theFrontSteps – San Francisco

Today I got this email from a friendly neighborhood Realtor: Hello everyone, I wanted to send out a friendly reminder about the deadline to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit.  The tax credit expires on Novemeber 30th, 2009.  However, assuming a 45 day escrow period from the time you buy to the time you close and get the keys, [...]

Unexpected Jump in Home Sales in February: -Sales of existing homes rose from January to February in an unexpected lift for the slumping housing market as buyers took advantage of deep discounts on foreclosures. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of existing homes increased 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 [...]

From the San Francisco Business Times: Investors’ growing nervousness about the depths of the banking crisis hit shares of major banks that were seen as weathering the financial storm better than most. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) saw its shares hit a new 52-week low, closing at $13.69, down $2.07 or 13 percent. U.S. Bank [...]

  I used to look at houses in Portland, OR like this 2/2 SFH in one of the most gorgeous neighborhoods, Sellwood, listed at $440K. And then I would look for somthing similar in SF. And then I would need a very large martini. We all know, even after the martini, that a comparable home [...]

Some good news in an otherwise gloomy picture: The number of new sales contracts on existing homes jumped a seasonally adjusted 6.3% in December as buyers took advantage of lower mortgage rates and falling prices, a real estate trade group said Tuesday.The pending home sales index rose 6.3% in December and is now up 2.1% [...]

We’re going to take the liberty of pulling a few quotes from this recent New York Times article about President-elect Obama’s call to action and urge our fellow San Franciscans to go out and buy a house. -’I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic [...]

So, one hell of an ugly year is coming to a close. As usual, this event cues panels of “leaders” in various fields to opine about the coming 365 days. What will become of Tom and Katie? Will Cher remove another rib? Will the Celtics top the NBA again? These days the doings of celebrities [...]

When I was working at C__________, my boss was a big coke-head. As a result, the atmosphere was, to understate, lax. Everyone drank and ate copiously (never paying for it), sat down and/or danced randomly in the middle of the restaurant, swore, and slept with one another. All of the aforementioned took place during open-for-business [...]

By Home Girl, aka real-estate blogger Tracey Taylor If you are selling your home, Berkeley is the place to be doing it, according to a piece in Forbes which ranks the ten best suburbs to sell a home. (Suburb? Ouch that hurts.) This is how they put it: Berkeley known sometimes as a hippie haven, [...]

I’m not a Realtor, so I’ll tell something I’m more qualified to comment on: buyers’ perspectives. For instance, I can tell you how buyers looks at a property that’s been reduced more than twice. We feel sorry for them. They’re like awkward teenage boys at their first dance, pretending to be terribly busy with their shoe laces [...]