Archive for the ‘Neighborhood Info’ Category
March 21, 2010
Current observations of the San Francisco residential real estate market (written on 3/21/2010):
1) Following the market crash of late ’08, confidence slowly began trickling back into the marketplace beginning in April 2009. Sales picked up through the summer and carried strong through the end of the year.
2) Many experts have called the “bottom”, but our view is that “bottom” takes place at different times for different price brackets. The low end of the market tends to feel the pain and hit bottom first, while the higher end of the market hangs on a little bit longer. Commercial lags everything, and may not hit bottom for a year or two.
3) The sentiment in today’s market is much better than around this time last year. Many new sales and pendings have led to the lowest MSI (months supply of inventory) on record in over two years. See the chart below:
Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) - Local vs National - click to enlarge
4) Current inventory levels are 17% Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Glen Park, Macro-Level Info, Market Check Up, Neighborhood Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 1167 bosworth, months supply of inventory, msi, san francisco, san francisco real estate | 1 Comment »
September 3, 2009
After writing “Getting Granular in Noe Valley” a couple days ago [which has received tons of hits], we figured it would make for a nice contrast to take a swing at Excelsior. Located just south of I-280, the nabe is home to many interesting people and houses. Jerry Garcia even once called the Excelsior home.
Excelsior street signs - Photos by Jef Poskanzer
Like Noe Valley, the neighborhood has posted a generous amount of sales in 2009, making it a good candidate for a trending analysis. And since it’s significantly different than Noe, it will be a fun little exercise.
Single family home medians (click to enlarge)
- The first thing I notice from this chart is how much smoother the line is compared to Noe’s, indicating that Excelsior may not be as sensitive to short-term perturbations in the market as Noe.
- Prices have fallen 32.34% from peak (in inflation adjusted terms), compared to Noe’s 22.05%. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Excelsior, Getting Granular, Micro-Level Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 2009 excelsior trends, 2009 noe valley trends, Excelsior, Noe Valley, san francisco real estate | 2 Comments »
September 1, 2009
Looking down towards Noe Valley - courtesy of Wikimedia
In Noe Valley there have been 85 single family home sales recorded in MLS for 2009. You know what that means! Time for a trending analysis, as we have a nice long string of sales for the year. What did we look at?
We calculated the median sales price for single family homes in Noe for the period of January 1 through September 1 of each year dating back to 1995. A trend became clear after plotting the values on a graph. But what about inflation? We added a second line to show what median values look like over the same time period when inflation is accounted for. The results?
Noe Valley SFH Trends (click to enlarge)
- In inflation-adjusted terms, Noe’s 2009 median is somewhere between 2003 and 2004.
- Values have come down 22.05% from peak. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Getting Granular, Micro-Level Info, Neighborhood Info, Nerdy RE Analysis, Noe Valley | Tagged 2009 noe valley, noe valley home prices, noe valley medians, noe valley trends, real estate trends, san francisco real estate | 4 Comments »
August 24, 2009
A couple of listings hit the market during the past few days that got us feeling blue. Here, have a look:
115 Nevada in Bernal Heights
115 Nevada is a cute little 1940′s home located in Bernal Heights. The 2 bedroom, 2 bath home is listed at $799,000. We’re partial to the paint job, which reminds us of the house in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Throw in a few Ionic columns, marble statues, and a fountain, and let the bids roll in!
The actual house from My Big Fat Greek Wedding (note the blue and white Greek paint job-- classic!)
Our next blue home belongs to Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Bernal Heights, Neighborhood Info, Nob Hill, Public Listings, The Shallot & Other Humor | Tagged 115 nevada, 1170 sacramento, blue houses, my big fat greek wedding, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
August 10, 2009
Pacific Heights and cheap… the two terms really don’t go together. That is, until now. We’ve searched active listings in the neighborhood and are here to tell you about the 5 cheapest condos. And by cheap we mean “least expensive”, not “poor quality”. Pac Heights currently shows 29 condos as “Active” in the MLS.
1909 Green seems like a good one... we'll have to check it out.
Some common themes amongst these five listings? Well, you’re not going to get any more than 1 bedroom, and you’ll be lucky to get parking. If you want to be in a quaint 3 or 4 unit building, that’s not gonna happen either, as most of these are in large buildings.
From a property value perspective, it can be a good thing to buy cheap in an expensive market area. That’s not to say that all of these homes are good investments… we’d stay away from a few of these units (sorry, not going to call them out on a public forum). But overall, the idea is a good one if you know what to look for and what to avoid.
Here are the 5 Cheapest Condos in Pacific Heights, in no particular order: Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Neighborhood Info, Pacific Heights, Public Listings | Leave a Comment »
August 5, 2009
Nob Hill… it’s one of those quintessential San Francisco neighborhoods. No matter where you are in the country, people have heard of it. And they know Nob Hill’s reputation for attracting San Francisco’s elite.
[Cue the Brahms] A classic full-floor condo has just hit the market through the Brachman Group of Sotheby’s International Realty at 1001 California @ Mason. This exquisite French-style residence boasts views of the City, Huntington Park, amazing interior woodwork, and a type of elegance rarely found. Two bedrooms, two and a half baths, and over 3,600 square feet await a new owner who knows how to throw one-heck-of-a cocktail party. Unit #3 at 1001 California is asking $7,250,000.
Photos:
1001 California - Exterior
Unit #3 - Interior
For more interior photos, continue reading –>
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Neighborhood Info, Nob Hill, Public Listings, Taking You Inside | Tagged 1001 california #3, san francisco real estate, sothebys international realty | 1 Comment »
August 3, 2009
A gorgeous Haight Ashbury Victorian continues to stand out in my mind from last week’s Broker Tour. Why? Quite simply, it’s the price tag.
1424 Page Street
1424 Page Street hit the market on July 24th for $1,089,000. “So what”, you might say. Well, this single family home boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, an in-law suite downstairs, and close to 2,500 square feet of living space. The home is situated on a tree-lined portion of Page. And the price? Well let’s just say Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Haight Ashbury, Neighborhood Info, Snatched Up | Tagged 1424 page street, good values, Haight Ashbury, san francisco real estate, victorian homes | 4 Comments »
July 30, 2009
As luck would have it, we just finished posting our “Top 5 Listings that Have Sold in 2009″ article and BAM, 2510 Jackson Street sells. The bank-owned Pacific Heights mansion sports 9 bedrooms, 6.75 baths, over 10,000 square feet, and a 4-car garage. Built in 1885, the mansion had been on the market for 428 days before meeting its new owner.
The home was originally listed on 4/8/08 for $14,900,000 and ended up selling for $11,500,000 after a couple of price reductions during the past year.
Pics:
2510 Jackson Street sets the new record in '09 (so far)
For more pics, continue reading –>
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Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Pacific Heights, Taking You Inside | Tagged 2510 jackson street, amazing homes, luxury homes, mansion, Pacific Heights, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
July 27, 2009
Ready for the Top 5 Listings that have sold this year? We figured it would be a good time. The luxury market, although battered and bruised, has loosened up a little since March. Take the $4 million + price bracket, for example. In the first quarter there were only 5 sales of homes in this range. Since then, there have been 16 sales of $4 million or more city-wide.
Sales on the uber-high end tend to have undisclosed sales prices. That’s why we can’t call this the “Top 5 Sales in 2009″, but rather, the “Top 5 Listings That Have Sold in 2009″. When we search the MLS, the sales price will be the same as the listing price, with an asterisk beside it. It’ll say something like: List Price $5,000,000. Sales Price $5,000,000*.
So what does that mean? Why are people hiding their sales prices in MLS? I’m sure there are a number of reasons, the obvious one being to protect one’s privacy when it comes to wealth. Although the sales prices are undisclosed in the MLS, you can often find them at Property Shark or by going to City Hall and perusing their files. Out of the 21 sales over $4 million this year, 13 of them have “undisclosed sales prices”.
Interestingly (but perhaps not surprisingly), all of the homes on our list are in Pacific Heights or Presidio Heights, and all are single family homes (not condos or co-ops). They are all within a few blocks of one another. Here’s a map:
The top sales in SF are just blocks from one another.
All right, enough with the how-to’s and why’s, lets hammer this thing out. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Countdowns & Rankings, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, Public Listings | Tagged luxury homes, luxury market san francisco, most expensive homes, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
July 17, 2009
We recently built some spreadsheets for a client who is looking to purchase a condo in Alamo Square, and as part of our due diligence, ran some trending analysis for them. Alamo Square is a tiny neighborhood with few sales, so finding trends in the area is a tough assignment. We had to think through adjacent areas that exhibit similar traits, both from a residential and commercial standpoint. We determined that Hayes Valley, NOPA, and Lower Pacific Heights were similar enough (and also located in MLS District “6″) to lump together with Alamo Square and see what the overall trends were.
Cue the "Full House" intro...
So that’s what we did… we looked at median sales prices for condos in these ‘hoods dating back to 1995. We wanted to include 2009, so we capped each year at July 15th, controlling for seasonal fluctuations. We also inflation-adjust the medians, so we could see market movement isolated from the changing value of the dollar.
The last step was to look at the same trends for San Francisco’s condo market as a whole, and place the two lines on a graph to see how similar (or dissimilar) they were. What resulted was pretty interesting, and you can see the charts by continuing to read –>
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Alamo Square, Hayes Valley, Lower Pacific Heights, Micro-Level Info, Neighborhood Info, Nerdy RE Analysis, North Panhandle | Tagged 2009, Alamo Square, Hayes Valley, lower pacific heights, median trends, nopa, san francisco, san francisco real estate, trends | Leave a Comment »
July 12, 2009
It’s time to battle. The first half of ’09 is over and we’re anxious to see which condo market has fared better through the roughest patch of real estate roadway we’ve driven over in quite some time.
It's time to battle! Is Obama about to flick McCain's ear? Nice.
In this analysis, we compared condominium median trends in two large market areas. The first is what we’ll refer to as “SOMA”, and includes South of Market, South Beach, and Mission Bay. See districts 9d, 9f, and 9h on THIS map.
The second market area is what we’ll refer to as “North of California” and includes the neighborhoods of the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, North Waterfront, Telegraph Hill, North Beach, Russian Hill, and Nob Hill. Districts 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d may be seen on THIS map, and 8c, 8d, 8e, 8g, and 8h, on THIS map.
The two market areas we defined differ significantly from one another. We’ve written about SOMA’s higher inventory levels in the past, and since the overall market has taken a turn for the worse, we would like to see if those inventory levels have indeed affected values. North of California has tighter inventory levels and less growth (in the form of newly built homes). It seems more stable, but what will the numbers say? Lets find out, shall we?!?
To see the charts, continue reading –>
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Getting Granular, Micro-Level Info, Neighborhood Info, Nerdy RE Analysis | Tagged 2009 trends, condo market trends, north of california street, san francisco, san francisco real estate, san francisco real estate trends, soma | Leave a Comment »
July 6, 2009
A top floor Edwardian condo in Hayes Valley hit the market earlier today at 119 Pierce. The remodeled 3BR/1BA home caught our eye with its dog-friendly location… just a stone’s (or tennis ball’s) throw from Duboce Park. Listed at $1,099,000, the home features a remodeled kitchen complete with stainless steel appliances, cherry cabinets, granite countertops, an island, breakfast bar and a wine fridge. Although the condo has just one bathroom, it’s nicely appointed with double marble vanities and an oversized tub. The early 1900′s home is full of charm, with a formal dining room, coved ceilings, and two fireplaces. We’re looking forward to seeing it in person, and may stop off at the park to play fetch with the pups.
Click HERE to see the listing on the MLS.
Remodeled kitchen at 119 Pierce
Duboce Park is a dog-lovers heaven!
For more photos, continue reading –>
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Posted in Hayes Valley, Public Listings, Taking You Inside | Tagged 119 pierce, condos for sale, dog-friendly neighborhoods, duboce park, Hayes Valley, homes for sale, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
June 30, 2009
Not much excitement was brewing as we planned our stops on this week’s tour. There simply haven’t been many new listings coming out, mainly because the 4th of July holiday is approaching and many agents get the heck out of town for a long weekend.
However, we were glad that we went on the tour today, as one listing in particular made our day. It was 2201 Baker, and all 7,630 square feet of it, that stole the show. The $7.1 million Pacific Heights mansion was purchased in 2007 as a fixer and through an extraordinary effort of architects, celebrity designers, and developers, is ready for its new owner. The home was chosen by Metropolitan Home Magazine as San Francisco’s ultimate Certified Green Home for 2009. The features are exquisite, and for once, a Pacific Heights mansion felt welcoming and flowing… not all chopped up and impersonal. The website is HERE for those interested in a virtual tour (although it pales in comparison to an in-person visit). It was the only 5 star home we saw this week, and we would give it 6 stars if possible. In our opinion, the decor easily trumped the Decorator’s Showcase mansions of the past two years.
2201 Baker wows at every turn
Daring, yet tasteful decor can be found throughout
Because the tour was very light today, we have no “View of the Week” or “Backyard of the Week” awards to hand out. But we do have a few 4 and 5 star homes to highlight. Continue reading to see our list, and if you have no idea what a Tuesday Tour Show-Stopper is, click HERE.
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Posted in Neighborhood Info, Pacific Heights, Public Listings, Show-Stoppers | Tagged 2201 baker, amazing homes for sale, brokers tour, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
June 25, 2009
Following up on a story from June 8th about a home with “prime potential” in the Marina, we now have the final scoop. The home at 230 Cervantes, which we wrote about HERE, needs some work and was listed for $1,849,000. Final sales price? It went 20% above asking at $2,200,000.
Just to clarify, does that mean 20% above market value? Ummm, no. Our feeling was that the home was intentionally underpriced to create some buzz, which it most certainly received. And if you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you’ll notice that we put very little stock in an asking price.
230 Cervantes closes for $2.2
To share this article, continue reading –>
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Posted in Marina, Snatched Up | Tagged 230 cervantes, closed sales, Marina, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
June 25, 2009
4322 25th Street hit the market less than a week ago and has already been snatched up. The MLS status went straight from “Active” to “Pending”, which means someone went in with no contingencies (and likely all cash). The Noe Valley home scored 4 stars on our latest Tuesday Tour and features 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, on three levels. Two car parking and high end finishes round out this newly constructed home. List price? $2,599,000.
4322 25th Street
For more photos, continue reading –>
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Noe Valley, Snatched Up | Tagged amazing homes, fast sales, Noe Valley, quick sales, san francisco, san francisco real estate | Leave a Comment »
