Welcome back to the "Over, Under, At" weekly feature. It's a simple breakdown taken from MLS data that shows the number of closed sales that sold Over Asking Price, Under Asking Price or At Asking Price.
*Just a reminder that new construction sales are rarely included in this list since they don't get posted on the MLS.
Happy Monday folks. I can report a little sign of what might potentially be good news (yes, I'm a little wary of jumping for joy just yet.) Sales SEEM to be crawling upwards. (OK, buyers, this may not be good news for YOU, but I think you still have plenty of time to take advantage of the good values out there.) And the Over/Under/At numbers are showing that not every property is selling for under the asking price.
In fact, last week, we had JUST TWO properties that sold over the asking price - this week we have TEN! Now, I'm not saying the market is recovered, or even already recovering... but I feel like things are stabilizing and that qualified buyers are jumping on the opportunities in the market. And eventually, we'll come out of this slump. And some of you will have a shiny new (or maybe old) piece of real estate to show for it! 
Keep in mind that these reports are meant to be helpful for potential buyers and sellers - but to really understand the pulse of the SF real estate market, talk to a local real estate agent. We're in the trenches and these closed sales went into escrow a month ago (sometimes less, sometimes more). We are much better in tune with what's going on in the market TODAY and can give you much more in depth information than any set of statistics can. If you need advice from a San Francisco Realtor, feel free to email me or call me at 415-307-1392. I'm always happy to talk real estate.
Here's a quick breakdown of closed San Francisco home sales for the week from February 16 - 22, 2009:
Single Family Homes - 18 Homes Sold
Condos/Lofts/Co-ops's - 10 Homes Sold
TIC's - 3 Home Sold
Are you looking to buy a house in San Francisco? Or maybe you're pondering selling that little SF condominium or TIC?
Whether buying a house, condo or TIC, investment property,etc. or looking to sell any of the above in the City, you want TOOLS!
I'm not talking hammers, table saws and drills - I'm talking about tools that provide you with HONEST and UNBIASED information about the San Francisco Real Estate Market!
So - you want to know what kind of tools you can get your hands on?
The City Update(TM) - The Best San Francisco Real Estate Newsletter Ever!
The City Update(TM) is a little SF real estate newsletter delivered straight to your inbox (almost) every Friday. It has ALL sorts of awesome features including:
You can SIGN UP HERE or you can check out the site (just keep in mind that frankly, the site sucks - but I created it myself and since my HTML skills are LACKING, I'm just happy I got THAT far with it!)
If you just can't get enough San Francsco real estate market updates between this blog and The City Update(TM), you now have one more option when it comes to getting the latest deets on what the market is doing.
Again, brought to you by the Altos Research folks, you can narrow down your reports by zip code or property type AND you can sign up for as few or as many zip codes as you like (you just have to reenter your info for each new zip code/property type).
Go ahead, get your SF real estate data fix on! You can SIGN UP HERE.
100% Complete Access to the San Francisco MLS
Know everything that's on the San Francisco market in real time. Just like a REALTOR, you'll get access to ALL of the listings in the MLS.
Unlike other Real Estate search sites, Zephyr MLS Direct gives you the most complete, accurate and up-to-date listing information available, which lets you find properties as soon as they hit the market.
It also lets you save your searches and new listings that match your criteria emailed to you as soon as they hit the market! And you can save your favorite properties, watch them go into escrow, and if they're in your "favorites" folder, you can even see the price they sold for (which we all know is super secret data.) You also get notified of any changes that occur to the property listings that match your criteria AND Friday Open House reports. Cool or what?
You'll have to give up some personal info, and "agree" to work with me as your REALTOR (it's a technicality that the MLS requires), but I NEVER EVER EVER hold you to it. To really build a client/agent relationship, we have to meet in person to decide if we're a good fit to help you achieve your real estate goals. And you'll have to CONTACT ME to make it happen. WHY? Because I'm just not into stalking and I'm easy to find.
Want your own MLS access? You can SIGN UP HERE.
So, go ahead, sign up for one, two or all three of the San Francisco real estate tools above! And if you think you'd like me to represent you in the sale or purchase of a property, call me at 415-307-1392 or shoot me an email. I'm happy to schedule a free consultation with you to see if we'd work well together.
Oh, and as a reminder, should you sign up for any of the tools above, as always, your info will not be sold, rented, shared, abused, danced on, or in any other way misused. Just thought you'd like to know. 
Tags: SF+MLS, San+Francisco+MLS, San+Francisco+Realtor, SF+Realtor, San+Francisco+Real+Estate, SF+Real+Estate, SF+Market+Data, San+Francisco+Market+Data
This was one of the headlines in the weekly email I receive today from the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®:
"Association's New Open Home Site Launched-Success Will Depend on Promotion by REALTORS®"
So, I'm doing my part to promote the site by throwing a little link love their way - as well as telling you a little bit about what the site is all about.
Straight from the horse's Association's mouth:
The San Francisco Association of REALTORS® has finally launched its new real estate portal, www.sfopenhome.com. The portal features listings of properties that are being held open for public viewing (including details relating to the property and relevant showing information).
www.sfopenhome.com offers multiple search criteria to make finding the right homes to view fast and easy. And, it's interactive features will offer site visitors an enhanced user experience.
Appearing below is a description of the features that make www.sfopenhome.com unique.
* * * * *
Interactive features offer site visitors an enhanced user experience.
Listings of properties being held open are presented in "thumbnails" with a picture of the property to the left and a brief description of the property to the right. By clicking on the listing, multiple photographs of the property and full property detail information is available.
Visitors viewing any property are able to click through to the web site of the REALTOR® who has the listing or send an e-mail communication to the REALTOR® containing an inquiry about the property.
www.sfopenhome.com also contains an interactive REALTOR® member directory and other real estate-related content, including market statistics, and links to the Association's Spotlight videos and its homeowners' web site, www.sfbaywindow.com.
This new portal features an easy-to-read, enhanced open home report for consumers to download and print, featuring a thumbnail photo of the property, marketing remarks and property details.
Menu Selections:
- Search Open Homes
- View Properties for Sale (the most complete listing of properties for sale in the San Francisco and Daly City available anywhere)
- Market Statistics (displayed in data and chart form)
- Find a REALTOR® (a complete listing of REALTOR® members of the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®, by office)
- Hot Topics (current news on real estate subjects)
- sfbaywindow.com (a web site designed to make ownership of property in San Francisco and Daly City more rewarding)
- Spotlight videos with Tom Sinkovitz (timely stories on real estate subjects)
What's Coming
- A new map-based search function that will make neighborhood open home searches even faster and easier.
- A "Create a Tour" feature that will allow a portal visitor to create a tour of selected properties that can be displayed on a map with a route.
- A "Protect Your Rights" section describing current legislative proposals likely to affect the rights or interests of property owners that would include an opt-in feature allowing portal visitors to leave their e-mail addresses and intermittently receive "Political Alert" newsletters from the Association.
The San Francisco Association of REALTORS® is committed to improving www.sfopenhome.com to make it more serviceable to REALTORS® and more valuable to the public.
So there you have it. You now officially have a new place to search for San Francisco open houses, condos and TIC's.
But, while you should definitely check out www.sfopenhome.com, what you REALLY should do is sign up for is Zephyr MLS Direct.
With Zephyr MLS Direct, you'll know everything that's on the San Francisco market, in real time. Enjoy 24/7 access to the MLS - just like a REALTOR®. you'll see the most accurate, complete and up-to-date listing date available, enabling you to find properties first, as soon as they come on the market. Plus you'll get email alerts for new listings meeting your search criteria, automatic notifications of price or status changes, Friday Open home reports and more. You will be required to give some personal information to satisfy MLS rules, but once you've signed up you will not be contacted by ANYONE unless you request contact! Best of all, you get it FREE! 
Go ahead, SIGN UP! You'll be cool if you do! 
Tags: Open+House+San+Francisco, Open+House+SF, SF+Property+Listings, San+Francisco+Property+Listings, San+Francisco+Real+Estate, SF+Real+Estate
If I'm already working with you on the sale or purchase of a home, you already know the answer to the question. 
Otherwise, the answer can be really simple, or it can be really complicated... it depends on the situation. Sometimes I'm the seller's agent, sometimes I'm the buyer's agent... and on rare occasion, I might even be both! How can that be? Do I have split personalities? No... but depending on who I am working with, my role will be very different.
First, I guess I should back up and explain what it really means to be an "agent." It means that I am authorized to act on behalf of my client in the purchase of real estate. This agency relationship creates a fiduciary duty on my part , which is essentially a legal relationship between me and my clients. In fact, according to Wikepedia...
A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care imposed at either equity or law. A fiduciary is expected to be extremely loyal to the person to whom they owe the duty (the "principal"): they must not put their personal interests before the duty, and must not profit from their position as a fiduciary, unless the principal consents. The fiduciary relationship is highlighted by good faith, loyalty and trust, and the word itself originally comes from the Latin fides, meaning faith, and fiducia.
When a fiduciary duty is imposed, equity requires a stricter standard of behavior than the comparable tortious duty of care at common law. It is said the fiduciary has a duty not to be in a situation where personal interests and fiduciary duty conflict, a duty not to be in a situation where their fiduciary duty conflicts with another fiduciary duty, and a duty not to profit from their fiduciary position without express knowledge and consent. A fiduciary cannot have a conflict of interest. It has been said that fiduciaries must conduct themselves "at a level higher than that trodden by the crowd."
This essentially means that my clients' interests come first... all of the time.
When I'm working with buyers, I am the buyer's agent. I represent the buyer's best interests. While some of the things I do for buyers go above and beyond fiduciary duty (no where does it say that I have to celebrate the purchase of my client's home with a bottle of champagne or be their real estate consultant for life, but I do these things). Essentially, my goal is to get my clients the best possible place at the lowest possible price and best possible terms.
On the other hand, when I am the seller's agent, I represent the seller's best interests. Again, I go above and beyond fiduciary duty (such as giving all of my clients access to Zephyr MLS Direct which provides them with access to 100% of MLS data, and allows them to keep their eye on the competition or referring them to contractors that can help them make their home look its absolute best for the sale).
Of course, there are rare occasions when I am a dual agent! This can present huge limitations. I can no longer represent either client's best interests... instead, I have to be impartial and am not able to negotiate, or fight for one client's position over the other. When I say that these occasions are rare, I mean they are RARE! Typically, the only way that I will take on such a situation is when both a buyer and seller approach me to handle the details of the transaction, rather represent either party's interests. However, such a situation has the potential to crop uo if I am listing a property for sale, and one of my clients is interested in buying it. In those rare cases, I typically refer my buyer client to another agent that I trust for the offer writing and negotiations. There is no way that I would be able to be impartial in such a situation, and having my client be taken care of by someone I know and trust is almost as good as taking care of them myself. The goal is for their interests to be taken care of, not matter what!
You would think that due to the conflict of interest dual agency presents, most agents would avoid it. But often times, a listing agent will meet a potential buyer at an open house and try to get the to make an offer on their listing. This is a lose-lose situation for all parties involved, except for, of course.... the agent.
If you're a seller, you probably already have your own agent listing your property. But if you're a buyer, watch out! Make sure YOUR interests are represented. Find an experienced agent to really represent your best interests, and hopefully go that extra mile for you as well. Remember, working with a buyer's agent doesn't cost you a thing! And it's the best protection you can get to make sure you have a smooth and problem free home purchase.
Tags: San+Francisco+Real+Estate+Agent, SF+Real+Estate+Agent, SF+Real+Estate+Fiduciary+Duty, San+Francisco+Real+Estate+Fiduciary+Duty, SF+Realtor, San+Francisco+Realtor
As I do every month, I ran the latest San Francisco real estate sales figures from the month of July for you. The last few months, I've been a little bit behind schedule (I like to do these at the beginning of each month,) but hell, I'm not a superhero or anything! I'm just a human Realtor that occasionally gets busy, or has life get in the way of this little humble San Francisco Real Estate Blog. I'm a San Francisco Realtor by addiction, I'm a San Francisco blogger by choice. 
Enough about me though, right? You want to talk about SALES!
Single Family homes sales volume is down, median price is up, days on market is down. Condo/Loft and Co-op sales volume is up, median price is up, days on market is down. TIC sales volume is down, median price is down, days on market is slightly up.
What I am noticing across the board is that the list to sales price ratio for properties that are selling within 30 days is climbing. And as far as medians go, the median list to sale price ratio is telling me that places are mostly selling for close to the asking price. Whether it's an indication of better pricing strategy on the side of sellers and their listing agents, or if it's an indication that the market is stabilizing - it's an indication that you're not able to go and steal anyone's property out from under them. You can get a good place at a good price, but no seller needs to just give it away to you.
Though I still sing the same tune from last month... I think we're still moving along at a pace that's great for buyers, not so great for sellers and is still, overall, ok for the City.
So here's this month's summary of home sales pulled directly from the MLS. Remember, these are all closed sales and not pending sales.
Check back monthly to get the latest facts and figures - and if you have any questions about these statistics, or the market in general, feel free to give me a holler! I'm always happy to talk "real estate!" 
Here's a quick snapshot of the market from July 1, 2008 through July 31, 2008:
Single Family Homes
Condominiums, Lofts & Co-ops
TIC's
Tags: San+Francisco+Real+Estate, SF+Real+Estate, SF+Market+Data
Insights about San Francisco Real Estate and San Francisco Living
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2009 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
