Telegraph Hill: History and Home

Telegraph Hill (elev 275 ft, 83 m) refers to a small hilly district in San Francisco, California. Its main feature is Coit Tower, which stands atop the hill.

WIKI: Originally named Loma Alta ("High Hill") by the Spaniards, the hill was then familiarly known as Goat Hill by the early San Franciscans, and became the neighborhood of choice for many Irish immigrants. From 1825 through 1847. The hill owes its current name to a semaphore, a windmill-like structure erected in September 1849, for the purpose of signaling to the rest of the city the nature of the ships entering the Golden Gate.

There are some parts of San Francisco that define the city. This is certainly one of them. Small homes and cottages cling to the hillside and morph across the landscape creating a truly unique place to be.

The hill boasts of Coit Tower which was put up to commemorate the heroism of the firefighters after the '06 quake and of course the Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

The homes are quite expensive and a little precarious, the steep hillside has had more than one big slide.

A look at the homes shows us that they are generally more expensive (no doubt due to their uniqueness) and are not on the market as often. The community is tight and people seem to know what they have.

Some Stats from Trulia

This chart is the median price of homes on Telegraph Hill Vs. San Francisco

You can see the number of sales is much less than the rest of the city. I think it reflects the tight knit community Telegraph Hill



Take the Coit bus up the hill and spend some time with the free flying flock of Parrots that live on the hill and occupy the tree canopy from Telegraph hill to the waterfront. Take this town trip on a day when you really need a smile...its a boost

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Howard Bell
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Tracking California Luxury Home Values

First Republic Bank produces the Prestige Home Index each quarter.

They report California luxury home prices declined in the third quarter of 2008 from a year ago.

1. Los Angeles area values fell 1.9% from the second quarter of 2008 and 4.2% from the third quarter of 2007. The average luxury home in Los Angeles is now $2.33 million.
2. San Diego area values dropped 2.1% from the second quarter of 2008 and 7.5% from the third quarter of 2007. The average luxury home in San Diego is now $1.98 million.
3. San Francisco Bay Area values declined 0.7% from the second quarter of 2008 and 3.0% from the third quarter of 2007. The average luxury home in San Francisco is now $2.99 million.

It seems that the indexes all tell different stories, so its hard to come up with a definitive understanding of what is really going on. The Case-Schiller index, which is looking at homes sold in all price categories, show us that San Francisco homes have decline by 31% year over year.

If these idexes can be trusted, its clear that a high end home, by far, has been an outstanding investment, losing only 3% of its value in roughly the same time period. Clearly, people willing and able to buy a 3 million dollar home are not concerned about bank solvency or interest rates. Nice place to be....

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Howard Bell
www.yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.

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SF Tenants Catch a Break: Rents Are Finally Dropping

RealFacts.com maintains an apartment data base that can be used to produce market reports to help you sleuth out market trends and property profile reports.

"For the first time since the dot-com bust, that average rate has actually gone down," said Caroline Latham, owner of RealFacts, adding that rents have climbed between 5 and 10 percent every year in the Bay Area since 2004. "That's a big change, and I think there's a big shift going on.". (Via SFgate.com).

San Francisco has certainly led a charmed life, but now it seems that the general economic malaise is even giving this city a cold.

I remember the rental environment during the dot com bust and we are not yet seeing anything like that. Owners and property managers were offering free months rent or gifts to lure renters. Rents dropped everywhere, many parts of the city had 20% vacancy rates Im not sure we will see the kind of vacancy rates or days on market the internet crash delivered.

if we do, well....we have weathered this before.

Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
www.yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.

Your Property Path news Brief
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The Art of Auspicious Interior Arrangement

Feng Shui for Architecture Design and Environment

Feng Shui often gets a bad rap among conservatives, mostly in my opinion, for good reason. The little chimes and Ba-Gua's most people use are nothing more than superstition, although the information they attempt to mimic is rooted in science that has been studied....well, for a long long time. (Photo by Sherin Sasidharan)

Why did I start to pay attention to Feng Shui? Because as a real estate agent, I noticed, after a while - that certain properties, seemed to go on the market every year or two, repeatedly. To me that was an indication that for whatever reason, it was impossible for the occupants to get comfortable and settle in.

Even within the same Condo complex, certain units will constantly change hands while others stay settled - and that is true even for units with identical floor plans and finishes. Unit 1 will change hands 3 times in a five or seven year period, while Unit 2 (same floor plan flipped) stays put for years.

I have a confession, I have not yet had my home 'Feng Shui'd' if you will. The reason is simple, a Feng Shui master is expensive and VERY hard to come by which is why the true masters end up working for the high end homes and corporate clients.

If you are interested in learning a little more my favorite web site is maintained by an architect friend of mine, Simona Mainini, located in LA county. For most people flying her up to consult on their home will be too cost prohibitive, but her newsletter is free and full of interesting facts and information. FengShuiArch.com

For those who are just curious, like myself...

Thanks to Meridth Martin for permission to reblog her interesting post. Merideth is a Senior Real Estate Advisor for the Paragon Real Estate Group. She can be reached 415.738.7067 direct or via her web site: http://www.meredithmartin.com/

Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
www.yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.

Your Property Path news Brief
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Snap News updates real estate markets and all things of interest to property owners and real estate professionals

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Help With High Water Bills

San Francisco Supervisors will consider a water rate passthrough, which would cover 50% of the recently increased rates. Owners and managers that have installed low flow faucets and shower heads will see a 70% passthrough. Alioto-Pier's proposed legislation will allow rent increases without having to go through a rent board hearing.

These are tough times for any rent increase for many of us, but it encourages water conservation, spurs the installation of water saving devices and provides a mechanism for cost sharing with tenants.

The good news is that owners and tenants can decrease water usage by installing free low flow devices saving millions of gallons of fresh water annually. The Public Utilities Commission has a great offer....

SFPUC Water Conservation Program

The SFPUC offers residential customers free low-flow faucets and shower heads. Installing one faucet aerator and one low-flow shower head can save as on average, 14,000 gallons per year. There is much more here at the SFPUC site

Free Low Flow Faucets and Shower Heads

If you would like to install low flow devices you can contact the SFPUC at (415) 551-4730 to request free water-saving devices, including toilet flappers. If you have an apartment building, they will offer low flows for your entire building. Great way to save on a fixed cost and be green.

Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
www.yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.

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Your Home a Junk Yard: Not in San Francisco You Dont

If your home or yard looks like this it can cost you up to $1000 a day, until you clean up your act. The board of supervisors has just passed the Community Preservation and Blight Reduction Act.

The act institutes a comprehensive and uniform procedure for dealing with all kinds of urban blight. If your lawn is overgrown or your home is a billboard for graffiti or just peeling paint the city can cause you to repair or clean up your blight.

Eveyones involved with enforcement: The Dept of Public Works, City Planning, Dept of Building Inspections and Public Health.

If you own or manage property it would be a good idea to read the 22 page amendment because it lists time frames for removal or cleanup, after which you will fined.

Given the budgetary problems everyone is having, you can bet that the city depts involved will be looking closely at your housekeeping habits.

Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
www.yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.

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Prop M and How it Defines Landlord Tenant Relations

Quiet Enjoyment

Is now a service included with ones rent. Quiet enjoyment includes untimely repairs, refusal to accept lawful rent. It defines varoius kinds of harassment that landlords have sometimes been guilty of.

Most of this was already illegal. but now you can take these issues to the rent board for a rent reduction rather than to a civil court. What is newly defined as harassment is holding a tenants rent check. No longer can a landlord refuse to cash checks for any length of time. I know of one owner who is harassing a tenant by not cashing her checks for almost one year. If the landlord were to cash them all at once it would be a real problem for the tenant. Prop M makes that illegal now.

Here is the new definition of tenant harassment

Sec. 37.10B Tenant Harassment direct from the sfgov site:

(a) No landlord, and no agent, contractor, subcontractor or employee of the landlord shall do any of the following in bad faith or with ulterior motive or without honest intent:

(1) Interrupt, terminate or fail to provide housing services required by contract or by State, County or local housing, health or safety laws;

(2) Fail to perform repairs and maintenance required by contract or by State, County or local housing, health or safety laws;

(3) Fail to exercise due diligence in completing repairs and maintenance once undertaken or fail to follow appropriate industry repair, containment or remediation protocols designed to minimize exposure to noise, dust, lead, paint, mold, asbestos, or other building materials with potentially harmful health impacts;

(4) Abuse the landlord's right of access into a rental housing unit as that right is provided by law;

(5) Influence or attempt to influence a tenant to vacate a rental housing unit through fraud, intimidation or coercion;

(6) Attempt to coerce the tenant to vacate with offer(s) of payments to vacate which are accompanied with threats or intimidation;

(7) Continue to offer payments to vacate after tenant has notified the landlord in writing that they no longer wish to receive further offers of payments to vacate;

(8) Threaten the tenant, by word or gesture, with physical harm;

(9) Violate any law which prohibits discrimination based on actual or perceived race, gender, sexual preference, sexual orientation, ethnic background, nationality, place of birth, immigration or citizenship status, religion, age, parenthood, marriage, pregnancy, disability, AIDS or occupancy by a minor child;

(10) Interfere with a tenants right to quiet use and enjoyment of a rental housing unit as that right is defined by California law;

(11) Refuse to accept or acknowledge receipt of a tenant's lawful rent payment;

(12) Refuse to cash a rent check for over 30 days;

(13) Interfere with a tenant's right to privacy;

(14) Request information that violates a tenant's right to privacy, including but not limited to residence or citizenship status or social security number;

(15) Other repeated acts or omissions of such significance as to substantially interfere with or disturb the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of any person lawfully entitled to occupancy of such dwelling unit and that cause, are likely to cause, or are intended to cause any person lawfully entitled to occupancy of a dwelling unit to vacate such dwelling unit or to surrender or waive any rights in relation to such occupancy.

Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
www.yourpropertypath.com
A web site of over 450 articles related to real estate focused primarily on property management.

Your Property Path news Brief
http://yourpropertypath.blogspot.com/
Snap News updates real estate markets and all things of interest to property owners and real estate professionals

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