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

With the Fourth of July holiday falling right in the middle of the week, another quiet week was anticipated, but it was actually pretty busy out there. In the outlying areas, Buyers are still more interested in looking than in writing offers. In all areas, including the Peninsula and the City, Buyers are becoming more sensitive to condition and price. With an influx of new inventory hitting the market in many areas, those Buyers will be more likely to find what they’ve been searching for. Several months ago, it seemed the Peninsula was anxious to see new listings in all areas, now some communities are seeing some fresh inventory begin to stack up. In some northern Peninsula markets, the new inventory is definitely not selling as quickly as it did in April. Below are some fast facts on inventory in our markets in the City and Peninsula:

San Francisco has been holding steady all year with approx. 2.3 months supply inventory – June this year at 2.3 months is down from June ’06 when there was 2.7 months supply. In the over $2.5M market however, the City saw a jump which nearly doubled the May rate, now up to 5.5 months supply. This is likely a combination of new June inventory over $2.5M, as well as some existing listings that did not move in June. We’ll watch this one over the next several months to see if the upper end homes will continue a slower rate of absorption.

Read the entire report here.

- Rick Turleyinfo@SFResidence.com with “weekly market report” in the subject line.

* For an e-mail alert when this report is updated, send an e-mail to

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. As stocks rose last week, home mortgage rates bumped up and down a bit but ended pretty much unchanged.

…Stocks got very lucky, with the Dow closing at record highs. This was not the case for Bonds and home loan rates, which could have used a rabbit’s foot or four leaf clover, as they were buffeted up and down over the course of last week, and finally settled out close to where they began.

The economic news calendar is normally responsible for moves like this – but with a super thin schedule of reports last week, it was everything else under the sun driving the action. First, Stocks had a terrific week overall – and investors that want to move money into the Stock market logically have to take that money out of somewhere, right? Guess where that somewhere was? Bonds. So the move of money out of Bonds and into Stocks caused Bond pricing and home loan rates to suffer. Though Stocks enjoyed a great week overall, buyers can be fickle, and a day or two of disappointing Stock earnings news drove midweek volatility, with some anxious buyers moving money right back out of Stocks and into Bonds. Read the entire report here.

- Foster Weeks

Renters are a huge voting block in San Francisco. As a result, they have a lot of power to influence City politics. They continually lean on the government to change laws in their favor; limiting condominium conversions is just one of the examples. Because so many owners of small, multiple unit buildings were converting to condominiums to avoid the oppressive rent control laws, the City stepped up and passed laws to make it harder to do this.

However, the market always finds a solution. Today, the easiest way for multiple parties to own property is as Tenants in Common. In the past the biggest challenges to this type of ownership has been the financing, not necessarily in the beginning when everyone gets together to buy the building, though that can be troublesome when buyers come in and then drop out. But it can be challenging later on when one or more of the parties wants to sell while the others want to stay.

For example, onc of biggest problems has been, if someone wanted to sell his “share” at a time when mortgage rates were higher than when the group originally purchased, the whole package would have to be refinanced when the new buyer comes in. How to compensate the people who are staying so that their financial positions are not changed from their original position was one of the hardest obstacles to overcome.

However, with the introduction of new financing options where individual interests are separately financed, this form of ownership has opened up and become more attractive to buyers. Where condominium conversions are costly and burdened with bureaucratic red tape, Tenancy in Common becomes a very attractive alternative.

The proof of this is the latest in continuing education for Realtors. On September 20, 2007, Andrew Sirkin in cooperation with Old Republic Title Company are holding a Tenancy in Common, Condominium Conversion and Fractional Ownership workshop at Fort Mason Cnter, Building A in San Francisco. The seminar is open to licensed professionals and goes from 12:30-3:30 PM. Space can be reserved by calling Bonnie Mannion at 415-552-5192 or e-mailing her at bmanning@ortc.com.

- Mick Orton

Question:

What is the difference between a condo and a loft condo? Is there a difference from a mortgage perspective?

Answer:

In the past, a loft condo had a live/work designation, and you had to have a business license in order to live there. Most lenders would treat them the same way as they treat a primary residence. The only issue would be the success of the business you would be running out of your loft.

Today loft condos are described as a condo in which the bedroom is a loft but you do not necessarily have to have a business license to own them. Both types of units are treated exactly the same for lenders.

- Janis Stone

Open Hours: 8am-sunset M-Su
http://www.angelisland.org

SFResidence is part of the TRI Coldwell Banker office at 1699 Van Ness in San Francisco which 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.

Actually, this week’s numbers are for 2 weeks since there was no meeting on July 4. Sales figures show that the market is cooling slightly, if not in prices, surely in number of transactions. Yet the number of new developments south of Market Street is downright impressive. We plan on publishing a report put out by the San Francisco Business Times in PDF format of all the current, planned and approved condominium projects in the City within the next few days. We will link to our website so watch for that.

Here are the numbers for this week:

7/11/07

• 10 unit condominium project on Market St. – reservations being taken – $505,000-825,000
• 7 new listings (average price $1,038,286 – low $515,000, high $1,550,000)
• 16 ratified sales (pending) (average price $1,560,997 – low $399,000, high $5,995,000)
• 17 closed sales (sold) (average price $1,222,817 – low $419,000, high $3,200,000)

- Janis Stone

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. It looks like the days of low, low mortgage rates are finally coming to an end as home loans inch ever higher.

WHILE INDEPENDENCE DAY SIZZLED, BONDS AND HOME LOAN RATES FIZZLED…Just like a bottle rocket that turns out to be a “dud” – Mortgage Bonds sputtered and crashed lower last week, causing home loan rates to rise about .125% across the board.

The move was sparked by a variety of factors, including the Bank of England (like our Fed) announcing a hike in their benchmark interest rate to 5.75%, their highest rate in six years and .50% above our own Fed Funds Rate of 5.25%. Remember, our own US Bonds compete globally for investment dollars seeking the highest rate of return, so higher rates being offered in other countries can pull money out of our Bond market. And just like a slowing demand for any product would cause prices to decline – this caused Bond prices to move lower and home loan rates to rise. Read more.

- Foster Weeks

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

The markets have moved into the anticipated summertime holding pattern. With the mid-week Independence Day holiday looming and temperatures beginning to soar, buyers and sellers alike seemed to need a week to just relax and breathe.

Still, for upper-tier homes, cash customers continue to keep certain markets hot, such as in San Francisco and many parts of the Peninsula. Both areas are still struggling with low inventory levels. Burlingame is witnessing multiple offers on properties in the $2.5 to $4 million range. In San Francisco, frenzy continues for attractive properties (there were seven offers on a vacant investment property) but good inventory is hard to find. 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.

After being a realtor in San Francisco for 32 years I can almost always predict if a particular property is going to appeal to a wide number of buyers, as has happened to Noe Valley. It takes experience in San Francisco real estate to understand the nuances of our market. To a person who does not analyze our market every day it can be confusing. If I were to use a comparative market analysis, I could almost always tell why one sat unsold and others obtained multiple offers.

It is a matter of those factors: timing, market conditions, marketing techniques and how the house is presented. If there are several homes at the same price point with the same amenities then you might not receive as many offers or if the market is slow you might not get offers right away. There is also a big difference in the quality of the marketing by different agents. I cannot predict how fast a house will sell because our market can change very fast. If the interest rates change or if the stock market takes a big correction or if we have an earthquake then all of the predictions can be wrong. However, if no major event happens then preparing the house and marketing it to all of the potential buyer pools is the best way to receive the best price.

An experienced realtor is your best tool since they are in the market every day and can counsel you on changing market conditions and buyer feedback so your expectations are in line with reality.

- Janis Stone

Hi there!

If I had my property appraised in Aug. 2005, do you think the appraisal is still good? Also, do you think the value is better today? The appraisal had 2 separate figures, one for the land and one for the house. I’m not ready to sell, but I’m curious as to the value of my property today.

Thank you!
Linda Kittlitz

Our reply:

An appraisal from August of 2005 is definitely NOT valid for today’s market. In San Francisco and especially Bernal Heights, I would assume the value is now higher. Of course, I do not know what properties the appraiser used or if that appraisal was a true “fair market value”. Sometimes appraisals are not really what the property would sell for in the open market because the appraiser is using comparable sales that can be months old or the appraiser did not see the comparable properties.

Appraisers do not usually go and see homes that are on the market like real estate agents do so they are not necessarily aware of the differences that make one house sell for more that another one even though they looked like they were the same.

Also, in a hot market your property could sell for much higher than the appraised value and in a declining market it could sell for less because the market is moving so fast the comparable sales from 3-6 months ago can be out of date. From August 2005 until today we have gone through a decline and an upswing. So the best solution would be to get a new appraisal based on the latest sales.

- Janis Stone