Happy New Year! — The Official Blog Launch

Happy New Year everyone!  I’d intended to illustrate this post with suitable icons for every winter tradition from Christmas to Kwanzaa but decided against it when I  couldn’t think of a suitable graphic for non-believers.  And why should they (we) feel left out?

The image is of a sculpture by Rodin.  I saw it in the Rodin Museum in Paris during the summer of 2008 and, like so many of his sculptures, it seemed to glow from the inside.  For me, these hands express the tenderness and grace that we humans are capable of.  My wish for the New Year is that there be more of both in this  world.

And now, drum roll please….

This is the “official” launch of my blog, which I began writing in earnest last September.

As someone who has reached “a certain age”, I find blogging itself an interesting phenomenon, so I think it’s worth explaining what I hope to do with this blog and why.  Herewith a candid interview with yours truly….

How will your blog be different from other real estate blogs? Good question Misha.  There are lots of real estate agents and brokers who have beautiful websites full of  useful links, gorgeous pictures, and information feeds from other sources.  Very few of them spend a lot of time researching and writing substantive posts on the real estate market (some exceptions are included in my blogroll).  There are other real estate blogs that have a particular take on a specific issue  — for example, East Bay Housing Bubble (on my blogroll) covers… you guessed it.  Still others, like my friends at TheFrontSteps,  blog on everything from the latest real estate news to the best or worst new property listing for the week, and still have time to run a contest on who is San Francisco’s cutest real estate agent.

My blog will be mostly about real estate data and trends, both from a macro and micro point of view.  For example, several recent posts were on a real estate conference about the California real estate market in the context of the global economy. Another post compared  sales price trends of  individual neighborhoods (MLS districts) within San Francisco.  Yet another discussed the often quoted Case-Shiller Index and why it presents a somewhat misleading picture of the San Francisco market.

I’ll also cover subjects that I think are of interest to people who own or are thinking about buying residential property in San Francisco — how much does it cost to put in a garage or adding a new floor, for example.

And  from time to time, I’ll blog about other stuff that interests me — including blogging itself.  It’s a strange phenomenon, this intersection of the personal and the professional, the private and the public.  It almost seems wrong to blog and not be self-conscious about it.

How often will you blog? I hope to post once or twice a week.  My posts tend to be longer because of the nature of the subjects I cover.  And they take more time to research.

Why do you blog? Ah yes, why indeed!  First of all, blogging allows me to combine two of my main interests:  real estate and ‘riting.  Secondly, I believe that people want to know who they’re dealing with.  My posts are my opinions, my research, my writing.  They say something about me, my judgment, my interests.  If you find them useful, then perhaps you’ll think of me when you or someone you know are thinking about buying or selling property.  There’s the sales pitch, and it’s the only one you’ll find on this blog.

So Happy New Year one and all!  Thanks for coming! Come back often. Subscribe to my RSS feed.  Tell me how I can improve this blog and what subjects you’d like to see covered.

And please comment vigorously and often on my posts, or email me.   Because without you, this blog is just me talking to myself.