Steve Holderfield's Real Estate Blog

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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!

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!

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• 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)

Yesterday we visited the San Francisco landmark, “The Buena Vista”.  Today we will visit another San Francisco historical landmark on Nob Hill, Grace Cathedral.  The address of this beuatiful place of worship is 1100 California Street San Francisco, CA 94108.   Here’s a little history of the church from their website:   The original church known as Grace Chapel was built on a muddy Powell Street near Jackson Street and opened on December 30, 1849, just feet away from n Nob Hill but it had a more humble its predecessor, Holy Trinity Church.  In 1851 a larger wooden church was built.  The wealth from the Gold Rush assured the church’s early survival and in 1860 the cornerstone of the cathedral was laid.  The stately brick gothic church known as Grace Church was consecrated in 1862. 

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

This is really good news… a private company backing the purchase of residential mortgages packaged as an investment. This “secondary market” due to the collpase of the housing market has all but dried up. This missing element to our market is one of the reasons that we all have been fearing an increase in interest rates which would be devastating to an already weak market. If there is no vehicle for banks to sell the loans they make, there is no source to re-capture the capital needed to make additional loans. Unless there is an active secondary market, the only ultimate solution for banks to sell their loans would be to enhance the desirebility of these investments through increasing the yeild through higher interest rates… not a great solution for consumers. Read on here: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/redwood-trust-readies-first-private-label-rmbs-deal-in-two-years-2010-04-22

We all have been reeling from the tumult we have had here in the California real estate market. Values in most markets have dropped 40% or more in recent years. With the massive federal debt that has been created in an attempt to improve our markets we all have been fearing the inevitable rise in our interest rates, perhaps to higher than acceptable levels to most buyers. We in the real estate community have feared a huge increase in our interest rates which would stall any recovery in the market. We have received some recent good news about interest rates which is really welcomed. Read on… http://www.dsnews.com/articles/upward-climb-comes-to-halt-as-mortgage-rates-ease-2010-04-15

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%!