Welcome to Inside SF Real Estate – a local blog dedicated to bringing you real estate news, trends, stats, stories, and photography from around the City. Who writes Inside SF Real Estate? Read the rest of this entry ?
Ahh, Glen Park. It’s such a cute & cozy little ‘hood. A single family home just hit the market which first caught our eye with its charming curb appeal. As we viewed the interior shots, we were appreciating the renovation, the (seemingly) sensible floorplan, and the abundance of natural light. Looks like it will be another stop on this week’s tour.
449 Chenery Street has 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, one car parking, and an open floorplan. The south-facing yard has a multi-tiered deck, grass terrace, and new wood fence. Views of the Bay and rolling hills can be seen from the home, which was originally constructed in 1900. A “luxe” master suite upstairs awaits its new owners and will treat them to a soaking tub, rain shower, private patio, and ample sunlight via the large skylight. A generously sized family room sports a wet bar, wine fridge, and provides access to the rear deck. The home is listed for $1,998,000. Yep, we’re definitely looking forward to seeing this place (as well as the quality of the renovation).
Excellent curb appeal first grabbed our attention...
Open floorplans are a plus for anyone who enjoys entertaining
For more photos of this gorgeous home, continue reading –>
There’s no doubt that the mortgage markets are changing significantly right now. Making sense of it all can be a daunting task. That’s why we’ve invested in a new feature here at InsideSFRealEstate that we hope you’ll find very useful. We have licensed the use of Al Bowman’s mortgage market commentary and are here to provide you with daily mortgage scoops. Al has been in the mortgage business for over 20 years and writes the “Daily Rate Lock Advisory”, which details key economic indicators, trends in the bond market, and gives you advice on whether to lock your rate now or keep waiting for a better one. As with anything predictive in nature, be sure to do your own research, and keep in mind, we do not personally warrant the information.
Al sends us daily updates, which we will post to the blog, updating the “sticky” post up top. Sometimes he’ll send more than one update within a day if something noteworthy happens in the markets (for example, if the Fed makes an announcement that changes his opinion). We’ll post them as soon as we receive them. Our personal website will also have this info and may be slightly ahead of the blog in terms of updating (as it is on full-auto). You may find it HERE.
Now that you know what the Daily Rate Lock Advisory is all about, here’s our first one (which was actually sent to us late last night):
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
The first data of the week comes Tuesday when there are three reports scheduled to be posted. The day’s reports are a broad spectrum of data ranging from housing figures to manufacturing output to an important inflation reading. Their importance to the markets also is a wide variety. The first report of the day is May’s Housing Starts that tracks starts of new home projects. It is the week’s least important report and likely will not affect mortgage rates unless its results vary greatly from the 5.5% increase that has been forecasted.
The second is one of the two highly important reports of the week. May’s Producer Price Index (PPI ) will also be posted early Tuesday morning. It helps us measure inflationary pressures at the producer level of the economy. There are two readings of this index, the overall and the core data. The core data is considered to be the more important of the two because it excludes more volatile food and energy prices. A large increase could raise concern about inflation rising as soon as the economy pulls out of the recession. This would not be good news for bond prices or mortgage rates since inflation erodes the value of a bond’s future fixed interest payments. Rising inflation causes investors to sell bonds, driving prices lower and mortgage rates higher. Analysts are expecting to see an increase of 0.6% in the overall index and a 0.1% rise in the core data. It will not take much of a variance from forecasts for the markets to react, which would most likely lead to changes in mortgage rates.
The third and final piece of data scheduled for T uesday is May’s Industrial Production. This report will be released at 9:15 AM ET and is considered to be moderately important. It measures output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities, giving us a fairly important measurement of manufacturing sector strength. If it reveals that production is rising, concerns of manufacturing strength may come into play in the bond market. A larger than expected 0.8% decline would indicate that the manufacturing sector is weaker than expected and should help push mortgage rates lower. That is assuming that the PPI doesn’t surprise us.
Wednesday’s only data is the week’s most important and arguably the single most important report we see each month. This is when we will get May’s Consumer Price Index (CPI). It is very similar to Tuesday’s PPI, but measures inflationary pressures at the more important consumer level of the economy. It is expected to show a 0.3% rise in the overall reading and a 0.1% increase in the core data. Larger than expected increases will most likely lead to noticeable upward changes to mortgage rates Wednesday.
May’s Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) will be posted late Thursday morning. The Conference Board, who is a New York-based business research group, will post this data. It attempts to predict economic activity over the next three to six months. If it shows rapidly rising levels of activity, bond prices will probably drop, pushing mortgage rates higher Thursday morning. But, a weaker than expected reading could lead to lower mortgage pricing. It is expected to show a 0.9% increase.
Overall, look for Tuesday to be the big day of the week. Not just because it brings the release of three of the five reports, but also because it brings us the PPI that is considered to be a key inflation reading. Wednesday is also very important with the CPI being posted, so look for the most movement in rates during the middle part of the week.
If I we re considering financing/refinancing a home, I would…. Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days… Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days… Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days… Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now… This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.
“This week is fairly busy with five economic reports scheduled to be released. Two of the five are considered to be of high importance to the markets and mortgage rates. The remaining three are of interest to the markets but likely will not cause a large change in mortgage rates unless they vary greatly from forecasts.
The first data of the week comes Tuesday when there are three reports scheduled to be posted. Read the rest of this entry ?
Ever wanted a remodeled 5-story single family home on Telegraph Hill with city skyline views, wrap around decks, an au pair suite, and an elevator? Well the home of your dreams may have just hit the market. 1454-1456 Kearny arrived to the open market about 5 days ago, and we’re itching to see it on the Broker’s Tour tomorrow. The home features 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car parking, and is a short (albeit, steep) walk to Washington Square, North Beach, Chinatown, the Financial District, and the Embarcadero. Listed at $3,500,000, we’ll have our eyes on this one.
Pretty sweet, eh?
And the panorama's not bad either
For more pictures, continue reading –>
We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with friend and colleague Gary Beyrouti to discuss his restoration of an 1895 Queen Anne Victorian located at 925 Fulton. Our goal? To learn what it takes to perform a historical restoration, what challenges one can run into, and what lessons he learned from the overall project. Gary’s experience should be able to help readers who are contemplating similar projects, and at the very least, provide an incredible tale of this labor of love. Buckle up, because you’re not going to believe the details involved.
The story begins in 2003, when Gary and his partner purchased a dilapidated Victorian located in San Francisco’s Alamo Square historical district. At the time, the home was the ugliest on the block. Gary laughed as he recalled entering the home for the first time “…the home had no kitchen, no garage, and had not been lived in for many years. There was no wall by the staircase, and for some reason there was a bath tub sitting in the middle of the dining room.” But what Gary saw that day was a work of art… a piece of San Francisco history that had so much potential, if only it could be brought back to life.
BEFORE - 925 Fulton as it stood in 2003
What Gary would embark upon was a multi-year project, one in which he would live on the top floor of the home while work was performed throughout the rest. Once the lower levels were finished, he would move downstairs and then finish the top floor. Gary’s goal was to
What is a pocket listing? A pocket listing is a home that is not being advertised to the general public through the MLS or a listing that will come on the market in the future but right now is still a secret. Many homes in San Francisco sell while off the open market, so pocket listing culture is a big deal. Each week, we’ll be sharing info about pocket listings that we know of (most of them anyway- some have to remain completely confidential).
Information on pocket listings is sparse and secretive, so pardon us if we seem short on details for the purposes of our blog. If you are interested in learning more about a particular listing you can click HERE to contact us. Without further ado, here are this week’s pocket listings:
To see this week’s pocket listings, continue reading –>
Ever skipped line at a club by paying off the bouncers? Well that’s essentially what was proposed for TIC owners who were waiting around to convert their units to condos.
You wanna do what? Get back in line, son.
We now have word that this measure has not been approved, which puts TIC owners in the difficult position of dealing with the unresponsive bouncers. From the June Edition of the “Plan C” Newsletter:
————
We have disappointing news for TIC owners, and all San Franciscans who want to promote homeownership. The Mayor released his budget earlier this week, and he did not include the “condo bypass” proposal that has generated so much attention in the TIC community this spring. As most of you know, the condo bypass proposal (conceived by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd) would allow Read the rest of this entry ?
We’re all a little upset with the banks these days (okay, more than a little). But there are not many who are willing to take matters into their own hands. Enter the “Front Street Attack Bird”. This little bugger has taken it upon herself to swoop down and attack unsuspecting bankers walking the streets of San Francisco’s Financial District (or shall we say, Barbary Coast). The bird has garnered national attention and even has her own blog. Here are some links to explore, and don’t be the next victim!
From CBS5: SF Bird Attacks Pedestrians, Gets Worldwide Notice (the video is definitely worth a view)
The Blog: FrontStreetAttackBird @ Blogspot.com
The Evidence:
The blackbird awaits its next victim
Then outta nowhere... BOOM
Closeup of the culprit
Photos courtesy of http://www.frontstreetattackbird.blogspot.com.
To share this article, continue reading –>
Welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tour Show-Stoppers! This week we toured 25 properties around the City and are here to give you the highlights. First up, our weekly awards:
View of the Week Award
Just when we thought the views from 66 Everson, which we toured a couple weeks ago, couldn’t get any better, along comes 58 Digby. This Diamond Heights home takes full advantage of its jaw-dropping views with 15-20 foot walls of glass. The unobstructed views include the entire skyline, Bay Bridge, East Bay and surrounding mountains. Photos are below, but warning, they cannot possibly do justice. Runner up for View of the Week goes to 147 Laidley, which was one of three 5-star homes this week.
View from 58 Digby
Walls of glass let the view into the home...
Next up, our Back Yard of the Week Award. There were many distinguished backyards on the tour this week, for example 1011 Green, 3971 20th, and 165 Randall. However, there can only be one winner and that goes to 719 Carolina in Potrero Hill. This snazzy home sports an atrium, huge deck, and lush vegetation at the rear of the lot. Feel like entertaining out back? Well have fun because the deck sits on top of a stand-alone family room that is detached from the rest of the home. It was decorated with couches, chairs and lamps, but we pictured something more in line with a pool table, ping-pong table, dart board, foosball, flat screen TV, sofas, and perhaps a vintage Golden Tee arcade machine. Oh, and a wet bar with Guinness on tap. In any case, you have to see the rear of this home to truly appreciate it.
Atrium at 719 Carolina
The huge deck actually sits on top of the roof of the detached family room
Beautiful greenery towards the rear of the lot, as seen from the deck.
We’re now ready to dole out our 4-star and 5-star homes of the week. Keep in mind that 4-stars = Great and 5-stars = Superb. These are our opinions only and do not have anything to do with pricing. Don’t know what a Tuesday Tour Show-Stopper is? Click HERE.
To see the listings, continue reading. Click the bold address on any property for more details–>
It’s about that time again. With sales activity picking up sharply in the last couple of months, we’ve decided to update our rankings for San Francisco’s 85 neighborhoods based upon the number of sales that have occurred in each one.
Sales numbers include single family homes, condos, TICs, lofts, stock cooperatives, 2-4 unit buildings, 5+ unit buildings, and land. Noe Valley still leads the pack and Bernal has made a big upward move to the #2 spot since we last ran this report. Potrero Hill, Pacific Heights, and SOMA round out the Top 5.
And yeah, we know this analysis doesn’t control for the size of the neighborhoods, but we find it interesting nonetheless.
Which neighborhoods have all the ACTION?
| Rank | Neighborhood | Number of Sales |
| 1. | Noe Valley | 84 |
| 2. | Bernal Heights | 51 |
| 3. | Potrero Hill | 46 |
| T-4. | Pacific Heights | 44 |
| T-4. | South of Market (SoMa) | 44 |
| 6. | Inner Mission | 43 |
| 7. | Eureka Valley/Dolores Heights | 39 |
| 8. | South Beach | 37 |
| 9. | Excelsior | 36 |
| 10. | Parkside | 35 |
To see the remainder of the list, continue reading –>
We first wrote about 230 Cervantes a couple weeks ago on our Tuesday Tour Show-Stoppers post. The house struck us as a prime opportunity to own a spectacular Marina home with one of the largest lots on the block. The 4 bedroom, 3 bath home needs some work, but with its beautiful period details, spacious interior, and stellar location, our minds teemed with possibilities.
Listed for $1,849,000, the home wasted no time getting into contract. Matter of fact, it skipped the contingency period and went straight to “Pending”. We’ll keep an eye out for the final sales price, and as we wrote a couple weeks ago, “looks like 230 Cervantes could be another 765 Sanchez in the making.“
230 Cervantes
230 Cervantes
For more pics, continue reading –>
Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. One of the homes we rated 5 Stars on Tuesday’s Tour just went directly into Pending Status today. 2332 Washington is an exquisite home and we’re not surprised it got snatched up so quickly. The home has a total of 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, around 4,790 square feet, and was built in 1906. Completely remodeled with period details restored, the home packs in a lot of charm while delivering plenty of modern-day amenities. Listed at $4,495,000, we’ll be curious to see what this one sells for (if it is disclosed).
 |
2332 Washington St, San Francisco $4,495,000 Click address for property details. |
|
|
|
||
Here are some pictures in case you missed visiting it while it was on the open market (which was only 10 days).
2332 Washington - A humble facade with a dazzling interior.
Lush vegetation surrounds the bright breakfast area.
For more pics, continue reading –>
Wish we were referring to a magical moment as the sun dips below the Pacific horizon on a gorgeous evening… but we’re referring to “The Sunset”. Sales price trends in the neighborhood have long been thought to be a decent barometer of the overall San Francisco housing market. Why? The Sunset is a large, fairly stable neighborhood with many similar homes selling around San Francisco’s median.
So let’s take a look at the median sales price from January 1, 2009 through June 1, 2009. And better yet, lets compare this year’s median to that of years past, over the same time period. This should give us a glimpse into present day conditions, not just in the Sunset, but into the San Francisco market as a whole (if the aforementioned theory holds any weight). And as our readers know, we’d love to go back further than 1995 but MLS does not support that. Here is the trend:
This week marks a dismal point in American history. We have cleared 1,000,000 foreclosures for 2009 already. That’s 1 foreclosure every 13 seconds, or about 6,600 a day. The Center for Responsible Lending has a catchy little ticker HERE.
Screenshot of the foreclosure ticker
The horrific issue of rising foreclosures permeates so many aspects of American life that it’s tough to pinpoint the exact point where things went wrong. Who’s to blame? Predatory lending practices? Over-zealous borrowers? A society lacking accountability? A culture of lies and falsification, all in the pursuit of money? An overly optimistic populace? A greed mentality? Lack of Government controls on banks? A hybrid of all of the above?
Our thoughts? Actually, we think Read the rest of this entry ?
You are currently browsing the Inside San Francisco Real Estate blog archives for June, 2009.
