We have a new guest post on San Francisco’s popular real estate blog, theFrontSteps. This time we took a close look at condominium trends in the Haight/Ashbury neighborhood over the past 15 years and added our colorful commentary. Click HERE to read the article.
For more “Getting Granular” articles, click HERE.
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Eureka Valley and Dolores Heights are San Francisco staples. We were curious to see what has happened to median sales prices in the area since 1995. The area is unique in that it has a nice blend of single family homes and condos/tics. Because of this, we looked at trends in all property types. Here is a look at the data:
What can we see here? Read the rest of this entry ?
We’re big map geeks. We love anything that saves us time, makes us more productive, or is a Google Maps mash-up. We’ve discovered some especially useful ones recently and wanted to share them with you!
The first allows you to browse a Google map, click anywhere, and receive an instant postal address for that location. We’ve found it to be surprisingly accurate. Check it out HERE.
Instant Postal Addresses by Clicking on the Map... Nifty
The next one populates movie theaters on a map. When you click on a theater, the movie times pop up. Sweet!
It's showtime!
This weekend I ran an open house and bumped into a young woman who had been to a few properties before visiting mine. She said that a few other Realtors she had spoken with were all touting “now’s a great time to buy!”.
I quickly congratulated her for having rubbed elbows with some fine real estate salespeople… but hardly real estate experts.
How can one possibly know if it’s a good time to buy if they haven’t asked you one very simple question first? The truth is, the only way it’s a good time to buy is if
Hayes Valley is an interesting neighborhood. Ironically, the destruction caused by the Loma Prieta earthquake in ‘89 actually helped this gem spring to life. The earthquake led to the demolition of a freeway on-ramp, which let the light finally shine in and Hayes Valley officially took off. Nineteen years later, the streets teem with pedestrians, funky shops, restaurants, bars, cafes and coffee houses.
So what’s happened to median sales prices of real estate in HV? I mean, surely it has gone up since the quake, but what about the dot com bust, and the current down market? What’s going on now? Here’s a look at the chart and here’s what we did:
First we capped each year Read the rest of this entry ?
Today we learned about a new website, MapsKrieg, that attempts to map out homes for sale, apartments for rent, roomshares, temporary housing, and sublets on a map. Apparently the data is pulled from CraigsList ads and then populated into Google maps.
We found it to work quite well for rentals. Homes for sale… mmm, not so much, but remember that these are populating CraigsList ads only. The overall concept is good, the user-interface is idiot-proof, and usefulness is excellent if you’re currently looking for apartments by location. Check it out at http://www.mapskrieg.com/view/sfbay.
MapsKrieg Successfully Puts Rental Listings on a Map
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Usually when we hear about Richmond in the media, it’s another sad crime story from the city across the Bay. But this time, we’re bringing the attention closer to home and featuring an analysis of the Inner Richmond. We took the liberty of running some numbers in the area and suffice it to say, were shocked at the results (especially in this market!)
We looked at median sales prices for condos and single family homes in the ‘hood, dating back to 1995 and running through October 22 of each respective year. The reason we capped each year at October 22 is so that we could include 2008 and see what’s going on in the present-day market. Here is a look at those median sales prices:
Holy moly, look at that Read the rest of this entry ?
Ahhh, good ‘ol appraisal. It’s how I got started in the real estate business years ago and it’s one of the most useful things to know. I’m going to be sharing tips, little-known facts, and stories from my experience as an appraiser (as well as endless spreadsheets and analysis).
Today’s Appraisal 101 post will be a TIP. This is one of the fundamental things you should know if you are planning to invest any additional money into your home.
What’s the number one way you can add value to your home? Well, I suppose you could invite Bob Vila over for dinner and see if he’ll help you cross off some of your honey-do’s (as long as he promises to trim that fro, that is). If you can’t land dinner with Bobby V, your next best bet is to follow this tip:
What… did you think a Realtor was the way to go? Ha, silly you, it’s a zeppelin. We read a local article the other day and thought how amazingly fun it would be to go up for an evening in this thing:
As someone who loves going up in helicopters, hot-air balloons, and just regular old domestic flights, I am thrilled to have this new form of entertainment in town. And we should feel fortunate. There are only 3 passenger zeppelins in the world, and the Bay Area is now home to one of them. Click HERE to read the full article and start planning a date he/she will never forget!
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We admire both the writer and the content of San Francisco’s popular real estate Blog, theFrontSteps. That’s why we’ll be submitting guest posts and adding to the site’s local real estate analysis. Whenever we write for theFrontSteps, we’ll let you know by making a post here and linking you to their site. We also highly recommend that you check back to both sites often for the latest unbiased real estate information (as provided by local industry experts), or subscribe to our RSS Feeds. And if you have ideas, tips, or anything that could make either site better, we are all ears!
Click HERE to visit our first guest post, “Pacific Heights in the Spotlight”.
theFrontSteps
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Since we think San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities on the Planet, we’ll be taking a break from the spreadsheets and sharing our photography from time to time.
Sunrise this morning was beeeeautiful. If only the camera could capture ALL the glory. Oh well, here’s the little bit it caught from atop Russian Hill:
October 21 - Sunrise from Russian Hill - Click to Zoom In
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Tenancy In Common (TIC) properties have grown in popularity over the years. One reason is the rising cost of housing in San Francisco has put the generally lesser-expensive TIC on the map. Another reason for their growing popularity, especially since 2005, is the proliferation of fractional financing. Currently, TICs account for approximately 3-4% of San Francisco’s total housing stock (per the tax assessor’s office).
So what exactly is fractional financing? In a traditional TIC, there is one loan for the entire building, essentially making you business partners with your neighbors. If one of your neighbors can’t pay their share of the loan payment, the bank will come after them and the other tenants. For this reason, neighbors scrutinize the financials and are very picky about who they let join in on an existing TIC loan (and rightfully so!). Despite the risk involved, we rarely hear of loan default being a problem in a traditional TIC.
In recent years, lenders have developed TIC lending products where tenants can now get an individual, or fractional loan, for their percentage ownership in the building. Fractional financing has definitely added fuel to the growth and desirability of TIC ownership, mitigating a huge portion of the risk of being in a traditional TIC. There are currently a handful of banks across the nation that will do fractional loans on San Francisco TIC properties (we know of about five). Here is a look at the number of TIC sales taking place within the City of San Francisco since 1995 (per MLS). Each year was capped at October 19th, so we could include the present year.
The chart shows a sharp increase in the number of TIC sales over the last 14 years. It’s impossible not to notice Read the rest of this entry ?
Vroom Vrooom
So what’s the deal with Noe Valley? Has it demonstrated resilience in the face of the down market? Or is it cruising for a bruising?
We wanted to find out, so we ran some numbers to give us the scoop. Our analysis consisted of looking at median sales prices in Noe for both single family homes and condos dating back seven years. We really wanted to include the current year in the data, so we capped each year at October 15th. All data comes straight from MLS (we don’t make this stuff up, folks). Here is a look at the chart:
Single Family Home vs. Condo Median Sales Prices in Noe Valley thru October 15 - Click Picture to Zoom In
The median sales price for single family homes in 2007 was $1,383,000 compared to this year’s Read the rest of this entry ?
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