“Bust” or not, we think Fortune’s “6 strategies” are generally sound advice: 1. Lower your expectations 2. Drive a hard bargain 3. Consider renting 4. Step away from the exotic mortgage 5. Shop for a rate drop 6. Keep an eye on your equity ∙ 6 strategies to survive... Read More »

Three days ago we wrote, “Perhaps our real concern should be for the MLS itself. Without some innovative thinking about how to effectively open it up on the front end (i.e., reducing the cost/restrictions of adding/sharing listings), its years could be numbered. (Cue the growing number of alternative listing... Read More »

Two months ago, a tipster let us – and our “plugged in” readers – know that the San Francisco Multiple Listing Service (San Francisco Association of Realtors MLS) would be eliminating direct public access to listings “sometime soon.” That time is now four weeks away (January 1, 2007). And... Read More »

A friendly reminder that property taxes are due by December 11th this year (normally the 10th, but extended as the 10th falls on a weekend). And as Cece Blase points out in the “Buzz“, extreme procrastinators can pay online (“payments received by 11:59pm on December 11, 2006 will be... Read More »

Forget that rogue sea lion, it’s the shark that captures all of our attention today. PropertyShark added free foreclosure listings for San Francisco to its site this afternoon (fourteen currently listed). For example, according to PropertyShark, 311 Marina Blvd last changed hands on 6/2/2004 for $2,350,000 and the property... Read More »

An interesting article on an alternative home financing organization: Ameen Housing Cooperative, founded in 1986, has helped 22 families buy homes in Silicon Valley and one family buy in Sacramento through a rent-to-own plan that avoids interest but still allows the cooperative to make a profit, in keeping with... Read More »

If you’re a regular reader, you probably know that we always include the following caveat on our San Francisco Inventory Updates: “Not including unlisted inventory.” Well, that’s about to change. Over the better part of the past year we’ve been building a database on over 60 new developments ranging... Read More »

It has been three weeks since Labor Day and new listings of single family homes, condos, and TICs continue to outpace sales in San Francisco (although the gap has narrowed). Over the past week, roughly 230 new listings hit the MLS and the inventory of Active listed units in... Read More »

We have a funny feeling that “meanboy” was aiming for sarcasm with his “Quite a reduction” remark (and three comments) over on our “The Cost Coming Down?” post. Regardless, he illustrates one of our points from yesterday quite well. 965 Elizabeth was on the market for 74 days at... Read More »

The New York Times real estate blog (“The Walk-Through”) officially called it quits this afternoon: “As you may have noticed, The Walk-Through has been awfully quiet lately. It had a good run, but we’ve decided to turn our focus to other parts of our real estate pages.” In related... Read More »