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Have you noticed that this home (victim of a fire over 17 years ago) is on blocks and moving side to side on the lot? Here’s what the planning dept has on it: ALTER (E) CHURCH TO 3 UNITS BUILDING. … Continue reading
Budget cuts have led San Francisco to foist responsibility for maintaining thousands of street trees onto some perturbed homeowners, but there are still dozens of San Franciscans willing to pay to have magnolias, arbutuses and sweet michelias planted in front of their houses – and their upkeep.
More than 50 trees were planted Saturday in the city’s Excelsior district by the San Francisco nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest to help green a neighborhood that legendary urban tree planter Charlie Starbuck described as “way under-treed.” All were requested and paid for by the property owners.
“We thought it would make the house and the street prettier,” said Arminda King, a high school teacher who owns a home in the Excelsior, as she worked with a team of volunteers through a steady drizzle on Saturday, planting trees in small square plots of cinnamon-colored dirt along the sidewalk where concrete had recently reigned.
“We were definitely also thinking about our property value,” said King, who paid $75 for a flowering cherry tree, one of 32 trees that were planted in front of Excelsior homes Saturday. Twenty-two others were planted on the grounds of Cleveland Elementary School or along the sidewalk in front of it.
Dan Flanagan, executive director at the nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest, which plants about 1,200 trees a year in the city, said studies have indicated home values increase by 7 to 10 percent on a tree-lined street.
The planting costs for King and others in Saturday’s effort were subsidized by a $40,000 donation from Wells Fargo, which is working with the nonprofit to plant 160 trees in the city’s least-shaded neighborhoods as part of the company’s 160th anniversary celebration.
The direct cost for planting a street tree in San Francisco is actually about $450, Flanagan said, and his nonprofit typically charges $135 for the first tree.
Saturday’s price was certainly right for Craig Wong, the executive director of Grace Urban Ministries, who has been going through a type of tree purgatory with the city ever since a school bus driver accidentally took out the tree in front of Wong’s Excelsior home over a year ago.
Wong said he promptly called the Department of Public Works to report the downing and to get help removing the tree. He said he was rewarded with a $1,700 fine for illegally removing a tree.
After battling the city for months, the ticket was voided after he agreed to pay $300 and get a permit to plant a new tree, Wong said.
“I felt I was doing the responsible thing,” Wong said. “And they tried to fine me. … This is not the way to treat your citizens, to shock them with a $1,700 bill.”
Other homeowners got a surprise in January when the city sent out notices it was starting to transfer responsibility for 23,000 street trees – and their upkeep costs – to residents.
The move is expected to save the city about $300,000 this year. It will take about seven years for all 23,000 trees to be transferred off the city’s rolls.
About two-thirds of the city’s more than 100,000 street trees already are privately maintained. Many were transferred to private property owners several years ago, and trees planted in recent years have automatically been placed in property owners’ care.
Gloria Chan, a Department of Public Works spokeswoman, said she couldn’t address the specifics of Wong’s situation but noted: “Everyone has to follow the same process.”
Despite the rain, Wong and a volunteer corps of fellow tree planters were in an upbeat mood Saturday, taking directions from Starbuck, who has been planting trees for 30 years, as they moved from block to block.
“One in back, two in front to protect from car doors,” Starbuck directed as they placed stakes to protect a new cherry tree on a block of Excelsior Avenue near Paris Street, where it was the lone piece of greenery to pierce the sidewalk.
“Goodbye, tree,” King said kindly as they moved on to the next spot. “Good luck.”
John Coté is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. jcote@sfchronicle.com
This article appeared on page C – 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/24/BAPE1NPQVK.DTL#ixzz1q9BGUk5o
San Franciscans are more optimistic than they have been in years, according to a CityBeat Poll released by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce last week.
According to the poll, conducted with 500 City voters, 58 percent of San Franciscans believe the City is going in the right direction. That’s double the amount from just two years ago.
This optimism has helped reinvigorate our local real estate market. You can see renewed confidence in both our buyers and sellers, and that mindset is essential to a healthy market. We’re glad to see it’s making a comeback!
This is a fun article that ran in the Chonicle lately. How many of these local landmarks do you recognize? Here’s the link for all the 20 the author lists:
http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2012/02/28/underrated-landmarks-of-the-bay-area/
Listed at $499. Call us to arrange a showing!
Spacious contemporary TOP FLOOR condo in a great location! Triangulated between Duboce Park, Lower Haight, and Market Street, this home is really in the center of it all, yet on a quiet street away from the fray. A wonderfully laid out one bedroom with remodeled bathroom, updated kitchen with never been used appliances, hardwood floors throughout, and great closet space. The light filled living/dining room is perfect for entertaining, and the views to downtown and the East Bay hills are remarkable. Deeded parking, additional storage and best of all – the very reasonable HOA dues ($346/month) for this unit have been PRE-PAID by the Seller through July 2013!! Walk Score of 91, but it should be 100 with every amenity within a few blocks.
Including a balcony with a view!
How about life on an enchanting and quintisential San Francisco walk?
This new listing at 14 Macondray Lane is on the market.
The views are amazing! Call us for details or request a link to the property website.
(PS, It is expensive!)
Explore the new spots in Hayes Valley!
Many great housing options and great central location with easy access to downtown. Let us know if you would like to see what’s available today!
In this period of very low inventory, we are seeing the properties that do come on the market get LOADS of attention from buyers….making this a great time to sell, since competing buyers is what drives prices upward.
Here is a re-post from SF Gate’s “On the Block”
Back in October, we wrote about the lack of homes for sale. Despite what one would think about a still very weak housing market where prices continue to trend down, the supply of available homes for sale is following suit. In December, the number of homes for sale in San Francisco hit a 12 month low. Digging into the raw data, our analytical friends over at Redfin found that given the relatively sparse number of homes on the market, it’s becoming more of a – surprise! – seller’s market out there.
In a balanced market, we’d see five to six months of supply, which is the time it would take to sell all the homes on the market given the pace of sales. In San Francisco, December hit a 12-month low with 1.6 months of supply, meaning it’s even more of a seller’s market.
With less and less homes on the market, is it becoming a seller’s market?The chart above, courtesy of Redfin, shows the continuous drop in the number of homes on the market since the summer season wound down in September.
Nationally, supply was also at its lowest at year end compared to the last 4 years. As the Wall Street Journal writes, the lack of supply – while usually it means a good think for the market – could be a bit deceptive in today’s real estate environment.
But appearances can be deceiving, and it remains to be seen whether the drop is the beginning of a real recovery or if inventory is being held down by sellers waiting for prices to pick up and banks moving slowly on foreclosures.
The 1.89 million homes on the market at the end of December represented a 6% decline from November and a 22.3% decline from one year ago, according to data compiled by Realtor.com.
One thing is for certain – if you are thinking of selling, winter has typically seen better results , thanks in part to lower number of homes meaning less competition. And this is even more true this winter.
This foreclosed property (right) in the Mission had 15 offers and sold way over the (artificially) low asking price.
The property below was a ‘regular’ sale (not a short sale or foreclosure) in Noe Valley also had multiple offers…. Call us for details!
3 Bedrooms, 31/2 Baths in a great walking location. Call us for details!
Custom owner-built new home–solar electricity, radiant floor heat, elevator from garage to main level, outdoor swimming pool! Bright home with open living area, large skylit central staircase, large windows. Kitchen open to semi-formal dining rm, granite counters and SS appls, incl Viking, Bosch, and Thermador. Ideal 3/2 on upper level, spacious master with partial Downtown views and Crema Marfil marble bath. Two other bdrms have partial Hills views. White with blue trim hall bath and washer/dryer complete this level. Large family room with full bath on lower level has multiple French doors that open onto urban oasis of a swimming pool with custom bench seating and outdoor kitchen.
DRE#: CS: 01507349 MH: 01331252
Zephyr Real Estate
4040 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
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