Francisco Gonzalez

While I was driving around previewing properties on the East Bay last week, I came across many listings with for sale signs diplaying on the front yard:

• Repo
• Foreclosure
• Bank Repo

I find it very degrading to formal home owners... most of by business are done in the San Francisco, San Mateo counties and on this side WE don't come across with such signs, can it be the location? with 95% of the listing I previewed being REOs I'm not surprised but it should be regulated.

It has been a great journey during this short sale, after almost 1 year and extensive negotiations with the banks, this transaction is on the books with a new owner. The sellers did not get a foreclosure on their credit, the buyers got an incredible deal and I have completed one more short sale transaction loaded with tons of added knowledge to my wisdom.

I find such a pleasure helping people solve their problems and to help them in every way I can. My clients called me 1 hr ago, they said tonight will be the first night in a long time they will have a restful night due to a bad chapter in their lives being closed. I have not blogged in quite some time but this is something I wanted to share with everyone.

I also keep a log on every transaction I do, I call it the bible of short sales log, feel free to contact me with any questions you might have regarding a Short Sale, thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog.

In the last thirty years the area now known as SoMa, or (south of Market), has undergone a dramatic change from a grimy, rundown, industrial district to a dynamic and diverse neighborhood with museums, nightclubs, shops, offices, artists studios, and a convention center. To appreciate the transformation it helps to know a little SoMa history.

In the mid to late 1800's many foundries and factories were built in the area south of Market Street to take advantage of easy access to the Bay for transportation. The area was also home to many of the city's leading citizens, who built grand mansions on sunny Rincon Hill. With the development of the cable car in 1873 Nob Hill became the desirable place to live, and the upper class began to move away from the south of Market area. They were replaced by new immigrants, who converted the fancy homes into boarding houses. These new immigrants provided a ready pool of employees for local businesses, and industry came to dominate the area. The area suffered substantial damage in the 1906 earthquake, and for the first half of this century the feel of the area slowly declined.

San Francisco City Hall after the 1906 Earthquake

Sacramento Street

In the 1960s the city decided it was time to do something to improve the neighborhood and began developing a grand urban renewal plan that called for the construction of a convention center, an arts complex, and new apartment and office buildings. In the 1970s, with city officials still just making plans, artists began moving into the area, attracted by big industrial spaces and low rents; restaurants and nightclubs sprang up to cater to these new residents, and other businesses followed. Many of the city's plans have now come to fruition, and this combination of government-sponsored development and private initiative has made SoMa into a dynamic mixed-used neighborhood that hums with energy.

The most visible symbol of the "new" SoMa is the Yerba Buena Gardens project. It encompasses an entire city block and includes the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 Third St. between Mission and Howard, 357-4000) in a marvelous new building designed by Italian architect Mario Botta; the Center for the Arts with display space for exhibits that showcase the Bay Area's cultural diversity; the Center for the Arts Theater used for ballets, concerts and plays; and an open garden called the Esplanade. The highlight of the Esplanade is the waterfall fountain, a two-story 60-foot-wide cascade of water that is dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.. Yerba Buena Gardens may have taken thirty years from conception to delivery, but the end result is marvelous.

SFMoMA and the Center for the Arts are not the only museums in the YBG area. The nearby Ansel Adams Center for Photography exhibits the best of both contemporary and historical photography, including Ansel Adams and many others. The Cartoon Art Museum, one of the YBG pioneers, just moved into larger quarters, the better to accommodate a 10,000-piece collection of cartoon art from the 1700s to the present. This is a great place to discover some weird and wonderful comics that you'll never see in the funny papers.

The California Historical Society (678 Mission St., 357-1848) recently moved into a newly-renovated turn of the century building on Mission Street. The Mexican Museum, currently located at Fort Mason, will also be moving into the area.

One of the least visible elements of SoMa development is the Moscone Convention Center. You would never know it from the outside but Yerba Buena Gardens sits on the roof of this underground convention facility, the largest in Northern California. Moscone Center was the first building in the Yerba Buena complex to be completed, and the people that it attracts to the area are a key factor in the thriving hotel and restaurant scene.

Several blocks south of YBG is the area know as South Park. In the 1850's and '60s this tiny oval park, tucked away between Second, Third, Bryant, and Brannan Streets, was circled with elegant Georgian townhouses. Like the rest of SoMa, the area declined when the wealthy folk moved to Nob Hill, and the stately homes were turned into rooming houses. The area was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire.

South Park was rebuilt during the first half of this century, and in the early 1980's architects and designers began to move into the area, attracted by the parkside setting. In recent years they have been joined by so many people working for multimedia companies. The park is now surrounded by apartments, offices, shops, and cafes, and the park itself is often filled with people.

SoMa has also developed a reputation as a good place to go shopping. Bargains hunters find good prices on clothing, linens, and other goodies at the many factory outlets and discount stores scattered throughout the area.