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Barry Zito slashed Marin home price– again

Wed, 10 Jul 2013 02:47:40 +0000

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On the market over 100 days now, Barry Zito’s home has made news before, first when it listed for $11,495,000 in 2012, then when it dropped $1M in price, and now again, slashed another $720K.

“Villa Della Pace” is actually quite gorgeous, a welcome departure from gaudy, over-the-top celebrity homes we all see too often. The home offers 4 bedrooms, 5.5 baths plus numerous entertainment room options, a pool with outdoor lounge area, plus panoramic views of Phoenix Lake and the hills of Marin County. Outside, find 2.2 acres of private land, embellished with stone terraces, lawns and gardens as well as an outdoor fireplace, cooking area, fountain, spa, and the aforementioned spectacular swimming pool.

Inside details like an extra-large custom stone shower, double sinks, and walk-in closet in the master suite continue the theme of tasteful but certainly “a taste for the good life” luxury.

On top of that, add Zito’s fame. Why aren’t rich Giants fans knocking down doors for the privilege of owning what was once the 2-time World Champ’s home (who incidentally purchased it in 2007 for $8,863,000)?

What do you say, readers? What will it take for Villa Della Pace to sell?

Anna Marie Erwert writes from both the renter and new buyer perspective, having (finally) achieved both statuses. She focuses on national real estate trends, specializing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. Follow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/07/09/barry-zito-slashed-marin-home-price-again/

San Francisco stats like you’ve never seen them

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:45:30 +0000

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San Francisco gets called diverse, liberal, wealthy, and over-educated– often. And apparently, such adjectives are verifiable, thanks to these handy graphs developed by Paragon Real Estate (view the original post with more slides at The Frontsteps blog). Note that the data crunched here is predominately that of the 2010 census, so some figures will be less than current, and perhaps not completely accurate as they are subject to that which is (and is not) reported to the census.

Still, overall, kind of cool stuff. And to most residents, these slides seem to tell of a version of San Francisco that’s pretty close to the real story.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/06/18/san-francisco-stats-like-youve-never-seen-them/

10 of San Francisco quirkiest homes

Wed, 01 May 2013 01:22:36 +0000

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The city of San Francisco enjoys fame for many reasons. Being boring isn’t among them. Should we be surprised then that within the pool of our spectacular, highly valuable, historic architectural masterpieces are a few quirky homes? Strange paint jobs, unique design features, political statements and more adorn several local homes in every neighborhood from the Outer-Sunset to Bernal Hill and beyond.

Today we feature just 10, knowing full well readers will have their own examples. The collection comes to us via Urban Hiker SF, a San Francisco based business run by Alexandra Kenin. On her many forays with and without clients hiking the city’s many stairways, parks, and hilly streets, Alexandra has seen these homes first hand.

But these are probably only the tiniest slice of the true number of eccentric abodes in this creative, self-expression rich city. Tell us where to find your favorites, readers, in the comments below.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/04/30/10-of-san-francisco-quirkiest-homes/

Looking back at San Francisco’s amazing real estate year

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:38:12 +0000

SF has never been a city making news for selling cheap homes, but this year, we surprised even ourselves by selling expensive ones. Here are a smattering of expensive home sales in San Francisco this year, from 1st to 5th most pricey. (For a complete list, visit CurbedSF.)

1. Sperling sells to Sacks and 2845 Broadway finally sells: $20 million

Note: Trulia’s original reports of $34.5 million were incorrect. Per tax records, this home sold for $20 million.

2. The Zynga/One King’s Lane Pincus home: $16 million

3, 4 and 5.

Banner Year for Bay Area median home prices

San Francisco also made news for median sold price gains- and this not just in the city proper. The whole Bay Area had a banner year, including the formerly battered East Bay where home values slumped after real estate’s big crash. ZipRealty posted these figures, showing year-over-year growth from 11/2011 to 11/2012, of single-family homes. Unless we have a major surplus of inventory in the next few months, it doesn’t seem likely these numbers will head south with the New Year.

Going up!

But readers always have their own opinions, so let’s have them now: What does your crystal ball (or other, more reliable source)tell you to expect from Bay Area home prices in 2013?

Anna Marie Erwert writes from both the renter and new buyer perspective, having (finally) achieved both statuses. She focuses on national real estate trends, specializing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. Follow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/12/27/looking-back-at-san-franciscos-amazing-real-estate-year/

America’s Emptiest Cities

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:27:10 +0000

Cities suffering from mass emigration? Here are 5 of today’s most vacant.

We all know the nation’s real estate has been hard hit by the economy’s malaise. Between record high foreclosures and plummeting home values, the nation’s housing market may never fully recover—at least not if the target is pre-bubble prices.

But in the Bay Area, real estate remains strong. In San Francisco and the Silicon Valley in particular, prices have gotten higher along with higher demand. Even Oakland, formerly decimated by foreclosures and short sales, has enjoyed something of a comeback, scoring Realtor.com’s title of “fastest selling city in America” this August.

The rest of the county hasn’t been so lucky. As CNBC puts it, “one of the unfortunate results of a bad housing market are empty homes. Vacant properties have increased by 43.8%.” And where do thee vacancies hit hardest? CNBC released its list of the 10 emptiest cities in the USA. We covered 5 here. To see the complete list, visit CNBC here.

Could It Happen to the Bay Area?

People in Toledo or Houston probably ever planned for their cities to be so vacant. Consider Detroit, once the flourishing center of America’s automobile industry, now a shell of its former glory. What would it take, readers, to empty out one of our Bay Area cities?

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/10/04/americas-emptiest-cities/

Facebook IPO is sizzling up Silicon Valley real estate

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:33:40 +0000

A few months back, Anna Marie Hibble wrote about Bay Area IPOs putting the boom back in our local real estate market. Zynga and LinkedIn are now public companies but the mother of all IPOs – Facebook – is still waiting in the wings and the Silicon Valley real estate market is feeling the anticipation.

Articles all over the web report that real estate professionals are gearing up, potential buyers are trying to buy now before the IPO and sellers are trying to determine their best course of strategy. From the local Mercury News :

Realtors say the buzz around Facebook is already sparking the long moribund housing market. Potential sellers want to know whether they should sell now or wait, and buyers are fervently pushing their agents to get into the Peninsula housing market before the IPO, anticipating rising prices as the newly wealthy compete for the hottest neighborhoods from San Francisco to Palo Alto.

The New York Times writes that if you thought housing was expensive in the Valley now, just wait for the Facebook update:

..10 homes in Palo Alto sold for more than their asking prices last month, some by large amounts. Now, with the long-expected Facebook public offering a step closer to reality, Mr. DeLeon said he expected to see several things happen: some sellers may keep their homes off the market until they judge the time is right, some speculators may snap up old houses to tear down and rebuild, and some buyers may feel pressure to make offers before the deluge hits.

While the Valley is bubbling with nervous excitement, the Wall Street Journal notes that the benefits of the Facebook IPO may only reach so far. New potential Facebook millionaires still want a short commute to work.

In communities in the shadow of tech giants like Facebook Inc. in Menlo Park, housing prices are on a tear. Menlo Park led the Bay Area with a 52.7% increase in its median home sales price in the fourth quarter, with prices rising to $1.29 million from $840,000 a year earlier, according to DataQuick. Palo Alto’s median home-sales price jumped 12.5% to $1.1 million from $977,750, according to DataQuick.

Cities outside of Silicon Valley didn’t fare as well. Sonoma, for example, experienced a 24.1% drop in the fourth quarter in its median home-sales price to $356,000 from $469,000 a year ago, while Walnut Creek prices fell 18.3% to $580,000 from $709,500, according to DataQuick.

Since we live in the Bay Area, we should know what’s happening out there. Readers – what have you seen? Are you looking to buy or sell in the Valley? Does the Facebook IPO affect how you’re planning to buy or sell?

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/02/13/facebook-ipo-is-sizzling-up-silicon-valey-real-estate/

In SF, higher priced homes fared better

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:30:43 +0000

The big news on the real estate front this week was the release of the SP/Case-Shiller index, which tracks home values in 20 major metropolitan cities across the country. Disappointing news is closing out the year as national home prices continued their drop, but more than expected.

The overall index showed a 3.4% drop from October 2010 to October 2011. In San Francisco, the news was worse. Home values overall here went down by 4.7% during the same period. For the 1 month period from September to October, San Francisco saw values fall by 0.7%. Nationally, the decrease was 0.6%. But, as we all know, real estate is all about location, location, location. In locales where the median price is higher, homes aren’t getting hammered as hard.

While the overall figures looks dismal, our friends at SocketSite dug further into the Bay Area numbers and uncovered some variations within the market. Higher priced homes are faring better in this real estate downturn. Homes in the $600,000+ range showed a 1 month increase and the yearly figure, which was still down, is not nearly as bad as lower priced homes.

The bottom third (under $319,767 at the time of acquisition) fell 0.9% from September to October (down 9.1% YOY); the middle third was unchanged from September to October (down 8.1% YOY); and the top third (over $599,697 at the time of acquisition) rose 0.3% from September to October, down 1.6% year-over-year (versus down 3.1% in September).

The recent stats follow the overall trend of single family homes in San Francisco. The homes in the top third have dropped 25% from their peak values while the bottom third and middle third of the market has seen price decreases of 60% and 41%. And as Anna Marie Hibble wrote, the rise of Bay Area IPOs may just continue to put more zing in real estate, especially in the higher end of the market.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2011/12/28/in-sf-higher-priced-homes-fared-better/