A School Near You? SF Unified School Board Reinstates Reason in School Assignments.

In nearly every other city in the country, real estate and public schools have historically had a direct connection.  Parents scour neighborhoods with the “best schools” in hopes of settling down in a location that will guarantee their child admission into the best public schools in the City.  And, for better or worse, it’s looking like that will once again be the case in San Francisco. Read More.

Foreclosures — a real drag on the recovery.

Lengthy delays in processing foreclosures could hamper a quicker recovery of the overall housing industry. An increase in the (proper) facilitation of foreclosure sales is a good thing given that foreclosed properties (especially vacant ones) can depress a real estate market. We thankfully don’t see many foreclosures in San Francisco but it would be great for the overall economy if existing foreclosures were processed and sold leaving more space for “regular” sales.

-Patty Rogers

Foreclosure freeze? Not a good idea.

I don’t mean to say that I’m in favor of banks foreclosing on properties. I’d rather see the banks make a super human effort to do loan modifications. That said, existing foreclosure sales are definitely depressing property values and consumer confidence. That, in turn, can ripple through the economy.

For instance, if banks can’t get their foreclosed properties off of their balance sheets, they could feel a negative effect on their bottom line and pull back on lending. Making lender even more difficult would trigger a bigger credit crunch. Keep in mind that lending is done on a national basis so the pockets of “good” real estate throughout the country are affected the lending crisis. Bottom line,  I don’t think a freeze on foreclosures will do any good. In fact, quite the opposite.

Welcome to our Blog.

For quite some time, we’ve been contemplating whether to have a blog or not. We debated the positives — like contributing to the conversation about real estate, making our views known, and generally adding value to our clients by providing relevant information about the process. Then we thought — what can we say that’s new? Unique? Different?

There are a ton of sites out there that offer oceans of information about real estate. And that’s precisely why we decided to add a blog to our site. Because while there’s a wealth of information, it’s overwhelming for anyone who is not in the business of buying and selling real estate. Our goal is simple: to provide the news you need, in an easily digestible and curated format, so that you can benefit from the knowledge we’ve gained over the years.

Here’s what you can expect from our blog:

We hope you find our posts useful and engaging. And by all means, please let us know what you think.