imagine living there.  I also focus on the lifestyle a property offers and use words that will draw in the appropriate buyer-  for example, copy for a SOMA loft should differ significantly from copy for a Noe Valley single family home.

When moving into details, I like to augment my descriptions with language that helps a buyer picture the space. ”Big walls for art” and ”Rooms you can roller skate in” are two examples of how words can offer affect a home buyer’s experience of the property.  

To learn more about how I write about my listings, please visit the ‘featured properties’ section on my website.

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What follows is an update on sales activity and pricing at a handful of new homes projects. I also have updates on: The Lambourne, The Greenwich, Mission Bay Radiance, 888 7th, the Arterra, 170 off Third, Soma Grand, the Millenium Tower, The Infinity (2nd tower coming soon), One Rincon, Homes on Esprit Park, Chelsea Park, Cubix, 829 Folsom, The Montgomery and One Ecker Place. Please call 415-577-0809 if you would like more information.

Fillmore Heritage - 1300 Fillmore Street. 92 units with Yoshis and the noted soul food restaurant, ‘1300 Fillmore’ downstairs . They’ve been trying to sell their last 6 units for quite awhile and have recently significantly dropped prices. There are 2-1brs and 4-2brs left.

Symphony Towers - 724 Van Ness. Symphony Towers is two towers with 130 units total on Van Ness near Turk.  They are anxious to sell out Tower I and move on to Tower II and are doing huge price reductions in both Towers right now.  Finishings are medium grade and many of the units have pleasant outlooks to City Hall, and  down Van Ness.

I call Symphony Towers the “Crazy Eddie” building these days because of their price-slashing.  The sales staff even talked about having something like a clown smashing a foam rubber dollar sign out in front to demonstrate how low they will go.  As it stands, they’ve got an ad campaign and signs in the windows that make it look like a Montgomery Wards going out of business.  Please call if you want more detailed information about their prices, but it would be reasonable to say that some of the units could sell 30% below their original list prices.

Citrino - 566 South Van Ness. This 32 unit boutique building started selling last year. It’s in a somewhat challenging location but the building is sweet with small well laid-out units that have good light. They are also anxious to sell their last 9 homes and have reduced by about 10% off their original list prices.

Simply Blu Condominiums - 631 Folsom. This high quality condo tower has 114 units and is in a coveted location on Folsom near 2nd.  Finishes are upscale and square footage is good, with only 4U per floor. The trick here is to pay attention to which stack you look at. One side of the building faces the AT&T building and has no outlooks to speak of. The other side is great, and the units are priced accordingly.

The Hayes - 58 Page Street.  The Hayes is also reducing prices as they move beyond the magic 70% sold mark.  This is a 128 unit low-rise building at Page and Gough. High-ish end finishings with espresso colored cabinetry, granite countertops and nice, big baths. People love the location because it’s so close to the Civic Center and the Hayes Street shops.

1521 Sutter is a 28 unit building near Octavia Street. It’s narrow and tall on a standard size lot. There are a combination of 1br and 2br units here. Feng shui inspired floor plans, high ceilings, bosch appliances, gas stoves. All units come with hardwood floors. Right now they have twelve units left, which they have been trying to sell for some time. There have been no price reductions, but the sales agent indicates that they are ‘open to offers.’

The Artani - The Artani is at 818 Van Ness. Cross street is Eddy. 52 units total, all 1br, 1br+den and 2br. People rave about the Artani because of the exterior architecture and the finishings inside. They also have a knockout roof deck and will have a concierge on site. Prices here are also very (very!) negotiable.   

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A recent change to a law will have the effect of making it easier, and more common, for condo owners to have a pet.

Many older Homeowner Association (”HOA”) have written restrictions on pets. But a law effective January 1, 2001 required that any time an HOA generated new governing documents or amended or modified existing documents, the HOA had to allow each owner to have at least one pet. (Civil Code 1360.5)

“Governing documents” includes  CC&R’s, bylaws, and rules and regulations of the HOA. Allowable pets are any domesticated bird, cat, dog, aquatic animal kept with an aquarium, or other animal as agreed to between the HOA and the owner.

A more recent law, which became effective on July 1, 2006 (Civil Code 1363.03,) requires all HOA’s to modify their rules regarding HOA elections. As a result, many HOA’s did modify their rules to comply with this new requirement.  So, if an HOA has changed elections rules to comply with this law, they may be unable to prohibit pets in the complex.

The state’s opinion is that when an HOA makes the required elections rule changes, it triggers the change that requires HOA’s to allow one pet per owner. While such an opinion does not carry the force of law, it is persuasive and may indicate how courts will rule in the future.

A problem can occur if a particular HOA has not yet changed its elections rules (so as to comply with CC 1363.03), and a buyer or existing homeowner wants to have a pet in the unit. Theoretically, the homeowners (with the encouragement of an owner or new buyer after close of escrow) could compel the Board of Directors of the HOA to make the mandated rules change regarding elections, which then would trigger the requirement to allow one pet in each unit.

Buyers can also try to push the issue if they are considering the purchase of a unit that doesn’t allow pets. If a buyer is demanding to be allowed to have a pet in the unit, their agent can forward the request to the HOA and ask the HOA to respond as to their position on pets in the unit.

If the HOA is still maintaining a ‘no pets’ policy your buyer can insist that they have a right to a pet and hire an attorney to contest the matter after close of escrow. But keep in mind that this could be a protracted (and perhaps expensive) legal battle.

Posted in Living in San Francisco, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

The SustainLane 2008 US City Rankings of the 50 most-populous cities is the nation’s most complete report card on urban sustainability. The study’s indicators focus on which city’s public transit, renewable energy, local food, and development approaches are most likely to  limit the impacts of fossil fuel dependence. SustainLane’s rankings also reflect tap water and air quality, walkability, park space and roadway congestion. They also factor in the growth of clean technologies that provide jobs and tax base expansion.

This year San Francisco remained in the #2 spot right behind Portland. SustainLane is especially happy with our Energy and Climate Change Policy, our City Innovation, and our Solid Waste Diversion. We ranked #1 in all three categories. SustainLane is not so happy with our Housing Affordability (we ranked 50th), Natural Disaster Risk (47th), and our Metro Street Congestion (45th).

Other interesting findings in the SustainLane study:

The study’s least eco-friendly city is Mesa, Arizona, which has poor air quality, a lousy water supply and little local food and agriculture.

Right behind San Francisco is Seattle, followed by Chicago, then New York City.

Among the ‘gotta give ‘em points for trying’ cities are: Columbus, Ohio, which moved from #50 to #30 in the last two years; Atlanta, which went from #38 to #19; and Cleveland, Ohio, which went from #28 to #16. In a reverse trend, Las Vegas dropped from #27 to #47; and Colorado Springs went from #26 to #43.

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