Click the "Walkable" map below to find out all of the fantastic places around 333 1st Street. You will see that it is a walkers paradise with a "Walkable score" of 91 (out of 100) for this property because of all the great things around!
A dreary, outdated bathroom can be a home sale deal breaker.
Remodeling magazine says the average price of a mid-range bathroom remodel in 2007 was $14,445. But $500 worth of nips and tucks can upgrade the room, says Lytel Young, host of HGTV’s "Save My Bath."
"There are three important things in a bathroom," Young says. "Clean, simple, and orderly. That's the key for every budget, whether it's $500 or $40,000."
He recommends these inexpensive steps to sellers whose baths need a facelift:
Rip out the dated medicine cabinet and replace it with a big mirror.
Replace the lighting with new sconces on both sides of the mirror plus a new overhead fixture on a dimmer.
Re-caulk the tub and shower.
Repaint with a neutral color, but decorate with big, fluffy colorful towels.
Hang some framed art.
If you are interested in a 'bathroom makeover' call me. I have a person that does this type of light construction who is dependable and very resonable.
Condominium sales were down down dramatically, year over year (March 2008 vs. March 2007).
The most expensive condominium to close escrow in March 2008 was the "rarely available TOP TOP FLOOR Four Seasons penthouse apartment" at 765 Market Street, #G. Aside from the amazing views from the 41st floor, it also boasts:
"2 master suites, maid's quarters with separate service entrance, 10'+ ceiling heights, formal dining/office/library, upgraded gourmet kitchen, Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors." - San Francisco MLS
It was listed for $8,975,000 and closed for a price which has been withheld. Regardless, no other condominium closed above $2.7m.
A 390 sqft studio on Nob Hill, listed at $325,000, sold for $330,000 for this weeks bargain condominium.
In District 5, a district which includes Noe Valley, Eureka Valley/Dolores Heights, Haight Ashbury, etc., sales were down from 29 to 21 in March 2008 while prices rose from $845,000 in March 2007 to $856,000 March 2008.
In District 9 (SOMA, South Beach, Potrero Hill, Mission Bay, Inner Mission, etc) sales plummeted from 52 in March 07 to 36 in March 08, but prices rose nicely from $679,000 to $772,000 in March 08.
Click on the image to the left for a PDF of the entire report.
Contact Scott Pierce for more information at 415-595-3519 or scott@sfcondomap.com
How is the market? That is what I get asked every single day from at least one person. My answer is always, depends on the property.
Forbes.com just released a Top 10 Best Cities for Home Sellers list by analyzing and comparing "job growth, amount of new construction, vacancy rates, and credit availability" in the top 40 metro areas in the United States.
And San Francisco ranks #2, just behind San Jose, CA and above Salt Lake City and Austin, TX!
There are buyers in San Francisco and when the conforming loan limit recently jumped from $417,000 to $729,750, it made it easier for them to get financing. In addition, our economy is still doing well, and perhaps more importantly, it is more diversified than in 2000 during the dot.com revolution.
It is definitely not a market where every property goes over asking with multiple offers, but there are certainly properties that are getting multiple offers and going 6-figures over asking. And more than just a few. At the same time, there are properties that are sitting, and not selling at all. For these properties, it seems like no matter how much the agents lower the price, they still sit.
The tale of two markets, which is quintessential San Francisco.
District 1—Northwest: Central Richmond, Inner Richmond, Jordan Park/Laurel Heights, Lake, Lone Mountain, Outer Richmond & Sea Cliff.
District 2—Central West: Central Sunset, Golden Gate Heights, Inner Parkside, Inner Sunset, Outer Parkside, Outer Sunset & Parkside.
District 3—Southwest: Ingleside, Ingleside Heights, Lake Shore, Lakeside, Merced Heights, Merced Manor, Oceanview, Pine Lake Park & Stonestown.
District 4—Twin Peaks West: Balboa Terrace, Diamond Heights, Forest Hill, Forest Hill Extension, Forest Knolls, Ingleside Terrace, Midtown Terrace, Miraloma Park, Monterey Heights, Mount Davidson Manor, Sherwood Forest, St. Francis Wood, Sunnyside, West Portal, Westwood Highlands & Westwood Park.
District 5—Central: Buena Vista Park, Clarendon Heights, Corona Heights, Duboce Triangle, Eureka Valley/Dolores Heights, Glen Park, Haight Ashbury, Mission Dolores, Noe Valley, Parnassus/Ashbury Heights & Twin Peaks.
District 6—Central North: Alamo Square, Anza Vista, Hayes Valley, Lower Pacific Heights, North Panhandle & Western Addition.
District 7—North: Cow Hollow, Marina, Pacific Heights & Presidio Heights.
District 8—Northeast: Downtown, Financial District, Nob Hill, North Beach, North Waterfront, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill, Tenderloin & Van Ness/Civic Center.
District 9—Central East: Bernal Heights, Central Waterfront, Inner Mission, Mission Bay, Potrero Hill, South Beach & South of Market.
District 10—Southeast: Bayview, Bayview Heights, Crocker Amazon, Excelsior, Hunters Point, Mission Terrace, Outer Mission, Portola, Silver Terrace & Visitacion Valley.
If you are planning on selling your property to one of the largest buyer segments in the local San Francisco Bay Area real estate market, you can not do it in English-only anymore.
In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, it was reported that 20% of one new condo building's buyers were foreign, and that Chinese were in the top 5 of the list.
With San Francisco's close proximity to Asia, the large Asian population and the recent developments by the Chinese government to allow Chinese citizens to buy real estate overseas it is wise to make sure that your property is being marketed properly to this market.
Marketing vs. Translation
While there are translation widgets available that will translate your properties information into every language in the world, reviews by native speakers often reveal that they are less than perfect when conveying your properties unique characteristics. Translation like these do not pick-up on translating English nuances well into foreign languages at all.
At sfcondomap.com, a recent listing also prominently offers information in Chinese that captures the true meanings and essence of the English text. The differences can be as dramatic as reading bad writing vs. good writing to the reader! And this will effect their perception of your property.
The "Best Practices" in marketing to particular foreign buyers is to have a native speaker that is fluent in the target markets language and that is also fluent in real estate marketing to do the translation. You can see the example at sfcondomap.com here.
For more information on marketing your property to foreign buyers, please contact Scott Pierce at 415-595-3519 or email at scott@sfcondomap.com.
"The recorded history of Eureka and Noe Valleys began in 1845 when José de Jesús Noe, the last Mexican alcalde (mayor) of San Francisco, was granted Rancho San Miguel, four thousand acres which spread across Twin Peaks and down into the valleys lying to the east." - NoeHill
Click the "Walkable" map below to find out all of the fantastic places around 306 Eureka Street. You will see that there is a very high "Walkable score" of 86 (out of 100) for this property because of all the great things around!
Symphony Towers, a new condominium development in San Francisco, has now had buyers move into 51 of the 130 units for sale, with 36 more now in contract.
Having 87 of 130 units already sold or in contract is a great sales rate and is a testament to the design (LOVE the roof deck), quality, price and location.
We love Symphony Towers as it is one of the few new condominium buildings built within an already established neighborhood.
You can literally walk in any direction and find lots of great stuff to see and do. With more development going in up and down Van Ness Avenue, we expect great things for the buyers here at Symphony Towers.
Read "S.F. housing boom moves to Van Ness" by J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Business Times for more information about the development of the Van Ness Avenue corridor.
For more information on San Francisco condominium sales and closings, including list price, detailed property information, MLS listing information or anything else, email us here and send us the property name and unit number.
Of the 8 sales listed, only the 3 Jackson Square listings were on the MLS. Which would make the MLS reported sales statistics much lower than they really are.
235 Berry
#603 sold for $675,000
#614 sold for $735,000
#705 sold for $870,000
#711 sold for $857,000
Park Terrace
#310 sold for $960,000
Jackson Square
#G sold for $1,200,000
#H sold for $1,595,000
#PH-3 sold for $2,700,000
A couple of items of interest to San Francisco real estate home owners, buyers and sellers from the March 5, 2008 Department of Planning Board of Appeal's meeting.
Sandeep Hingorani (Appellant) vs. DPW and Bureau of Street-Use & Mapping (Respondent).
In order to do work on a building on Montgomery Street, a crane was placed by Sheedy Crane across the street from 455 Vallejo Street. The owner, Hingorani's representative, argued that the Path of Travel requirements were not being observed, and wanted restrictions placed on the location and use of the crane.
After testimony from both sides, the Board agreed keep the crane in it's current proposed location, but to increase the Path of Travel requirements from 10'
to 11' for day use and from 12' to 18' at night.
The board also directed the DPW/BSM representative (who was present) to provide the Hingorani representative with a direct phone number to call for violation reports, and for an inspector to be available for any problems.
Sheedy agreed and the appellant voiced agreement.
If the goal of the appellant (the person with the complaint) is to just get equipment removed because they do not like it, you probably will not succeed. But the Board of Appeals will hear a complaint and judge it on its merits.
Here the Board would not remove the crane as Sheedy demonstrated that this was the best location out of all possible locations that were available. Sheedy suggested the increased distance for the Path of Travel, and it was agreeable to all sides.
Keith Foote (Appellant) vs. DPW and Bureau of Urban Forestry (respondent).
Foote argued that the decision of the respondent (DPW) to remove a 33 year old tree in front of his residence was wrong. That it was their lack of proper maintenance of the tree that caused the current problems, and that DPW should be directed to nurture the tree back into good health and condition.
DPW and the BUF argued that the tree needed to be removed and that it was the fact that the roots were very aggressively destroying the sidewalk and that this was causing a hazard that necessitated the decision. And that nurturing the tree back into health was not likely do to the species of tree.
President Garcia remarked that it was the first time he heard of a homeowner being the appellant with the DPW and BUF as respondent in a case like this. But it was
Commissioners Haaland, Knox and the new Peterson who overruled the DPW and directed the DPW to work to bring the tree into good health and conformity regarding safety issues.
NOTE FOR HOMEOWNERS: Homeowners are responsible for the condition of sidewalks in front of their property. The city can and does issue 30 day notice to repair notices to homeowners to correct deficiencies in the condition of sidewalks.
For more information, including list price, detailed property information, MLS listing information or anything else, email us here and send us the property name and unit number.
Of the 10 listed sales, only 3 of them were in the MLS.
1 South Park
#408 sold for $1,850,000
310 Townsend
#110 sold for $920,000
#312 sold for $764,000
733 Front
#209 sold for $720,000
#306 sold for $567,000
Park Terrace
#410 sold for $960,000
The Palms #525 sold for $579,000
The Potrero
#528 sold for $837,500
Symphony Towers
#V401 sold for $380,000
#V402 sold for $384,000
(Report includes map of
all district and sub-district
names and locations.)
Click on the image to the left for the report (pdf).
While many other real estate sites and news shows talk about how bad the real estate market is, January 2008 stats (published and released by the San Francisco Association of Realtors) show continued strength for San Francisco single-family home sales.
While four out of ten districts (4, 8, 9 & 10) had sales decreases in the number of transactions, only two districts had price decreases, Districts 9 and 10.
District 5 had 13 transactions in January 2007 at a median sales price of $1,180,000, while in January 2008 there were 17 transactions at a median selling price of $1,530,000. And Days on Market fell from 66 to 48 in the same time period.
Districts 1, 2 & 4 also saw median price increases of over $200,000 year over year as well.
Local buyers, relocation buyers and international buyers are all participating strongly in the San Francisco real estate market with most of the better properties selling faster than almost anytime in the last year.
If you are looking to buy or sell property in San Francisco, please contact me for a comparative market analysis and to review our sales & marketing plan for your property or to talk about buying a place.
Scott Pierce
local: 415-595-3519
toll free: 800-788-8508 SFCondoMap: Where people find properties
In the next few years up to 6,000 new San Franciscan’s will move to an old part of San Francisco in new condominiums ranging from half a million - $2,000,000 and rental apartments upwards of $3,000 a month.
What neighborhood is this? Not a neighborhood, but one of the world's truly great thoroughfares, San Francisco’s own phoenix, Market Street.
Looking at a map of all the new condominium buildings just built or being built at sfcondomap.com, a leading website for all the information on the new condominium buildings in San Francisco, you notice a straight line of buildings streaming from where South Beach and SOMA meet Market Street not far from San Francisco Bay heading west towards Twin Peaks.
(click to see map at sfcondomap.com)
Mission Bay and South Beach are not the only new exciting areas of San Francisco. Market Street shows us that even the old can be the "new" new.
New life for Market Street began in 1989 with the Loma Prieta earthquake and the removal of the double decker Central Freeway that cutoff the Ferry Building and the Embarcadero from Market Street. With it down and the Ferry Building revitalized into a world class destination, Market Street has since begun to flourish again.
(Ferry Building with Canary Island Palms in the front and San Francisco Bay behind)
2005 saw the completion of since critically acclaimed Octavia Boulevard about two miles west, the first multilane boulevard built in the United States since the 1950's.
(Octavia Boulevard)
The only thing missing in this new landscape are the new condominium buildings that will soon take their place up and down Market Street between The Ferry Building and Octavia Boulevard. From architecturally significant historical landmarks to modern sleek glass towers, Market Street will again become a living oasis in the middle of San Francisco itself.
Today, mint conditioned historic trains of old-Europe and the US carry residents and visitors up and down Market Street under newly planted Canary Island Palm trees between Twin Peaks and San Francisco Bay.
(1939 Italian Trolley in mint condition both outside and in)
In 2006 Mid-Market property and business owners voted on and enacted a Community Benefit District covering Market Street from 5th – 9th Streets. This is a well organized and well funded effort by the private business and property owners to work with the city to provide both security and services to the area in a proactive community outreach basis. The group is being headed by the capable Daniel Hurtado, who previously saw success while the Director of Programming for Washington D.C.’s successful Golden Triangle Business Improvement District.
This Spring (2008), work is scheduled to start on one of the most beautiful art-deco buildings in San Francisco. The San Francisco Mart is going to be converted from an furniture/design-only fortress to an open air retail and office campus named Market Square with approximately 100,000-200,000 sqft of retail space and 700,000-800,000 sqft of office space.
The building on Market Street between 9th and 10th Streets will include restaurants, shops "with a translucent glass dome, creating an enclosed public courtyard and garden" (J.K. Dineen SF Business Times 06.25.07). This will provide the neighborhood with a world class shopping destination in one of the most beautiful buildings on the West Coast and should be complete in 2009.
(San Francisco Mart, soon to be Market Square)
Market Square will provide a key anchor to the Westfield Shopping Center at Market and 5th Streets where shoppers have Bloomingdales, Coach, Hugo Boss, Nordstroms and many others to choose from.
Already two of the world’s most exclusive luxury brands, the Ritz Carlton and the St. Regis, have sold residences on or near Market Street in excess of $1,200 a square foot.
(St. Regis at Mission and 3rd)
(Ritz Carlton)
Locally renowned specialty builders such as the Martin Building Company have also found success in the Market Street corridor with their well selling Mint Collection residences occupying 3 historic buildings on Jessie ½ block south of Market St. at 5th. Here, polished cement floored units sold for over $1,000 sqft.
(Martin Building Company’s Mint Warehouse near Market and 5th Street)
Within a block of the Mint Collection, both 942 Market, The Garfield Building, and The Wilson Building nearby, are being converted into condominiums. Built in 1907 and 1901 respectively, these historic landmark buildings will house residences that will represent the best of new construction with the old world finishes. The Garfield will start selling its 28 condominiums in February of 2008.
(The Garfield at Market and Mason)
At 1177 Market Street (between 7th and 8th), Trinity Properties has just broken ground on their first building at the site which will soon house 1,900 apartments and thousands more people.
A new construction project, The Hayes will bring 128 modern units to the Gough/Market local in a mid-rise building just a few blocks down, while Argenta and two other new buildings will bring almost 1,000 new units with perhaps over 2,000 people to the area where Market meets Polk, Fell and 10th to Mission Street in tall glass towers.
In the roughly 2 mile stretch from the Ferry Building to Octavia Boulevard, approximately 5,000 new residents will soon be living, shopping, walking dogs, waiting for trains and all the other things that people do where they live.
And of course cafes, shops and other businesses will follow as well.
In our analysis, there is definitely a market for housing on Market Street. In fact, there are several distinct markets that seem to have success.
The high end luxury market as evidenced by the St. Regis and the Ritz where name recognition and luxury finishes were key. At the Martin Building Company’s Mint Collection, smaller unique boutique-like finishes were important to buyers.
Success is also evident in the lower to middle income ranges as evidenced at The Hayes (a mid-priced development) where sales have been steady.
We expect that more projects will be undertaken as current ones come to market and sell out. There are numerous projects that could potentially do well along Market Street including both conversion of old buildings and brand new construction.
Art Bruzzone, the host of the popular local show "San Francisco/unscripted" (On Comcast) will interview John Asourdian, President, SF Association of Realtors. The topics will obviously include the San Francisco Housing market.
Richard Sonnenheim, former English Professor, will also be interviewed on his San Francisco and how the city has changed.
Sounds like a good show, and should be of interest to anyone interested in San Francisco real estate.
Federal Govt offers "0 down" up to 107% financing to singles/couples earning up to $121,589 (more for families)!
Listen up Buyers*,
While prices are coming down in the bay area, this may be a golden opportunity for you to own your first home and the Government is offering help.
And this is for both non-conforming and conforming loans.
CALHFA Programs offer:
- Zero down
- Up to 107%CLTV to cover all closing costs
- Deferred Down Payment Assistance
- Below Market Interest Rate for 30 yrs at 6.375% for one loan
- Interest only option available for the first 5 yrs
- Automatic Mortgage protection program up to 6 months
You can earn up to $121,589 for the family of two in San Francisco and San Mateo and Still Qualify or $95,532 for Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Email me today to get the budget/mortgage excel worksheet to look at your finances to see if you can afford to buy a home and if so for how much based on your current income, credit score and most importantly your budget!!
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