Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports. This week, more of the same with slightly fluctuating mortgage rates… still the lowest in a long time!

…although the week did start out with little real economic news for talking heads to deliver with drama, the calendar picked up steam in a hurry. Mixed news arrived for both New and Existing Home Sales – and on the heels of the recent strong housing starts and building permits that had the bad-news loving media choking, they attempted to paint a very dismal picture on housing – but it should be taken with a grain of salt. Most closings in March were likely originated in February, which was an incredibly cold month across the US – not the best month to be out home shopping or mucking around construction sites. With spring on the way, there could be some strength in housing in the upcoming months.

This week also brought an interesting report called the Employment Cost Index – one of former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan’s favorites – which measures the change in employment costs like wages and benefits. This report showed that costs are increasing, with wages increasing by 3.6% and benefit costs increasing by 3.1% over the past year. So not only are employers having to pay more in salaries due to a tight labor market, but the benefits they are providing to their employees are costing more too. What’s a business owner to do? You got it – consider raising the price of their goods and services to cover the rising costs of their employees…and higher prices means inflation. Not good news for inflation-hating Bond prices and home loan rates, which lost the improvements made earlier in the week and ended unchanged to slightly worse for the week overall… Read more.

- Foster Weeks

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

You have heard the expression, “It’s not personal. It’s just business.” Well, in real estate, our business is always personal, and the Bay Area market bears witness to that. With the pressures of tax season and spring break over, people have started getting back to the business of investing in the home of their dreams. Most areas saw a sharp increase in serious buyers – not just tire kickers – as well as a welcome influx of fresh inventory from sellers.

Of the more than 615 homes held open during the week, most were well attended by serious buyers. A home in Pleasanton saw 53 groups of people go through, while 300 people packed into a $1.8 million dollar listing in Redwood City. Petaluma reports that open house activity was “phenomenal.” Menlo Park had an open house in the Willows district with over 100 visitors. Berkeley, Oakland/Piedmont, Pleasanton, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Walnut Creek, San Francisco and Orinda all reported exceptional turnout as well. Read more.

- 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.

Yahoo Travel says this about the Octagon House:

This proves that fadism is not a recent phenomenon. The design of this oddity built in 1861 is based on a popular theory of the mid-1800s, namely that people inhabiting a space of this shape would live healthier, happier lives. The building now houses a museum of American Colonial and Federal Era decorative arts and historical documents. Another octagon house, not open to the public, can be seen on the 1000 block of Green Street. Admission is free and reservations are only required for groups.

2645 Gough Street

San Francisco, CA 94123-4402

+1 415 441 7512

info@noehill.com

Open Hours Noon-3pm second Su, second and fourth Th of every month; Closed holidays, Jan

Neighborhood: Cow Hollow

- Mick Orton

The original e-mail that came to us was so poorly written that I will try and recap here. What happens is someone calls and leaves an urgent message, usually something about a family member, and asks you to call a phone number beginning with an 809 area code.

Once the call is made, the people pulling the scam try and keep you, the caller, on the line as long as possible. Apparently it is a toll number and charges are added up per minute. Because these calls are to The Bahamas, they are not subject to US regulations and are hard, if not impossible to get reversed.

We haven’t heard of anyone being burned by a scam like this, but it certainly seemed plausible. We checked with Snopes, a popular urban myth debunker, to see if this report is true, and they verify that it is a known fraud from 2000, but that only a few people have been taken in by it, and only for small amounts.

- Mick Orton

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.

Last week’s surge in new listings seems to have been a blip on the radar; hopefully a sign of what’s coming as we move toward summer. But right now we are back to the situation we previously described; shrinking inventory with increasing demand are making purchase offers at or over the asking price the norm, even when there is not the competition of multiple offers!

While the rest of the country reports average to poor real estate markets, San Francisco continues to be HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

Here are the numbers for last week:

4/25/07

• 6 new listings (average price $1,890,333.33 – low $699,000, high $4,990,000, 1 confidential)
• 28 ratified sales (pending) (average ratified price $1,520,230.77, 2 confidential – low $429,000, high $5,850,000)
• 18 closed sales (sold) (average closed price $1,401,666.67 – low $375,000, high $3,700,000)
• 2 reduced ($849,000 & $899,000)

- Janis Stone

We had this decision to make at our place in Tahoe. Our 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo is in the middle of having new counter tops put on to be ready for resale in the summer. We considered replacing or refacing the cabinets, but it was just too costly and time consuming. Here is the article that inspired us from the 3/16/2007 “The Money Pit” newsletter.

When it comes to kitchen remodels, new appliances may be pricey and flooring costs may floor you, but cabinets can be the single biggest expense of all. That’s why it literally pays to take a close look at what you’ve already got and consider the options carefully. Depending on the configuration and construction of your cabinets, you can replace, reface or refinish them on the way to your kitchen redo. Following is a rundown of each approach to strengthening the bones of your kitchen.

REPLACE – If your kitchen remodel involves a new footprint and additional storage needs, partial or complete replacement of cabinets is the way to go. Just remember that this approach involves major demolition and consideration of such critical elements as plumbing and appliance placement…

REFACE – Refacing cabinets involves replacing the doors and veneers on existing laminate or wood boxes. It’s not a job for the novice, but also understand that if you hire a pro to do the job, your satisfaction with the results will be directly proportional to their skill and level of craftsmanship. Quality of existing cabinetry and the new materials applied also impact the end product.

REFINISH – If you like the style and configuration of the cabinets you have, and they happen to be made of wood or laminate, refinishing them is the clearest route to remodeling cost control. Most older cabinetry is well built, so preserving it is usually worthwhile… just be sure to examine the construction carefully before pulling out the sander, because if paper-thin veneers cover every surface but the solid fronts, you’ll need to rethink your refinishing plans. Veneers can’t be sanded or stained, so painting will be the only option if they’fre involved. Whether painting or staining, choose an oil-based finish, which is far more durable and forgiving of everyday kitchen grime than latex finish…Read more.

- The Money Pit

Foster Weeks publishes a weekly mortgage report which is updated every Monday morning. How is this affecting the San Francisco real estate market? Read our weekly and monthly market reports.

…after a trend of gradually worsening over the past month, Bond prices and home loan rates finally got the good news they’d been waiting for…that pesky inflation rate finally appears to be moving lower. Early last week, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed core consumer price inflation as better than anticipated, falling to a year-over-year 2.5% rate, down from 2.7% reported last month. While lower prices on goods and services are certainly good news for all of us, the consumers; it was especially welcome for inflation-hating Bonds and home loan rates. Following the news, home loan rates improved by .125%, and appeared destined to improve even more.

But this wasn’t to be – what happened? Bond prices were feeling the love, home loan rates were improving – but right in the middle of the party, Bonds ran dead into a tough ceiling of technical resistance, stopping them cold and turning them back, causing them to lose some of the nice ground they’d made in the first part of the week. The path of least resistance ahead appears to be that Bond prices and home loan rates may worsen before they get better…but it all depends on the flavor of the news ahead. Read more.

- Foster Weeks

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

Inventory is picking up a bit – that’s a good thing in most of our markets. Open houses are still very well attended. Multiple offers continue to be the norm in the areas with the least available properties for sale.

Among the hot spots, Palo Alto reports that multiple offers exceeding 20% of list price are not unusual. In San Francisco one low priced listing received 51 offers. A home in the Avenues received 20 offers, and the only listing available in St Francis Wood, an upscale neighborhood west of Twin Peaks, was a fixer which hadn’t been remodeled in over 50 years. The list price was $1.2M, there were 33 offers, and one of our agents found that writing $300K over asking put his buyers somewhere in the bottom third of offers. San Mateo is seeing multiple offers on at least 80% of all listings. Half Moon Bay reports that, while pricing is still key, they are averaging 20 to 30 groups at open homes.

In the North Bay, some positive signs of sustained activity are being witnessed in Greenbrae with an up-tick in inventory and buyers and sellers meeting at a comfortable level. Petaluma is seeing buyers starting to write offers and Santa Rosa is enjoying generous (but not excessive) inventory levels for their buyers to select from. Sebastopol and Southern Marin/Belvedere are still seeing the upper end homes moving quickly. In fact, a Kentfield property listed at $2.1 million had seven offers.

Inventory was reported as increasing by 12 offices and steady by 14 offices, while decreasing inventory was only reported by four. Sales activity, though sluggish due to the Spring Break and tax deadlines, was reported as increasing by six offices, steady by 17 offices and only decreasing by seven.

- 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.

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.

Now that’s more like it. Our office showed a slight increase in new listings. While multiple offers are still very common, if new inventory continues to outpace ratified deals, San Francisco could reach a more normal market. As I write this, we are in Hawaii where very little is selling… so it’s time to be grateful!

Here are the numbers for last week:

4/18/07

• 15 new listings (average price $1,515,571.43, 1 confidential – low $639,000, high $3,375,000, 1 confidential)
• 13 ratified sales (pending) (average ratified price $1,747,530.77 – low $529,000, high $4,950,000)
• 17 closed sales (sold) (average closed price $1,955,411.76 – low $840,000, high $4,600,000)
• 1 reduced ($699,000)

- Janis Stone