| San Francisco’s Going to the Goats | August 6th, 2008 |
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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? |
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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).| How’s it Hangin’? Tips for Art Placement | August 6th, 2008 |
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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. |
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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.| “It Could Never Happen to Me-” Owners Kid Themselves on Property Value | August 6th, 2008 |
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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. |
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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.| Green Eye Candy - Fun Websites for Eco-Friendly Home Design | August 6th, 2008 |
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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. |
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| The Buzz Takes a Stab at Eco-Remodeling | July 28th, 2008 |
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Kitchen countertops are a sexy topic when it comes to talking about green finishings. My choices include aggregates that mix in glass, or counters made of recycled paper(!). Wood countertop options include end grain bamboo or reclaimed/renewable wood products counters. My favorite material so far is Ceasarstone, which is mostly made of recycled quartz dust (don’t ask me how). Ceasarstone counters have a soft creamy texture that reminds me a bit of Corian, but sturdier and more stain resistant. Deck material—After much debate (and battle) my husband and I settled on Trex deck boards for the deck we are rebuilding behind our house. I read somewhere that the Trex Company is the world’s largest consumer of used plastic grocery bags. Trex used to mix wood in with the plastic, but lately has revised their formula so the decks are now 100% plastic. We like Trex because the material will last forever, never splinter, and never need staining. And (I swear) the stuff looks just like real wood, at least to me. If the idea of a plastic deck freaks you out, you can also consider Ipe, a renewable hardwood from Central and South America. Ipe forestry is a hot industry in Bolivia and Brazil and has a positive affect on economic growth so its harvesting and use is a win-win for everyone (until you get into the carbon footprint involved in transporting the stuff, but we won’t go there—it starts to make my head ache). Toilets are another hot topic - Conventional toilets have used 6 gallons of water per flush, but new toilet technology like the dual flush toilet, uses .8 gallons to flush #1 and about 1.2 to flush #2. Manufacturers of the dual flush include Caroma and Toto (the Toto site is a kick—who knew you could make toilets look so sexy!). If the guy at Home Depot has thinks Toto is a dog and Caroma is a sports car, just ask him about the Kohler Sterling Dual Flush, which claims to save the average family up to 6,000 gallons of water a year. |
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Since embarking on some remodeling projects with my husband, I have become obsessed with using green materials for the finishings. So far I’ve spent hours researching stuff online. This is what I’ve come up with so far:| Clean Living, Clean Air at the Arterra | July 28th, 2008 |
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The Arterra has 270 units in two buildings. I hadn’t been that wild about the project until my first hard hat tour a few weeks ago. The architecture seemed a little bland and it’s set way out at the edge of the Mission Bay district, which is still being built up. Three-to-four years out it will feel like a very different neighborhood, but right now it feels a bit remote. The tour changed my view. There’s a good energy about the building and the prices are very reasonable. My clients have a 2br/2ba in escrow in the $775,000 range with big corner windows, some city skyline views and a small deck. The plan for Mission Bay also includes bike trails, esplanades running along Mission Bay Creek and a very cool urban park with basket ball courts and storage for kayaks. The most striking about touring the Arterra is the absence of toxic smells. Usually when I tour new construction I’m slightly overcome by paint fumes and off gases from carpeting. There’s none of that at the Arterra– it just feels really, really clean. The Arterra has a variety of unit sizes at different price points. For more information on availability and pricing, call me at 415-577-0809. |
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I and some other associates in my office at Paragon Real Estate in San Francisco have a number of units in escrow at The Arterra, San Francisco’s first LEED-certified condominium development. Move-ins are scheduled to begin later this summer.| SOMA Grand Demographics | July 20th, 2008 |
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Soma Grand represents San Francisco’s true spirit of a diverse community. Our residents vary in age, education and profession as well as marital status. So, what is the common denominator with these folks? Every one of the residents who chose Soma Grand as their home are smart, savvy, stylish early adapters who embrace the pioneering spirit of the Gold Rush that made San Francisco what it is today. Over 85% of our residents have earned a college degree or higher. Over 20% work in the technology, while marketing/advertising, real estate and medical fields follow closely behind in occupation. About 50% are between $100K ~ 250K in household income level and 60% are married. 69% are between the ages 25 to 44 while the remaining 30% are over 45. . . . The posting also reports that 61% of the residents are unmarried– and from the anecdotal information I’ve gotten on the building, I’d lay odds that most of them are men. . . . I sometimes joke that there are “girl” buildings and “boy” buildings (The Brannan), and there are buildings that seem to attract dozens of empty nesters. If I were to predict the population at SOMA Grand, I’d say it will be skewed slightly younger and all the residents will share a common ‘pioneer spirit.’ I know this term sounds hokey, but you gotta’ be a visionary to see where this neighborhood is going. . . I don’t mean to be sarcastic– Mission between 7th and 12th is due for dramatic changes over the next three years. Most significant is the San Giacomo project next door to the SOMA Grand, which will add 440 units to the neighborhood along with a major grocery store and other shops on the ground floor. In the immediate future, look forward to a new Charles Phan (Slanted Door) restaurant on the ground floor of the SOMA Grand building, with more upscale dining spots across the street. |
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I’ve gotten a scolding in the past for ‘profiling’ my buyers, and sellers by specifiying their (general) ages and (specific) sexual orientations. I think the SOMA Grand website blog avoids these ethical dilemmas by focusing on general population demographics. Here is what they have to report:| Beware of Signing in at New Homes Projects | July 19th, 2008 |
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It’s just one of many things that make buying a new home different– and sometimes trickier than purchasing an existing one. Once you sign in, it’s possible that the developer won’t pay a commission to an outside agent. Different home projects have different policies on the matter. But I’ve had clients sign in without me and sometimes it’s been very difficult for me to represent them afterwards. It’s frustrating, because I can’t guide them through things like negotiating the price, upgrades and credits back for closing costs. My new home buyers also benefit from my careful review of every page of the developer’s purchase contract and disclosure documents. Builder contracts are naturally one-sided, and designed to take away many of the rights a buyer has in ordinary resale contracts. Some of the differences are contingency timelines, which are often quite short. There are also extensive liability protections built into the contract to keep you from pursuing damage in the event of a disagreement. I go in and out of new home developments all the time to stay on top of what’s available and where. Agents in Paragon’s New Homes Group also meets monthly to review all new homes projects, and swap insider information on different buildings. As a result we know how much different developers are shaving off their prices, how fast different buildings are selling and which ones have a large number of units coming back on the market because of buyers who have been unable to obtain financing. When I work with a buyer interested in new homes, my experience helps them quickly assess the different projects how one stacks up against another. We usually get a lot accomplished in an initial meeting at my office, where we can review the marketing collateral for each development and discuss neighborhood, amenities, price, and size. After that first meeting we generally zero in on three or four new homes projects to visit on an initial outing. Please visit some of the New Homes I’ve sold in the Featured Listings section of my website. I will be adding two additional sales the Arterra and Soma Grand soon. |
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You shouldn’t even think about visiting a new homes project and signing in by yourself– at least if you want to be represented later by a real estate agent.| Hot New Properties and Listings Not Yet on Market | July 18th, 2008 |
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$2,69,000 / Clarendon Heights /BR/BA: 3/3 PKG: 2 Brief Description: Impeccable mid-century single family set high above Cole Valley on an extra-wide view lot. 3 bd 3 ba, formal living, large den/family room. Coveted cul-de-sac block. Very well maintained gardens with flowering fruit trees, magnolias, roses –even vegetables! $949,000/ Corona Heights/ BR/BA: 3/1.5 PKG: 1 Top unit in a 2 unit Edwardian. Stylish remodel retains its quintessential SF charm. City views. $769,000/Excelsior/ BR/BA:3/2 PKG:1 Victorian home with stunning contemporary renovation. Wide open floor plan, expansive deck with hot tub, landscaped yard, and large attic for storage. Blocks to Glen Park Bart. Could the Excelsior be the next Potrero Hill? Some think so. . . $499,000 / Van Ness Corridor / The Sutterfield BR/BA: 1/1 PKG: 1 Beautiful Jr. One Bedroom condo, 650 Sq. Ft., downtown views. Shown by appointment to visionary buyers before painting and staging! The Sutterfield is a cool, solid building– in a location that holds significant promise for the long-term investor. $549,900/ Westin Verasa Napa Unit / BR/BA: 1/1 Brief Description: Beautiful new condo/hotel in downtown Napa. Income producing property with 29 use days for owners. Quiet, creek facing ground floor unit. Pet-friendly! Opportunity to get in at 2006 prices with a 10k HOA credit and upgrades. Motivated seller. South of Market/77 Dow Place / BR/BA: 1/1.5 PKG: 1 Move-in ready loft condo has with open living/dining space, mezzanine level bedroom and additional space for office/den. Gourmet kitchen, hardwood floors, walk-in closet, doorman building. |
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Hot Properties and New Listings Not Yet on Market| San Francisco Bucks the Starbucks Closures | July 18th, 2008 |
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So far there are only two slated closures in San Francisco– one at the SF Centre and one at The Metreon. Beyond the City, only nine more will be shutting down within the Bay Area. Starbucks has begun to spill the beans on which stores will be going and there’s a partial ist of all planned closures on Starbuck’s site. The list will grow longer as the company finalizes which stores will be going. |
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When Starbucks announced it was closing 600 stores that seemed like a lot. But when you think it through, that’s really only twelve stores in each state. Given that there seems to be a gazillion Starbucks all over San Francisco already, I doubt that any of the ones I’m familiar with will be targeted.
