Author Archives: Misha

On the Economic Front, A Rare Voice of Optimism

It’s hard to find much cause for hope these days.  The headlines tell us every day about tectonic shifts in our economic landscape.  We read about layoffs spiraling into the millions, major institutions crumbling, government bail-outs of unprecedented proportion.  Just … Continue reading

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DOM Roll Please

A couple of posts ago, we dispensed with Absorption Rate as a good barometer of the market since there appeared to be no correlation between how much inventory was available in relation to sales rates and where median prices were … Continue reading

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…And what $850,000 buys in Noe Valley

4317 24th Street @ Douglass originally listed back in October for a cool $995,000.  It’s advertised as a  4 BR/2.5 BA.  (Ahem.  This is a fixer folks.) Interesting to note that 4209 24th Street, just a block away and very … Continue reading

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What $2.1 million buys in Noe Valley

Out on brokers’ tour yesterday, I looked in on two homes  available in my Noe Valley neighborhood, priced within $2,000 of each other.  731 Douglass (at 24th Street) sold in March 2005 for $1.944 million and a mere $29o,000 in … Continue reading

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Absorption R.I.P.

After talking to people about my last post on Absorption Rates and the lack of a correlation between slower absorption and lower median prices (or faster absorption and higher prices), I got the impression that there was some curiosity — … Continue reading

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Revised Absorption Chart, but the results are the same, only worse

Thanks, Jean-Claude for making me take a second look at my methodology on my Absorption Chart.  I had anticipated your point about the lag between listing dates and sales but had unfortunately gotten the formula backwards in my chart — … Continue reading

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Supply/Demand: Does it predict price? Maybe not.

Now hold on there, matie!  Basic economic theory  says more supply than demand, prices will fall, right?  Well take a look at this graph. It shows the absorption rate of single family home listings from January 2006 through December 2008 … Continue reading

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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) … Continue reading

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The Credit Crunch from the Other Side of the Desk

I’ve written a piece as a guest-writer for The Front Steps, one of the better blogs on SF Real Estate. After talking to loan officers and loan brokers for several weeks about the lending environment, here are the takeaways: Have … Continue reading

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Maybe it’s time to buy that first house….

That’s what New York Times journalist Ron Lieber discusses in Saturday’s Business Section.  You can find a copy of the article here.  Of course, nobody really knows where the real estate market is headed but Lieber suggests that now could … Continue reading

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