San Francisco Real Estate with Matt Fuller and Friends

Matt recently returned from the California Association of Realtors 3rd (and final) Business Meeting of 2018 where he learned all about the changes in real estate terminology that will be encoded in the legislation. So, armed with this new information, today on Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we are playing our ever popular game, Question That Answer!

[02:43] We start off with a minor caveat and launch into the new AB 1289 terminology which comes into effect on January 1, 2019.

[03:29] Questions we cover: The person buying the property? The person selling the property? Goodbye to the transferee and the transferor! Information that relates to the client representation?

[05:12] Quick tangent: An example of a change to the dual agency part of what is considered confidential information that happens when this law is updated.

Among other things, with these changes coming into effect, we can no longer disclose the seller’s motivation for selling, which is one of the commonly asked questions and not relevant to the value of the property.

[09:48] Back to the questions: A personal representative acting to sell a property on behalf of a dead person? A person designated to manage assets in a trust? Which one these is generally exempt from completing the transfer disclosure statement? Bonus question: Why does this make sense?

[12:27] The agent that represents the buyer? This was previously confusing terminology, so, we are particularly excited about this one!

Final question: The number of days in which a buyer who receives a revised transfer disclosure statement has, to cancel the contract?

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode leave us a review on your favourite platform, tell your friends and don’t forget to join us again next week!

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Today, on Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we look back on the last year in real estate as we celebrate our one year anniversary as Jackson Fuller Real Estate brokerage.

[00:21] It has been a year since Jackson Fuller Real Estate became an independent brokerage. In that time there have been a lot of shifts (Compass is making a significant impact!) in the San Francisco brokerage community, but we can honestly say that we have had a phenomenal year!

[04:47] Most people appreciate that real estate is a business very focused on relationships; or if it isn’t, it should be. Trust and connections with clients are more important than the name of the company on the business card.

[05:59] What do we wish we knew before we first started? We spent a good amount of time thinking and planning before we started the Jackson Fuller brokerage and even though loyalty made the change bitter sweet, it was the logical next step.

[08:47] Real estate agents are paranoid optimists; agents always have concerns about looming threats to their existence all the while believing that everything will turn out for the best. So, what did we think we could offer by starting our own brokerage? We have more flexibility to do things our way, setting our own rules in what we can offer to our client.

[11:47] Matt finishes this week’s episode with a quick rant about printers and we look at what comes next for our brokerage.

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode leave us a review on your favourite platform, tell your friends and don’t forget to join us again next week!

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A nurse. A lawyer. A teacher. An electrician. In this episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast we talk about what kind of people we've worked with over the years to buy a home in San Francisco.

[00:21] San Francisco is an expensive city, it’s true. Even if you make a great salary, that doesn't guarantee you'll be able to buy a home. San Francisco isn't also just a town for the extremely wealthy. We have worked with people from all walks of life who figured out a way to get in to the San Francisco real estate market. From creative types such as writers and surf board makers, to medical professionals and lawyers, to tech people and entrepreneurs as well as teachers, accountants, electricians and a variety of other professions.

[06:15] Previous generations would often buy a house they would live in for the rest of their life. Today, in San Francisco especially, people buy a house that they can afford to live in and that suits their needs today. If they are able to afford more that they can "grow" into, that's great - but it may not necessarily make sense to wait. This is actually good advice for buying a property in San Francisco. Rather than waiting for an ideal house, something that works for your current situation may make it easier to make a switch later when opportunity and need arises.

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode leave us a review on your favorite platform, tell your friends and don’t forget to join us again next week!

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Welcome to another episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast. This week we focus in on one deceptively tricky real estate statistic: How many homes are for sale, at any given time, in San Francisco?

[00:58] Now, you may ask yourself (like we did): “What could be difficult about figuring this out?” and - as we said - we thought that this sounds like a fairly straightforward number to determine. However, depending on which source you use, the number varies from about 950 properties at the very low end, to 1981 properties at the other end of the scale, with a lot of different numbers in between.

[04:02] Why are we seeing such a large variation in the number of homes for sale that are being reported? There are a number of factors that appear to be skewing the results we are seeing. What are the things to consider when looking at stats about how many homes are currently on the market? There are at least six different factors that account for the huge variation in results: 1. Sources; 2. Off-line property market; 3. Property status; 4. Property types; 5. Statistical smoothing; and 6. New construction.

[14:58] As it is probably abundantly clear by this point, finding the exact number can be a challenge. When you hear a SF real estate statistic, be sure you understand where it is coming from and what the limitations might be. Or, just listen to another Question that Answer episode. Or simply get in touch to see if we can help!

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode please leave us a review on your favorite platform, tell your friends and don’t forget to join us again next week!

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Welcome to another episode of Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast. Join us again this week for the second half of our discussion about title insurance when buying a home in San Francisco. We introduce title and escrow insurance in episode 53, Question That Answer.

[00:21] Picking up where we left off in Episode 53 with items that are found on a title report, Britton begins with another example of a defect in title insurance: a mechanic's lien. Britton introduces the idea of a mechanic's lien and gives a theoretical example of how this might come about. A preliminary title report is designed and supposed to show everything that is recorded in the legal public record against the property. Things that may be recorded in the public record are items like a mechanic's lien, existing owner's tax bill and/or mortgages, unpaid utility bills for utilities like garbage or water, CC&Rs for a condo, to give a few examples. These things are typically called exceptions - think of them like pre-existing conditions for health insurance.

[03:37] After the title company removes the "defects" and you are delivered "clean" title, title insurance policies are designed to protect you from things like an unknown mechanic's lien. One way that title insurance is different than most insurance policies is that you pay for it once and the policy lasts for as long as you own the home and/or mortgage.

[05:45] But... is everything about title insurance policies quite as magical as it seems? The flip side of title insurance companies is that they are, in fact, still insurance companies and act as you’d expect an insurance company to behave. Profit is made when revenue exceeds claims...

[08:32] Which leads to a question we get, do you really need title insurance? Lots of people have different feelings about this one, but unless you are a cash buyer your lender will answer the question for you: you will be getting title insurance.

[12:02] Finally, in residential real estate who traditionally pays for title insurance in San Francisco and how much does it cost?

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed tuning in and join us again next week for another episode!

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This week our San Francisco Real Estate podcast turns to the rearview mirror for a September 2018 market update.

[00:45] There's been chatter in the San Francisco property market about properties not receiving offers and price reductions returning to the marketplace. Does this mean that there is a market shift looming? Are these stories and anecdotes, or leading indicators of a looming market shift? We try and take some real estate market statistics from the San Francisco multiple listing service (MLS) to see if they might shed some light on the situation; is there really a market shift, or is all still noise?

[03:51] Real Estate valuation can be elusively complicated even though it seems simple. It can often include both the hard analysis of statistics as well as the more subjective personal factors that matter when people buy homes. Sample size is also an essential factor, and SF is a (relatively) small market. Most of the statistics that are reported in the media cover the entire bay area (7 or 9 county region, much more area than just SF) and aren't representative of SF in particular. It can be downright impossible to determine the health of the San Francisco real estate market using just those articles.

[07:18] If you want an accurate picture of what's happening in the market make sure you are looking at SF specifically. But, then the situation will also vary depending on a specific neighborhood as well as property type.

[09:00] The interest rates are rising, and we are seeing things are taking a little longer to happen; is this a blip or are things about to fall? We discuss the last time there was a downturn.

[11:06] It is no secret that in the previous few years it has been a rough market for buyers. Currently, the prices aren't falling, but things are taking longer. We share why buyers shouldn't get scared off by this and why it might actually be a good time for them.

[13:37] So, let's look at some stats. Regarding quantity (year-to-date) re-sales are up, pending sales are up overall, sold listings are up overall and active listings are up.

[16:06] Price year-to-date figures show that the sales price for the overall market is up 8% (single families up 17% and condos up 6%). Properties sold over the listing price are also up 4%; so far 81% of single family homes and 61% of condos sold over listing price this year! We also discuss list price received and price per square foot.

[19:30] Finally, we wrap up today by looking at metrics about time on market and months supply of inventory. Are we currently in a balanced market? We look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments or via social!

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed tuning in and join us again next week for another episode!

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Our San Francisco Real Estate podcast turns to title insurance and escrow this week, and to try and make a relatively dry topic a bit more interesting, we decide to do what we do every day for our clients - question that answer! But first, Matt looks in the mirror after a bad podcast performance and a quick review of our stats reveals how very popular game shows are.

[00:54] With the Jargon Jeopardy episode being one of our most popular episodes, and us not wanting to get a letter from anyone's attorney for using a trademarked term, Matt was inspired to come up with a new name for our most popular game show that's a lot like that one with Alex. Question That Answer seemed like a great description because, as we chat about, it is how we help our clients.

[02:35] We also believe it is not only important to get answers, it is also important to understand them. This is where Britton's experience as a high-school teacher (or is it her past life as a private investigator?) comes very useful!

[04:07] Introducing our next topic of escrow and title insurance with the Inaugural round of Question That Answer. Some Questions we cover are: Title Insurance, Title Insurance Companies, Escrow. As a side note - how Escrow is handled in California may vary from your state, and this show is for entertainment purposes!

[08:32] So, how many title insurance policies do we need? Do you have to have it if you are paying cash? What if we’re paying cash and don’t want a title insurance policy? What about if we are not using cash and are getting a loan from a bank instead?

[10:23] Britton explains the difference between the lenders policy and the owner’s policy of title insurance. We’ve been talking about defects, liens, encumbrance and easements but what do these all mean and what are some examples? Britton shares the story of a San Francisco story (perhaps a true story) about a Glen Park home with a major easement for a utility company....

Thank you for joining us for part 1 of this episode. We hope you enjoyed tuning in and don’t forget to join us again next week for part 2!

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Our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, Escrow Out Loud, is at a major milestone: with 52 episodes we now have enough podcasts about San Francisco real estate for you to listen to one every week for an entire year!

Verbal offers, llama trainers, no paperwork...today we talk about an American reality TV show called House Hunters. American reality TV is pretty realistic in terms of portraying real-world experiences, right? We discuss...

[01:20] The premise of House Hunters US (there is also House Hunters International) is that there is a couple (or sometimes just a single) who are looking for a new place to live. Interestingly though, but not overly surprising given this is a realty show, the couple almost never want the same thing.

[03:15] The budgets on the show vary and a lot of the times the city they are in remains a mystery to the viewer. The budget is also typically presented as a source of contention between the couple. In our experience this does not happen very often. More often than not couples tend to agree on the amount they wish to spend.

[06:38] Is the exterior of a home important to you when deciding on a property? On the show this seems to be a very important element in making the final decision on a property. Which reminds of us an earlier podcast, Avocado Green Appliances and Faux Brick where we talked with Kevin from Sawyers Design and his take on viewing a property from the exterior.

[09:18] The couple is always shown three different properties and then they pick one. Only three properties? Hmm this seems unlikely to us. Britton may know the realty behind this reality TV set-up.

[12:47] To wrap up, we don’t recommend that you form your expectations of buying property based on what you see on the show. The process is fairly unrealistic, especially when compared to our experiences with the market in San Francisco.

Thank you for joining us for this week’s episode. We hope you enjoyed tuning in and join us again next week!

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This week on our San Francisco real estate podcast Escrow Out Loud, we decide to play a game (since we recorded this edition on a holiday weekend).

[00:29] Britton is really, really good at Scrabble, but that is not what we are playing today. Today we are playing Jargon Jeopardy!

[02:31] “What is Jargon Jeopardy?”, you may ask. Well, follow along as we play and explain commonly used real estate acronyms.

A few highlights:

SFAR/MSI/PMI/CCR/HOA (Angry Dogs in Elevators and Overweight Chihuahuas)/CID/PUD/HO6/CRS/GRI/CFC/RRR/LOI/LTV/BMR...

Phew! We have a lot of jargon in real estate. And this was just a small sample!

[12:45] Finally, Matt and Britton debate the true meaning of LOL.

Thank you for joining us for this week’s episode. We hope you enjoyed tuning in and join us again next week!

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After catching up on the market situation last week, we got to thinking about real estate statistics and how Realtors use and mis-use them. This week on Escrow Out Loud, our San Francisco Real Estate podcast, we were inspired to chat about one of the most popular real estate statistics in San Francisco: price per square foot.

[00:21] Price per square foot (PPSF or $/SF) is a useful metric for pricing consideration and analysis. But where does the number come from? In San Francisco, MLS listings often contain a square footage measurement that allows us to calculate price per square foot. However, MLS sources for square footage come from a variety of sources, and there are no "square footage police" who verify, regulate, or monitor the reporting of square footage.

Finally, we talk about some property types where price per square foot may be a more useful or accurate measurement than in other areas. In a nutshell, price per square foot is most useful where there is homogenous housing.

[05:38] Another challenge in measuring square footage in existing as-built neighborhoods is the ‘bonus space’ a.k.a “This room was probably built without a permit space”. Given that bonus rooms are typically built without benefit of permits, appraisers don’t value these spaces at the same value (price per square foot) as warranted space within a home.

[07:41] When it comes to information on square footage, it is not only the different sources but also the different methods used to measure the footage that result in inconsistencies. Interior only? Walls? Stairs? Bonus space?

[10:36] Finally, a sales price consists of both market value and personal value. In any given sale, how do we know if the sales price is reflective of actual value or if the price was influenced by a personal factor?

Price per square foot is a great place to start a conversation or exploration of value, but because of the way numbers are measured and reported in San Francisco, it isn’t necessarily a 100% accurate data point.

Thank you for joining us for this week’s episode. We hope you enjoyed tuning in and join us again next week!

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