“As our economy continues to recover and the San Francisco housing market follows suit, many home owners have had success with reducing their San Francisco Property Taxes.  “How?”, you may ask, given property taxes are based on the last sales price of the property and are rarely adjusted by the city?  Here’s a quick and dirty explanation:

1. If you own a home and it’s your primary residence, you may apply for a $7,000 exemption from your assessed value.  New property owners will receive an application automatically with their supplemental assessment bill. Existing property owners should first confirm they were not granted this exemption on their current bill.  If you are not receiving it, you can call the SF Assessment Board at 415.564.5542.
2. Can you lower your property tax base due to market value decline? There have always been a variety of ways to lower your tax base.  Disaster relief, builder’s exclusion, veteran’s exemption, exclusions/exemptions for parent to child change in ownership and several others.  With the volatile market, the Assessment office will review individual owner’s requests to reduce their tax base.  The first step is contacting the Valuation Division – 415.554.5596.  If a reduction is “justified,” the value will be reduced.  If the Valuation Division doesn’t agree, an owner can apply to the Assessment Appeals Board for relief.  If you file an assessment appeal on an existing value, you have to file with the County Assessment Appeals Board (City Hall – Room 405).”

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, courtesy of Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

Most Recent Sales
San Francisco Market Overview
A Peek at Potrero Hill
Bay Area News Bites – Dolores Park, SF Airport, America’s Cup, San Francisco 49ers

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Happy New Year! I have this firm belief that the world is not going to end this year and that 2012 is going to be awesome, especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Everyone and by everyone, I mean Fox News and Rush, teases us for living in a bubble of fruits, nuts and flakes. Add in nerds, and yes, they are right. And we love it! Our bubble affords us a temperate climate, year-round produce, delicious, innovative food, wine and design, a stable housing market, jobs, an accepting culture, and so much more. (Read about the Bay Area’s innovative & pioneering spirit on my SF real estate lifestyle site daniellelazier.com.)

Last week, the Brad Stone of Bloomberg Business Week wrote about Silicon Valley’s recession-not and how Sean Parker’s party for Spotify epitomized the current vibe of the valley. (Sadly, I had a prior engagement and could not make it.)

Every so often, the best parties come to represent moments in time. Think of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball in 1966, the celeb-studded Liberty Island launch of Tina Brown’s ill-fated Talk magazine in 1999, and private equity maven Stephen Schwarzman’s 60th birthday bash in 2007, which featured Rod Stewart. Sean Parker‘s bacchanal for the streaming music service Spotify on Sept. 22 in San Francisco may well join the ranks of these epic affairs.

In Silicon Valley, all the Sturm und Drang of 2011 seemed as relevant as the Cricket World Cup. High unemployment? Crippling debt? Not in Silicon Valley, where the fog burns off by noon, and it’s an article of faith that talented, hardworking techies can change the world and reap unimaginable wealth in the process.

“We live in a bubble, and I don’t mean a tech bubble or a valuation bubble. I mean a bubble as in our own little world,” says Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. “And what a world it is: Companies can’t hire people fast enough. Young people can work hard and make a fortune. Homes hold their value…”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/24/BU2J1MG1Q8.DTL#ixzz1iFS193PJ

Technorati Street Cred = Live in San Francisco

As you know, I sell real estate in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Lucky for me and the rest of the local real estate market, many of the technorati like to keep their street cred by living in SF (at least part-time!) and in fact, many of the hottest companies are based here (Zynga, Twitter, etc).

When Silicon Valley does well, so does San Francisco, at least for the demographic we’re talking about. My clients often don’t believe me when I tell that the housing downturn in SF is long gone and the competition is fierce for the best listings until the first time they write an offer and compete with 6 other buyers to get the house they want.

Bring on the bubble.

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, courtesy of Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

Most Recent Sales
San Francisco Market Overview (the Single Family Home sector is looking up!)
Make it Your Own- MarketTracker is now customizable for you.
New Construction in Pacific Heights

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Noe Valley

“Situated very centrally in the City, this neighborhood is home to one of the most vibrant streets in San Francisco – 24th Street. Highlighted by world class dining, cafes, bars and shops, 24th Street has something for everyone. In recent years, Noe has become home to many San Francisco families. As anyone who’s walked 24th Street recently can testify, you can’t go a half dozen steps without bumping into a pooch on parade or a baby stroller.

Considered the “South of Market Pacific Heights,” the real estate in Noe is a great mix of single-family homes, condos, TICs and multi-unit buildings. Much like 24th Street, there’s something for everyone in Noe Valley. Here are a few picks, from the high to the low of single-family homes, a well-priced condo, and a rare 3-unit offering….”

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, provided by Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

• Most Recent Sales
• San Francisco Market Overview
• Newest Social Media: SkyChalk
• On Broadway

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As written in DanielleLazier.com, our San Francisco real estate listings and lifestyle blog, we live in the land of dreamers and this is major reason why our real estate market continues to defy the odds. Sure, we have had our hard times. But comparatively, they are softer, less frequent, and less enduring. We were fashionably late to the real estate downturn “party” and barely stayed for that third glass of vino. Kind of like Coco Chanel, we are!

Check out Monday’s Wall St Journal article about all of the dreamers down the road in Silicon Valley who are readying themselves for the next wave of millionaires. We are bit more blase about these things in San Francisco but believe me, the buzz is out there. It might be a whisper but real estate folks are talking about their Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Zynga clients. SFHotlist & Co is much too discrete to discuss such things but yes, the buzz is real.

…read more about SF Bay Area-dreamin’ and what Pretty Woman and real estate have in common.

Talk soon,

DL

2701 Broadway was on the market for a year at a list price of $32 million. The seven-bedroom, seven-bath “home” (such a quaint term for an approximately 16,400 square foot property) was completely rebuilt/restored in 2002. It has three rooftop terraces, six fireplaces, two family rooms, two offices, and two kitchens…that’s enough extra rooms for a couple more homes. The property also includes a basketball court and unobstructed views of the Golden Gate, of course….”

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, provided by Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

• Most Recent Sales
• San Francisco Market Overview
• Off the Beaten Path
• Four Bidders Vie to Develop Transbay Housing
• Yours for the Low Price of $28.5 Million

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The city is raising property tax in accordance with Proposition 13 which allows for a cost of living adjustment of property values.  This year the state has approved a .753% increase.  (The only other time property taxes change in San Francisco is upon the sale of a property when the value is re-assessed).

The property taxes in San Francisco will increase to $1.1718 per $100 of assessed value.  This is expected to boost the total property tax revenue in SF to $1.33 billion this fiscal year…”

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, provided by Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

• Most Recent Sales
• San Francisco Market Overview
• Dolores Park and Stow Lake Improvements
• Glen Park is Heating Up

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San Francisco, which has been the most bulletproof county during the downturn, was the only one where the roll rose last year (by 4 percent). This year, it was up by 1.3 percent, the biggest increase of any county.

“Our residential market bottomed out last year and it is still on the road to recovery,” said Assessor Phil Ting. “We haven’t seen properties being restored to prior values yet, but we will probably see that in the next year or two.”

Read more: Bay Area Home Values Flatten Out

Not that this is a surprise to us at SFHotlist. As readers know, I called the real estate bottom in 2010, noticing that 2009 seemed to be the “worst” year for San Francisco home values….but I did negotiate many sweet deals for home buyers so I guess it depends on your perspective bc in retrospect, it was an awesome time to buy a home…if you could qualify for a loan! But broadly, it was really tough. Lack of liquidity, lack of bank lending, fear, stress, rising unemployment…all in all, I am glad 2009 is behind us.

But back to the good news. San Francisco does seem bullet-proof, doesn’t it? Of course, we suffered along with everyone else. Watching, “Too Big to Fail” over the weekend was a vibrant reminder. And yet, San Francisco is resilient. This is an amazing place to call home and a lucky place to own a piece of the real estate pie.

And just because I heart La Roux… Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s a 6 bedroom, 6 full bath, 4 half-bath penthouse unit that is well over 20,000 square feet. It’s actually the combination of 3 penthouse units, which span 2 floors. This is a unit that was created by a real estate mogul by the name of Victor MacFarlane, and it has never even been lived in…”

…Read this article and more in the new issue of MarketTracker, provided by Zephyr Real Estate. Also in this issue:

• Most Recent Sales
• San Francisco Market Overview
• Neighborhood Watch: The Sunset
• Dolores Park Update

Want Zephyr Market Tracker in your inbox every 2 weeks? Sign up for local San Francisco real estate updates for neighborhoods like Noe Valley, Bernal Heights, Hayes Valley, Mission Bay, Mission Dolores and all SF neighborhoods?

The truth is that I don’t know. None of us do. But, I can venture an educated guess based on almost 10 years as a loyal foot soldier of the San Francisco real estate market.

1. Interest rates for home loans are likely to remain very low longer than we had anticipated…like through 2013?
   1. Low mortgage rates are usually good for real estate. Buyers can afford more home which roughly equates to stable home prices.*
2. Some investors will take their money out of the stock market and turn to real estate.
   1. This happened during the last major correction so it’s probably likely to happen again.
   2. This will be mostly true for the more affluent home buyer or investor….those with more experience and more assets.
3. Some home buyers will be scared to act. They may have lost all or a portion of their down payment in the recent stock moves. Or, even if their portfolio is fine, they may be reluctant to make a decision because a lot of uncertainty remains in the world economy. Uncertainty –> Fear –> Procrastination/Inaction
   1. This will be particularly true for home buyers who do not feel confident about their employment situation.**
4. We will all want to watch the local SF Bay Area job market closely. How is our local economy? How is high-tech and bio-tech? How is finance? How about social media? Are SF Bay Area companies going public and spreading wealth around to their employees? Are the hipster bars on Valencia buzzing? Can you get a table at Flour & Water or Locanda? Yes, the world news matters. Of course. But what will largely drive the local real estate market here in San Francisco is whether or not prospective home buyers have good jobs and feel confident about paying a mortgage.

BOTTOM LINE:

There is a saying in journalism that “if it bleeds, it leads.” Yes, it’s a bit rough out there what with the weak leadership & gridlock (strong euphemism) in Washington, Europe’s debt issues, the stock market, etc…but often this stuff can mean completely different things for San Francisco real estate listings. Mortgage rates remain killer low and buyers are buying. We got 6 offers for a condo in the Castro Eureka Valley last week (in August, which is typically slow.)! Keep an eye on your personal situation and your hyper-local real estate market (Noe Valley, Inner Mission, Duboce Triangle, Bernal Heights…) and then, make a calm decision as to whether it’s time to buy or sell a home…for you. And maybe buy a stock that’s on sale too!

* The real estate market is hyper-local. Some neighborhoods will see an increase in home values while others will stagnate or decrease in value. It is very neighborhood AND property type-specific.

** This is a GREAT market for those of you with stable employment which can mean you feel your current job is stable or your skills are in demand & you can easily move around.