Quartz is my latest obsession for news.

They’ve got an article today that highlights the ugly buildings coming out of the building boom in China. Which reminded me of all the complaints I’ve heard over the past few months that architecture in San Francisco is incredibly bland.

2299 Market St. – Icon SF (we aren’t the listing agents, it is a Gregg/Gorski – Paragon RE listing) is one example that comes to mind, with plenty of individuals panning a pretty bland building in the heart of one of San Francisco’s most treasured neighborhoods. Last week, there was a look at whether or not Mission Bay is ugly?

So here’s the question, which is preferable: Bland and Boring (San Francisco) or Over the Top (China)?

Take, for example the proposed rendering of 2299 Market St. If I’ve heard one recurring theme about the building, it is bland or uninspired. Which isn’t to knock the building – it is what it is, and if the aesthetic is modest, well then, that’s just the way it is:

If we take a look at some of the construction in China, by contract, we get buildings like:

Under construction in China. Credit: HugChina/Weibo via Quartz.

So the question is: Which is worse – bland architecture that might not look like much of anything, or bold architecture that might look like something, um, else?

San Francisco is a progressive town in many ways, but it has never been (in my experience) particularly progressive when it comes to architecture. I don’t know if it is the cost of development, our lengthy approval process, or some other factor (feel free to chime in down below), but buildings in San Francisco, even though they might be filled with some of the most interesting people in the world, are rarely that interesting to look at.

The one recent exception, IMHO, would be The Millennium Tower. What are your thoughts?

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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?

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.

Screen Shot 1: Up2Code Main Screen

Screen Shot 2: Creating a New Issue Report

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.

Civic Points?

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

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.

San Francisco real estate doesn’t really have much in common with Florida real estate. But the contrasts between the two markets is an interesting one, and goes a long way towards explaining why places like Florida have seen home values plunge while SF home priced gently dipped.

Home Sites in Florida

Take a look at home prices in Florida, and you’ll either be depressed or fascinated to discover that you could own a home free and clear in Florida for roughly the equivalent of your San Francisco down payment. The good news is that you wouldn’t have a mortgage. The bad news is that you’d be in Florida.

While San Francisco prices dipped by between 10 – 20% depending on property type, neighborhood, and size, homes in FL were decimated. By 50% at least, sometimes by a lot more.

The sign above sells the promise of Florida. Sunny skies, warm weather, and lots of land to build your dream home. I have no idea how old the sign is, but this next picture tells you pretty much everything you need to know about why San Francisco homes held their value much better than in other areas of the country.

Too much land in Paradise

Too much Land in Paradise

In one word, the answer is: Land.

Unlike other areas of the world, San Francisco has no place to build. Our most desolate areas look downright crowded when you compare it to pictures of the street above, where the streets have been built, the utilities have been strung, and everything is ready to go except… there aren’t any houses!

San Francisco can build up, but any one that has followed new developments in San Francisco knows that getting land entitled and permitted in SF is a laborious and time consuming process.

So yes, our homes may be old. They might lack insulation or be covered in asbestos shingling. The decks might be filled with dry-rot and the weather might be foggy. But all of that becomes almost irrelevant in the calculus of value because San Francisco will never be able to sprawl like Las Vegas, Florida, or most of the rest of America.