Good news, home sales in San Francisco has risen 18% from January 2009 for Single Family homes. The findings from the local market report I get each month issued jointly by the Rosen Consulting Group and the San Francisco Association of REALTORs also noted that “Sales at the high end of the market continued to be dominated by all cash or large down payment transactions.”

I can attest that I’ve come across a number of all cash buyers at the low end of the spectrum in both the East Bay and within entry level Studio/1 bedroom condos in the city, but hearing that the high end of the market is also experiencing this trend is surprising, and I wouldn’t expect to see this trend continue much longer.

High down payment buyers understand that is the “safest” way in order to make your monthly mortgage payments easy on their pockets and won’t allow them to get into the foreclosure situation so many people have been a part of the past two years.

They also found that “at the current sales rate, the months of supply inventory for single-family homes dropped to 3.5 months from 5.8 months while the months of supply inventory for condominiums show a more substantial decline during this time, dropping to 4.1 months from 9.5 months in January 2009. Rosen Consulting Group believes this to be another positive sign in the market.”

Today’s San Francisco Examiner has an article about how the city of San Francisco is mailing fines to property owners who “fail to register vacant or abandoned buildings.”

I bet you probably didn’t know about this little rule from the city did ya?

“Under rules introduced late last year (2009) by city leaders in an attempt to reduce neighborhood blight, a property owner is required to pay a $765 annual fee to register a vacant building and maintain it in a secure and good condition”.

Source: SF Examiner

Daly City’s Department of Economic and Community Development is proposing a residential resale inspection program for the city that targets the abatement of dangerous living conditions caused by the construction of illegal rooms and additions in residential structures containing between one and four dwelling units. The proposal is contained in the city’s Draft Housing Element.

The program would establish the requirement for a resale permit from the city that must be issued prior to the close of escrow for all property transactions.

The inspections covered by the permit would be limited to identifying unsafe conditions and require the seller of the property to remedy these unsafe conditions.

Among other things, the program would require property owners to obtain a resale permit from the city prior to the close of escrow for any property sale. “Unsafe living conditions” would have to be corrected before a permit could be issued.

The program also might mandate energy and water efficiency upgrades in existing residential structures containing between one and four dwelling units. Energy efficiency upgrades mandated as part of this program might include upgrades such as attic insulation, programmable thermostats, heating duct insulation and water heater insulation. Water efficiency upgrades might include the installation of low-flow shower heads where feasible and retrofit or upgrades of existing toilets to meet low-flush requirements as established by the city.

Between 2000 and 2008, the number of housing units in the city increased by approximately 1.5 percent while the number of households increased by almost 2.7 percent. These comparative growth rates show that significant numbers of new households are finding housing accommodations within existing housing stock, i.e., multiple households sharing a single dwelling unit. In many cases, the additional occupants are living in illegal rooms that pose health and safety issues.

From my understanding, the city plans to move forward in September with adoption by the City Council of the Housing Element and the proposals it contains, such as the Residential Resale Inspection Program.

Anyone of you have a lot of clutter in your home? Want space back from all the old television sets, computers, or electronic devices that you’ve always said you were going to get rid of, but didn’t know how or where to?

Well, the city of San Francisco Clean City program is having another one of their E-Recycling events this Saturday from 9-2pm. This is a great time to clear out all that old equipment, while doing so in a safe and environmentally-friendly way. Best of all, it’s FREE – no charge to get rid of your old electronic equipment!

Sadly, the only things that “Clean City” program can’t accept are appliances of any kind or microwaves or the boxes you use to bring the electronic equipment.

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
350 Girard St

9:00am – 2:00pm

• Drop off free of charge any of the following items:
• TVs and Monitors – Cell Phones – Telephone Systems
• Computers and Laptops – Fax Machines – VCRs and DVD Players
• Scanners and Printers – Ethernet Cables – Any other Electronic Device
• All networking equipment

So where exactly do you live in now?
See that map on your right? Well, that’s the “old” general map that divides the major neighborhoods in San Francisco. Our city comprises of 10 districts, with somewhere between 70-80 subdistricts – crazy isn’t it?

The San Francisco Association of REALTORS is about to come out with a new neighborhood map this summer that will be more ‘in-depth’ and finally acknowledge many of the more famous and even some of the more unknown boutique neighborhoods in the city.

How does this affect you? A lot, really, I mean it.

Example – you like in San Francisco is the Outer Richmond neighborhood. Single Family, well kept, updated 3bd/1ba home which on average starts at $820,000. Let’s say your home in the Outer Richmond is two blocks north of Geary Blvd, in a small 4 block sub-neighborhood called Lincoln Manor, the same 3bd/1ba home isn’t $820,000, that average really is $950,000. Get the point?

Interested in finding more about the subdistricts or wanting to know exactly what neighborhood your home, owning, investing, or renting in now is located at, give me a call (415-680-8031) or email to find out!