Because the last day for recording sales was yesterday, we are publishing the numbers early. And we think you will be impressed with what you see.

Indications are that we are poised for a great spring market. Low inventory and high demand create the environment for multiple and preemptive offers where properties are sold for well over the asking price. This could be a great time to sell!

The number of Single Family Homes sold for March increased significantly from February in San Francisco Real Estate. The average listing and selling prices were both much higher than the previous month and much higher than a year ago. The average selling price was over 103% of the average listing price. The average days on the market dropped to 41, lower than the previous month.
The number of homes sold in the Overall Sales category for March in San Francisco Real Estate increased from February but was lower than a year ago. The average selling price was over 102% of the average listing price, and higher compared to last month as well as a year ago. The average days on the market dropped to 49, lower than the previous month.

The number of Condominiums sold in March also increased dramatically from February in the San Francisco Real Estate Market. The average selling price was over 100% of the average listing price. The average selling price was higher than last month but slightly lower than a year ago. The average days on the market dropped to 51, lower than the previous month.

See the March 2007 statistics here.

- Janis Stone

Yahoo Travel says this about the Asian Art Museum:

The Asian Art Museum is one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art. Its holdings include nearly 15,000 treasures spanning 6,000 years of history, representing cultures throughout Asia. The museum’s new home is the result of the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the city’s former Main Library, a 1917 beaux arts–style building. Renowned architect Gae Aulenti oversaw the dramatic transformation of the building—now featuring 40,000 square feet of gallery space—allowing the museum to better fulfill its mission of leading a diverse global audience in discovering the unique material, aesthetic, and intellectual achievements of Asian art and culture.

Admission: $10 Adults; $7 Seniors (65+); $6 Students; Children Under 12, Free
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102-4734
+1 415 668 8921
pr@asianart.org
Open Hours10am-5pm Tues.-Sun.; Thur.10am-9pm; Mon. Closed
http://www.asianart.org

Neighborhood: Civic Center

- Mick Orton

Part 1 – Golden Gate Bridge, Part 2 – Alcatraz, Part 3 – Japanese Tea Garden, Part 4 – Cable Cars, Part 5 – Fisherman’s Warf, Part 6 – Exploratorium, Part 7 – Mission Dolores, Part 8 – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Part 9 – Lombard Street, Part 10 – Giants Stadium, Part 11 – Mission Cliffs Rock Climbing Center, Part 12 – Beach Blanket Babylon, Part 13 – Palace of Fine Arts

SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco is one of the premier offices in the City and has the market share numbers to prove it. We have some of the top agents selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, our office posts some impressive numbers.

Do we really have to say it again? Look at last week’s market report from the President of Coldwell Banker San Francisco/Peninsula and you will see in the middle paragraph that multiple and preemptive offers are becoming the rule rather than the exception for San Francisco real estate.

Inventory is low, and continues to shrink. As pending sales outpaced new listings 2 to 1 in our office, we can’t stress enough the importance of market timing to get the best price for your property. Just as we don’t know how long interest rates are going to stay at historic lows, we can not predict when the market will become saturated with new listings making more competition for buyers and working to your disadvantage as a seller.

Here are the numbers for last week:

3/28/07

• 8 new listings (average price $2,195,250)
• 16 ratified sales (pending) (average ratified price $1,109,438)
• 14 closed sales (sold) (average closed price $1,389,107)
• 1 reduced ($599,000)

- Janis Stone

On March 29th, the City will unveil its new “311″ call center for San Francisco services. Instead of solving problems like homelessness, crime or even potholes in streets, Mayor Newsome has chosen to focus his attentoin on building a new call center where you can speak to a live operator 24×7 for any City business except “911″ calls.

The San Francisco Board of Realtors newsletter reports,”…San Franciscans will no longer have to find their way through a maze of over 2,000 city telephone numbers for the service they need—all they’ll have to do is dial 911 for emergencies and 311 for everything else.

“The newly-constructed center will provide state-of-the-art call customer relationship management technology and serves as a back-up 911 center in the event of a service disruption at the primary 911 center. The center is being integrated into city departments. So, for example, not only can you call to report trash on your corner, the 311 Center can track a ticket through to resolution, notify a citizen by e-mail when it’s picked-up, and for the first time provide real data to policy-makers and the public on how timely the city’s response rates are for street cleaning requests citywide.”

Good news for us? We’ll see.

- Mick Orton

Read what Rick Turley, President of Coldwell Banker, San Francisco/Peninsula said in his latest weekly report:

The hot-and-cold-running microclimates of the past few weeks have apparently started to temper geographically. The typical spring onslaught of listings remains hesitant this year, though there has been a refreshing, if slight, up-tick in inventory in most areas. Most areas are also seeing stale inventory starting to sell, and not just due to price reductions but also to the limited selection available to buyers that are getting weary of the hunt.

While San Francisco and most of the Peninsula remain ravenous for homes to show and sell in all price categories, Burlingame, Castro Valley, Danville, Livermore, Oakland, Orinda, Redwood City, Santa Rosa, San Carlos and Woodside/Portola Valley all report an upswing in inventory coming on the market and are feeling more balanced activity.

Multiple offer situations are finally slowing down a bit, though upper-tier homes (and virtually anything in San Francisco) are continuing to see an increase in multiple and pre-emptive offers. There were 12 offers on a Portola Valley listing priced at $2,995,000. One Burlingame home that was listed at $1,388,000 had 13 offers and closed at $1,801,000. Reports from the North Bay indicate that the luxury market over $2 million is particularly hot in Greenbrae, Corte Madera, Larkspur and Ross, and Novato notes momentum in high-end sales as well. A Mill Valley tear-down priced at $800,000 sold significantly over asking and, in San Francisco, some high-end pre-emptives are going pre-MLS.

We held an increased number of homes open, over 540, and they were all well-attended. Some Sebastopol opens reported over 40 groups going through and a San Mateo Park home had over 100 groups in attendance. San Francisco Agents were noticing that it was difficult to get in and out of open houses in Noe Valley due to the number of people out looking!

All in all, things continue to bode well for spring with listing inventory remaining steady for 14 offices, increasing for 14 and decreasing in only 2. Sales activity remains steady in 18 offices, increased for 5 offices and declined for 7. Over 220 offers were ratified and more than 70 multiple offer situations occurred. We may have lost an hour of sleep, but we gained an extra hour of daylight to get those homes ready for the market.

- Rick Turley

* For an e-mail alert when this report is updated, send a note to info@SFResidence.com with “weekly market report” in the subject line.

Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning.

…the whole financial world anxiously sat on the edge of their seats this week, waiting to see what the Fed had in store following their most recent meeting. But no surprises to have been worried about – as expected, the Fed decided to hold the Fed Funds Rate steady at 5.25%. But they did make a subtle change in the carefully crafted wording of their Policy Statement, which suggested that a rate cut may be more likely than a hike as their next move down the road. However, the Fed also said that Core inflation remains above their comfort level…and the Fed will not cut rates as long as this remains true. The Fed’s mission is to fight inflation, period. And until their favored measure of inflation, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Index dips below 2% for a few consecutive months, don’t expect to see a Fed rate cut anytime soon.

Mixed news from the housing front, in the form of new construction Housing Starts bouncing higher, yet new Building Permits moving lower. Existing Home Sales rose somewhat unexpectedly in February, marking the largest monthly gain since March 2004 and the highest pace of sales was the highest since April of 2006. Overall, not bad reports, considering how the media still wearily beats away on their housing bubble drum. But it wasn’t all great news – overall sales are off 3% from last year, the inventory of existing homes on the market rose slightly to a 6.7 month supply, and the median price of a home declined slightly to $212,800. Many experts feel it is likely the housing market saw its worst days during August of last year, but although stabilizing, the housing market still has a ways to go… Read more.

- Foster Weeks

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A reader asks: When 100% funding is referred to, what exactly does it mean?

Our reply: The definition of 100% funding is confusing to many people. If your reserve study states that you need to replace your roof in 10 years at a cost of $100,000, “fully funded” does not mean that you have $100,000 today. It means that you have $10,000 in the bank this year, $20,000 next year, $30,000 the following year, and so on until you have $100,000 on year 10 when the roof is scheduled for replacement.

- Adrian J. Adams, Esq. ADAMS & KESSLER LLP

Constructed as a temporary attraction for the 1915 Pan-Pacific International Exhibition, this Grecian temple of a monument continues to enchant and enhance the city. The original plaster, which made up the bulk of the monuments exterior, has been gradually replaced with funds raised by bond measures and the donations from the Marinas well-heeled residents who were loath to lose such a graceful part of their landscape. Swans in the adjoining lagoon glide by the soaring ochre-tinted colonnades and the imposing dome ringed with panels of centaurs and warriors engaged in battle over nubile maidens. Those column-top statues of sorrowing maidens turned away from prying eyes are using their tears to water the long-gone oaks that originally stood in the planters that they surround. Stroll inside the dome, clap your hands and marvel at the uncanny acoustics, then enjoy a picnic lunch on one of the park benches scattered to provide an unparalleled view of this gem.

3301 Lyon StreetSan Francisco, CA 94123-1002
+1 415 563-6504
info@palaceoffinearts.org
Open Hours 6a-9p M-Su
http://www.palaceoffinearts.org

Neighborhood: Marina

- Mick Orton

Part 1 – Golden Gate Bridge, Part 2 – Alcatraz, Part 3 – Japanese Tea Garden, Part 4 – Cable Cars, Part 5 – Fisherman’s Warf, Part 6 – Exploratorium, Part 7 – Mission Dolores, Part 8 – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Part 9 – Lombard Street, Part 10 – Giants Stadium, Part 11 – Mission Cliffs Rock Climbing Center, Part 12 – Beach Blanket Babylon

On Wednesday, the Fed announced that it would hold the federal funds rate at 5 1/4 percent. Though they think inflation is elevated more than they would like, other economic indicators convinced them to do nothing for now. As a result, expect home loan rates to remain relatively stable. Read the press release here.

- Mick Orton

A reader asks: Why are co-op dues generally more expensive than condos?

Our reply: Often co-op dues are more than condos because there are more services and more employees. In the past co-ops used to have more services as in a doorman or management services. There are also extra costs due to management services and the additional bookkeeping since the corporation owns the building and the stockholders have a lease to occupy the units.

- Janis Stone