San Francisco, CA

Bernal Heights Home Sales Remain Strong!

Sales have been steady this year. We started 2009 slow as was the case in many areas of San Francisco but as we entered the spring and summer seasons things began to pick up. Typically, there would be be a few sales in the million dollar range throughout the year. In fact, I had the last million dollar sale in 2008 when I sold 160 Manchester for $1,165,000. It's a spectacular house. As the leading Bernal Heights Realtor, I have my finger on the pulse of this neighborhood.

We made an impressive rebound to strong levels. I recently sold 77 Winfield for $1,059,000 another impressive home. It was in contract before the first open house. Since May of this year properties in Bernal Heights have been experiencing strong interest and have sold more quickly than in many other neighborhoods in San Francisco. I don't see this trend slowing for several reasons but one main reason is that Bernal Heights has been going through a gentrification that has a long way to go. This outstanding neighborhood with some of the best weather and views in San Francisco sells at a discount to a few other desirable areas. Bernal Heights is this hidden secret neighborhood that once discovered is considered an amazing find.

I do a lot of farming (marketing to owners) here. Inventory levels are low, the demand is strong, and unless something changes I believe that there will be little to choose from in the near future. We have been noticing this decrease in supply throughout San Francisco. Pure economics implies that when supply drops and demand remains stable or increases, prices should begin to climb. Stay tuned as I will be reporting more in the coming weeks. At this point I don't see a lot of inventory coming on.

I'm in discussions with a few home owners, as I always am, about preparing their homes for sale. At this time this leading indicator suggests there won't be much coming on in the near future. There are a few homes in my pipeline. I'll keep you posted. I'm the real estate agent in the know. In short Bernal Heights Home Sales Remain Strong!

I'm Frank Castaldini, the Leading Bernal Heights Realtor and Trusted Advisor!

Picture of 77 Winfield in Bernal Heights. The Cressmans live there since 1993. I assist them in preparing this great house for sale. Once they located the replacement home out of the area we were ready to go to market and it sold before the 1st open house. Proper preparation and market knowledge made this happen fast.

No matter who attends the BSR conference, we always seem to find a balance between the people who legitimately wish to improve sustainability, not just for their company but the planet, and those who set out to further their profits by subtle or blatant greenwashing.

During the Thursday morning breakfast, Zhang Yue, chairman and CEO of China-based Broad Air Conditioning woke the crowd up as he spoke through an interpreter. A few minutes before that, I found myself asking a colleague “Who is this guy?” After 10 minutes, I changed my mind. More people should listen to this guy. True, I haven’t done due diligence on his company but if his company does half the things that he says they do then I’m on board. Yue created China’s first “non-electric chiller” and insists on showing consumers how triple paned windows will reduce their need to use air conditioners. Consider that their business revolves around making air conditioners.

Even the fact that his sustainable company philosophy has dropped his income from the top five richest people in China to the top 500 doesn’t bother him. He’d rather save the planet and make slightly less. Although he became the first CEO to fly regularly on a private corporate jet, he soon realized how detrimental his private jet trips were on the environment, so he changed his corporate jet policy to use it only in special situations and now he normally flies commercial. Maybe the Big 3 (or is it Big 2?) CEOs can get a clue.

The conference not only offers big speeches but interactivity as well. One Thursday morning session tackled the topic of Sustainability of a Budget: Sharing Cost (and Risk) through Government Partnerships and included a diverse panel including Shari Berenbach of Calvert Social Investment Foundation, Sanjay Raman of Howcast Media and Michael de Soyza of Dialog Telekom. After some eye-opening discussion about how PPPs can combine with private companies can increase their impact on social and environmental issues, the attendees broke into groups. We then brainstormed in breakout groups (our group contained people from Visa, ESPN, USAid) about how to create a partnership with various issues and tasks. It’s surprising how many dynamic ideas can be created in 15 minutes.

Yeah!!! Good news for our very pricey market place. It's incredibly challenging to find a single family home in San Francisco in the low-600's (there are more choices if we're talking condos); this $729+ number makes sense for our market. Most of my 2009 buyers have been getting into the market because of FHA loans. They are a complicated loan but provide an opportunity for buyers who have at least a 3.5% down payment.

Here are the details as provided by the S.F. Association of Realtors:

President Obama has signed a resolution passed last Thursday by Congress extending the current limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans through 2010.

The conforming loan limits determine the maximum size of a mortgage that Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy or guarantee. Non-conforming or jumbo loans typically carry a higher mortgage interest rate than a conforming loan, increasing the monthly payment and negatively impacting affordability.

Currently, as a result of the economic stimulus plan, the conforming loan limit is $417,000 for most areas in the U.S., but $729,750 in high-cost areas, including many in California. The loan limits were set to expire at the end of this year, and could have been lowered to $625,500 for high-cost areas. If the current loan limits had been reduced to $625,500 for high-cost areas, lenders likely would have had to adjust their loan underwriting standards to align with the new limits, to ensure the loans can be purchased or guaranteed by Fannie, Freddie and the FHA.

Higher conforming loan limits are especially critical for California, where more than 80 percent of all loans are financed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA, and will help maintain the positive signs we are emerging in California’s mortgage market.

While home prices in California have declined, the demand for housing has not. The market has been dominated by first-time home buyers who have faced a shortage of financing opportunities. The loan limits are set at 125 percent of local median home sales prices, up to a maximum of $729,750 in high-cost areas, including many regions in California.

Sales in move-up and high-end markets have been constrained this year; the loan limits extension will help qualified home buyers in these markets to move forward with their purchases.

RainCamp is Coming To San Francisco

The ActiveRain RainCamp Tour is Official!  Our first ever RainCamp in Seattle was sold out in just two weeks.  Now there's a demand by many of our members and non members to bring RainCamp to cities all across the Country.  As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking for our staff and team. There are so many details that go into setting up this event, but our members and guests are not only worth it, they deserve it.

The "Rainergy" and "Buzz" that comes from a RainCamp is like no other event I've ever experienced.  You have to witness it for yourself to understand and grasp the full value and impact it will have on you, your Business, your relationships in your community, and the industry.  Here's what a few of the folks from RainCamp Seattle had to say:

RainCamp is coming to San Francisco on December 2nd, 2009 for a full day packed with great content, presentations, and some of the most useful and applicable ideas and processes that you can implement immediately into your Social Media, Networking, and Blogging Business Strategy and Plan. The Location and Venue we've selected is once again a "Top Notch" off the hook spot.

How is RainCamp different from other Conferences?

• Assess how you stack up in the modern market.
• Listen to people that are practicing what they preach, and having outstanding success doing it.
• Learn the methodology of a newer agent who has leveraged the Internet to become a 'Mega Producer'.
• Walk away with executables you can put into action immediately.
• Hard core real estate technology education. This is not a fluff event!!

What Do You Get?

Date: December 2nd, 2009

Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm
(registration 8:00am)

Location: Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF
1675 Owens Street, Suite 251, San Francisco 94143
GOOGLE MAP |  Yahoo Map | Mapquest Map | Microsoft Map

Facility: Wireless Internet Access and Power Available

 RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW!

There will be approximately 140 seats setup classroom style (with tables) reserved for attendees with laptops.  It is all open seating so those seats are first come first serve the day of event.  We are limited to only 500 seats max capacity, so register right away. There will be On-site paid parking available, street parking and/or complimentary shuttles from the BART and Caltrain stations.  If you're wanting overnight accommodations, here's the Unique Venues Site.

RainCamp tickets are available NOW at a retail price of $159. However, we have reserved 50 tickets for our "early adopters" at a price of $99. This is a great value, so make sure you register today before they're gone, it will sell out.

"When is RainCamp Coming To Your Town?"  We'd love to come to every Major City, and may do so eventually, but currently we are starting in San Francisco, then in no specific order, we'll be in Miami, Washington DC, Dallas, New York, Atlanta, Arizona and more.  I'll be announcing those date and locations soon.  We're still working out all the calendar and venue details.

This is our last West Coast event planned for a while, and we are really looking forward to coming to the "City By The Bay" and bringing the "Rain-Storm" with us.  Just like in Seattle, we'll be hosting another exclusive "VIP" event/gathering after RainCamp, we'll have more details about that coming up later.  It's going to be a day you'll never forget, I hope you can make it to join us.  We put a ton of heart, soul, preparation, and passion into RainCamp, and we don't want anyone to miss out.  So RSVP NOW! :-)

Check out the RainCamp.com Blog.  Also follow the twitter stream using #raincamp.

Photo Source: UCSF Mission Bay

 

That's Rather Hideous: San Jose Marbleopolis Edition

November 3rd, 2009

Burbed has already burned this $1,688,000 5-bedroom "Mediterranean Villa" in San Jose pretty hard, so we'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Suffice to say that someone took very seriously some advice from a certain SNL sketch: "Put marble columns in your house, that place is gonna look like a mansion!" Oooh. La. La.
· 6456 Guadalupe Mines Rd, San Jose [Redfin, via Burbed]

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The Trick-or-Treat List: Winner of Zillow's best neighborhood in...

November 3rd, 2009

Winner of Zillow's best neighborhood in which to go trick-or-treating this Saturday: Presidio Heights, based on some complex alchemy involving sexy things like Walk Score, population density, and crime data. Among other things, Zillow says, the neighborhood "tops our Index because of high home values (read: better, bigger candy)." These guys have their priorities in the right place. The next four neighborhoods: Noe Valley, the Richmond, Haight-Ashbury, and the Sunset. [Zillow]

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ConstructionWatch: Zen Rentals Next to LGBT Center Get Going

November 3rd, 2009

Hard to believe, but the very large, very vacant site at 1844 Market St, next to the LGBT Center, has actually been stirring for a few months now: dirt movers, a crane, the works! This, after snail's pace progress on the empty lot finally halted at one point and went toward a strange "ramshackle cabana" installment, as we reported in July of last year. A quick refresher: developer BayRock Residential and Christiani Johnson Architects are bringing an eight-story, 113-rental-unit building to the site, complete with ground-floor retail and "Zen Garden, roof deck with city views and lush courtyards." This past spring, the SF Business Times reported that BayRock was eager as hell to unload their failed Trader Joe's condo project on Van Ness and Sutter- having chopped their asking price for the site from $18 million to a paltry $8 million.
· Construction Watch: Condos to Cabanas at 1844 Market Street [Curbed SF]
· Coming Soon: Monastic Condos on Upper Market [Curbed SF]

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Listing Inflation: Alcove Makes a Junior One-Bedroom

November 3rd, 2009

Catch another fine specimen of Listing Inflation? To the Curbed Inbox with you!

It's a pretty cushy Nob Hill location. It's got $805 a month homeowners dues, but it's also got a 24-hour doorman, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and all that. So what gives? For $420,000, buyer gets a "JR1BR with a lrg alcove," as seen above. Just to clarify: a make-out nook passes for the bedroom part of a junior one-bedroom at 1177 California. Duly noted.
· 1177 California St #230 [Redfin, via Curbed Inbox]

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Solar Tree: Given the flap over a solar...

November 3rd, 2009

Given the flap over a solar panel installation on an Upper Haight couple's home, it makes total sense that an entrepreneur would want to get into the business of solar panels that are more aesthetically pleasing- and less, say, "embarrassing." That's why photovoltaics engineer and industrial designer real estate agent Greg Strang of Burlingame invented the "Electrisitree," a small tree that converts sunlight hitting its plastic-looking leaves into usable energy. Did he succeed? We'll leave the verdict on this one to the wise, invisible hands of the free market. [SF Examiner, previously]

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CitiApartments Boss Wrote Bad Checks in Vegas Too

November 3rd, 2009

Will there ever be an end to the sordid tales of CitiApartments First Apartments? It seems the managing director of parent company Lembi Group, Walter Lembi, has been allegedly passing bad checks. Oh, about $298,500 worth. Gambling in Las Vegas. The sort of thing one might not expect from a company that's returning tenuous deposit checks to its tenants, or withholding them altogether. (That deposit money's got to go somewhere, and what other place should it go than the gambling fancies of its boss!) Anyway, the county attorney's office is on the case with Lembi's attorney, and Lembi has until Sunday to comply - after which a nationwide warrant would be issued for the man. Dreams of white bronco chases: go.
· Real estate leader's name on bad-check warrant [SFGate]

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Wednesday PM Linkage

November 3rd, 2009

["Cause for Concern," via Curbed SF Flickr photog Troy Holden, aka the artist formerly known as Plug1]

· 69% would live with ghosts for cheaper rent! [Consumerist]
· The Bay Bridge is closed! Why it's the "right move" [Bloomberg]
· And now BART might even run overnight [SF Appeal]
· Arnold's letter: 1 in 8 billion chance it was accidental [Eye on Blogs]
· Aerial San Francisco: shots from a Cessna "Skylane" [Laughing Squid]
· P. Hill murder/suicide house sells [SF Schtuff]

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PriceChopper: Frankenstein in Forest Hill

November 3rd, 2009

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Then: $2,199,000
Now: $1,979,000
You Save: $220,000

The casual observer should probably be forgiven if, say, he or she stumbles on a house like 21 Castenada Ave. in Forest Hill (built this very year!) and mistakes it for an exurban McMansion destined to meet an untimely end in foreclosure. Those balcony railings. The baby pedement pediment. The mustard yellow paint job. What to say! But then said observer walks in and finds a South Beach loft. In need of an intervention? Perhaps. Deeply confusing? Definitely. (The "green roof" is an interesting twist, though.)
· 21 Castenada Ave [Redfin]