Whole Foods Signs Lease for Stanyan Cala Location

The Haight Ashbury will finally get its own full-service grocery store, which has been lacking from the neighborhood since Cala Foods closed its doors over 3 years ago. Whole Foods Market has signed a lease to occupy the Stanyan Street Cala location, according to a letter distributed by Mark Brennan to Haight Ashbury neighborhood groups. Different than the original proposal to build a flagship Whole Foods market and a housing development above, the current agreement calls for Whole Foods to occupy the current building without making changes to the building size or the parking lot on the site. This is great news for residents, as it means the Whole Foods will open sooner - Mr. Brennan estimates late 2010 - than anyone anticipated.

Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com

Let's Make a (Multi Million Dollar) Deal

A recent San Francisco Chronicle article recognized an increase in default notices in the Bay Areas’ high end markets – noticeably missing from the list: any of San Francisco’s most expensive zip codes. A quick look at foreclosure stats on this chart show only a few foreclosures per high end neighborhood for Q2 2009, and some of those rates were lower than their stats the same period of 2008.

The good news for buyers is that there is an overabundance of high end properties on the market, a total of 20 exquisite homes on the north side of the City ranging from $4.1 Million up to $65 Million. Although 45% of these properties have had at least one price reduction since they first appeared on the market, sellers still appear unrealistic about what buyers are willing to pay in the current climate. With a combined average of 225 days on the market, some sellers may be growing weary of the selling process, which, combined with the continuation of low interest rates while 2009 coming to a close, makes this an opportune time to aggressively negotiate a great deal on a high-end home.

Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com

SFopenhome.com: New Online Open House Search

The San Francisco Association of Realtors has launched a website, sfopenhome.com, that draws its Open Homes information directly from the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Open home information in newspapers and their websites, as well as in specific realty company websites, typically are an additional step or expense that the Realtor must make to market a home to the public. Since sfopenhome.com pulls information directly from open house information that Realtors enter into the MLS listing information, the site has the opportunity to offer many more open house profiles than any newspaper or realty site can.

Sfopenhome.com operates on the same platform as the San Francisco MLS, which is simple once you understand San Francisco's real estate districts and sub-districts. The website offers a clean, consice map of the districts, and you can click through from a district to its sub-districts. From there you will have to go back to the main search page and enter the information you gleaned. The result is a complete summary list of properties with open houses within your parameters. You can select to see more details on each listing, and you will be shown the public MLS listing information.

There are some downsides: first, whether you are computer-savvy or not, the search fields are cumbersome and the set-up could be more efficient/user-friendly (but I also feel that way about the MLS platform). Secondly, if the Realtor never bothers to enter the open house details into his or her MLS listing, then that open house won't be pulled into the sfopenhome.com database. Overall, this is a good one-stop shop for the weekend open house warrior.

Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com

The Civic Minded

For as long as I can remember, my grandmother was vehement in her efforts to push city officials and public entities to provide a safe environment for the citizens of St. Louis Park, MN. From unsafe crosswalks to precariously dim-lit parking lots, if Jayne was impacted by it the city heard about it. And fixed it all.

Now you can be Jayne too, with the help of a new website called SeeClickFix. The site gives "power to the community" by allowing the general public to report (See & Click) any safety hazard or nuisance on a Google-based map. Diehards then band together and work collectively to resolve the situation (Fix!). The concept does not necessarily bypass working within San Francisco city's red tape, but rather get people together to be a big enough voice to get themselves heard. Even more, it's entertaining: you can watch the real-time issues get reported, with the help of the sidebar navigator.

Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com

JUST LISTED: TOP FLOOR VIEW UNIT AT THE PALMS

JUST LISTED

555 4TH STREET UNIT 930

at

THE PALMS

$630,000 ~ Open Sundays, 2-4 and shown by appointment. This top floor 1 bedroom 1 bath condo in the Heart of Soma will be your sanctuary in the City! Upgraded kitchen with Sub-Zero refrigerator and all Bosch appliances. Wonderful outlooks to Soma and AT&T Park. Southern exposure windows make this unit bright and cheery all day long.

The Palms is a hip urban community and a full service building. It offers a 24 hour doorman, concierge service, gym, yoga studio, private movie theater, club room, and a business center. It is just blocks away from the best Soma has to offer, including restaurants, grocery stores, Caltrain and the Google Shuttle.

This unit comes with 1 car deeded parking. Visit the website at http://www.thepalmsunit930.com/ for more information.

Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com

Once a Firehouse, Now a $6 Million Spread

I don't normally post about singular properties, but a $6 million listing in Noe Valley caught my eye. This firehouse built in 1909 was sold by the San Francisco Fire Department in 1959 and used as an artist's studio and residence. Last sold in 2006 for $2,100,000 (under asking), it comes to us now dramatically reformed and doubled in size (6140 sq. feet per MLS, and yes, that's $1038/sq. ft.).

3618 22nd Street [Paragon]




Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com

Nobody Left California in 2007, Either.

Last year I wrote on the United Van Lines 2006 report, which stated that there was little to no change in California’s population. United Van Lines, the largest household moving company in the United States, released its 2007 annual report on US Migration earlier this month. California's statistics for 2007 came out the same.

The company report on moves across the nation in 2007 stated that North Carolina was the top state for inbound residents for the second year in a row. Nevada also kept its second place slot. The top states for inbound traffic were in the South and the West, the company reports, including Alabama, South Carolina, West Virginia, Oregon, Arizona and Wyoming. Biggest population loser? Detroit, Michigan.

California saw its lowest annual exodus of residents for the 5th straight year. Considering the recent mortgage crisis, record sales declines, and high foreclosure rates in various communities throughout the state, it seems that quite a few people are still staying put.

Interestingly, today the San Francisco Chronicle also released details from the Census Bureau’s 2007 report on how Americans have moved, and noted that Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin & San Antonio) and Georgia (Atlanta) were the top two states for incoming residents. Both the Chron and United Vanlines reports confirmed that the Southern and Western regions saw the biggest jump in population.

And a bright note… also coming from both reports: New Orleans saw its first year of increased inbound migration since Hurricane Katrina.

Are you ready to buy or sell your home? Contact me today.
Amy Blakeley, REALTOR®
McGuire Real Estate
www.AmyBlakeley.com
ablakeley at mcguire.com