I couldn’t have said it better myself - my company McGuire Real Estate came out with this recent post on the San Francisco, Marin, and Peninsula real estate market. We need more data specific to the area…the newspapers cover the Bay Area region and don’t have the bandwidth to get specific to our local city.  You would never know that several properties are selling quickly and over the asking price. Read on…

McGuire Assets Newlsetter…April 2008…

Everyday we see articles chronicling the collapse of the housing market and simultaneously hear anecdotal stories of multiple offers and properties selling for over the asking price. So which scenario is correct? Is it a buyers’ market? Is it a sellers market? Are home values declining or increasing? The short answer is yes. The Bay Area real estate market is a highly segmented marketplace; some areas are struggling while others continue to thrive. In some sub-markets there is very little inventory, which continues to push prices higher; while others are flooded with available homes and not enough buyers.

In San Francisco, the median price for single-family homes increased 23.74% to $1,237,000 in the 1st quarter of 2008 versus the same period in 2007, while the average days on market decreased 9.78% to 35 days. However, these strong gains can be deceptive due to a number of factors. For example, several neighborhoods reported extremely strong gains, but because of the small number of transactions they are not statistically relevant and skew the results for the overall market. These neighborhoods include Golden Gate Heights, Lower Pacific Heights, Haight/Ashbury, and Russian Hill. With that in mind many neighborhoods reported strong gains and a significant number of sales with Glen Park (42%; $1,250,000), Noe Valley (31.90%; $1,625,000), and Marina (21.63%; $2,382,500) leading the list. These gains were balanced by decreased median prices in Ingleside (-28.54; $566,000), Oceanview (-28.06; $502,500), and Potrero Hill (-23.60; $955,000).

In the condominium category in San Francisco, the median sales price increased a modest 2.68% to $729,000 and the average days on market decreased 3.93% to 41 days.  Cow Hollow (82.04%), Western Addition (74.65%), Noe Valley (51.84%), and Telegraph Hill (44.09%) showed the largest increases. However, these gains were primarily buoyed by restricted inventory and a reduction in the number of sales, e.g. Noe Valley and Telegraph Hill reported a 66% and 73% drop in the number of sales, respectively. Just to keep things interesting, however, the Western Addition reported a 50% increase in the number of sales, further demonstrating that there is no single answer to explain the growth within San Francisco’s housing market.   

In Marin County, the median sales price for single family dwellings remained flat, decreasing a modest 0.98% to $959,000. The strongest areas of appreciation were San Geronimo (56.37%; $797,500), Ross (44.33%; $2,800,000), and Larkspur (40.35%; $1,824,000). Greenbrae increased 41.76%, but with an 82.61% decline in the number of sales to just 4, it is not statistically relevant. The only decreases in median price were in areas with too few sales to be statistically relevant. All of Southern Marin reported increases in the median sales price with Tiburon (34.50%; $2,690,000) and Belvedere (26.32%; $3,300,000) leading the list. Southern Marin also saw a decline in the average days a home is on the market, decreasing 29.68% to 72 days. For the county as a whole, the average number of days on market decreased 4.3% to 79 days.

In the condominium category in Marin, the median sales price decreased just 2.63% to $550,125 during the 1st quarter of 2008. The strongest areas of appreciation were Mill Valley (8.79%; $715,000) and Greenbrae (7.42%; $517,750). It is important to note that the number of condominium sales decreased 43.75% to just 72 sales in the entire county, making the majority of the intercity analysis statistically irrelevant. The average number of days on market also increased dramatically, rising 11% to 84 days.   

San Mateo County saw similar trends with the median price for single-family homes increasing 1.12% to $900,000 in the 1st quarter of 2008 versus the same period last year, while the average days on market increased 23.18% to 60 days. In the condominium category, the median sales price decreased 9.48% to $525,000 and the average days on market increased 22.29% to 65 days.

Aldo Congi, vice president for McGuire Downtown said, “Inventory has been very limited during the 1st quarter of 2008, which is reflected in the relatively low days on market and the increasing median sales price. Well-priced listings continue to receive multiple offers—indicating that buyers are out there. However, inventory is beginning to increase these past few weeks, which given the number of buyers currently in the market, should lead to a spike in the number of sales and in the median prices in the 2nd quarter.”

If you would like information on a specific district or category, please contact me. I’m happy to assist you and help you to better understand this fast-paced, ever changing market.

All information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. All data subject to errors, omissions, or revisions and is not warranted. Data provided by San Francisco Association of Realtors, BAREIS MLS, and REInfo Link.

www.jenndavis.com

Earth Day and Eco Tuesday came together last week (4/22) at the W Hotel. The Keynote speaker was Brian Gitt, the CEO of Build It Green (www.builditgreen.org), a non profit dedicated to promoting healthy, energy, and resource-efficient buildings in California.

Brian is a charismatic speaker and simply captivated the room of green enthusiasts. Brian is an example of starting with an idea of how to ‘green California buildings’ and running with it to become something larger than originally thought possible. What began as Build It Green’s ’voluntary guidelines’ for developers and architects building green real estate soon morphed into these same groups *clamoring* for more information.  Today, he is beseiged with requests for his knowledge, training, guidance and personal presentations to educate this rapidly growing community.  I think we’ve just scratched the surface. Thanks to people like Brian Gitt and organizations such as www.builditgreen.org we can really make some positive change in our communities.

www.jenndavis.com

sanfranoaklandfremontcawealthgain

Coming from the National Association of Realtors, I thought this would be interesting to all home buyers and sellers!

www.jenndavis.com

jdavis@mcguire.com

The San Francisco real estate market has its peak and valleys. Clearly the valleys are not as deep or devastating as the outlying areas of San Francisco, and we are quite blessed to be living and owning real estate in this city.  Of course, there are certain neighborhoods in the city that may be a bit more weatherbeaten than others, but take heart. The longer you own, the better off you are. The attached chart demonstrates what can happen over several cycles.  You can see the overall pace of growth of single family homes for past 30 years in San Francisco.

sf_single_family_dwellings_1970-20071

Everything goes in cycles.  Buy for the long term. Just think what your home could be worth 30 years from today!

Stay tuned for more stats on property sales.

www.jenndavis.com

jdavis@mcguire.com

I just finished Michael Pollan’s ‘In Defense of Food’ and ‘Omnivore’s Dilemna’.  As I write a lot about how to green your San Francisco home it is natural that I am looking for ways to green my own self, if there is such a thing. The premise in Michael Pollan’s book is simple, ‘Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.’ Food that is ‘enriched’ is not food. Food with ingredients that have more than 5 syllables, is not food. Look at bread labels - last time I checked bread was made with flour, yeast, water, and butter. Peruse some of the labels on ‘enriched breads’ and you will find ingredients that are unpronounceable.  Is that food?

Visit San Francisco’s farmers markets.  Get back to basics, whole foods, whole grains, local (and seasonal) organic fruits and vegetables, and get educated about organic meats. For example, free range chicken many times means the chicken has a tiny dirt area to run around in for a very limited time. This is a big subject that could be written about at length but hopefully this will spur one to research further.

Pollan’s recommendations:

Pay more, eat less. Buy the higher quality organic foods (which cost more) but overall you will be more satieted and eat less.

Eat meals. Not at your desk. Eat meals with others.

Buy a standalone freezer. It holds more food than a traditional refrigerator freezer so that you can buy in bulk at farmer’s markets and preserve the food. Studies show you can freeze food and not lose as many nutrients as previously believed.

Bless your food. You’ll eat less (so they say). A preschooler shared this saying with me recently. ‘We love our bread, we love our butter. But most of all, we love each other!’

Green your San Francisco home and while you are at it, green your body! If you choose to live in a green, healthy environment, why stop there? Look at the quality of your food intake. You will be more satieted, possibly eat less and who knows, lose a few pounds while you’re at it. I would bet there is a connection to healthy eating and better quality sleep too.  That’s my guess and my hope as well.

www.jenndavis.com

jdavis@mcguire.com

I ran the Guardsmen Presidio 10 Miler/10K this morning in San Francisco’s Presidio.  We ran over the Golden Gate Bridge and back (I just ran the 10K) and finished in Crissy Field. I’ve run many races in my time but never have I seen such an array of quality post party food and product giveaways such as breakfast burritos from Asquew, coffee from Peet’s, giveaways of Accelerade drink and San Francisco Magazine, oh and even a free Bloody Mary drink if you felt so inclined. But what really caught my attention was the complimentary bottle of a hand sanitizer from Method and the brochure on how to ‘Detox Your Home’.  If you are unfamiliar with Method, please pay attention! Method develops non toxic, planet friendly cleaning products that smell fantastic. And now, they have a handy ‘Detox your Home’ brochure that I will summarize for all you San Francisco and Marin homeowners.

Cleaning can be gentle on your eyes. Do you ever clean and get stinging eyes or burning lungs from the smell of the cleaning product? That’s your body reacting badly to the chemicals. Method’s products are friendly to the body.

You are naked under your clothes. Hmm….so it makes sense you may want a non toxic laundry detergent cleaning your clothes. Method deveops a detergent with products you wouldn’t mind wearing.

Your kid knows what your tile tastes like. Method believes cleaners should be safe for your bare hands (or your bare kids). And that goes for your floors too. Kids are down on the floor all the time. Just think what they must be sampling…At least with Method products you know you are cleaning with toxic free cleansers.

If you own a San Francisco property, a condo, single family home, commercial property or if you are a Marin homeowner, you will be pleased to know the Method founders live right here in our own backyard.

A consistent question I pose…Do we live in paradise or what?

www.jenndavis.com

jdavis@mcguire.com

Can green be luxurious? I attended a panel this evening presented by The Luxury Marketing Council in San Francisco. The panelists consisted of Eric Corey Freed principal of organic Architect, Mike Freed co-owner of Passport Resorts (resorts such as Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur), Kimberley Gardiner, Hybrid Marketing Manager with Lexus, and Helge Hellberg, Executive Director of Marin Organic. A touching answer to the question whether green can be luxurious came from Eric Corey Freed. He explained to the roomful of San Francisco and Marin realtors that being green (nature) is naturally luxurious and abundant. Think about it, leaves fall off trees and are recycled into the earth to prepare for the next cycle of trees.  The concept is that our environment is naturally abundant if left alone. How luxurious! This applies to almost every consumer product. Unused clothing can be recycled into new hip, trendy clothes. Discarded wood can be recycled into beautiful tables, chairs, and hardwood floors. Recycled materials can be used by developers of green buildings. Green hybrid cars have come to be a very comfortable, stylish ride (luxurious) all while conserving on fuel (good for the environment).

 The overall recommendation from the panelists to live a green life was to pick one green mission and do it well. Do it with authenticity. Recycle, eat organic foods, buy green products, learn how to green your San Francisco or Marin home. The green movement is not perfect and there is still a lot of ground ahead of us. However, there are several experts willing to share their knowledge.  Many were in the room this evening. You may find ‘living green’ is luxurious, tasty, and satisfying.

Jenn - your San Francisco EcoBroker

www.jenndavis.com

jdavis@mcguire.com

Straight from my company, I thought I’d share the summary of activity in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo over the last quarter…

Anyone trying to buy an high end home in San Francisco this year has seen the homes vanish into contract many times before there is the traditional open house. Why is that? Investing, living, owning these homes continues to be a solid investment over time as there is limited supply and as we all know, it’s about location, location, location. San Francisco doesn’t get much better than that.  The number of high end home sales in San Francisco has increased over last year. The money is from tech, some VC money, and investment bankers.  How high can it go? The highest priced San Francisco home is a cool $65 million. Perhaps one should begin with a $3 million starter home however…

http://sfgate.com/flat/archive/2007/09/24/chronicle/archive/2007/09/24/MN8TSAIM4.html

 www.jenndavis.com

Beginning last Thursday (9/20.07) San Francisco was the site for the West Coast Green Conference. Thousands of participants attended the conference to listen to diverse speakers, view the latest in green home remodeling products and green technology. The big attention getter was the Michele Kaufman newest modular home that sat on the grounds of the Bill Graham Civic Center across from City Hall.  It was an innovative home with 1BR, 1BA,  recycled hardwood floors throughout, recycled glass tile in the bath, LED lights, a gray-water system that collects water from sinks and the shower and recirculates it to toilets, an energy-saving “on-demand” water heater and native landscaping. All topped off by a rectangular roof with a full garden.  Just pick up the house and drop it on a lot of land in Sonoma,  perfect for entertaining! And good for the environment!

www.jenndavis.com

www.westcoastgreen.com