theFrontSteps – San Francisco

This from a reader: Here is another shining example of disservice to the SF real estate market courtesy of the SF Gate. The SF Gate and KGO (ABC) reported ([yesterday and the day before yesterday], respectively) on the same story, but KGO was decent enough to report the foreclosure numbers IN CONTEXT, i.e. referencing that [...]

Browsing TechCrunch today, we came across a site we had visited before, HotPads.com, that provides a fair bit of mashing goodness, and were reminded that we had never posted on the matter. Given all the continued hoopla in the media over the perpetual demise of real estate and the end of the world as we [...]

How’s that for a headline? Get your attention? Good. We’re just doing it like all the others. Now check out this video from IntoTheBox.tv (for real estate obsessed people like us): [brightcove vid=1385253412&exp=1155295588&w=486&h=412] If comparing San Francisco to New York City is any indication of things to come for us, then this report is scary, [...]

US Mortgage Crisis Rivals S&L Meltdown Make sure you get to the very end of that scare the sh*t out of us article to read this: In spite of the gloom, the economy may avoid recession. Housing comprises a much smaller share of the economy than business investment, which dragged the U.S. into recession in [...]

Headlines: “Bay Area median prices rise, but overall home sales news grim. Reality: “As Homeowners, Volume is not Very Relevant. For what it’s worth, we’re happy to see our little report was right on the money as far as the decline in volume at around 41%. Guess we’re not so mathematically challenged after all. And [...]

From today’s San Francisco Chronicle: The subprime mortgage fiasco stands to cost the Bay Area economy more than $5.4 billion next year, according to the latest report intending to put a dollar figure on the rising wave of real estate foreclosures. The lending crisis will cost the national economy $166 billion and 524,000 potential jobs, [...]

“Countrywide, GMAC, Litton and HomeEq – which collectively service more than one quarter of subprime loans to people with poor credit – agreed to maintain the initial, lower interest rate for some subprime borrowers whose rates are scheduled to jump significantly higher. To qualify, borrowers must occupy their homes, have made their payments on time [...]

Is that why this guy is so smiley? His predictions are coming true? For those wondering, that is “[e]conomist Ken Rosen, a notorious bear on housing who has called for a correction for several years, [who] said home prices in the urban core of the Bay Area could drop 5 to 10 percent – but [...]

From a reader: “This happened to a unit in my building, #108 over here at 88 King. They auctioned it off during the all star game and it went for $840,000.” From the article: “Mortgage scams involve a cartel of inside players — colluding property appraisers, real-estate brokers and accountants willing to draw up fake [...]

Calling all Realtors, bloggers, and readers in San Francisco! Share your experiences on the market in this thread. I, Alex Clark (the editor), am actually feeling chatty and have been chiming in, and would love some insight from my colleagues as well as all you readers and bloggers. Go ahead…comment. It’s actually kind of fun. [...]