…Tales from the front line of buying and selling San Francisco real estate

We recently helped a couple swiftly sell their loft condo in the Inner Mission after it had been on the market with another agent for a year!

Chad & Mike had their condo on the market for a year with another realtor before calling my team. They saw our signs go up in the neighborhood and the yellow “Sale Pending” stickers that would soon follow. They often wondered why the same quick and profitable sale wasn’t happening for them. After a great meeting at their home, we used our extensive network to implement a strategic staging and marketing plan to attract the strongest buyers to their listing. Our energy were focused on getting the home sold as quickly as possible and for as much money as possible. Et voila!  We were in contract one week after listing their unit and closed escrow 21 days later.  Needless to say, the guys were thrilled!

Who do you know looking for a passionate and intelligent real estate team to help them devise the best marketing plan to sell their home?

“As our economy continues to recover and the San Francisco housing market follows suit, many home owners have had success with reducing their San Francisco Property Taxes.  “How?”, you may ask, given property taxes are based on the last sales price of the property and are rarely adjusted by the city?  Here’s a quick and dirty explanation:

1. If you own a home and it’s your primary residence, you may apply for a $7,000 exemption from your assessed value.  New property owners will receive an application automatically with their supplemental assessment bill. Existing property owners should first confirm they were not granted this exemption on their current bill.  If you are not receiving it, you can call the SF Assessment Board at 415.564.5542.
2. Can you lower your property tax base due to market value decline? There have always been a variety of ways to lower your tax base.  Disaster relief, builder’s exclusion, veteran’s exemption, exclusions/exemptions for parent to child change in ownership and several others.  With the volatile market, the Assessment office will review individual owner’s requests to reduce their tax base.  The first step is contacting the Valuation Division – 415.554.5596.  If a reduction is “justified,” the value will be reduced.  If the Valuation Division doesn’t agree, an owner can apply to the Assessment Appeals Board for relief.  If you file an assessment appeal on an existing value, you have to file with the County Assessment Appeals Board (City Hall – Room 405).”

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, courtesy of Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

Most Recent Sales
San Francisco Market Overview
A Peek at Potrero Hill
Bay Area News Bites – Dolores Park, SF Airport, America’s Cup, San Francisco 49ers

Want Zephyr Market Tracker in your inbox every 2 weeks? Sign up for local San Francisco real estate updates via RSS or email delivery for neighborhoods like Noe Valley, Bernal Heights, Hayes Valley, Mission Bay, Mission Dolores and all SF neighborhoods?

361-363 Elsie Street — Condominiums

SUNDAY OPEN HOUSE — Sunday, February 5th, 12:00-1:30PM

Brokers’ Tour — Tuesday, February 7th, 2:30-4:00PM

Our fabulous Bernal Heights San Francisco luxury condo listings are still available and at great new prices! These won’t last for long so come take a look and spread the word to any friends or family who might also be interested. We’ll be open early so you can still enjoy the Super Bowl

Check out this week’s list of new Zephyr Real Estate listings for sale in San Francisco.

Other resources:

• Search the entire San Francisco MLS.
• Get Market Tracker for SF real estate market stats and neighborhood information.
• Have a question or need some help buying or selling a home in San Francisco?

Check out this week’s list of new Zephyr Real Estate listings for sale in San Francisco.

Other resources:

• Search the entire San Francisco MLS.
• Get Market Tracker for SF real estate market stats and neighborhood information.
• Have a question or need some help buying or selling a home in San Francisco?

Pacific Heights Top Floor Condo for Sale

2950 Clay St #302 — Condominium

FIRST SUNDAY OPEN HOUSE — Sunday, January 8th, 2:00-4:00PM

Brokers’ Tour — Tuesday, January 10th, 10:00-11:30AM

 We are super excited about our new listing for sale - 2950 Clay Street #302 San Francisco 94115, listed at $799,000 - Pacific Heights Top Floor Condo with Parking for Sale!

WANT PHOTOS? VISIT THE PROPERTY WEBSITE FOR THIS CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC HEIGHTS CONDO?

Welcome to 2950 Clay St #302, a contemporary top-floor condo in a 12-unit building. This condo is centrally located in a highly sought-after section of Pacific Heights. Enjoy the perks of living on a classy, residential block yet be easy walking distance to cafes, shopping, and activities such as The Mindful Body, Eliza’s, Food Inc., Solstice, Tortilla Heights, Alta Plaza Park, Laurel Village, Fillmore Street and more.

This condo features an open floor plan great for entertaining, an updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances, engineered wood floors throughout the living areas, three large, freshly carpeted bedrooms, two remodeled marble bathrooms, including one master suite, and closets galore with custom modular shelving. Since the 4^th floor of the building is built back behind unit #302, relish the quiet of having no one above you. Enjoy the abundant natural light and southern exposure as well as partial San Francisco city and hill views, including the gold dome of City Hall. This unit also benefits from two exclusive storage lockers, one car deeded parking, and shared laundry.

Enjoy Pacific Heights living at its finest!

A NOTE FROM OUR SELLER:

Dear Prospective Buyer,

The Pacific Heights neighborhood is unlike any other in the city and is considered to be one of the most scenic and vibrant areas in SF.  Living here allowed us to enjoy some of the best things San Francisco has to offer. For example, Fillmore Street is just a few blocks away and has a variety of restaurants and cuisines to satisfy anyone’s palette. We’ve been going to our favorite Peruvian restaurant ‘Fresca’ for years and absolutely love their ceviche!  The convenience of being able to walk to Mollie Stone’s for groceries and then to our favorite bakery La Boulangerie for coffee made living in Pac Heights a unique urban experience.

The condo is surrounded by beautiful Victorian homes, churches and parks. Check out Alta Plaza Park, 2 blocks from the building. It has spectacular views of the city and bay, and we’ve enjoyed a few tennis matches at the free courts. Walking distance from the condo is Divisadero Street, which has great pubs and bars. We’ve spent many Saturday nights with friends at our favorite local “Lion Pub.”

Most of all, we have enjoyed living in our condo at 2950 Clay. We love the high ceilings with the wood panels, cozy fireplace and French doors in the living room. My husband and I like entertaining and cooking for friends and family, and the open kitchen layout was great for that. The bedroom and spare rooms are spacious, and the upgraded and remodeled bathrooms add to the charm of the condo. If you are looking for a modern, centrally located condo in a great neighborhood – this is it.

-Jaime & Michelle

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Happy New Year! I have this firm belief that the world is not going to end this year and that 2012 is going to be awesome, especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Everyone and by everyone, I mean Fox News and Rush, teases us for living in a bubble of fruits, nuts and flakes. Add in nerds, and yes, they are right. And we love it! Our bubble affords us a temperate climate, year-round produce, delicious, innovative food, wine and design, a stable housing market, jobs, an accepting culture, and so much more. (Read about the Bay Area’s innovative & pioneering spirit on my SF real estate lifestyle site daniellelazier.com.)

Last week, the Brad Stone of Bloomberg Business Week wrote about Silicon Valley’s recession-not and how Sean Parker’s party for Spotify epitomized the current vibe of the valley. (Sadly, I had a prior engagement and could not make it.)

Every so often, the best parties come to represent moments in time. Think of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball in 1966, the celeb-studded Liberty Island launch of Tina Brown’s ill-fated Talk magazine in 1999, and private equity maven Stephen Schwarzman’s 60th birthday bash in 2007, which featured Rod Stewart. Sean Parker‘s bacchanal for the streaming music service Spotify on Sept. 22 in San Francisco may well join the ranks of these epic affairs.

In Silicon Valley, all the Sturm und Drang of 2011 seemed as relevant as the Cricket World Cup. High unemployment? Crippling debt? Not in Silicon Valley, where the fog burns off by noon, and it’s an article of faith that talented, hardworking techies can change the world and reap unimaginable wealth in the process.

“We live in a bubble, and I don’t mean a tech bubble or a valuation bubble. I mean a bubble as in our own little world,” says Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. “And what a world it is: Companies can’t hire people fast enough. Young people can work hard and make a fortune. Homes hold their value…”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/BU2J1MG1Q8.DTL#ixzz1iFS193PJ

Technorati Street Cred = Live in San Francisco

As you know, I sell real estate in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Lucky for me and the rest of the local real estate market, many of the technorati like to keep their street cred by living in SF (at least part-time!) and in fact, many of the hottest companies are based here (Zynga, Twitter, etc).

When Silicon Valley does well, so does San Francisco, at least for the demographic we’re talking about. My clients often don’t believe me when I tell that the housing downturn in SF is long gone and the competition is fierce for the best listings until the first time they write an offer and compete with 6 other buyers to get the house they want.

Bring on the bubble.

…Tales from the front line of buying and selling San Francisco real estate

There is a lot of talk today about historically low interest rates & the amazing opportunity for “first time buyers.”

It is likely that today’s mortgage rates are the cheapest money we will see in our lifetime so if you have grown out of your home or are just ready for a new scene, it makes sense to explore your options. Believe it or not, you may find that you can live in a larger home for approximately the same monthly payment. Now, that is strategic planning!

Let’s talk about your ideal housing plan.

Have a question or want more info? Call, email, or comment.

Check out this week’s list of new Zephyr Real Estate listings for sale in San Francisco.

Other resources:

• Search the entire San Francisco MLS.
• Get Market Tracker for SF real estate market stats and neighborhood information.
• Have a question or need some help buying or selling a home in San Francisco?