theFrontSteps – San Francisco

From Aubear1 in Bay Area attracts top talent and money (theFrontSteps): Check out the percentage of VC funding that this region received during Q1 ’08 versus other parts of the country: PWC MoneyTree.com I can’t think of a more compelling piece of information that paints the picture of how this region continues to create both [...]

From a reader: “Best article of what is really going on in SF…” We have to agree that it is a very good example of the caliber of intellect, talent, and passion we find in San Francisco that will certainly help San Francisco weather this storm; however, it is not the entire picture. A good [...]

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a personal message to me, but I contacted Senator Boxer not too long ago to find out more about her ideas behind helping Californians who are upside down on their homes (actually I was mostly interested in getting the code to post her video directly on the site.) After sifting [...]

Picture the corner of Divisadero and Oak, and replace CPAs and Programmers with Realtors: Yes, this corner:

The main ingredient: “The Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance telephone poll of 1,002 adults, including 769 homeowners, portrayed a public afflicted with anxiety about what will happen to their pocketbooks in the near future. Those anxieties also show how the slumping real estate market has led to a weakened economy. [No shit?]” Add the graph: [...]

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 [...]

A reader forwards us this link to a recent article in this special section of the New York Times, which leaves us wondering, “Is San Francisco real estate still ‘Holding On’?” Some quotes: -”Once real estate in the most expensive cities no longer seemed to be a can’t-miss investment, you might have thought more people [...]

3 Oceans Real Estate provides some answers: Raising the conforming loan limit has the following benefits: 1. It does in fact greatly stimulate the economy 2. Many consumers who got in over their head will now be able to afford their mortgage 3. Greater affordability for housing is created 4. It will influence a portion [...]

“Fed Cuts Rate by Half-Point; 2nd Reduction in 8 Days” [New York Times] In lowering its benchmark Federal funds rate by half a point, to 3 percent, the central bank acknowledged that it is now far more worried about an economic slowdown than rising inflation, and it left open the possibility of additional rate reductions. [...]

Where readers ask and we try to answer: How do you think this new economic plan will affect Californian’s second-home purchases in 2008? Damn good question. Anyone?