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Twenty-Six In The Bush At 1299 Rising (And A Reality Check)
1299 Bush at the corner of Larkin as envisoned above and the reality to date below.
Once again, 26 units over ground floor retail (and 20 parking spaces) coming soon.
∙ Another Plugged-In Reader Responds With A Rendering For 1299 Bush [SocketSite]
∙ A Reader Asks, We Respond, You Embellish (Hopefully): 1299 Bush [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 11:00 AM | Comments (23)
The Examiner’s First Free Weekend Open House Guide (In Print)
The SocketSite cross-industry scoop last week:
You probably won’t read about it in the Chronicle, but the scoop according to a plugged-in source is that the San Francisco Examiner is a week away from announcing the free publication of weekend open house ads through a deal with the San Francisco Association of Realtor’s new sfopenhomes.com site.
Look for a test run and official announcement next week (or perhaps now a bit earlier). And expect aquickresponse from the Chronicle which counts on its weekend real estate section and related advertising for a significant share of its revenue.
The test run ran this past weekend.
∙ Scoop: Examiner’s Move To Corner Weekend Open House Readership [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 10:45 AM | Comments (5)
From Three To One And Six-ish To Five-ish (So Far): 75 Folsom #1204
Originally three individual units, the National Landmark Hills Plaza (75 Folsom) #1204 is now one 3,300+ square foot condo with three parking spaces, and three terraces. That's 1.5 parking spaces (and terraces) per bedroom with HOA dues of $3,376 per month.
Purchased for $4,125,000 in September 2000, #1204 returned to the market this past February asking $6,200,000, but since reduced to $4,900,000. It’s also now available for rent fully furnished asking $12,000-$15,000 per month depending upon term.
∙ Listing: 75 Folsom Street #1204 (2/4) 3,384 sqft - $4,900,000 [ubayp.com]
∙ Hills Plaza #1204 - Furnished 2 Bedroom Condo for Rent [ubayp.com]
Posted by socketadmin at 10:00 AM | Comments (12)
QuickLinks: Same Day And Story, Two Rather Different Takes
∙ Hotel losses mount, hurting city's coffers [SFGate]
∙ Hotels stay booked amid recession [Examiner]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:00 AM | Comments (4)
Reductions Reach Below Market Rate Units On Ora Way (And Others)
Eight below market rate (BMR) condos on Ora Way are on the market up in Diamond Heights. Applicants can have household incomes of up to 120% of the Area Median Income and applications are "due on a rolling basis" with a two-bedroom for $350,000.
The rather unusual Mayor’s Office note on four of the Ora Way units that caught our eye: "REDUCED PRICE."
In addition to the eight (8) resales up in Diamond Heights, sixteen (16) other BMR resales are accepting applications on a rolling basis, upwards of twenty (20) new development units are either currently either accepting applications on a rolling basis or for a lottery, and thirty-two (32) new BMR’s are "upcoming."
∙ Listing: 85 Ora Way #E302 (2/1) 913 sqft - $350,000 (BMR) [85oraway.com]
∙ Mayor’s Office Of Housing: Current Below Market Rate Listings [SFGov]
Posted by socketadmin at 8:30 AM | Comments (13)
August 21, 2009
An In Your Face "Eco-Friendly" Closing Price For 118-120 Cervantes
Last asking $2,750,000, the "eco-friendly" 118-120 Cervantes closed escrow today with a reported contract price of $2,430,000 (19% below its original asking of $3,000,000).
A weekend-starting "as it looked before" redux:
∙ 118 Cervantes: From Architecture Watch To (Almost) On The Market [SocketSite]
∙ 118 Cervantes Boulevard: Listed, Numbers, And Your Peek Inside [SocketSite]
∙ Architecture Watch: 118 Cervantes Boulevard Gone Green/Modern [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 5:30 PM | Comments (45)
Certain To Draw Out A Slater Or Two (449-451 Eureka)
If you’ve ever walked by and wondered what’s inside 449-451 Eureka, now you get to see.
And about that "Swim Suit Optional" open house scheduled for this weekend…
∙ Listing: 449-451 Eureka (4/2.5 + 2/2) - $2,000,000 [MLS]
Posted by socketadmin at 12:30 PM | Comments (36)
San Francisco Recorded Sales Activity In July: Down 10.8% YOY
According to DataQuick, recorded home sales volume in San Francisco fell 10.8% on a year-over-year basis last month (543 recorded sales in July ’09 versus 609 sales in July ‘08) and fell 3.2% compared to the month prior. The difference between recorded and listed sales activity continues to be driven by unlisted new construction sales.
San Francisco was once again one of only two Bay Area counties to record a year-over-year decline in sales volume in July with Marin falling 4.3%. San Francisco's median sales price in July was $642,426, down 14.2% compared to July ’08 ($749,000) and up 1.2% compared to the month prior.
For the greater Bay Area, recorded sales volume in July was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis and up 1.5% from the month prior (8,771 recorded sales in July '09 versus 7,586 in July ’08 and 8,644 in June '09), while the recorded median sales price fell 16.0% on a year-over-year basis, up 12.2% compared to the month prior (the fourth uptick in 19 months).
The median’s $43,000 gain between June and July was mainly the result of a shift toward a greater portion of sales occurring in higher-priced neighborhoods. The trend has been fueled this summer by several factors, including: More distress in high-end areas, leading to more motivated sellers; more buyers sensing a bottom could be near; and increased availability of larger home loans, which had become more expensive and far more difficult to obtain after the credit crunch hit two years ago.
In another sign of a gradual comeback in home financing, the percentage of Bay Area homes purchased last month with an adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 6.6 percent – up from a record low of 3.0 percent in January 2009. The median sale price for homes purchased with those adjustable-rate loans last month was $766,500, while the median loan amount was $523,500. Adjustable-rate mortgages averaged about 61 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans this decade up until the credit crunch, after which they began to dry up quickly.
At the extremes, Santa Clara recorded a 32.5% year-over-year increase in sales volume (a gain of 639 transactions) on a 16.3% drop in median sales price while Solano recorded a 20.8% year-over-year increase in sales volume (a gain of 123 transactions) on a 27.3% drop in median sales price
As always, keep in mind that DataQuick reports recorded sales which not only includes activity in new developments, but contracts that were signed ("sold") many months or even years prior and are just now closing escrow (or being recorded).
∙ Bay Area home sales hit 4-year high; median price up [DQnews]
∙ San Francisco Recorded Sales Activity In June: Down 1.8% YOY [SocketSite]
∙ San Francisco Listed Sales Volume In July: Down 13% YOY [SocketSite]
∙ Infinity Sales Update: New Contracts Up But Driven By Discounts [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 10:15 AM | Comments (57)
San Francisco County Unemployment Up To 9.9 Percent In July
Preliminary July labor force data counts for San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties puts the unemployment rate at 9.9%, 8.2% and 9.0% respectively, up 0.1 percentage points for San Francisco and San Mateo and up 0.2 percentage points in Marin from June.
The 9.9% unemployment rate for San Francisco represents a new 25 year high.
The number of unemployed in San Francisco increased by 700 from 44,100 to 44,800 in July while the number of employed increased by 3,500 (from 405,800 to 409,300) as the labor force increased by 4,200 (from 449,900 to 454,100).
According to the State of California versus the Labor Department, overall California unemployment has broken through the 12 percent mark (12.1% percent in July).
∙ Monthly Labor Force Data for Counties: July 2009 (Preliminary) [EDD]
∙ San Francisco County Unemployment Jumps To 9.8 Percent In June [SocketSite]
∙ It’s Funny What Happens When People Are Forced To Sell, They Do [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:45 AM | Comments (8)
A Mission Apple Condo Times Two: 662 Capp Street #3
Built in 2000 and sold for $535,000 in March of that year, 662 Capp Street #3 resold for $780,000 in November 2004 for average annual appreciation of 8.4% over those 4 years.
As a tipster notes, it’s apples to apples to apples in the making and now asking $749,000.
∙ Listing: 662 Capp Street #3 (3/2) 1,631 sqft - $749,000 [Zephyr] [MLS]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:30 AM | Comments (98)
It’s Funny What Happens When People Are Forced To Sell, They Do
While the pace of existing U.S. home sales increased 7.3 percent from June to July (the biggest monthly gain "since records began in 1999") and 5 percent year-over-year, forced sales are driving the activity (31 percent of sales in July were either foreclosures or distressed) and driving the median price down (15 percent on a year-over-year basis).
At the same time, inventory also increased by 7.3 percent, months of unsold inventory remained at 9.4, and U.S. unemployment continued to rise with California hitting 11.9%.
∙ Existing Home Sales in U.S. Jump to Two-Year High [Bloomberg]
∙ Jobless Rates Rise in 26 U.S. States; California’s Hits 11.9% [Bloomberg]
Posted by socketadmin at 8:45 AM | Comments (9)
August 20, 2009
Another Ex-Mayor’s Landmark Mansion Coming Soon (1772 Vallejo)
As a plugged-in tipster points out, the Landmark Burr Mansion (1772 Vallejo) is coming soon. A bit of history on the house and Burr:
The Italianate mansion on Vallejo Street, with slanted bays and a Mansard roof, was designed by Edmund M. Wharff and built in 1875 as [Captain Ephraim Burr’s] wedding gift to his son, Edmund. During the 1906 earthquake, the house slipped off its foundations and ninety-three jacks were required to lift it back. As one of the best preserved residences of the period, it is a fine example of the transition of style in the later 1870's
In 1856, Captain Burr won the San Francisco mayoral election; legend has it that it took a thousand armed men and a police wagon at each polling station to purify the election. Burr had a reputation for honesty--indeed, for penny-pinching--that appealed to voters. He established the San Francisco Accumulating Fund, commonly known as the Clay Street Bank, California's first savings and loan company. As mayor, Burr was foresighted enough to back Andrew Hallidie's invention of the cable car with $30,000 in 1873.
Last sold for in 1995 for $1,300,000 with an interior, but non-structural, demolition permit approved soon thereafter. No word on where it will be priced or what has been done inside.
∙ San Francisco Landmark #31: Burr Mansion (1772 Vallejo) [noehill.com]
∙ Burr House History (1772 Vallejo) [verlang.com]
Posted by socketadmin at 4:30 PM | Comments (23)
As Seen On The Temporary Transbay Terminal Construction Cam
While a couple of plugged-in readers provided us with Temporary Transbay Terminal close-ups of its palms arriving and being planted, another points to the construction cam.
And with respect to the recurring question of when that overpass will be demolished, if we’re interpreting the timeline correctly the east loop should be down by April 2010.
∙ Washingtonia Robusta Now Arriving At Howard And Main [SocketSite]
∙ Transbay Temporary Terminal: Construction Cam [temporaryterminal.org]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:00 AM | Comments (13)
A Bank Owned 10 South Park #1 (Insert Underpants Quotes Here)
Speaking of foreclosures in non-subprime territory, 10 South Park #1 was purchased for $760,100 in November of 2004. Bought back by the bank in July of 2009, it’s now on the market and asking $595,000.
In South Park vernacular, phase one...
∙ Listing: 10 South Park #1 (1/2) 1,196 sqft - $595,000 [MLS]
∙ New Subprime Foreclosures Ease But Prime Foreclosures Exacerbate [SocketSite]
∙ South Park - Gnomes 3 phases [YouTube]
Posted by socketadmin at 8:15 AM | Comments (50)
New Subprime Foreclosures Ease But Prime Foreclosures Exacerbate
From Bloomberg:
Americans fell behind on their mortgage payments at a record pace in the second quarter as job losses and falling real estate prices thwarted government efforts to stabilize the housing market.
The share of loans with one or more payments overdue rose to a seasonally adjusted 9.24 percent of all mortgages, an all- time high, from 9.12 percent in the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. The inventory of homes in foreclosure increased to 4.3 percent, the most in three decades of data, and loans overdue by at least 90 days, the point at which foreclosure proceedings typically begin, rose to 7.97 percent, the highest on record.
“We’ve seen a significant drop in the problem with subprime loans and we’ve moved now to a problem with prime fixed-rate loans,” Jay Brinkmann, the Washington-based trade group’s chief economist, said in an interview. “Job losses are driving it, and we expect that to continue into next year.”
∙ Mortgage Delinquencies Rise to Record as U.S. Home Prices Fall [Bloomberg]
Posted by socketadmin at 7:45 AM | Comments (13)
August 19, 2009
A Peek Into NEW PEOPLE (And Future For Japantown?) At 1746 Post
The NEW PEOPLE complex (previously known as the J-Pop Center) opened its doors this weekend at 1746 Post. There’s a small theater dedicated to Japanese productions in the basement, eats on the first floor, and goods on the mezzanine.
The second floor is all about fashion.
And the third, along with a building wide "DeTour," are all about the arts.
While the redevelopment of the Japantown center remains on hold and Japantown’s Better Neighborhood Plan inches forward, one can’t help but wonder if this is a peek into the neighborhood's future.
∙ NEW PEOPLE (1746 Post Street) [NewPeopleWorld.com]
∙ Japantown: The Question, The Answer And Your Chance To Embellish [SocketSite]
∙ Japantown’s Better Neighborhood Plan Update: Draft Acknowledged [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 1:30 PM | Comments (31)
Proposed Conservation Of Housing Law Specific To San Francisco
"Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi introduced legislation that would require the one-for-one replacement of any demolished housing units. The proposed law, introduced Tuesday, was inspired by the recently approved Drew School expansion."
∙ Expansion prompts demolition law proposal [Examiner]
∙ Drew School Expansion Plans Pass Their Appeals Test(s) [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 1:15 PM | Comments (12)
24 Karat Gold Coast (2950 Broadway) Brochure, Plans, And History
As a plugged-in tipster notes, the website for the 24 Karat Gold Coast 2950 Broadway has been updated with more photography, a ten page marketing brochure (including floor plans), and an "architectural and historical perspective."
Designed in 1922 by the distinguished and prolific San Francisco architect, Frederick H. Meyer for Stetson G. Hindes – a prominent engineer whose firm constructed the drydock at Pearl Harbor, built the shipyard at Alameda, and filled the cove for the Pan-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco – and at one time occupied by famed attorney Melvin Belli, the home stands today as a masterpiece that has withstood the test of time.
No mention of that Melvin Belli incident.
∙ Listing: 2950 Broadway (6/6) - $39,500,000 [2950broadway.com] [Brochure] [History]
∙ 24 Karat Gold Coast Coming Soon (2950 Broadway) [SocketSite]
∙ When Friia Ruled San Francisco Real Estate (A Reader’s Recollection) [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 12:00 PM | Comments (29)
Washingtonia Robusta Now Arriving At Howard And Main
A plugged-in and camera phone toting (hint, hint) tipster reports:
Given your previous coverage both of the topic of palm trees in SF and the construction of the temporary Transbay bus terminal at Howard and Main, I thought you'd appreciate the attached photo…yep, the palm trees have arrived and are going in!
UPDATE: Another plugged-in tipster heeds the hints and ads an aerial perspective:
And remember, those camera's can capture more than just palms.
∙ Temporary Transbay Bus Terminal: First Prefab Buildings Placed [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 9:00 AM | Comments (18)
The Listing For 1440 Kearny Sheds $100,000 Per Day! (Sort Of)
Perhaps it was simply a typo (or a successful attempt to catch our attention), but after 7 days on the MLS at $2,995,000 the list price for 1440 Kearny has been cut by $700,000 and is now back to where its previous listing left off ($2,295,000). Exuberance scratched.
∙ A New New New Listing (And Price Cut Bump) For 1440 Kearny [SocketSite]
∙ Sometimes It's Simply The View(s), And Sometimes It's Not [SocketSite]
Posted by socketadmin at 8:30 AM