If University of California President Janet Napolitano is feeling any ill effects from the twin resignations of high-profile university chancellors accused of mismanagement, she didn’t show it when we spoke with her the other day.
Article source: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/UC-chief-moving-on-finding-replacement-for-Cal-9174454.php
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The graceful resuscitation of 1442 22nd Ave. in the central Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco embodies Bay Area design values. Original details like hand-carved decorative tiles and coved ceilings mingle with contemporary elements — like a freshly completed lower level housing a bedroom, a bathroom and a family room, along with a garage and backyard access.
Though the home features a traditional floor plan, broad entryways ensure rooms don’t feel isolated or compartmentalized. Designers poured considerable energy and
resources into an interior that’s malleable enough to adapt with the times. Details like custom stained oak flooring and restored windows coexist with CAT-6 cabling and LED lights.
“You sense the warmth and comfort here can continue for generations to come,” said Derek Schreiber of Zephyr Real Estate, who is listing the four-bedroom for $1.268 million.
Set two blocks south of Elk Glen Meadow and Golden Gate Park, the home has a western orientation and a wide lot.
The freshly landscaped backyard has synthetic grass and hearty plantings beside a broad patio. Proximity to the N-Judah Muni line and a plethora of local dining and entertainment spots underscore the home’s desirable setting.
Kitchens are held to high standards in the world of Bay Area design, as 1442 22nd Ave. illustrates. A Bertazzoni range commands a room bursting with international appeal. Fisher Paykel and Bosch appliances personify a rigid precision softened by the muted gray hues of quartz countertops. Porcelain subway tiles fashion a brilliantly white backsplash that pops against the stainless steel appliances and minimalist hardware.
Three bedrooms toward the back of the main level overlook a low-maintenance backyard. Each of these bedrooms boasts substantial closet space and convenient placement near the level’s updated bathroom.
Any number of possibilities await downstairs. The freshly constructed lower level links the garage and rear garden through a space both accommodating and attractive. A nook beneath the turned staircase gives the lower level’s family room a semi-private space for an office or study sessions. Both the bedroom and downstairs bedroom open to the garden patio, which is actually a couple of steps above the lower level.
Learn more at www.1442-22ndave.com.
Listing agent: Derek Schreiber, Zephyr Real Estate, (415) 385-1827, derek@zephyrsf.com.
Details
Address: 1442 22nd Ave.,
San Francisco.
Price: $1.268 million.
Features: Marina-style four-bedroom row home marries traditional design with contemporary efficiency. A Nest thermostat and LED lights lend energy efficiency to rooms finished with intricate carpentry and millwork. The lower-level houses a full bathroom, a family room, a bedroom and a private entrance and could easily act as an au pair.
Open home: 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Hot-Property-9173927.php
To its neighbors in the San Francisco Bay Area, the city of Vallejo, CA, has long been known for several things. There was the notorious bankruptcy in 2008. There was the ignominious honor of ranking No. 9 on the Forbes list of Most Miserable Cities and No. 2 on Newsweek’s of Dying Cities in the same year (2011). There was the abandoned Mare Island Naval Shipyard, the violent crime, the squalor, the shuttered homes, the hopelessness.
One thing Vallejo was not known as: the next trendy place for Northern Californians to buy a house and raise a family.
But, remarkably enough, all that has changed. For the past two months, the metropolis has topped realtor.com®‘s rankings of the nation’s hottest real estate markets. As in No. 1.
Call it the latest beneficiary of the Bay Area’s brutal (and brutally expensive) supply-and-demand housing market. As more and more buyers and renters are priced out of San Francisco and the surrounding towns, they’ve become increasingly open to new frontiers. It’s led to a resurgence and gentrification in long-downtrodden Oakland. And now it’s hitting Vallejo big-time.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Buyers are overlooking the high crime rates and poor public schools and snapping up stately Victorians and other residences in the former naval town, where the median listing price is just $345,000, according to realtor.com.
The price is still considerably higher than the national median price of $247,700 for existing homes and $306,700 for newly constructed abodes, according to June data from the National Association of Realtors® and the U.S. Commerce Department. But it’s dirt-cheap compared with San Francisco, with a median listing price of $1.1 million, or Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto, CA—where techies are shelling out a mind-boggling median $2 million on their treasured homes.
Vallejo’s even a bargain compared with Oakland, San Francisco’s still somewhat grittier eastern neighbor, with median list prices hitting $525,000.
“It still remains one of the few arguably affordable places in Northern California,” says Javier Vivas, realtor.com’s manager of economic research. “That makes owning a viable option in Vallejo, driving up demand.”
But despite having twice served as the capital of California (briefly, in 1852 and 1853), the city wasn’t always so in demand. Its established middle- and working-class community took a big hit in 1996 when the area’s major employer, the naval shipyard, closed, and thousands of workers were suddenly out of a job.
“The housing market really did bottom out at that time, because a lot of people were taking jobs elsewhere and leaving the community,” says Jim Kern, executive director at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum. “The city has always been defined by the presence of the Navy. [But] for 20 years, we’ve had to carve out a new identity.”
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A little more than a decade later, the world economy tanked, the U.S. housing market cratered, and a wave of foreclosures swept through Vallejo. Without those property taxes to pay for the city’s public worker pension costs, the city declared bankruptcy.
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At the height of the foreclosure crisis, homes were selling for about $100,000, says Vallejo real estate agent Debbie Raynor of Re/Max Gold. She used to list foreclosed properties for the banks that repossessed them.
“Still, nobody wanted to be in Vallejo,” says Raynor, adding that some of those empty homes became drug dens and havens for squatters. “It was blighted. There was a ton of crime.”
Violent crime is still a problem in the city, where it is more than double the national average. There were 18 murders, 63 rapes, 363 robberies, and 1,040 auto thefts in 2014, according to the most recent information available from city-data.com.
The city’s public school district is also struggling—receiving just a 4 out of 10 rating on GreatSchools.org.
So with high crime and lousy schools, how did Vallejo, with a population of about 121,000, become the nation’s hottest market? Sorry to trade in clichés, but as the real estate pros like to say (and say again), it’s all about one thing: location, location, location.
Across the board, things in Vallejo are definitely looking up.
The city is just over 30 miles from San Francisco and about 60 miles from Sacramento along the Interstate 80 corridor. And when the workweek is over, it’s home to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and a mere 16 miles from Napa and its surrounding wine country. In recent years, a “vibrant” artist community has moved into the city’s downtown, heralding the opening of several small galleries, says Rich Curtola, CEO of the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce.
Greg Chow
Perhaps most important, Vallejo offers ferry service directly to San Francisco so commuters can get to work in the Golden City within an hour.
“People are saying, ‘Jeez, I can’t afford to live in San Francisco, and I can’t even afford to live in Oakland,’” Curtola says. “What people are finding is there are affordable properties here that are absolutely beautiful.”
The turnaround seems sudden, but it’s actually years in the making.
Investors realized this early on and swooped in in 2009 and 2010 and began rehabbing foreclosures that had seen better days and flipping them, local real estate agent Raynor says.
But the days of finding real estate bargains are long over, she says. Now she’s getting multiple offers and bids well over asking price, despite the continuing dearth of popular amenities such as trendy restaurants.
“It’s still one of the last remaining underdeveloped areas with waterfront,” says Raynor, who lives in the city.
Greg Chow
And prices are only expected to continue shooting up. There are plans for hundreds of waterfront condominiums, some high-end rentals, and retail development along the Napa River, says Andrea Ouse, community and economic development director for the city of Vallejo. There are also schemes to put up hotels, a sports field, and a 3,000-seat amphitheater on the site of the Solano County Fairgrounds. There is no set date for construction yet.
“Land values are going to increase particularly over the next three to five years due to the level of investment that we are seeing now and the level of interest in potential development,” Ouse says.
Greg Chow
Mare Island, the former home of Vallejo’s long-deserted shipyard, is also experiencing a resurgence. The island now has about 250 homes and more than 100 businesses, says Edward Moser, a spokesman for Lennar Mare Island, the developer for a portion of the island.
The ship construction and repair firm Mare Island Dry Dock opened in late 2013 and now employs about 150 people. Touro University California moved to a 44-acre site on the island in 1999 and opened a nursing school there in 2014. Faraday Future, an electric car company, is in negotiations to open a factory and test-drive facility on a large property parcel.
Greg Chow
Greg Chow
Greg Chow
And there are plans to put up a new ferry terminal, whiskey distillery, and 1,400 single-family houses, townhouses, condos, and rentals on the island as well, Moser says.
The Mare Island Brewing Co., which opened in 2013, is doing so well that it plans to break ground on a larger facility on the island this fall.
“Our taproom is so busy that we can’t keep up,” says Kent Fortner, the microbrewery’s founder/owner and a proud Vallejo resident. He’s seeing an influx of refugees from other, pricier Silicon Valley hubs.
“It’s headed upward. You can feel it,” says Fortner. “Everybody I know is relandscaping their lawns, doing a small remodel … or they’re actually thinking of buying a second home on the island as an investment to rent out.”
Greg Chow
The biggest challenge to the burgeoning community remains the substandard public schools, a warship-size obstacle for many professionals with children. His own two kids attend a charter school in Napa.
However, he remains optimistic about the future of Vallejo.
“It’s a renaissance that has no limits,” Fortner says.
Article source: http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/vallejo/
Aug 18, 2016 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – August 18, 2016) – Zephyr Real Estate Agent Claudia Siegel has funded her first home through Home for a Home, a philanthropic organization that facilitates the construction of new homes for families in need. Participating REALTORS® donate a portion of their commissions to Home for a Home, which in turn sees to the construction of a new home in Guatemala.
The Xiquita family, who lives in Chuaguenum, a small, remote village in Guatemala, now has a solid and secure new home thanks to Siegel. Byron Xiquita, a farmer, and his wife Elvira have three children: Wendy (11), Wilson (10) and Wilmer (8). “My house, along with the others that were built are a true blessing for all of us,” stated Byron. “Thanks to all the people that are helping my family and the other families in Chuaquenum.”
The structures are 13 x 19 foot homes made of reinforced concrete block. They include a skylight, lockable metal doors, glass windows, and are painted, inside and out, with colors selected by the new homeowners. The family also received a water filtering system and a wood-burning stove from a partner agency, Soluciones Apropiadas, to keep them warm and healthy.
“What a gratifying experience to work with such a worthwhile organization and to be able to help make a difference,” commented Siegel. “I highly recommend supporting this cause.”
Siegel is a consistent top producer at Zephyr’s Pacific Heights. She possesses a wide range of skills and expertise and is a certified Green Building professional with a finely-tuned feel for the complexities of Bay Area real estate. She can be reached at ClaudiaSiegel@zephyrsf.com or 415-816-2811.
Home for a Home was founded by Nick Cooper. As a high school student, he spent many spring breaks in Mexico with fellow students helping to build houses for those in need. That experience made a lasting impression. After Cooper began his successful career in real estate, he wanted to continue that work begun in his college years. He and co-founders, Chris Cheng and Joey Schultz, developed the concept and thus, Home for a Home was created.
About Zephyr Real Estate Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco’s largest independent real estate firm with nearly $2.3 billion in gross sales and a current roster of more than 300 full-time agents. Zephyr’s highly-visited website has earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate; global luxury affiliate, Mayfair International; and local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. Zephyr has six offices in San Francisco, a brand new office in Greenbrae, and two brokerage affiliates in Sonoma County, all strategically positioned to serve a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ZephyrRE.com.
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/8/17/11G110929/Images/Xiquita_water_system-bba5b4d8d6c9bfb2965ab80d0ec55831.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/8/17/11G110929/Images/Xiquita_Family-731cd166ffb49faeb947cbfad58e5d0c.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/8/17/11G110929/Images/Xiquita_children-cd3cab6174f5a0119222f03e0f153a7a.jpg
Contact: Melody Foster Zephyr Real Estate San Francisco, CA 415.426.3203 Email contact
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Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/claudia-siegel-funds-new-home-for-guatemalan-family-2016-08-18-12160011
ON AUGUST 11, Old Town karaoke mecca the Boiler Room announced new landlords were pushing it out of its corner space at NW 3rd and Davis after 15 years.
The bar’s fans immediately did what Portlanders do these days—raged on Facebook and elsewhere against the loss of another city institution. It didn’t help that the company that’s declining to renew the Boiler Room’s five-year lease, Swift Real Estate Partners, is based in San Francisco. The well-trod anger over Bay Area money having its way with Portland was unavoidable. Stories emerged of people leaving drunken, angry voicemails at Swift’s headquarters after the Mercury reported the company’s name.
Still, the Boiler Room’s impending closure has a different flavor than what Portland’s used to. Often when spots close, it’s because they can’t come to agreement on a proposed rent hike (like the Matador), or are hurting for business (P.R.E.A.M.), or there are major renovations in the works (Magic Garden). None of those factors were apparently at play in this case.
“The Boiler Room’s last night will be September 20,” the bar’s former general manager, Mike Reed, posted on Facebook on Thursday. “Not because of problems or city regulators, not because of customer service issues, fights, poor management, or even lack of revenue. The Boiler Room is closing because apparently the new Californian investment group/new landlord projects more revenue with a potential ‘Starbucks’ type of business or another daytime-use space in the corner unit.”
This model—maximizing profits for the sake of investors who pay into funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars—has been at the heart of Swift’s business for the past several years. And it turns out the Boiler Room and its immediate neighbors aren’t the only ones that stand to lose.
Property records show Swift has snatched up a half dozen buildings in Old Town in the last year and a half, prompting alarm from local businesses worried they might be pushed out, and anger from those who already have been.
“[Swift] indicated they feel Portland is well undervalued,” says Paul Wagner, whose startup company, CloudEngage, left its three-year home at 123 NW 2nd after he says Swift proposed a nearly 50 percent rent increase. “They plan to bring it more in line with Bay Area pricing. There’s no stopping what’s happening.”
Since April 2015, Swift has spent $36.7 million buying up buildings with the aim of paying off investors that include teachers in Texas and bankers in Switzerland. Thanks to its most recent, $12.1 million purchase in December 2015, the company now controls whole block faces along NW Couch (between 1st and 2nd) and NW Davis (between 2nd and 3rd)—including buildings that hold tenants like Floyd’s Coffee and Old Town Pizza. In April 2015, it spent $9.1 million on a building at NW 1st and Couch that houses Airbnb’s Portland offices. In July of last year, it spent $15.5 million to snap up more than three-quarters of a city block at SW 1st and Ash (including the building that houses the Mercury’s offices).
“Portland is being recognized by out-of-region investors as a place that hasn’t been picked over,” says Gerard Mildner, director of the Center for Real Estate at Portland State University. “There are opportunities for buying assets and repositioning properties.”
Notably, Swift purchased all this property from the same local owner: Fountain Village Development. That company, owned by prominent Portland developer John Beardsley, has been a leader in buying and managing historic properties for decades. In late 2009, as the real estate downturn forced him to declare bankruptcy (and lose some of his buildings in the process), Beardsley told the Oregonian: “I’ve got by far the most historic buildings downtown. I’m a steward, and I’m not surrendering that.” Swift’s offers, it appears, softened that stance.
The question now becomes how the company will seek to make its investors money in a corner of Portland that’s been known more for noisy nightlife and social services than high-end real estate.
Swift’s president and CEO, Christopher Peatross, hasn’t been shy about his technique. The company focuses on buying “value-add” properties—that is, buildings that have existing tenants, but which can be improved to attract new tenants or higher rents.
For instance, after purchasing seven Silicon Valley office properties in 2014, Peatross told a Bay Area real estate publication he’d look to make money “as we either bring the rents that are now 20 percent below market [rate] up to market levels or bring in new tenants.”
In the case of the Boiler Room, the company has decided to bring in new tenants, and is reportedly looking for someone who will open their doors during the daytime, as opposed to only at night. Peatross didn’t return a message left with a receptionist. Todd Becker, a senior property manager for Swift in Portland, didn’t return the Mercury’s phone and email messages.
Tenants who have interacted with Swift since their buildings were bought relate varying stories (the Mercury recently secured a new lease).
“We had a long-term lease that has been honored by the last building owner and Swift, including an option that renewed that lease until August of 2019,” says Lynn Longfellow, executive director of the Oregon Nikkei Endowment, which runs the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, a museum dedicated to Japanese American history, at 121 NW 2nd. “Hopefully there will not be any problems with them honoring it. So far there haven’t been any issues.”
Things aren’t so sanguine just around the corner. Since Swift purchased the Norton Hotel building that houses his business, Floyd’s Coffee Shop owner Jack Inglis says he’s had an extremely hard time getting the company to sit down with him about his lease, which expires in just under two years.
“We are very concerned about our future in the building,” Inglis tells the Mercury. “When a new owner refuses to talk about renewing your lease, it usually means that they want you out.”
According to Inglis, though his building was purchased in December, it wasn’t until last week that he had his first face-to-face meeting with Becker, Swift’s Portland-based property manager. Inglis says he’s asked other tenants “whether they have had any luck actually speaking to anyone from Swift over the last eight months—to a person, they had not.”
“I think we all have concerns,” confirms Kecia Nathan, owner of the Whiskey Bar, which sits in the same building.
Some of that concern has waned in recent days for Inglis. After he first spoke with the Mercury, he says Swift reached out with an offer to extend his lease.
“We’ll see what happens,” he says.
Despite the worries playing out in Old Town, not everyone sees Swift’s arrival as a bad thing. Cliff Hockley, president of Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services, tells the Mercury the investor’s interest in the neighborhood—which is likely short term—might ultimately be transformative.
“It is a different dynamic and it’s going to continue and it’s not going to stop,” Hockley says. “I think it’s a positive thing. Portland is coming on the map.”
Full disclosure: Author Dirk VanderHart previously worked as a KJ at the Boiler Room.
Article source: http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2016/08/17/18485572/a-san-francisco-investment-firm-has-snatched-up-a-lot-of-old-town-real-estate
