Eastern Neighborhoods Plan Approved
It’s been approved – the city of San Francisco has begun to rezone the southeastern part of the city where the Mission, Potrero Hill, East SoMA, and the Central Waterfront meet as I had posted in last September with Draft Proposed Zoning Map in Eastern SF. This is a large project by every mean as it’s been said that this will re-envision the southern part of the city for the next 20-odd-so years.
It’s going to affect the big sectors in housing (construction, creation, and affordability for low-income), give jobs for those in the construction industry; while indubitable create new jobs that will create new businesses and industries within the neighborhoods.
San Francisco is not known as a “family” city, much less a city for the “middle” class. There’s only two classes – the poor and the less poor in the eyes of residents. In a city with no room for expansion outwards, we’ve become a city that expands ‘upwards,’ and it’s no surprise. Look at Hong Kong or Tokyo.
The Eastern portion of the city have been zoned for industry use only, which was similar for Mission Bay until that area was rezone for high-rise commercial space which is what you’ve seen with all the luxury condominiums. That area is changing and is becoming a small city within itself, and if the rezoning of the South Eastern neighborhoods follows, we may see a continued expansion of San Francisco in the 21st Century.
The proposed plan says that it will support about 51,000 PDR (Production, Distribution and Repair) jobs and will help grow the economy of the neighborhood. Residential, commercial, retail, and office spaces will be built and it will hopefully, generate opportunities for the middle-and-lower-middle class residents.
Stay tuned for more information about the development of the Eastern sector of the city or if you would like additional information now, contact Michael Ta, 415_680_8031 or Michael@PropertySolutionSF.com.
NBC Nightly News on Real Estate pt 3
One of the issues that’s rising are Mortgage scams, and I think it was great that Nightly News talked about this issue. One con-artist, RYM Tech, like many mortgage con-artist promise homeowners a way to keep their homes, but in the end, lied, and stole their money.
It’s a good reminder for anyone to remember that if someone or some company ask you to add their name onto the deed that you SHOULD NOT trust them!
Nightly News also talked about how home prices have been dropping, as much as 19% in places like Las Vegas and Miami, although there are some home buyers seeing opportunity and have been buying as sales have been up 2.9% from a month ago from NAR stats.
Homebuyers and potential homebuyers are scared; it’s common and understandable, although, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t speak with your real estate advisor. Salpi and I here at PropertySolutionSF deal with many first time homebuyers and can say that the worst fear someone should have it missing out on opportunities because he or she either doesn’t believe the market will pick itself up or that they believe prices will continue to fall.
A program like the Nightly News does both a service and disservice as it shows what’s happening now and can help other people that may be in the same situation or possibly be on the outskirts to avoid things like this, but it a program focuses more on the bad than the good, it’s easy to see why things continue to move towards a downward spiral.
NBC Nightly News on Real Estate pt 2
I’m a bit surprised as the Monday Show didn’t dedicate more time as it stated in their promos about having ‘in-depth’ coverage on the current real estate market nationwide. So the past few days, the show has given a segment highlighting different topics that have affected homeowners in some capacity.
The first two nights were about the condo ‘crash’ outside San Francisco from places in Washington State, Utah, and Florida. It was amazing to hear how vacant their markets are as nearly no-one was buying in those markets whatsoever. It was clearly a case of ‘bad timing, and bad planning.’
Both the developers and city officials know that now in hindsight, but I can’t believe how they could have allowed new high risers to go near empty like that – it’s such a waste of money and land. Projects that should have allowed a community to grow and prosper will now be a symbol of why the real estate market is the way it is nationally.
Right now in San Francisco, it’s completely the opposite as most of the new luxury high risers in SOMA have been selling and a few of the new condominiums have been near a sellout. It just shows that homes within a desirable city, people will continue to pay for the opportunity to live in the city of their choice.
Now, why can’t they add a tidbit like this in their broadcast, I don’t know.
0.75 Federal Cut Rate
It’s amazing what’s happened within the last two weeks! A lot is changing and continues to change within the world of real estate, mortgages, and our economy as a whole. If you haven’t been paying attention, the Federal Reserve (more like Bernanke, the Fed’s Chairman, lowered the rate by 0.75%; now, if you did know that, but aren’t too sure what that means, don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
From what I’ve been hearing, reading, and talking with loan brokers is that this has helped create a ‘bailout’ for the 5th largest investment bank, Bear Stearns. For this to work out, Bernanke brought in JP Morgan/Chase to purchase Bear Stearns so that the investment bank doesn’t collapse and that it can continue to stay ‘afloat.’ The reason is, if the 5th largest bank closes its door, this would create a domino effect within the stock market that would bleed into the economy and within every working man and women’s pocket.
During this time, the Federal Housing Enterprise oversight, which supervises FNMA (Fannie Mae) and FDMC (Freddie Mac) has lowered their reserve requirements and from my understanding, they have upwards of an additional 200 billion dollars to lend along with another 200 billion dollars by the Federal Reserve that is supposed to be available through the US Treasuries that banks can now borrow.
All this looks positive in an overall negative economy, and hopefully, will help stabilize everything and get us back to where our economy was before the war in Iraq along with the recent mortgage crash.
NBC Nightly News In-Depth Report on Real Estate Market
This should be interesting as this coming Monday; the Nightly News with Brian Williams will have a special report on the Real Estate market nationally. It will be ‘extended’ with limited commercial ‘interruptions’ so that they can put in more of the show which, hopefully, can offer extra information that can be useful for any homeowner and homebuyer.
What I think anyone should note is that the report that will be aired on Monday night will give a look into the national market and may not take snap-shots of specific local neighborhoods.
It’s been said many times, but it’s good to remember that the San Francisco market has been fortunate to be one of the few markets in the nation that has kept up against a majority of foreclosures and sinking home prices. A majority of the more desirable neighborhoods have kept its value with the more luxurious areas have skyrocketed (ala Russian Hill, Cow Hollow, Sea Cliff).
Let’s see what Brian Williams and the NBC team reports this Monday and see if this means anything for the San Francisco market and what effects this may bring.
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Michael Ta