November 20, 2009
The Begining Or End Of This (Or The) San Francisco Short Sale Story?
Listed as a short sale for $595,000, the Lower Pacific Heights single-family (but zoned RH2) home at 2874 Bush Street sold for $675,000 in June of 2003.
According to a plugged-in source a short sale has already been approved (although at exactly what price was unknown), and while most defintiely a fixer (if not a gut and build), it could possibly be perfectly habitable with a (big) bit of elbow grease.
Also noted, the walls seemed to be decorated with listings and other information about numerous other properties. And the grant deed from the buyer in 2003 to another party in September 2008 and then back to the 2003 buyer in January 2009 remains unexplained.
∙ Listing: 2874 Bush (2/1) - $595,000 [MLS]
Readers' Comments (0) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Bubble (Or Not), Listings (for sale)
1358 Shafter Avenue: The Fastest Flip In West?
Listed with New Light Realty for $150,000 on October 12, according to the MLS the sale of 1358 Shafter closed escrow on November 19 with a reported contract price of $165,000. Today, it’s back on the market with Prudential California Realty and asking $269,950.
It doesn't appear as though any work was done on the property inbetween, but at the very least a few of the listing photos were cleaned. From the October listing:
A couple of previous sales when the house was likely in better shape: $360,000 in June 2003 and then $630,000 in July 2005. And sorry folks, "Home does not qualify for FHA."
UPDATE: As a plugged-in reader notes, the gas meter might be new.
∙ Listing: 1358 Shafter Avenue (4/3) - $269,950 [MLS]
Readers' Comments (30) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Listings (for sale)
Another Deja Vu All Over Again (This Time Thanks To The FHA)
Banking on appreciation with little skin in the game ($33,000 on a $963,000 purchase); counting on income from the upper unit of the Hayes Valley duplex to subsidize low carrying costs thanks to "rock-bottom" interest rates; and little in terms of reserves.
That's the story.
∙ With F.H.A. Help, Easy Loans in Expensive Areas [New York Times]
∙ US (But Not DA) Prime And FHA Mortgage Defaults Climbing [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (41) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Seemingly Random
The Grand Plan For A San Francisco "Transit Center District"
The Planning Department's draft Transit Center District Plan for the rectangle bounded by Market, Steuart, Folsom, and mid-block between 3rd and New Montgomery is now online.
The plan's five Core Goals:
1. Build on the General Plan’s Urban Design Element and Downtown Plan, establishing controls, guidelines, and standards to advance existing policies of livability, as well as those that protect the unique qualities of place.
2. Capitalize on major transit investment with appropriate land use in the downtown core, with an eye toward long-term growth considerations.
3. Create a framework for a network of public streets and open spaces that support the transit system, and provides a wide variety of public amenities and a world-class pedestrian experience.
4. Generate financial support for the Transbay Transit Center project, district infrastructure, and other public improvements.
5. Ensure that the Transit Center District is an example of comprehensive environmental sustainability in all regards.
In addition to establishing a 1,000 foot height for the proposed Transbay Tower, the plan raises the height limit for six other sites to exceed the current 550-foot ceiling.
And in addition to neighborhood open spaces either existing or already in the works, the Plan proposes a new half acre public plaza on the corner of Second and Howard/Natoma.
The plaza would serve as a gateway to the Transit Center and City Park as envisoned in the watercolor above. Total budget for the plan as proposed (excluding development costs for the new Transbay Terminal/Transit Center): $567,250,000.
∙ Draft Transit Center District Plan [SFGov]
∙ Transbay Transit Center: Community Insight (And Involvement) [SocketSite]
∙ Transbay Terminal Zoning Presentation And "Urban Form Simulations" [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (40) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: As Proposed, Bay Buildings, Design & Architecture, Neighborhoods
San Francisco County Unemployment Up To 9.9 Percent In October
Preliminary October labor force data counts for San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties puts the unemployment rate at 9.9%, 8.1% and 9.1% respectively, up 0.2 percentage points in San Francisco and up 0.1 percentage points in Marin and San Mateo.
While the number of unemployed in San Francisco increased by 700 (from 43,400 to 44,100) in October, the number of employed fell by 1,600 (from 403,700 to 402,100) as the labor force contracted by 1,000 (from 447,100 to 446,100).
Overall California unemployment increased by 0.3 percentage points to 12.3%.
∙ Monthly Labor Force Data for Counties: October 2009 (Preliminary) [EDD]
∙ San Francisco County Unemployment At 9.7 Percent In September [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (14) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Real Estate Economics, Trends
Into The Bernal Apple Cart Falls 82 Ellsworth
The sale of 82 Ellsworth on the South Slope of Bernal Heights closed escrow yesterday with a reported contract price of $855,000 (asking $899,000).
Purchased in April 2005 for $975,000, it's a 12.3% drop in value below its 2005 price for the two-bedroom and two-bath single-family home two blocks above the heart of Cortland.
∙ Apples To Apples (Aside From Any Other Analytics) In Bernal Heights [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (42) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Apples To Apples, Neighborhoods
November 19, 2009
San Francisco Recorded Sales Activity In October: Up 33.6% YOY
According to DataQuick, recorded home sales volume in San Francisco jumped 33.6% on a year-over-year basis last month (553 recorded sales in October ’09 versus 414 sales in October ‘08) and rose 3.2% compared to the month prior.
San Francisco's median sales price in October was $690,824, down 1.2% compared to October ’08 ($699,000) but up 6.3% compared to the month prior.
For the greater Bay Area, recorded sales volume in October was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis and up 0.7% from the month prior (7,933 recorded sales in October '09 versus 7,613 in October ’08 and 7,879 in September '09), while the recorded median sales price rose 4.0% on a year-over-year basis, up 6.8% compared to the month prior. Think mix.
Sales in the region’s higher-cost counties – Marin, San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo – represented 42.2 percent of October sales, up from 35.3 percent a year ago, when more sales were concentrated in the lower-cost inland areas rife with deeply discounted foreclosures. Sales over $500,000 made up 36 percent of all sales last month, up from 34.9 percent a year ago and a low this year of 22.7 percent in January.
At the extremes, San Francisco recorded the greatest year-over-year percentage increase in sales volume while Solano recorded a 8.6% year-over-year decrease in sales volume (a loss of 67 transactions) and a 18.8% drop in median sales price.
As always, keep in mind that DataQuick reports recorded sales which not only includes activity in new developments, but contracts that were signed ("sold") many months or even years prior and are just now closing escrow (or being recorded).
UPDATE: We assumed it went without saying, but with respect to the magnitude of the year-over-year sales increase, keep in mind that October 2008 was a rather rough month for the markets. Recorded San Francisco county October sales figures over the past six years: 720 (2004), 670 (2005), 573 (2006), 526 (2007), 414 (2008), 553 (2009).
∙ Bay Area median sale price tops year-ago level [DQnews]
∙ San Francisco Recorded Sales Activity In September: Up 17% YOY [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (63) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Trends
US (But Not DA) Prime And FHA Mortgage Defaults Climbing
While subprime adjustable-rate foreclosures starts dropped in the third quarter of 2009 (from 5.52 percent to 4.92 percent), both the number and pace of FHA backed and prime fixed-rate mortgage defaults climbed.
One out of every six FHA mortgages was late by at least one payment and 3.32 percent were in foreclosure, the highest for both since at least 1979, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today. The delinquency rate for prime fixed-rate mortgages, considered home loans with the least risk, rose to 5.8 percent and the foreclosure inventory rose to 1.95 percent, the highest since at least 1972.
The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started was a record 1.42 percent. New foreclosures on prime fixed-rate loans increased to 0.71 percent from 0.67 percent, while FHA foreclosure starts rose to 1.31 percent from 1.15 percent.
From DataQuick today:
Federally-insured FHA loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, made up 25.9 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans [in October]. That was up from 24.9 percent in September, 19 percent a year ago and less than 1 percent two years ago.
And while default rates are climbing, keep in mind money remains historically cheap:
The 30-year rate dropped to 4.83 percent from 4.91 percent, the lowest since May, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac of McLean, Virginia, said today in a statement. The average 15-year rate fell to 4.32 percent, the lowest since records began in 1991.
∙ FHA, Prime Mortgage Defaults at Records on Job Losses [Bloomberg]
∙ OMG For The FHA [SocketSite]
∙ U.S. Mortgage Rates Fall for Third Consecutive Week [Bloomberg]
Readers' Comments (1) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Real Estate Economics, Trends
Two Years And A 46 Percent Drop In Expectations For 2100 Vallejo
Listed in December 2007 for $25,000,000, the asking price for 2001 Vallejo has been reduced a few times since. Now asking $13,500,000 (which includes the adjacent buildable lot), call it an effective 46 percent reduction in list price over the past two years.
As a plugged-in sleepiguy wrote in 2008:
I think the extra lot is a little confusing. This house is Historical with a capital H and I doubt the neighbors nor the Pac Heights Res. Association would support subdividing the lot and putting a building on it. Believe me, even billionaires are scared of the planning commission. It also doesn't help that the house next door has been for sale for well over a year for about 10 million less. Based on the Scott St. sales, I think this house would've sold for 18-20 earlier this year, but I'd wager that right now it's dead in the water.
As a plugged-in eddy added earlier this year:
Honestly, in re-reading my comments and sleepiguy's…I have to think that north of $15M is a stretch at this point. 10 for the house, 5 for the lot.... And that is a big Maybe. The craze of 2007/2008 at this end of the market is gone.
True dat with a capital T. And it's something that shouldn’t have caught any plugged-in readers by surprise. Now about the newest competition in the eight figure realm...
∙ Listing: 2100 Vallejo (5/5.5) - $13,500,000 [MLS]
∙ It Might Not Have A Name, But It’s A Vallejo Mansion Nonetheless [SocketSite]
∙ It’s Time For Another Industry Report Asterisk (2100 Vallejo Edition) [SocketSite]
∙ 2342 Broadway Returns Anew, "Green," And Asking $14,000,000 [SocketSite]
Readers' Comments (10) | Permalink | Email Story | Filed under: Listings (for sale), RealRecentReductions
