Archive for the ‘Neighborhoods’ Category
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Well, all, few and far between are homes we can look at and positively say: That’d be a good investment. Yet here is one, that frankly, given the size and location, has to be just that. The downside– yes, sorry, these days there simply has to be one- is that this could be a lonnnnng term investment indeed. It could also bring out the evil in a person that he or she didn’t even know existed; but the latter, I suspect, is often the result of becoming a landlord in this city.
Welcome to 1847 Stockton, 2/1 TIC on Telegraph Hill, listed at just $250K. At issue is the tenant currently occupying the property. This tenant is “protected,” and “is not moving.” Now, if we know our tenant/landlord laws in SF as well as we should, we know protected tenants are either:
- Ill, too ill to move, or that moving may make them worse
- Disabled: Again, the burden and expense of moving has been deemed unacceptable to these persons
- Elderly: Same logic as above, given the large number of very fixed incomes allotted to those no longer working
- Long term resident: 10 years or more in the residency= you cannot get rid of this person legally.
Andy Sirkin, oft credited as the pre-eminent font of knowledge on all things eviction and TIC related (which incidentally, this property is both) puts it this way:
Protected Tenants: Certain tenants are “protected” and cannot be evicted for owner-occupancy except in very limited circumstances. Protected tenants are those 60 or over or disabled who have occupied for 10 years, and those catastrophically ill who have occupied for 5 years. Also remember that no tenant with an unexpired lease can be evicted, and that tenants who occupy a unit during conversion to a condominium are entitled to remain for one year after conversion, or for life if they are over 62 or disabled.
We have no way of telling from this listing alone what group this tenant belongs too, but it could easily be any of the above, including the long term residency, since the current rent being collected on a 2 unit in North Beach several years beyond what this tenant pays: $795 a month. (Um, no wonder the tenant is “not moving!”)
So how then is this a good investment? Well, I already said: It’s a 2 bedroom TIC in a highly desirable area, also in a building that looks well cared for. We don’t know how the unit itself looks (no pics: bad sign), but we can find out by attending the open house on 11/22 or 12/6 from 9am to 10am. In fact, if anyone goes, email some details to The Frontsteps as I’d love to do a follow-up. And hey: if we find the tenant to be ill or elderly, maybe we can project that lifespan he or she has left and plan our investment accordingly. Or, perhaps if you know a good hit man? Ha, ha. Calm down, people! Of course, I’m kidding; but you can see how the tenancy laws might bring out the worst in landlords, or landlords to be.
In any case, this property does offer some potential if you can wait it out. The rent collected now won’t cover the mortgage, so it’s a good bet for someone who can pay cash for the whole shebang. And, kismet: The listing says “all cash sale.” That means then in 333 months (27 years) or so, you’d have your principal investment back and could commence profiting. Or, you get lucky, and the tenant would …disappear first.
Tags: investment property, San Francisco Real Estate, TIC
Posted in Anna Marie Hibble, Investing, Telegraph Hill, Victorian | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
So this was all the remodeling noise we heard while selling the unit directly below this spectacular Penthouse at the St. Regis.
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Hats off to Gregg Lynn and Louis Silcox for getting this $70,000,000
20,000+ square feet (including 2,900 of terraces); six bedrooms, seven full baths, four powder rooms; 2,500 square foot master suite (including the closet of dreams below); thirteen-seat home cinema designed by Keith Yates; 22 foot floor-to-ceiling glass walls in the living; and four terraces, four fireplaces and six car parking
home on the market. It is truly a remarkable piece of San Francisco luxury real estate, and we can’t wait to put you in this home.
We take it back, Kevin Rose, you should buy this pad instead.
-St. Regis Penthouse Details [Gregg Lynn]
[Admittedly, photo source and scoop via SocketSite (quoted above).]
Tags: luxury high rise, luxury real estate, san francisco, San Francisco Real Estate, St. Regis
Posted in Luxury Homes, SOMA, St. Regis, Unique Property | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Have you been wondering what’s been happening in sales for Noe and Cole Valleys for the past 12 months? We have, so we thought we’d share with you too.
Apparently it’s not all bad in Noe (according to the San Francisco Chronicle), but can Cole Valley step up to the plate? We think so.
Enjoy!
-Noe Valley/Cole Valley Homes Sold Past 12 Months over $2 million
Tags: Cole Valley, Luxury Homes, luxury real estate, Noe Valley, San Francisco Real Estate
Posted in Cole Valley, Noe Valley, Stats & Numbers, theFrontSteps | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
Just curious to see how up on your real estate all y’all are.
Take a look at 145 Madrone, a 3 bed, 1 bath, 1920’s home in prime West Portal, asking $849,000 (offer date next Monday). By all accounts, the one single photo doesn’t do this property justice. (Come on fellow Realtors! Even if it’s a wreck, you gotta put more photos up.) It needs a lot. We wouldn’t go so far as to say it “needs everything” like a certain Clipper wreck you may have heard about, but it needs a lot (new kitchen, new bathrooms, blow a wall out here and there, redo the floors, dry wall, ceilings…).
So what’s it gonna take to be the lucky owner of this diamond in the rough? We’re giving away a trip to Hawaii for the reader that nails the sales price in the comments below. (Not really, but we can dream, and we do appreciate all of your comments.)
-145 Madrone, 3bed, 1 bath, $849,000 [listing details]
Tags: Fixer, Homes for Sale, san francisco, San Francisco Real Estate, West Portal
Posted in Fixers, West Portal | 16 Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
By Home Girl, aka real-estate blogger Tracey Taylor).
Go to Piedmont and you feel you have entered another world. That’s if you live in Berkeley or Oakland or anywhere else where you are a mere mortal.
I suppose Piedmont is the East Bay’s equivalent to Pacific Heights. Rarefied, privileged, cocooned. The median list price here for a SFH is $1,236,000 (admittedly a tad lower than Pac Height’s $3,357,000, but you get the picture).
I saw a couple of Piedmont listings this weekend. The first was a pink chateau (above) priced at $3,295,000; the second, a 1950s one-level given a complete contemporary overhaul (below), was $745,000 less expensive, but by far the more interesting proposition in my humble opinion.
If you are the old-school type who favors traditional interiors and bourgeois accommodations, the chateau is for you. If, however, you like something a little more risque — a splash of California indoor-outdoor living, a few floor-to-ceiling windows and a handful of sumptuous bathrooms thrown in — then opt for the newer model (below).
Both homes have been on the market for 64+ days, and I would want to know why the second one, at 43 Farragut Avenue, has changed hands no less than four times in the past 11 years (beginning in 1997 — a snip at $1,250,000). But if you’re after more bang for you buck than in the Heights, these are both worth investigating.
Oh, I did visit a third open house on my tour of Piedmont: 224 Ricardo Avenue is a perfectly nice house in a perfectly nice area, but it costs $1,275,000 and, to be honest, I felt like I was slumming it. That’s the effect Piedmont has on you if you spend more than enough time there.
Above: your new neighbors should you choose to buy 43 Farragut Avenue in Piedmont.
Tags: Berkeley, East Bay, market, Pacific Heights
Posted in Pacific Heights, Single Family, Tracey Taylor, real estate, theFrontSteps | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
From the Chronicle: Home prices down in 90% of Bay Area Zip codes. A bold statement indeed, and thank God we don’t live in 90% of the Bay Area, but what’s this?
One of the few standouts was the 94114 ZIP in San Francisco, home of Noe Valley, where houses go for well over a million dollars, designer strollers clog the sidewalks, posh shops peddle handmade ethnic tchotchkes, and the Google bus regularly cruises the streets.
But even that ZIP didn’t enjoy the double-digit appreciation that became de rigueur during the real estate boom. Instead Noe Valley prices were up 6.8 percent year over year, from $893 a square foot to $954.
We know full well SF is not entirely immune to the forces of the economy, but the mere fact that we are weathering this storm better than any metropolitan area we can think of, deserves to be noted. The fact that some areas of San Francisco are seeing price appreciation (however small) while other areas of the Bay Area (literally within 50 miles) are seeing price drops upwards of 70% is astonishing.
And apparently, Carolyn hadn’t seen this post, or she’d know a statement like, “Noe Valley, where houses go for well over a million dollars, designer strollers clog the sidewalks, posh shops peddle handmade ethnic tchotchkes, and the Google bus regularly cruises the streets” is sure to cause a stir. We’re prepared to let it slide, are you?
Just noticed something else on that map…does it show most of SF as a “Zip code with fewer than 20 sales”?
-Comment du Jour: The People in Noe Valley Have a Fully Realized Liberal Fantasy [theFrontSteps.com]
Tags: Chronicle, foreclosure, Noe Valley, san francisco, San Francisco Real Estate
Posted in Doom & Gloom, Noe Valley, theFrontSteps | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
A lesson on marketing keywords: “Mill Valley style”…ding, ding, ding (think of the sound of slot machines in a casino)! “Bernal Heights”…ding, ding, ding! “On the market for the first time in almost 40 years”…ding, ding, ding! “TRIPLE LOT”…ding, ding, ding! “Cul-de-sac”…ding, ding, ding! “Shops and restaurants still a very short walk away”…ding, ding, ding!. “View home”…ding, ding, ding! “Owner will carry the loan”…ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
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And that is how you get 145 Bonview (3 bed, 3 bath, $1,425,000) to practically fly off the shelf (14 Days On Market). It hasn’t closed yet, but it’s damn close, and something tells us that seller financing wasn’t necessary.
Of course, if you’re more into hovering well above all that Bernal riff-raff (joking of course) we’d be happy to find some clever marketing keywords for that too.
Tags: Bernal Heights, Seller Financing
Posted in Bernal Heights | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 7th, 2008
Admittedly a horrible job resizing this picture (Hey, it’s Friday!), but we thought you’d all like to know 625 Duncan quietly changed hands today for $5,818,000.
Ahhh, f*ck it. We’ll just go ahead and publish the marketing remarks that tell the story of the inside:
The scale of this house blends into the hillside with a keen reverence for the surrounding properties and neighborhood. Modern and masterful, 625 Duncan has been brilliantly executed to capture an enormous amount of space in an aesthetically pleasing and functional manner. A steel cantalevered entry staircase ascends through terraced concreate walls and gardens to the 4bd/4.5ba main house and 1bd/1ba apt below. (More information in picture)
——————————————————————————–
A lift also services from a vestibule in the 4 car garage to all levels of the main house. Notabale features and amenities include: high ceilings throughout, mahogany floors and solid plank stairs, exposed steel elements, zoned radiant heat, control 4 lighting, limestone/granite, Bonelli windows, wine cellar/tasting room with built-in refrigeration and pre-wired audio. The kitchen has premium appliances and built-in refrigeration. The master suite has a exquisite free standing tub, double steam shower and dual walk-in closets. 3 of the bedrooms have private bathrooms and decks. A level yard and deck are off the family room. With views to the north, 625 Duncan captures every possible outlook via angled walls filled with windows.
Can you spot the typos? Might as well pick something apart, since we can’t pick the property apart….
Posted in Noe Valley | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 7th, 2008
Pix to come, I’m sure. but holy cow, $1.775M for a Folsom street Victorian, now?
Yes it’s large. Yes there is four car parking. But we are talking about the very center of the Mission.
Tags: Folsom, Mission, Victorian
Posted in The Mission, theFrontSteps | 9 Comments »
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
When I posted Reduction Ad Nauseum, I really just wanted a read on how the educated real estate populace explains and/or reacts to listings that have suffered not one, not two, but three or more price cuts. Still, one commenter Noe Guy said:
“Interesting observations but I wouldn’t put too much stock in them. First, you picked all TICs. TICs were always more of a speculative area of the market–get financing as a group, hold everything together via legal contract, hope for condo lottery, refinance. Everything about it is more speculative, hence the standard discount of TICs to condos… In this market, that discount should be steeper due to higher risk.
In addition to the more speculative aspect of the TIC market, I’ve always believed that it’s very difficult to accurately price a TIC. It’s not just the property that’s for sale. It’s the property, the actual contract, and the partnership with other owners. Those other two intangibles (from an economic standpoint) make the market less transparent, less liquid, and more difficult to price.
The evidence you’ve sited above clearly makes this case, but keep it in context and look outside of TICs if you want a clearer picture…”
Well, geez, what observations? I just observed 3 properties with 3 or more cuts, and opined that buyers (like me, someday, Obama willing) tend to look at reduced properties as Tijuana specials, as in: $500K now? No, no, I don’t think so. Here’s $300K and a pity hug. My final offer.
But okay, Noe Guy. See, I love a challenge (else why would I be so sure I can buy a house on an English teacher’s salary, eh?). So here you go, 3 more properties, decidedly not TICs, that have come down more thrice or more in their careers on the market.
(more…)
Tags: Reduced Prices, San Francisco Real Estate
Posted in Anna Marie Hibble, Buying/Selling Techniques, Condominium, Inner Parkside, Reduced, SOMA, San Francisco Real Estate, Single Family, Twin Peaks, real estate, san francisco, theFrontSteps | 4 Comments »
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Dried herbs, or drying (pot) plants? It certainly can’t be helping the sale of 442 Detroit, but it might be helping the occupants cope with a declining market, or pending eviction.
Regardless, it’s “two for one” on this home, so you better get it while supplies last…the homes that is.
-442 Detroit [MLS]
[Disclaimer: Of course we don't know whether that is pot or not, and we're not saying it is, so don't get your panties in a bunch.]
Tags: humor
Posted in Sunnyside | No Comments »
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
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 to avoid eye contact. We all know these boys can’t really be too picky; they have to take what they can get.
This analogy might not totally work for reduced priced properties. I’m just saying that as a buyer, we tend to feel a lot more powerful when we notice a home’s asking has come down not once, but twice– a feeling that multiplies with each subsequent reduction. That’s why, as a seller, I’d really hope my agent were savvy enough to price my home right. Of course, we can’t, unless we are Dione Warwick, know what the future holds, and some of the current meltdown has caught us by surprise. Still, the writing’s been on the wall awhile. Most literate people, I’d think, would have read it.
Case in point the next three properties, whose reduction history goes from bad to worse.
1. Studio TIC at 1059 Leavenworth St #5 San Francisco, CA 94109. Current price: $325,000. In over 120 days on the market, the list price has come down thrice:
Jul 02, 2008 $399,000
Jul 03, 2008 $329,000
Sep 09, 2008 $325,000
2. 532 Clipper St #B San Francisco, CA 94114, currently at $539,000 is a 2 bed/1 bath TIC flat. In over 170 days on the market, it’s suffered 5 reductions, each one not very big, but the conglomeration of so many price cuts is pretty damning:
May 14, 2008 $679,000
Jun 11, 2008 $659,000
Aug 13, 2008 $639,000
Aug 28, 2008 $599,000
Sep 25, 2008 $570,000
Oct 28, 2008 $539,000
3. 3630 22nd St., San Francisco, CA. A 2bed/1bath detached cottage TIC, this one I’ve saved for “worst” because though it has not been cut as often as the above property, the overall slash down is quite dramatic. In over 100 days on the market:
Jul 18, 2008 $749,000
Sep 05, 2008 $649,000
Oct 06, 2008 $589,000
Oct 29, 2008 $499,000
In this last case, the current price seems a lot more fair. I went to the open house yesterday and the listing agent informed me the place needed about $250K in repair and pest control. I have to wonder who would have ever, ever, ever paid the original list price.
I also wonder what other SF real estate agents or buyers or sellers think of these reductions overall, so I’m serving this blog up on the Front Steps for commentary. Take it easy on those awkward teen age boys though. Everyone, and everything, is fragile right now.
Tags: Economy, Reduced Prices, reductions, San Francisco Real Estate, TIC
Posted in Anna Marie Hibble, Economy, Financial District, Fixers, Noe Valley, Reduced, Stalefish ™, Twin Peaks, theFrontSteps | 12 Comments »
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Back in the day (two to three years ago) if you dropped a BOM on your listing, it didn’t really matter as there were usually a handful more buyers ready to pounce. These days…not as many, and by all accounts we’re definitely seeing an increase is BOMs across all price points and property types. Today is no exception.
With the return of 1141 Vallejo, a three bed, two bath, Russian Hill residence, we’re left wondering…who’s next, and will another buyer be ready to pounce?
What is a BOM? B.O.M. stands for Back On Market…a listing that was in contract, and for any number of reasons, is again available.
Tags: back on market, san francisco, San Francisco Real Estate
Posted in Russian Hill, Still There, market info | 3 Comments »
Friday, October 31st, 2008
We’ve all heard about the latest craze to talk about what buildings aren’t selling what, what price reductions happened where, what incentives are being offered here, and which penthouse condos are selling for what. If you’ve been reading up on your bay area blogs, you’ll likely already know that the entire 60th floor of One Rincon Hill is again available, but not presented as an opportunity to purchase yet another excellent slice of pie in the sky, rather a failure to close contracts due to the recent national recession (half full, half empty).
So, should you only be in the $2+ Million buying range, you could take your pic of one of the four residences on the 60th floor (at least one on the 59th too):
The views from up there are nothing short of extraordinary.
Or, should you be walking around with roughly $14 Million burning a hole in your pocket, you could chop down a few of those walls and take the entire 60th Floor (5900 square feet) all to yourself (okay, maybe you could share with your honey….or us).
Opportunity knocks, and we’re dying to come to the parties. We’re not sure if when you purchase the entire top floor you’d have exclusive access to swim in the seismic water tank on top, but it never hurts to ask.
Tags: luxury high rise, luxury real estate, Rincon Hill, San Francisco Real Estate
Posted in Announcements, Luxury Homes, One Rincon Hill, SOMA, South Beach | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Realtor Kevin Gueco writes a very sunny review for the coming soon Mosiaica 601 condo project (pictured above) in his SFNewDevelopments blog. There’s definitely some room for pleasant surprise in the announced price (pleasant to me, anyway, since I selfishly find all condos I cannot afford to be unpleasant):
“Mosaica 601 announced last week that it plans to start pricing of its 3 bedroom / 2 bath condos in the low $600s! This is an incredible value considering each home is around 1400 square feet.”
Of course, putting aside Gueco’s near-by restaurant list, the area (where Mission meets Potrero) is a little rough, but the price still seems all right to me. Perhaps the developers see the price cuts so many other condo developers have had to make recently, and are starting lower to begin with?
Also coming soon (but not as soon) are a more mysterious set of housing units. Just off West Portal and 16th Ave., in front of Arden Wood, you can see the pushed-up dirt, huge bulldozers, and thin wood skeletons that signal housing to come, and their sectioning looks multi-unit. Thus I suspect these are the long awaited condos that were subject of news and speculation in 2006. In fact, that’s still the only information I can find on this construction: 2 years old, via SFHomeBlog and J.K. Dineen. Someone has to have a more updated scoop here. Anyone?
Meanwhile, still a pipe-dream (ha ha! Really, Haight Street, how many pipe stores can one street support?), but with the supervisorial green light is the Whole Foods/condo complex, slated to replace long-dead Cala Foods at the corner of Stanyan and Haight. The Chronicle outlines the plan here:
”The large, four-story project, which also includes some 60 high-end, market-rate housing units, was expected to be controversial, but the commission voted 6-0 to approve the conditional use permit - a result supporters think had a lot to do with their organized turnout.”
Right, agreed: Haight could use a face-lift and perhaps a gentle reminder that THE 60′S ARE OVER. Also, I like Whole Foods, but I’m saving for one of those condos, so I’ll stick to Trader Joe’s (with a new one also coming soon!). I’m curious what “market rate” will be when those units go up, since so many new developments are struggling to sell out units already. The Frontstep’s own banker/blogger, aptly known as “The Banker,” says: “We are overbuilt. . .and it is next to near impossible to get financing!”
What do you say?
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Construction photo via SFNewDevelopments
Tags: Arden Wood, Condominium, condos, Haight Ashbury, Mosaica 601, New Construction, Reduced Prices
Posted in Below Market Rate, Condominium, Economy, General Info, Haight Ashbury, Insider Information, Marketing, New Construction, New Developments, Potrero Hill, SOMA, Updates, West Portal, coming soon | 14 Comments »
