How S.F.’s boom stacks up against the dot-com bubble
April 11, 2012 by Doors Of Your Life · Leave a Comment
If San Francisco’s tech boom doesn’t strike seasoned observers as a dot-com-style bubble, it’s not a sign that things aren’t crazy now. It’s more a sign of how out-of-control crazy they were then.
Consider that the $11.78 billion in venture capital pumped into Bay Area companies in 2011 represents a big increase from 2010’s $9.2 billion. That pales in comparison with the more than $50 billion poured in in 1999-2000, $33.6 billion of it in 2000 alone, a number which has been approached neither before nor since.
As to where that money went, 1999’s top venture capital recipient was Egreetings Network, which swept up $750.3 million in investment and then went public. It managed to lose 93 percent of its value by the time its remains were acquired 18 months later. (Others in the Bay Area VC top 10 for that year: ill-fated online grocer Webvan, no fewer than three now-extinct Internet companies selling pet supplies and LookSmart — which, in retrospect, didn’t.)
San Francisco employment has been on a steady rise since cratering in 2008, but at 422,700 at the end of 2011, it still has a long way to go to hit the 456,700 registered in 2000 at the peak of the last boom. Bay Area unemployment hit bottom at a now inconceivable 3.6 percent; today, 8 percent makes San Francisco a star performer, compared to the rest of California, trailing only Marin and San Mateo counties.
And office rents passed $100 per square foot during the most florid parts of dot-com mania. Even with a 39 percent rise from their 2010 nadir, average San Francisco asking rents are barely $50 a square foot, with no reliable reports of anyone signing a more recent deal above $70.
Meanwhile, apartment rents are again escalating and tales circulate anew of landlords being beseiged by dozens of credit-report-bearing tenants jousting for the keys to a single unit. But things still have not reached the levels of 2000 — when one dog-owning, would-be San Francisco tenant was helpfully told by a landlord that a better solution than his waiving the no-pet clause would be to have the dog put to sleep.
Reprinted from San Francisco’s Business Times – Patrick Hoge, Reporter
Where the Rich Want to Live
April 3, 2012 by Doors Of Your Life · Leave a Comment
Monte Carlo, Monaco is home to the most expensive prime real estate in the world. But according to a study by luxury real estate consultancy Knight Frank, the world’s rich prefer to live in London and New York.
The emerging markets of Asia and Latin America might be where all the world’s growth is heading, but the people that are making the most money off that growth still want to live and invest in Western cities.
Top Ten Today
1. London
2. New York
3. Hong Kong
4. Paris
5. Singapore
6. Miami
7. Geneva
8. Shanghai
9. Beijing
10. Berlin
Read the complete Forbes article here: Where the Rich Want to Live
Luxury condos at S.F. Waterfront get key OKs
March 26, 2012 by Doors Of Your Life · Leave a Comment
A series of luxury condominiums proposed for San Francisco’s waterfront took a major step toward construction Thursday when city agencies handed the project key approvals.
The proposed project would build two residential buildings with a combined 134 dwelling units on a 3.2-acre, triangle-shaped site on the north side of Washington Street between the Embarcadero and Drumm Street. The existing Golden Gateway Tennis and Swim Club and surface parking lot would be demolished.
read more here: Luxury condos at S.F. waterfront
The Hot Spot for the Rising Tech Generation
March 24, 2012 by Doors Of Your Life · Leave a Comment
Housing prices in the San Francisco Bay area are once again soaring, thanks to an infusion of cash from the rising shares of Apple and Google and the initial public offerings by Zynga, LinkedIn, Yelp and soon Facebook, expected to be the largest in Internet history. But while a previous generation of dot-com executives opted for mansions in wealthy San Francisco neighborhoods like Pacific Heights and tony Silicon Valley suburbs like Atherton, this generation is gravitating to modest homes and condos in grittier parts of the city.
Ground zero of the current tech-fueled real-estate boom is the Mission, formerly a majority Hispanic neighborhood on the southern edge of San Francisco that’s close to the main arteries that link San Francisco to Silicon Valley. Median home prices in the Mission grew 44% in December compared with a year earlier. Adjacent Noe Valley had a rise of 31% over that same period, according to the San Francisco Association of Realtors. The average number of days homes sat on the market in both neighborhoods has almost halved over the past year.
To read the entire WSJ article, click here: San Francisco’s Hot Real Estate Market
2550 35th Avenue
March 8, 2012 by Doors Of Your Life · Leave a Comment
SOLD!
This classic full five center patio home was last purchased by a San Francisco police sergeant and his wife in 1939! At that time this home was BEACHFRONT! Lovingly maintained, this large single family home features curved archways, wall sconces, a wood burning fireplace and wood floors throughout. Both bedrooms on the main level are spacious and both have walk-in closets. There is interior access to a large garage where you will find room for two cars, abundant storage, laundry hookups, and a large bonus room and half bath. On an oversized lot, the huge yard is ripe with possibilities. For 73 years, one family called this house their home. This is a unique opportunity for you and your family to be next, to make this home your own.
- 2 bedroom / 1 bath
- Wood burning Fireplace
- Expansive garage
- Bonus Room and Bath down
- Built in 1939
- 1500 sq ft (per tax records)
- Large lot – 2996 sq ft (per tax records)
