Results tagged “real_estate”

A prayer vigil and rally is scheduled to begin at noon at the Federal Reserve at 101 Market St. today, calling for solutions to widespread foreclosures. Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is currently on a national tour promoting his nonprofit RainbowPUSH Coalition's campaign for mortgage relief for homeowners facing foreclosure, is scheduled to appear. Jackson and other religious and community leaders are putting pressure on lenders to restructure loans in order to avoid foreclosures.

Curbed reports, via SocketSite, that Albion Castle, the former Albion Porter Ale Brewery in Hunters Point, is up for sale again. The castle is a historic building featuring 200-foot deep caverns that lead to a natural springs next door. It used to be the home of Laughing Squid’s web hosting tech support center and was host to their blog launch party in 2005 (which we still kick ourselves for not attending), soon before it sold for $2.1 million. The castle has been restored, and the current asking price is $2.9 million. The newest owner had planned on bringing back the brewery and opening a restaurant, which probably would have been a feat in this economy. Check out Scott Beale's photos of the castle before the restoration.

The house the ragtag orphans of "Party of Five" called home is up on the market. SiteSocket Curbed reports that the Pacific Heights house, located 2311 Broadway, used in the FOX drama is back on the market after being sold on 1999 for $5.4 million. It's the same spot where Neve Campbell invented her patented brand of nose-crinkle acting. So, obviously, the place should be demolished, the earth underneath salted. But if you want to throw down an offer, have at it. This comes on the heels of the Russian Hill house used in that movie where the Governor of California got knocked up.

The details were fuzzier before, and it seemed like the place was being prepped for some kind of exposure. Now it is becoming clear that the co-owners of Neverland, a real estate firm called Colony Capital LLC, want to offload the place to some entrepreneur or mega-wealthy fan so that they can turn it into the tourist attraction it seems destined to become. They opened the property to the news media on Thursday, seemingly with the hope of showing it off to potential buyers. And Michael hadn't even been living there for four years -- after his 2005 child molestation trial he felt the spirit of the place had been destroyed, and he moved to another house five miles up the road. In 2008 sold a share of the house to Colony Capital in order to assist with $24 million in mortgage arrears. So the road trip is still on, kids! All you have to do is show a press credential or pretend to be a wealthy buyer to get in!

Real estate agents have always reveled in transforming a neighborhood, or a sub-section of a shitty neighborhood, through the kind of re-branding that turns a place like Hell's Kitchen in NYC into Midtown West. Well, the San Francisco Association of Realtors are releasing their latest map, which is going to affect the official listing location of every property in town, and it includes such creative renamings as Barbary Coast for the Financial District, and NoPa for that section of the Western Addition that's home to a certain popular restaurant. Apparently the realtors stopped short of including TenderNob, because we all know that's kind of bullshit (and there's so few for-sale properties there that the real estate people don't give a shit). Says Matthew Borland, the agent leading the remapping, "the changes had to reflect a true change and feel of the fabric of a neighborhood."

For all you real estate data wonks and renters who like to feel smug: the median price of homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area is down 41% over last year, to $304,000. This also marks a pretty steep fall from the peak median price of July 2007 which was $665,000.

New real estate data from MDA DataQuick is further spelling out the already obviously grim picture in the local housing market, which is not as obviously and horribly grim as elsewhere in the nation but still obviously sucks. Basically, the data, especially outside of San Francisco County, is based on a relatively small handful sales, because the market's frozen and everyone's sitting on their property if they can possibly help it. Renters out there, give thanks for having no toxic assets! After the jump, more data wonkiness.

One of the biggest gambles (or corrupt city investments, depending on how you see it) in Oakland Redevelopment history, the 665-unit mixed-use development known as the Uptown Project, remains only 37% occupied more than a year after opening, according to recent management reports obtained by the East Bay Express. Arguably 25 of that 37% are occupied by low-income tenants as part of the city-mandated group of units set aside as affordable units.

We had seen a bus ad for some weird house raffle a few weeks ago and were quite puzzled. Then we promptly forgot about it. Since then, news outlets have confirmed it's legit. For $150 or more, you can help support Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, while entering to win a $2.4 million house in the Sunset, or $1.8 million in cash (in case you want to avoid paying out of your pocket for those crazy taxes on the house). There is no limit on entries, until they reach their 37,000 ticket maximum.