You are here: Home / Blog

Just Sold! My New Favorite iPhone App

April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I’ve been a fan of the Theo team for quite a while, and I have to say that while I use their main products on a daily basis for my work, I’ve been using their latest app a lot in my spare time. It’s called Just Sold, and it’s a sweet San Francisco Real Estate App! (iTunes download link)

2013-04-23 18.12.51

Are You Ready?

It’s a pretty simple premise – the app shows you a picture of a home in San Francisco that recently sold (from participating brokerages), and you have to guess how much it sold for. They give you four choices, and as time ticks down they start to give you some hints, like when the property was listed on the market or what the list price was.

Just Sold App

Two Beds, Two Baths, Two Million?

The app lets you play by neighborhood (or you can choose to just mix it up from across the city), and as you progress you can unlock new levels that aren’t necessarily all about the neighborhood – Luxury Estates, High Rise, Ritzy Glitzy and TIC Fun are just a few of the levels you can unlock.

Just Sold San Francisco

The app doesn’t contain data from every sale in the MLS (it’s a long story, don’t ask) but it contains a pretty big chunk of San Francisco sales. If you are a San Francisco real estate addict, it’s a lot of fun and definitely a must have app! Download it and take it for a spin around the neighborhood, I’d love to hear what you think of it!

Disclosure: I am a member of the Theo Agent Advisory Board. I can’t take any credit for the creation of the app, but if you have any feedback (good, bad or indifferent) I’m happy to share your feedback with the Theo team. But you could probably just email them as well.

Filed Under: Blog, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers

Noe Valley Town Square Update

April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday I received some great news from the San Francisco Parks Alliance about open space in Noe Valley. If you aren’t familiar, there is a lot on 24th street – 3861 24th St – that is currently owned by a church. The lot is located between Sanchez and Vicksburg streets. If you aren’t familiar with Vicksburg, it is between Sanchez and Church streets. From tax records, it appears the lot belongs to the Noe Valley Ministry, and they’d like to sell the lot to allow them to rebuild their building (which isn’t on 24th St.).

 

Noe Valley Town Square. Image Source: NoeValleyTownSquare.com

Noe Valley Town Square. Image Source: NoeValleyTownSquare.com

The goal is to create a permanent open space along 24th Street. For the past 8 years or so the space has been home to the Saturday Noe Valley Farmer’s Market.

According to the NoeValleyTownSquare website, the estimated cost of the projet is at least $4,000,0000. Yesterday, the SF Rec and Park Commission unanimously recommended the purchase of the lot so that it can finally become the Noe Valley Town Square.

What happens next? The recommendation from the SF Rec/Park Commission goes to the Board of Supervisors now. In the past, the city has suggested they would be willing to spend about $2,000,000 of city funds for the purchase of the lot, which means that for the project to become a reality, private donors need to raise at least another $2,000,000.

If you’d like to make a donation to the Noe Valley Town Square, or learn more about some of the design concepts, I’d highly recommend you visit the Noe Valley Town Square website, which has a ton of background and information about the project. You can also make a financial pledge to help support the project. What are your thoughts about the plan to create a permanent open space in the heart of Noe Valley? And have you made your financial contribution yet?

Filed Under: Blog, Noe Valley

What Should it Cost To Throw Garbage Away?

April 17, 2013 by 3 Comments

I received a rather bland looking piece of mail the other day, and it almost went right into the recycling bin. The outside was labeled as “Prop 218 Information.” Having never heard of Prop 218, I decided to open it up, and was greeted with one very full page of type in a teeny font size. 


Prop 218, for those of you not in the know (which included me until about 10 minutes ago) enshrined in our state constitution (Article XIII D, Section 6) new requirements before local governments can increase assessments on property owners. Refuse collection, apparently, falls under that category.

Long story, short: garbage rates in San Francisco will be going up by about 22%. I can predict this with absolute confidence because for the proposed rate change to not take effect, a majority of customers would have to object to the rate increase – in writing (email and fax don’t count). Now I know San Franciscans love a letter writing campaign more than most other citizens, but the odds of 300,000+ individuals sending an old-fashioned letter to the Refuse Collection Rate Hearing Officer (yes, there really is such a person, apparently).

The very, very, very fine print

The very, very, very fine print

The hearing on the proposed rate increase for garbage collection is set for May 30, 2013 at 2:00pm in Room 416 at City Hall.

So now that we know the new rates are all but inevitable, here’s how they will change:

Proposed Monthly Residential Rates for Weekly Weekday Collection:
Fixed Charge = $5 per household dwelling unit
Volume-Based Trash Charge = $25.51 per 32 gallons of bin capacity
Volume-Based Recycling Charge = $2 per 32 gallons of bin capacity
Volume-Based Composting Charge = $2 per 32 gallons of bin capacity

Proposed Monthly Apartment Rates for Weekly Weekday Collection:
Fixed Charge = $5 per household dwelling unit
Volume-Based Trash Charge = $25.51 per 32 gallons of bin capacity

All volume-based charges for residential and apartment customers would be proportional to the 32 gallon rates. For apartments, discounts of up to 75% off the volume-based charges would be available based on the percentage of recycling and composting capacity to the total capacity. Translated into English, the more apartment buildings recycle and compost, the less they would pay for their garbage fees.

Based on the mailer for Recology Golden Gate, some of the reasons for the rate increase include:

  • Reimburse recology for implementing new procedures to increase the diversion of recyclable and compostable materials from general refuse at Recology’s refuse processing facility, aka the “transfer station”

So if you actually opened that bland mailer that looked like junk mail, all of this should be old news. Otherwise, you heard it here first: garbage rates are going up. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle!

For more information about protesting the proposed rate increase, you can visit the DPW refuse rate web page or the Ratepayer Advocate’s web page

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Board of Supervisors Ready to Hasten End of SF’s Middle Class

April 16, 2013 by 2 Comments

According to a blog post over at the city insider blog, tenant’s rights activists have teamed up with the Board of Supervisors to hasten the demise of San Francisco’s struggling middle class. In specific, amendments have been introduced to the condo bypass legislation that would essentially kill TICs as a viable form of ownership for all but the most well-off SF residents with aspirations to own property in the city.

bos

In particular, Supervisors David Chiu and Norman Yee introduced an amendment that essentially guts the condo conversion lottery going forward, eliminates the ability of five and six unit buildings to condo convert (ever), and increases the occupancy requirements for conversion in 3 and 4 unit buildings.

While I haven’t seen the amendment myself, based on what I’ve read it is a horrible idea that will hasten the end of the middle class in San Francisco. Here’s why:

  • The legislation, as written, already extorts $20,000 per unit (not building) from each owner as a bribe to allow them to bypass the condo lottery. 
  • The amendment proposed will essentially forward-load the lottery, with every building being allowed to convert now taking away the ability of a future building to convert. For example, if 3,200 units took advantage of the legislation (if adopted with the proposed amendment), then for the next 16 years there would be ZERO SPOTS in the lottery for any other units to convert. Why? Because the lottery is currently limited to 200 units/year (not buildings), and for every unit that pays the $20,000 extortion fee, a spot is eliminated in a future lottery. How many spots will be eliminated from future lotteries? Exactly the same number as units that are able to take advantage of the condo bypass.

The Board of Supervisors, and David Chiu and Norman Yee in particular, should be ashamed of this legislation. Home ownership for middle class families and rental properties for middle class families should never be an “either/or” proposition. The Board of Supervisors have pitted property owners against tenants, as though both communities can’t exist together.

If San Francisco has sensible growth and land-use policies, then the Board of Supervisors would never be in this position, and one group wouldn’t have to lose for the other to “win.”

The legislation, if adopted with the proposed amendments, is just one more loud and clear signal that the Board of Supervisors wants middle class families to leave the city for cities and neighborhoods where home ownership isn’t vilified and parents will actually know with some certainty what school their child will attend.

 

Filed Under: Blog, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers, Only in SF, Tenancy In Common Tagged With: , , , ,

Q1: Market On Fire (with Apologies to Alicia Keys)

April 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

It’s Tax Day! Which means that if you haven’t filed your taxes, you need to file your extension. Once you do that, come on back and we can talk San Francisco real estate for hours and hours.

Q1 Residential Sales in San Francisco

Q1 Residential Sales in San Francisco

As you can see from the chart above, the first quarter of the year was a very strong quarter for residential real estate in San Francisco. Sales held steady, down just slightly from last years sales in the same three month period. So inventory remains unchanged but demand is up, which is why being a seller in the current market is so much fun and being a buyer is, well, not so much fun.

Year over year, the list price is up by about 18%, and in Q1 of 2012 homes – on average – sold for asking. This year, homes have been going an average of about 4% over asking.

Days on Market (DOM) is down substantially, decreasing 38% quarter over quarter. And as I mentioned, supply remains roughly the same as in 2012 so the decrease in DOM is not a result of fewer homes being for sale, but a result of A LOT more buyers being in the market. Yes, everyone wants to take advantage of low interest rates, but the bigger story (in my experience) is that buyer confidence in the economy and housing market has improved substantially.

What trends have you noticed in the first three months of the year in San Francisco real estate?

PS – This is why I’m apologizing to Alicia Keys.

Disclaimer: All data is from the San Franicsco Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Data is believed to be reliable but is not warranted or guaranteed. The data does not include all off-MLS sales, which would include sales of new construction directly from the developer (unless it was listed in the MLS, which is rarely the case). Your mileage may vary. If you’ve got a specific question about our data or methodology, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or get in touch. 

Filed Under: Blog, For SF Buyers, Market Commentary Tagged With: , , ,

Up2Code?

April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

You know you’re in San Francisco when… your City Attorney launches an App.

Although, to be fair, the app launched a while ago and is actually part of the SeeClickFix network, which was co-founded by Ben Berkowitz, who describes himself as, “Ben is a proud resident of New Haven, CT. The inspiration for SeeClickFix came from a desire to improve his own community with his neighbors and his government. At SeeClickFix he is CEO and a Co-Founder. Ben was named Huffington Post’s 2010 Tech Gamechanger.”

Screen_Shot_2013-04-10_at_3.31.33_PM

See.Click.Fix. Narc on your neighbor?

The SeeClickFix website is interesting, if for no other reason than you can see how San Francisco compares to other cities in actually fixing reported problems. And the news isn’t all the surprising… while lots of issues appear to be reported, very few of them appear to actually be resolved:

SF Sucks... Less?

SF Sucks… Less?

The app itself is called “Up2Code” and is available both on the Apple App Store and Google Play for android phones. It also has a companion San Francisco centric website, www.Up2Code.Org. The good news is that an app is now available to instantly and easily report anything in San Francisco you find offensive. The bad news is that there is not an app available to make it easy for anyone to complain about anything they feel like, perhaps including that unwarranted in-law in your garage…

The Up2Code app is pretty straightforward – for me, the hardest part of using it was just finding it in the app store. You can see screen shots of what the app looks like below, it is very straightforward to report an issue (screenshots 1 -3), as well as see issues near you in either a list or map format, as well as see who your “neighbors” are that have been busy reporting you and your neighbors.

2013-04-10_15.25.34-2

Screen Shot 1: Up2Code Main Screen

2013-04-10_15.26.39

Screen Shot 2: Creating a New Issue Report

2013-04-10_15.26.20

Screen Shot 3: Pick Your Issue

After you have submitted your issue, it appears that you just sit back and… wait. And probably wait some more, based on San Francisco’s resolution rate as reported on the SeeClickFix website. You can also take a look around and find out who your “neighbors” are, and which have been busy earning “civic points” by pointing out issues.

2013-04-10_15.24.42

Civic Points?

The screen below is a list view of issues that have been reported in San Francisco.

2013-04-10_15.19.20-2

A list of reported issues in San Francisco from Up2Code

Most neighbors, in my experience, are pretty reasonable folks. Given that this app has been around for over a year, I don’t think that every in-law in San Francisco (or other code violation, for that matter) is suddenly going to be reported and remediated (torn out, permitted, etc.). But the fascinating part (to me) is how easy it now is for people that are so inclined to report their neighbors for a variety of issues.

Anyone has always been able to come through a public open house and report any issues they’ve found, but up until now the amount of time and effort that has been required to file a report has meant that it very rarely happens. But when the ease of reporting an issue is literally “pull out phone, snap a picture, describe issue, click submit” does it change what issues will be reported?

“Is This The Best Way To Be A Neighbor?”

The app implicitly suggests that the easiest way to solve a problem with a neighbor isn’t to talk to them, but to take a picture and report them with your smartphone. I understand that some neighbors are, for lack of a better word, jerks. Sometimes escalating issues is the only way to get them resolved. But I’d hate to see our default social norms around what it means to be a neighbor degrade to the point where we expect nothing more from our neighbors than to have them report us to elected authorities with their smartphone any time they get the urge to do so.

Filed Under: Blog, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers

Where Exactly is Cow Hollow?

April 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Not to get too existential on everyone, but where, exactly, is Cow Hollow? This might sound like the dumbest question in the world, but even dumb questions can lead to interesting answers. The reason I bring it up is that our fair city has about as many neighborhood definitions as it does neighborhoods, and the groups defining the boundaries rarely speak to each other… Take, for example, Cow Hollow!

According to the San Francisco Association of Realtors, the Cow Hollow neighborhood is defined as:

The north side of Green street, north to Lombard (including the homes on the south side of Lombard, but not the north side). The east/west boundaries are Van Ness and Lyon. Below is a picture of the SFAR map for Cow Hollow, showing the boundaries with the Marina district to the north and Pacific Heights to the south.

SFAR Cow Hollow Map and Boundaries

SFAR Cow Hollow Map and Boundaries

 

The Cow Hollow Association, though, has completely different neighborhood boundaries, which are shown below:

As you can see, the Cow Hollow Association neighborhood boundaries begin further to the south than the SFAR, but do not run as far north. The Cow Hollow Association also uses Lyon as the western neighborhood boundary, but uses Pierce Street (instead of Van Ness) as the western boundary for the neighborhood.

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 10.19.57 AM

Cow Hollow Neighborhood Association – Different Cow Hollow boundaries

And while all this might seem to be just some guy with too much time pointing out how two maps don’t match, the reality is that the mis-match has some implications for homeowners, buyers, and sellers.

The Cow Hollow neighborhood is subject to neighborhood design guidelines,  which means that you could buy a house that is marketed as being in Pacific Heights only to discover that the property is part of the Cow Hollow neighborhood design guidelines. What are your thoughts on neighborhood boundaries and definitions in San Francisco?

Filed Under: Blog, Cow Hollow, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers

Welcome Back, Giants!

April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I’m not a baseball person. My father is. My business partner is. If I’m being really honest, I was always the kid in the outfield looking at the flowers in the grass when a ball would unexpectedly come my way and interrupt my flower or sky gazing. But I live in San Francisco, and we are the World Champions of Baseball!

SF Giants, image from SF Giants

SF Giants, image from SF Giants

At least, for the moment.

While the first home game isn’t until this Friday, the first SF Giants game is today. Somewhere. Apparently, Los Angeles. And we got our hats handed to us and then some, losing 4-0. Kinda makes ya wonder if Buster Posey feels bad about taking the $167 million contract extension. But hey, we all have our bad days, right?

If you happen to live in the South Beach or Mission Bay neighborhood and you are a Giants fan, then you probably greet the beginning of Baseball Season with a mixture of dread and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm because it’s time to go hang at the stadium, enjoy a cold frosty beverage, chat with friends, and – oh yeah – watch a baseball game.

Dread, because a home game bring in an incredible amount of traffic and visitors to the neighborhood. Which can make getting around a bit of a challenge. On the flip side, let me assure you that our parking enforcement department is thrilled that you love baseball. In fact, they are so thrilled that you’ve come to support the Giants that they will be absolutely sure to ticket your car if you are parked in the wrong spot or parked in an expired meter.

There is no such thing as cheap beer at a baseball game, and there is no such thing as cheap parking for a baseball game in San Francisco. You can pay through the nose at a surface lot, or you can take your chances and then (most likely) pay through the nose for a parking ticket. Go Giants!

 

Filed Under: Blog, Mission Bay, South Beach

Shell Shocked?

March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Clean Power SF vs Shell Shocked?

According to the SF Chronicle, 4 out of 5 residents haven’t heard of the Clean Power SF program that the Board of Supervisors adopted recently after years of debate.

Clean Power SF

Will rates go up under the new Clean Power SF program? Image Source: StopTheShellShock.Org

This coming Monday, the SF PUC is set to vote on the ceiling rate for power under the Clean Power SF program. The Clean Power SF program represents the first time that San Francisco residents will have a choice about their power generation source, because PG&E has had a monopoly on power generation and distribution in San Francisco for decades.

Clean Power SF

CleanPowerSF – Image Source Clean Power SF

Beginning this fall (October, if all goes well), about half of SF’s residential energy customers will find themselves automatically enrolled in the program that provides energy from 100% renewable energy sources. If you find yourself auto-enrolled in the new program, you can opt-out and revert back to the “normal” PG&E rates and energy sources.

The question of what it will cost residents enrolled in Clean Power SF remains to be answered. After the vote by the SF PUC this coming Monday, energy consumers in SF will know the ceiling rate for the Clean Power SF program, and be able to make an informed decision about paying more for clean energy.

Shell Shocked SF is a website against the program that is paid for by IBEW Local 1245. According to their website, “Contracting with Shell would hurt our members, their families and all San Franciscans who would face higher rates and fewer local jobs as a result. IBEW 1245 represents over 19,000 utility workers in Northern and Central California and Northern Nevada.”

Clean Power SF is a website that touts the benefits of the program, and appears to be paid for and/or operated by the SF Public Utility Commission.

Filed Under: Blog

The New Exploratorium at Pier 15

March 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Agents across San Francisco have been claiming to do some pretty impressive walkthroughs lately. Agents across San Francisco also can sign up for emails from the sales office that represents the developer. Everyone can come to their own conclusions. But when we do a walkthrough here at JacksonFuller, we take pictures.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to explore the not-yet-open-to-the-general public Exploratorium. Their official grand opening is coming up next month on April 17, but they are in soft-open mode and are letting small groups come through on a time-allocated system. I’m not saying who I bribed, but apparently membership does have its perks!

 

Overall, the new Exploratorium is awesome! As in, seriously awesome! It has all of the great exhibits from their old building, but also lots more room for new exhibits.

The new Bay Observatory was absolutely incredible, I didn’t want to leave and if it wasn’t for my time-limited ticket and parking meter requirements, I would probably still be there right now.

I also found the exhibit about mental illness and changing attitudes towards treatment to be incredibly interesting. Again, I would have stayed much longer if I could have.

A few other impressions:

  • The new building is beautiful. Nice light, good flow, and a beautiful outlook onto the bay. And have I mentioned the new Bay Observatory?
  • I didn’t see the menu for the new restaurant, but it looks like nice space. It also looks like it will probably always be crowded, at least for the next couple of years.
  • There was a lot more space in the new building, so in addition to a lot more exhibits things are just layed out with more space between the activities, which made for a really nice feeling.
  • Pier 15 is located along The Embarcadero at Green street. There isn’t much in the way of street parking, so I’d highly suggest public transit if you can make that work.

I hope you enjoy the photos from the new Exploratorium!

Filed Under: Blog
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»
Please view our comment policy, disclaimers, and copyright notice (if that's your thing).