If you’re planning to list your San Francisco home this year, you should know that there are pretty much two ways the offer situation will go. If one or more buyers are going to write offers for more than asking, those offers will transpire within the first week or two. After that, it’s likely buyers will write for at or below asking. Continue Reading
Wildfire season is an unfortunate reminder of how important it is to carry sufficient dwelling insurance on your home. Many homeowners often discover that they don’t have sufficient insurance coverage to cover rebuilding costs. In fact, more than half of homes across the United States are underinsured by 21%. I’d like to make sure my readers aren’t among those in that category.
Your dwelling insurance is the centerpiece of your policy. The coverage amount represents how much it would cost to rebuild your home. In San Francisco—and probably The Bay Area in general—we’re looking at $500 per square foot in average construction costs. So a 1,500-square foot single-family home should technically have a total of $750,000 in dwelling coverage. Continue Reading
July and August are traditionally slower months with respect to new inventory coming on the market. Statistically speaking, we don’t seem to have a problem with transactional volume right now. But I can tell you that I have about five sets of active buyer clients, and every property seems to have many other interested buyers. Continue Reading
Bernal Heights is having a banner year in 2021 so far. The ever-popular neighborhood and its eight microhoods have seen competitive offer situations, overbidding and lots of turnover in this Covid era as buyers aim to move into single-family homes with more privacy and outdoor space.
The Northwest Slope and Precita Parks have had the highest median prices, with South of Cortland coming in third. And inventory has jumped West of Mission to meet buyer demand.
It’s high time for a microhood update. As my regular readers know, I created the Bernal Heights microhoods back in 2014 to help prospective buyers and sellers get a more refined sense for single-family home values in the neighborhood’s distinct geographical areas. Many Realtors have decided to use the microhood concept in their marketing without crediting me, so if you want to work with the authentic microhood creator, please get in touch with me at 415.823.4656 | eileen@insidesfre.com.
Here’s how our microhoods stacked up in the first half of 2021 (click on each pic to enlarge, red dots represent homes sold):
1. Northwest Slope
Single-Family Home Median Price: $2,000,000
Most Expensive: 128 Elsie (4BR/4.5BA new construction | $4,000,000)
Least Expensive: 13 Eugenia (2BR/1BA 1148 sq ft, no pkg | $1,450,000)
# Homes Sold: 12
# Overbids Above 20%: 1
The Northwest Slope saw most homes sell for over the list price, which was especially true in the case of the 3BR/2BA home at 252 Elsie. The peaked-roof Victorian with no garage was listed for $1,398,000 and sold for $1,820,000—30% over asking. Continue Reading
The real estate market is booming, and many potential home sellers are wondering if it might make sense to do some remodeling for sale purposes. The answer? Yes. A little sprucing up can go a long way with today’s buyers—and maximize your selling price. Continue Reading
I’m happy to report that San Francisco Realtors can once again host public open houses.
Our local Realtor Association announced late last week that we can resume holding opens for the first time since March 2020. We’re required to follow Covid safety protocol that requires all entrants to review and sign an Open House and Showing Guidelines disclosure, which also requires providing basic contact information. Additionally, everyone must still wear masks, use hand sanitizer, practice social distancing and avoid touching surfaces in a property. Continue Reading
Feng shui is a guiding principle for many San Francisco home buyers. The Chinese words “feng” and “shui” translate to mean “wind” and “water,” respectively. This concept derived from an ancient poem that talks about human life being connected and flowing with the environment around it.
If you’re buying or selling a home, it’s a good idea to be aware of what elements constitute unfavorable feng shui. There are some things you can’t change that add up to bad feng shui, such as location. But there are other things that you can alter when it comes to interior design and staging. Continue Reading
We are in a serious drought situation in California. San Francisco is a dense city, and we all have to take responsibility for making sure we don’t use more than our fair share of water.
A good rule of thumb is to reduce your water consumption by twenty percent. I thought I’d share 20 of my favorite ways to save water; when enough individuals follow these sort of tips, it adds up to a lot of water saved: Continue Reading
Spring is here, and that means that new listings are hitting the market daily. It’s a good time to give a shout out to all those prospective San Francisco home sellers out there who are thinking of putting their homes on the market.
I’ve been doing my job long enough to recognize good and bad seller strategies. So I thought I’d round up the bad ones to potentially make things smoother for some sellers this year.
Here are my top five home seller mistakes. Avoid them if you can:
1. Skimping on staging. Buyers will pay top dollar if they emotionally connect with your home, and that means making the property look as appealing as possible. You’ll also want your home to stack up visually against the comps. Staging will be worth the money. Continue Reading
There are currently more than 620 condos for sale in San Francisco. And more than half of them have been on the market for 21 days or more—that’s a lot of sellers who are probably wondering why their properties aren’t selling if the San Francisco condo market has made a comeback over the past two months.
There are a lot of reasons some condos take longer to sell. But here are a few of the most frequent sale barriers, along with some ideas for overcoming them: Continue Reading
I’ve met recently with a number of homeowners who are considering selling their properties, but don’t know where they’ll be able to buy next. Though they know they’ll do extremely well in the current market with the sale of their property, they’re nervous about competing with buyers to purchase their next place.
Here’s a suggestion that will work for these potential sellers: Rent a short-term, furnished rental. There are actually quite a number of these available at any given time, in all parts of The Bay Area. (Short-term, unfurnished rentals are more of a challenge to find, given that many landlords prefer longer-term apartment leases.) Continue Reading
The San Francisco real estate market is speeding toward our busy Spring market, and it’s a good time to get familiar with the basic costs involved when you sell your house. Having a solid grip on what it will cost you to sell is important as you plan your move. Continue Reading
The San Francisco Assessor’s office may be on track to consider reassessing condos that may have lost value since the pandemic hit, reports the San Francisco Business Times.
The city is currently surveying large commercial property owners this month about how their rents and expenses have changed in the past year. The assumption, according to the Business Times, is that office buildings saw a reduction in revenue in 2020.However, this data review effort may also extend to condos if it becomes clear that such properties have lost value. Continue Reading
Of all the ways to improve your home, a seismic upgrade doesn’t always immediately come to mind. But if you live in San Francisco, doing a seismic upgrade can mean the difference between having a house to come back to after an earthquake and having to relocate until you can rebuild your home.
You can do most voluntarily seismic upgrades fairly easily, and there’s no need to move out while the work is being done. You start by consulting a structural engineer, who will do a site visit and identify the best ways to integrate new seismic components. These ways typically include installing shear wall (a panel that resists lateral earthquake movement), putting garage posts on better concrete footing, bolting the foundation, adding posts and improving post-to-beam connections. Continue Reading
I’m asked routinely by homeowners when the best time is to sell. And it seems like all bets are off these days amidst the pandemic.
The busiest times in San Francisco real estate—when many homeowners tend to list their properties—are traditionally the Spring and Fall. The weather is good, there are plenty of buyers out there and there are no major holidays to distract everyone. Continue Reading
415.823.4656
eileen@insidesfre.comDRE# 01352627
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