Archive for the ‘San Francisco North’ Category
September 26, 2008
Almost time to snuggle up to some good, old fashioned presidential debates. Before I go- and you go- here are a few possible side effects of the ecomomic downturn, sure to a topic du jour for the candidates. Yep, these are houses that just can’t sell, even here is SF where real estate has historically been hot, hot, hot.
84 Riverton Dr. : Lakeshore 3/2 SFH with 2 car garage, yard, and unwarranted rooms down for possible rental income. Yes, the kitchen looks like something from the set of The Brady Bunch (complete with round formica table for earnest family discussions), but lots of people want to remodel their own kitchens anyway– and you could do that here. On the market 63 days.
169 Grand View Dr: Twin Peaks does offer the grand views and this 2/1 cottage has panoramic potential (I mean, since no view is pictured, I assume you could get one by walking across the street). This is a small cottage, less the 800 square feet, but purports to be a contractor’s dream or investment opp. It sold for $750K in ‘05; now offered for $599K, on the market almost a year.
Here’s a West Portal classic at 319 Vicente St. This is a 2/1 SFH, gorgeous wood floors, lots of light, and unwarranted bonus rooms for more space and/or rental income. Plus a garage. Offered at $899K, this by all accounts very desirable place has been on the market 57 days.
Up in Ashbury Heights houses are lingering as well. But of course, prices haven’t come down much up there, since it’s such a posh neighborhood (its another one with amazing views too). Here is a 3/2 SFH at 20 Loma Vista Terrace: total mansion facade and interior, fully landscaped, includes garage, sun room, deck… you know, the good life. And all for $2,250,000. Hasn’t been snapped up yet though, after 119 days.
You get where I’m going: homes are sitting, and sitting, and sitting– and not just in Bayview either; they linger all over the city. If you’re in the market to buy, check Redfin’s 45 day+ search feature to peruse listing ripe for the picking.
Photo, and debate story: ABC News
September 24, 2008
Back in May, Redfin readers said loud and clear that they opposed Congress’ bailing out homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages.
“If I can’t pay my rent I don’t get to keep my apartment and nobody is going to bail me out. Why should I be forced to pay their mortgage?” asked Greg.
Well, now it appears that Congress is going to bail out the financial institutions that made these dire mistakes in the first place. Or rather, we, the taxpayers, are going to do so. The country’s financial survival is at stake, we are told, so in this case, is it necessary? Folks on angryrenter.com don’t think so; they say it’s welfare for Wall Street.
Readers (among them David, dg, morgan and sb) have argued in the past that if buyers facing foreclosure aren’t punished, they might feel they can do it again with impunity (”moral hazard.”) Does this apply to the financial institutions? Or is there no choice in order to keep world financial markets alive? (Photo: digitalshay on flickr.)
September 23, 2008
I am sick of bad news so I decided to post instead something akin to what I might get from reading a romance novel set in Renaissance Europe, in some monarch’s luxuriant court. In other words, mindless, pointless, self-indulgent escape. You know the kind: all glitz, silk brocade, big feasts overflowing on gold plates. Stuff so rich it makes your teeth ache. It’s a fun diversion, so settle back with some bon-bons and a glass of champagne… and enjoy.
Here’s a condo in the Marina, a sweet pad with high gloss floors, a gorgeous kitchen, fireplace, Bay view, and hey, did I mention Marina?
It’s also steep. For $1,100,000, 1450 Green St. #5 is just a 1/1 unit, and a TIC at that. You will need to pass an “interview” with the Kings and Queens already in the court and dish out over $500 a month in HOA fees.
South of Market has lots of pricey swank. Here’s a loft at 767 Bryant, #210. You get the soaring ceiling, all that glass looking out at the city, high end appliances, and a patio. Buy this and get a 2/3 unit, over 2000 square feet for $910,000 plus close to $600 a month in HOA. Steep!
Also living royally are the residents of Rincon Hill, perhaps out most famous new building which seems to rise out of the Bay and, with its towering height (if I may extend the metaphor), rules the SF skyline.
Here’s a 2/2 at 425 1st St., #3703 which lists at $1,375,000. Its neighbor, slightly smaller, also a 2/2 is #1802, which lists for $1,299,000. Also on the market is a 1/1, #1805, listing for $699,999.
All of these units offer views to break one’s heart. Surely our bon-bons and champagne will taste better looking at this?
But folks, the HOA is close to or over $700! Will anyone be able to afford champagne? If not, no worries! In the words of one thoroughly too-many-feasts- to think-straight Queen, “Let them eat cake.”
Portrait of Marie Antoinette: Wikipedia Commons
September 22, 2008
Last week, we entered the realm of the San Francisco mansion. With so many to choose from, I started at the lower end with a unique property designed by Joseph Esherick. The home at 3074 Pacific Avenue was only on the market four days when I wrote about it, but it must have piqued someone’s interest, as it looks to already be sold.
This week we head over to the Marina District. Currently there are two homes for sale in this neighborhood, 3310 Baker, on the market 45 days, and a new mansion listing at 3157 Baker. the market 3 days, this Mediterranean-style home consists of 4 levels and 5600 square feet. Listed as “the only home in the Marina that is completely new construction,” this home has a lower floor two-car garage, multiple balconies, and an unfortunate one-color paint scheme throughout. (Although if you can afford this home, it’s small details like this that can be easily and cheaply overcome.)
The property is located in a small triangle-shaped block of the city that only has 3 lots (and what looks like 2 homes). This means that this particular listing is bordered on 3 sides by streets: Baker, Francisco, and Richardson (a multi-lane thoroughfare). However, the builder did install triple-paned windows, which should eliminate a significant amount of road noise.
Recent Redfin Neighborhood Data shows that the median list price/sf is $1,020 for homes, while the median sold price/sf is $576. This new home sits smack in the middle at $893/sf. Given the price history of homes in the neighborhood, (28.6% experience price reductions, with the median total reduction at 12.7%), you may want to take a wait-and-see attitude on this one.
Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
First Hand Account: My Visit to a Home Auction (very informative)
SF: Have these Listing Agents Been Drinking? (hilarious)
The Second Great Depression and How to Survive It (classic film clip accompaniment)
Neighborhood “No-Nos” if Buying for ROI (some sage advice)
10 Reasons to Love (and Perhaps to Live in) Berkeley (although we know there are more….)
September 21, 2008
Seems most readers agree that even SF’s real estate market is not immune to the economy’s downturn. With that sentiment in mind, I bring you a few listings that appear to be, frankly, delusional, harkening back to a time when living in (or near) San Francisco meant paying huge quantities of money, even in the crappiest neighborhood and even in the most falling down, sad hulk of a home.
Those days though, at least for now, are over.
So, are the agents for these homes overly optimistic, misinformed, clued in to a secret none of the rest of us know… or are they drunk?
To illustrate:
Here in Bayview, at 180 Orsi Court we have a 3/2.5 townhouse for $739K. Um, okay, but nearby 50 Lydia Ave, a 4/3 with more square footage, sold for $265K in June of this year. Further, 180 Orsi hasn’t changed price since it went on the market over 130 days ago.
In the same area, we have a 4/3 at 88 Orsi Circle. This one, at $700,888 is less than its neighbor above, but still seems awfully steep to me for one of the city’s most troubled districts. The owners bought the place in ‘97 for $269,500, but they may have missed the boat on tripling their money. At least this agent has had the sense to reduce the price (not once, but twice) since the listing hit the market in April.
For comparison sake, there is a 10/4 multi-family (rental income!) for $838K at 1453 Newcomb.
Moving on to Hunter’s Point, we find 2 condos in the same complex that show signs that someone has been tipping the bottle. At 114 Kirkwood, #2 is a 3/2 condo, 1300 square feet, offered at $448K. Yet here, at 126 Kirkwood Ave., #8, we have a 3/3 offered for $190K. To be fair, the latter property is listed as a fixer, but I’m thinking you could do a lot of fixing with more than $200,000 to play around with, not to mention the interest, taxes, etc.
In the Outer Mission, what but boozing explains the fact that this 2/1 at 41 Mt. Vernon is $705K while this rather attractive looking 2/1 at 41 Farragut is $525K. They both have in-laws. They both have garages. And incidently, they’ve both been on the market over 50 days…
So if not too many cocktails, what logic explains these listings?
Disclaimer: Agents, no disrespect intended. I’m just kidding. Love for any of you to comment with vitriolic and/or humorous thoughts which put my firmly in the corner.
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PHOTO: Media Canada
September 19, 2008
We’ve enjoyed a pretty bullet proof status here in our pretty little city, our housing market staying (mostly) strong while to the east and south, prices plunged.
But with the latest stock market news and the fear surrounding the proposed Government bailout, will SF real estate finally prove to have a chink in its metal?
Kenneth Kohlmyer, over at the Frontsteps blog, investigated “the have we hit bottom thing” in his recent blog, analyzing some data that shows a trend toward lower prices on homes sold than last year at this time. Looking at Districts 3 and 10 in particular, he writes:
In fact, in areas 10 and worst of 3 there were four more sales this year than last, at 10% cheaper.
Areas 10 alone had four more sales this year, 42 over 38, and cost 423 a foot as opposed to 515 last year. Average sales were 559K this year, 718 last.
His thoughts echo those of Carolyn Said, of the Chronicle. In her article, she notes the general punch in the face the Bay Area has suffered, and asserts that this time, not even SF has been able to duck the blow.
…..foreclosures made up 8.6 percent of San Francisco resales. San Francisco had the smallest decline in resale median price compared with a year ago: It was down 12.1 percent to $780,000. Still, it was noteworthy that even the best-performing county underwent a double-digit price decline.
Further pushing our market down is the higher standards for issuing jumbo loans, even to qualified buyers (and we can all agree they should never have been issued to anyone else). Obviously, in an area where so much of the housing for sale is well over the jumbo loan mark, buying is going to get harder; thus selling will too.
Does this mean prices will come down? Will SF hit bottom? How severe will the impact be?
September 16, 2008
Oh, North Beach, how you pain me. On a weekday evening or a sleepy Sunday afternoon, I could spend hours poking through your boutiques, visiting your historic towers and squares, eating my way through the best pasta and gelato, sipping the strongest espresso. You are the most European of San Francisco’s many burgs. Though toursisty, you are not exclusive, nor overpriced. You welcome all ages, all ethnicities. You do not welcome automobiles (parking spot sightings being on par with sightings of Sasquatch) but you offer cable cars, cabs, and some of the best walking in the city.
When I wrote a year ago that North Beach is a national favorite, I meant it. But not on the weekends. On Friday and especially Saturday nights, North Beach becomes more like Miami Beach: throngs of mini-skirted girls tottering around in platform heels; groups of boys whose faces are obscured by sideways baseball caps and 40 ounce beverages of choice obscured by brown paper bags. There can be no hailing a cab, because the street corners are chaos, bridge people fighting it out with tunnel people, cops screaming at drunken passersby. Restaurants are crammed, overflowing with loud mouthed customers who don’t bother to shut those mouths, even when they chew. I don’t see many residents out on weekend nights, unless they are working in a bar or restaurant. And then they just look bitter as Hell.
You can see then why some North Beachians would welcome a plan “to keep North Beach from being overrun by new bars and restaurants.” Chronicle writer C.W. Nevius reports that SF Supes are discussing ”complex legislation [that] would allow a restaurant or bar to replace one that’s closed. But it would prevent new ones from moving into now-empty storefronts.”
Seems like a good idea if what we want is diversity, stuff to do besides stuff our faces and get drunk. And maybe that would draw in less jack-asses on a weekend.
Course, lots of North Beach residents are against the plan. The politics in that charming district are acrimonious in the extreme, at times bordering on a Sorprano’s episode. Fitting, I guess, for an Italian neighborhood.
But what would such a plan do to property values? Would it make North Beach more, or less, desirable– not just to visit, but to actually live in?
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While we’re at it, here are a few choice listings in the North Beach area right now.
780 Union St: Gorgeous 1/1 condo for $849K.
1648 Stockton: 2/1 TIC (Telegraph Hill), on the market over 100 days, for $759K.
2149 Mason St: 2/1 TIC, recently reduced to $719K.
600 Chestnut St., #303: 2/2 condo, absolute heart-of-the-neighborhood location. $839K.
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Photo: MIT.Edu
September 15, 2008
Looks like Burlingame is the northernmost city in San Mateo County to have a mansion listing. I could find none in Millbrae, San Bruno, South San Francisco, Daly City, or Pacifica. I thought I found one in Moss Beach/Montara, but the $5.5mil property was land value—4.3 acres on the ocean, with plans for a 3300 sf home. Not quite what I had in mind. So we have made the transition to San Francisco, which appears to have 37 homes listed over $3,000,000. Eleven of those listings, surprisingly, are condos/townhouses/penthouses, so don’t really qualify as “mansions.” That leaves 26 to choose from, ranging in price from $3,250,000 to that $65,000,000 whopper that’s been listed a total of 927 days, and which we wrote about in March 2007.
The current upper echelon SF listings are all over the city, but the majority of the homes are in Pacific Heights. They range from magnificent old homes built in the late 1800s to modern masterpieces. Fourteen have been on the market less than a month, while 15 have been waiting patiently, over 90 days, to be bought. It’s hard to pick just one, and in all fairness, I have spent weeks writing about each of the other two counties that I’ve covered so far (Santa Clara and San Mateo), so I will try and point out some of the more unusual, unique homes over the next few Mondays
Today’s featured property is at 3074 Pacific Avenue, in Pacific Heights. I chose this part
icular property because it does not fit the typical mold. It doesn’t look like it’s in the middle of an urban landscape, and it is a great example of mid-mod architecture, having been designed by Joseph Esherick. Esherick designed not only residential buildings, but The Cannery in SF and Monterey Aquarium. While it is not what most would consider a mansion, sizewise, I think the price reflects the history and design and aesthetic of the residence. This particular home is only a 3/2.5 but it is surrounded by lush greenery, and well-designed outdoor spaces, including an atrium. Rooms are large and open, no only to each other, but to the outdoor environment. This home has been on the market for 4 days and last sold in 2005 for $3.5mil.
Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
SF: 4 Free Resources for Getting Smart about Real Estate This Week
Recent Sales in West San Jose
Snapping Up a Bargain? How to Keep it From Looking Dated When the Market Turns
Bang for Your Buck: San Rafael’s Point San Pedro
Oakland: A Sampling of 3bd/2ba+ For Sale Around the Town
Design & Renovation Shows on TV
September 14, 2008
Not knowing enough about buying a house is a recipe for disaster. The same could be said about not knowing enough about selling. And though we can always lean back and put both processes into the hands of a Realtor, such ignorance is not bliss. Especially these days when we have so many resources, both online and in our actual, face-to-face community, we have the unique opportunity to enter into real estate transactions with a solid foundation of knowledge.
This week, Bay Area residents have several in-person resources. Here are four that are are particularly useful.
Monday
1. First-Time Home-Buyer Seminar:
Sponsored by Whitney Davis of Zephyr Real Estate and Tina Leonardi of Guarantee Mortgage, 6-7:30 p.m., Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Ave., Suite P, San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 533-3990.
2. First-Time Home-Buyer Seminar:
Hosted by Zephyr Real Estate and Integrated Mortgage, 7 p.m., 4040 24th St., San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 550-0880.
Tuesday
3. Eight Steps to Purchasing a Home:
Hosted by the Ackerman Realty Group, 6:30-8 p.m., 1255 Post St., Suite 611, San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 730-3030.
Thursday
4. FHA Loans for First-Time Home-Buyers:
With Sansom Lo of Prudential California Realty and Christine Mann of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 7-8:30 p.m., Millbrae Library Conference Room, 1 Library Ave., Millbrae, free, reservation required, (415) 566-2121, Ext. 357.
Source: Sfgate.com
September 11, 2008
Despite the controversy my last blog on reduced prices caused (or, yes, maybe because of it), I’m back this foggy Thursday with more reductions. This time I’ve tried to pull a few from both SF and Daly City, for those looking there.
San Francisco
1) 4086 25th Ave.: A 4/3.5 sweeping view, stellar pad in Noe Valley. This one has come down twice (anyone know why?) since its listing in July of this year, landing now at the still steep $1,899,000. Still, it’s Noe….
2) 409 Ulloa St. , a 5/3 SFH reduced to $859,000. This one is billed as “Forest Hill Extension,” which is actually a new term to me, but looks to be close indeed to Forest Hill, in an area west of Twin Peaks, which is a very nice place to own a home: safe, quiet, well kept up, etc.
The reader of this listing is exhorted to “Hurry” as property “won’t last!”; yet the property has now lasted over 66 days on the market.
3) Out in Mission, the Outer Mission that is, we have a 2/1 at 41 Mount Vernon Ave. It has not been reduced in 65+ days on the market, but I include it here because I think it should be. It’s way over the median price for the district and the zip code.
Daly City
1) 31 Hillsdale Ave is a cute, almost Art Deco looking 2/1 SFH reduced $20K to $718,888. Still abit high according to Zillow and E-Appraisal, for what those are worth.
2) Lingering on the market around half a year is this 2/1 home at 38 Frankfort St. The sellers are taking a serious hit, having purchased it for $720K in ‘06. Now, with a reduction of almost $100K off the original asking, this home is listed at$449K. (Ouch!)
3) Even the coastal areas further south, those that have stayed strong in the troubled market, such as Montara, are seeing some reductions. San Mateo Homesellers in Trouble covers this story best, so I quote:
Coastside Properties - Half Moon Bay, Moss Beach, Montara, and El Granada
The amount of coastside properties increased a bit since last month. As of 8/31, there are 19 troubled properties in Half Moon Bay, 3 in Moss Beach, and 2 in El Granada. Of note is 2340 Burning Tree Rd in Half Moon Bay. This Ocean Colony mansion on a golf course reduced its price by $300k in August, and is now listing for $234k below its last sale price.
Upshot is, deals are out there, all over the city and her closest neighboring areas. Keep an eye open and drive a hard bargain; maybe you’ll get the home of your dreams.
