Please visit www.museumparccondo.com for a great video tour of our latest listing.

For our most recent listing, we made a really sweet video of the house. It gives you a great feel for the property and neighborhood, if we do say so ourselves.

Enjoy!

I moved back to SF from Austin in 2000, and around that time there were lots of Prudential listings there that were listed with “value range pricing.” I thought it was completely bizarre — as a buyer, why on earth would anyone offer more than the bottom of the range, and as a seller, why would you tip your hand and give away your bottom line?

Turns out this strategy is big in San Diego, according to an article in the New York Times. I know we usually post about San Francisco, but I thought it was interesting to learn the history of the strategy: it started in Australia and ended up in use in some markets in the US. Now in San Diego, about 50% of listings use this method.

I don’t think it would catch on here. Any thoughts?

A coyote was found dead in Golden Gate park this morning. It sounds like it was hit by a car.

Yesterday, it was announced that people had been regularly feeding the coyotes in the park that recently attacked dogs.

Never a dull moment, although I must confess I’m kind of bummed that I have never seen the coyotes in the park, especially since I run there on a frequent basis.

I once had a client argue with another resident of his loft building about how safe his neighborhood (Inner Mission) was. As they were arguing this, they were looking out their window and saw a guy riding his bike get attacked and have his bike stolen. I guess that was the end of that argument.

The SF police dept. has a nifty crime mapping feature available. For today’s fun, we’ve compared arrests for drug offenses and vandalism between a 1/2 mile radius at 2nd and Brannan St. (steps from my office door) and 17th at Valencia (the Valencia corridor) for the past 30 days.

The SOMA area – incidents are the little dots (hard to see, I know)

9 total

in comparison with the Valencia corridor

Neighborhoods often have "reputations" and as you can see, the crimemapper is a handy little tool to compare and contrast locations where you might be considering investing in real estate.

It’s a Zephyr related project… and the details are:

Currently being built are four, four-level town homes consisting of approximately 1500-1800 square feet each.

There will be three 3BR/3.5BA and one 3BR/3BA homes – each with two decks, a backyard and parking.

They will have great natural light, high ceilings and superior finishes.

Construction is expected to be completed early 2008; pricing has not yet been determined.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Despite promises that Saturday’s Progressive Convention would result in the selection of a “progressive” candidate to face Gavin Newsom in the fall mayoral race, no one has stepped forward to take him on. That’s not why it’s Christmas in June, though. It’s feeling a little December-y because Chris Daly, who put together the convention, has said that no, he won’t run. Actually, it might have been amusing to watch him try to mount a credible city-wide campaign. He’s pretty much a one-note guy (low-income and homeless people trump every other issue facing the city) and when he doesn’t get his way, that one note gets a little shrill.

The election is five months off, and the filing deadline is in August. Last time around, Matt Gonzalez filed 30 minutes before the deadline and came in a close second in the runoff. I have a feeling someone — Art Agnos or Gonzalez, maybe — will jump in and face Newsom. But that’s just a hunch. Any thoughts?

For years I’ve heard from clients and friends who live in the Castro that most neighborhood dwellers have had their fill of the Halloween party that has gotten bigger and more dangerous every year. Bevan Dufty, the supervisor for the district, says the same thing. He and Gavin Newsom have proposed moving the soiree to the waterfront — Piers 30-32, specifically. There’s a big “if” factor, though; they don’t even know if that location is available on Halloween night.

But the point remains that a growing number of people in the neighborhood don’t want the mass gathering in their backyard anymore. The powers that be are saying it might take a few years to convince people not to congregate in the Castro on Halloween, but eventually, it can be done. The Chronicle has the story.

The NY times posted an awesome interactive graphic that helps you calculate whether it is better to rent or buy.

Try it for yourself!

In case you haven’t already paid your property taxes, don’t forget they’re due today. You can pay by mail, over the phone, in person, or online. The treasurer’s office tacks on a surcharge if you pay by credit card. Check out the details here.