Well, here goes that real estate roller coaster again. Inventories of available homes have dropped drastically in most markets from a year ago, For example, Oakland homes for sale have dropped nearly 52% from a year ago. Currently, the entire City of Pleasant Hill has only 25 available single family homes for sale. Prior to the crash in 1996 of home values, we got down to only 13 available listings in Pleasant Hill. I blogged at the time that we had almost sold them all! I expect some needed relief in improving home values. Expect values to start rising in the next 6 months as improving values lag the market 3 to 6 months as people make buying decisions and they then go through the escrow process. Read More: http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2012/04/17/inventory-for-sale-homes-posts-big-drop

Related articles

• Supply of distressed home listings cut in half (lansner.ocregister.com)

right now. One of them the bank is allowing the seller to receive $25,000!  If you know somebody who is in distress with their property and would like to learn what options they have, please send me their name and contact info to steve@realtyworldpcp.com or direct them to www.morethanashortsale. To learn more about associating with our fine company go to:

info. http://careersrwpcp.com/

Related articles

• Short Sale Incentives in the News Again (agbeat.com)
• Short Sales Will Explode in 2012 (steveholderfield.com)
• DSnews.com: Short Sales Bring 24% Greater Returns than Foreclosures (foreclosure-avoidance.com)

Image by 401K via Flickr

Did you know that if you are upside down on your home and process a short sale, that the amount that the bank forgives is scheduled to become taxable in 2013?  That means that, for example, if the bank forgives say, $100,000 in order for you to sell you home, that $100,000 would be taxed at your tax rate.  For a person in the 25% tax bracket that means they would owe $25,000 to Uncle Sam.  If you are having trouble making your payments, I can think of no better reason to do a short sale in 2012.  Contact us today.  You do have options!

Image by Getty

There are 2 answers to this question. 1. Home values are likely to fall another 4 to 5%. 2. It depends on many factors. Most economists seem to agree that 2012 is likely to be a flat to slightly down market in terms of values. However, we do seem to be hitting the bottom in terms of the the dropping values. Also, the number of foreclosures in the California has dropped over 14% in the last year. The number of successful short sales rose 25% of all sales in California last year from 18% in 2010. It is expected that the number of short sales to continue to rise in 2012. The other wild card is next year’s Presidential election which could bring much needed certainty back to businesses and the financial markets which could positively affect job growth. So 2012 will be fun to see unfold. If you or somebody you know needs to buy or sell any Real Estate, please contact me with a name and phone number. I’d be happy to bring my over 30 years of real estate experience to the effort. Have a great New Year!  More info here: http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2011/12/28/what-s-in-store-for-housing-in-2012

Related articles

• Popularity of short sales is growing (bottomline.msnbc.msn.com)
• Foreclosure still taking toll on home prices (avidlawblog.wordpress.com)
• O.C. Realtor leader eyes slow housing recovery (lansner.ocregister.com)
• You: Real estate unit projects 18% rise in condo sales in ’12 (japantimes.co.jp)

http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/2011/09/28/financial-industry-corporate-profits/

Why? Uncertain regulation by the Feds. Our current administration needs to, in my opinion, find ways to provide confidence in our markets and the future. Unfortunately, I think this means the need to cut the government spending back to the Clinton levels. We just cannot sustain the current spending levels. Another thing that could be done is to get rid of all this overregulation and red tape… Let’s start bt appealing Obama Care!

Related articles

• Federal Reserve to Hold Hearings on Capital One / ING Merger in San Francisco, Washington and Chicago (prnewswire.com)
• Banks nearly double mortgage fraud filings (marketwatch.com)

Union Square is one of my favorite locations in the City.  Whether it be during the Holidays or having dinner in a nearby restaurant or drink after a baseball or football game, Union Square has something for everyone.  Here’s a map to the famous square: Map.

History

People come to Unions Square form all over the world for the world class shopping, fine restaurants, 4 and 5 star hotels and the nearby theatre.  Union Square has a rich and interesting history.  In 1847, the City of San Franciscocommissioned Jasper O’Farrell to lay out a design for streets and parks for the city.  Two squares were chosen to be public squares, Washington Square in the Italian District and Union Square just off Market Street.  Both were later deeded to the City by Colonel John Geary to be held in perpetuity for park purposes. Early maps of San Francisco depict both parks as unnamed spaces reserved for public parks.  Union Square was named on the eve of the Civil War (1861-5) as a demonstration of support for the Union.  

By the early 1880’s, the Square had become the center of a really nice, upscale residential district.  There were three churches that faced into the square, Calvary Presbyterian, Congregational and Trinity Churches.  

The dramatic 90 foot high Corinthian column in the center of the square was erected in 1903.  The obelisk was dedicated by President Roosevelt that same year.  The monument is a memorial to Admiral Dewey’s naval victory in the Bay of Manila during the Spanish-American War, (1898).  The top of the granite column is adorned by a bronze statue of the goddess of Victory and was sculpted by Robert Aitken.  The goddess was modeled after a young Alma de Brettville Spreckels who met and later married Adolph Spreckels, while modeling for the bronze.  

By the turn of the century, the area began to morph into more offices and stores, as the residential homes and churches were replaced around the Square.  After the devastation of the 1906 earthquake, Union Square became  San Francisco’s premiere shopping district and it still is today.  Union Square was forever changed to it’s present character through the cinstruction of the Hotel Saint Francis in 1908.  It was, and remains the tallest structure (13 stories) facing the Square, and as a backdrop for the Dewey Monument, you are immediately notified that you are in a special place.  In recent times the Square has been re-developed to house some restaurants and coffee shops, but the natural topograhy has been maintained.

As San Francisco grew, more and more automobiles came to the City.  Parking became a problem for the Square’s retailers.  The Union Square Garage Corporation.  This corporation lobbied the City for years for permission to build the world’s first underground parking structure.  The matter was taken all the way to the California Supreme Court and a decision to grant the permission for the structure to be built under a lease for the use of the land under the public park was finally granted.  Three years of research and design followed, and on May 31, 1941, ground was finally broken for the garage, which is still in operation today!  I parked there yesterday!

In 1997 the San Francisco Prize Coalition and the City of  San Francisco announced a competition for the redesign of Union Square Park.  It was named ”Toward a More Perfect Union: An International Design Competition for the Future of Union Square”.  They received 309 entries from 10 countries and 20 states.  The winning entry entitled “All the Square is a Stage” sought to transform the Park from an imposing, seldom used urban space into an inviting park that could be used by all the inhabitants surrounding the area.  The design is notable for its easy access, a cafe with lots of open air seating, and a symphony-sized stage that will serve as the center point for a week of concerts celebrating the completion of this project in July of 2002.

I actually love to just hang out at Unions Square.  I don’t know if its the history, the shopping, the people or what. I jus=t really love it there.   Take a stroll there sometime.  There’s at least one of everything there for you to see and enjoy!

Short term rectors included the Reverend Hannibal Goodwin, inventor of photographic film, and the Reverend James S. Bush, great-great-grandfather of President George W. Bush.  Grace Church became a fashionable parish as Nob Hill’s mansions rose up-slope in the 1870s.  Grace Church was destroyed in the fires that followed the 1906 earthquake.

With extraordinary generosity, the William H. Crocker family, owners of prime property near the summit of Nob Hill, agreed to give their ruined block to the diocese as a cathedral site. A banker and civic leader, William H. Crocker was the son of the late railroad magnate Charles Crocker, one of the Big Four builders of the western half of America’s first transcontinental railroad. As parishioners of old Grace Church, the Crockers stipulated that the name Grace be used for the cathedral.

Temporary Grace Pro-Cathedral was built on the present site of the Interfaith Labyrinth in 1906, and a cathedral design by English architect George Bodley was considered. Bodley’s sudden death led to a revised design by his partner Cecil Hare. On January 24, 1910, with Governor Gillette and other dignitaries present, Bishop Nichols dedicated the cornerstone for Hare’s design. The Reverend J. Wilmer Gresham, poet and beloved pastor, was chosen as the first Dean of Grace Cathedral, serving until 1939.

Laying of Cornerstone, 1910

Temporary Grace Pro-Cathedral was built on the present site of the Interfaith Labyrinth in 1906, and a cathedral design by English architect George Bodley was considered. Bodley’s sudden death led to a revised design by his partner Cecil Hare. On January 24, 1910, with Governor Gillette and other dignitaries present, Bishop Nichols dedicated the cornerstone for Hare’s design. The Reverend J. Wilmer Gresham, poet and beloved pastor, was chosen as the first Dean of Grace Cathedral, serving until 1939.

In 1910, local architect Lewis P. Hobart was chosen to succeed Cecil Hare as cathedral architect. Designer of many Hillsborough estates and city office buildings, Hobart had little experience in church architecture. Following a study tour in Europe he returned with new ideas for a French Gothic-inspired cathedral design. One major change was to align the building facing west, rather than north. The design would have the facade facing a (hoped-for) park, the central space of Nob Hill, and be protected from ocean winds.

The Founders Crypt, opened in 1914, was the intended nave basement unit of the new cathedral, but lack of funds caused its use as a temporary cathedral until 1931. Following Bishop Nichols death in 1924, and the succession of Bishop Edward L. Parsons, interest in Grace Cathedral revived. The present seismically-safe concrete and steel structure (Hobart’s second design, approved 1925) was begun in 1927 with the Chapel of Grace.

Cathedral and Half-Finished Nave, 1932

A $2.7 million fund drive fueled construction until 1933, when the Depression caught up to the campaign and halted work. A temporary “iron curtain” closed off the half-finished nave. The munificence of local dentist Dr. Nathaniel T. Coulson made possible the subsequent Singing (north) Tower and its 44-bell carillon from England. Construction began in 1936 and the tower, a free-standing ‘campanile’ for two decades, was largely finished by 1941.

During World War II, Bishop Karl Morgan Block was acting Dean, with Deans Thomas Wright and Bernard Lovgren serving subsequent short periods. With the arrival of Dean C. Julian Bartlett in 1956, and Bishop James A. Pike in 1958, came renewed interest in completing Grace Cathedral. The Golden Anniversary Committee’s $3 million fund drive enabled construction to resume in 1961. Spectacular embellishments included the replica Doors of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti, and the Gabriel Loire Canticle of the Sun faceted glass rose window. On November 20, 1964, the largely completed Grace Cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Pike, witnessed by civic and national leaders, and televised live in the Bay Area. The second part of the consecration festivity was the first Holy Communion using the new central High Altar, on November 22, 1964.

In addition to his pivotal role in cathedral completion, Dean Bartlett built up the cathedral staff and congregation, and founded the Cathedral School for Boys, one of the premiere boy’s schools in San Francisco. He raised the profile of Grace Cathedral both locally and nationally. A visit in 1965 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. drew the largest crowd ever gathered at the Cathedral, and later in the year Duke Ellington premiered his Concert at the Cathedral.  The cathedral Close or block was completed in 1995 with a new front stairway, courtyard Chapter House, and Cathedral School addition.

Here’s a few shots of Grace Cathedral I took awhile back.  There’s a video I made at the end.  Enjoy! 

 
Grace Cathedral- The Photography Of Steve Holderfield

The Dinosaurs that survived adapted to the new realities.  I’ve been selling real estate and managing Realtors for many years and the one thing that I have learned is that to survive in this business Realtors need to be adaptive to the ever changing real estate market. We have experienced the most mind bending changes in the market in recent years, with the collapse in home values and all the regulatory changes that have happened and that continue to hit us. Imagine what it would be like for a Realtor, for example, to simply attempt to do business the same as we did in 2000, today in 2010. You’d go broke and you wouldn’t serve your clients well. An example of this is short sales. Prior to about 1995 I hadn’t ever done a traditional short sale. In those days we called them a “Cram-Down”, where we negotiated with lenders to get them to accept less than the amount owed. The process in those days was much different than today. Since 1995, as a manager of larger offices, I think I have probably participated in the negotiations on over 200 short sales on both on my own transactions as well as transactions instituted by agents under my supervision. Additionally, in an effort to serve my clients and my agents more deeply, I have become qualified as a Certified Distressed Property Expert, (CDPE) through my participation in intensive training. My point is that this kind of adaptation is what is necessary for a Realtor to succeed… to serve his or her clients deeply. Without adapting you just become irrelevant.

I think the need to adapt is really a part of everyday life today if you own or hope to own real estate in this new world we all find ourselves in.   An example of the need to adapt is property values…  If you have discovered that your home’s value is less than your debt on your home or you are having trouble making your mortgage payment or feel distress approaching… now is the time for you to adapt to the realities of this market. You do have options, but time is of the essence. The faster you take steps to adapt, the better the outcome will be for you. To learn more, go to www.morethanashortsale.info.

The banks are back in the business of foreclosure, Remember last year that many banks had voluntarily instituted moratoriums on foreclosing on homeowners. Well this moritoriums have now pretty much expired and we have a surge in foreclsoure activity. Read more: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/california-foreclosure-sales-soar-in-march-2010-04-19.

So what do you do if you feeling that distress is approaching and you are worried that you can’t continue making your mortgage payment? To make matter worse, you may have discovered that you owe more on your home tham its worth in today’s market. Well you do have options. Consider having us negotiate a short sale with your lender. To find out more go to www.morethanashortsale.info. We have successfully negoatiated short sales with most major lenders and can help you. Remember, you do have options and the quicker you act the better the outcome will be. Contact us today if you need help.

Time will tell if this trend will hold. If you are on the fence… my advice is to buy now as we have the lowest values in years and more importantly you can still get a mortgage at historically low levels … around 6%!