Hoover school construction upheaval - the ruling will not be appealed

In my previous post Burlingame’s Hoover Elementary Upheaval I reported how less than diligent effort on the part of the Burlingame Elementary school district ended up in the judge Marie Weiner's ruling to halt the Hoover school construction. She ordered a fully fledged environmental impact review at the previous hearing. The school district decided not to appeal it, but ask for permission to secure the size before the environmental impact report is conducted. The judge Weiner made no ruling, but is planning to visit the school to see herself what has to be done. She might appoint an independent consultant to see what is necessary to ensure that the buildings are safe. With the full Environmental Review ahead the school would likely open in 2018 at the earliest. You can more about it in the Daily Journal article.

Burlingame’s Hoover Elementary Upheaval

As Burlingame hoped to alleviate its shortage of space in its elementary schools caused by rapidly growing enrollment, the San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner put a halt to this plan and ordered a full environmental impact report. The plan was to reopen the Hoover Elementary closed in 1979. The Burlingame Elementary re-purchased the school in 2010 and planned to open in this year. However, the lawsuit was filed by local residents who worried about the impact of the school on the traffic. The judge ruled that the construction of the Hoover Elementary must be halted until the environmental impact of the school is thoroughly researched. You can read more about the ruling in the Daily Journal article of May 9, 2014.

Who is right? School opponents or school supporters? The Hoover school was originally opened in 1931 and closed in 1979. Did neighborhood experienced traffic problems then (weren’t cars much larger then, thus taking more spaceJ)? How about the benefits for the city or the neighborhood? It happened that the Canyon Rd area that would be most affected by the school opening is the area where home prices are lagging in contrast with the remainder of Burlingame where home prices have dramatically increased during the last two years, well above pre-real estate crisis levels. Analyzing the data, one could say that home prices in this area has even stagnated. One might think that the new school could reverse the trend.

There will be many more losers of the recent decision independent of the results of environmental studies. The cost renovations and new equipment of $13 M were supposed to be paid by Measure D, a $56 M bond measure passed by Burlingame voters in November 2012. It seems that the 2012 voting was a better time to disagree with the project. How much money is going to be spent for the litigation? And if at the end, the decision will be made to go ahead and open the school, where will the money to open the school come from? Will we need another bond to pay for it? Independent on the final decision, everyone in Burlingame will lose financially (less or more dependent on the length of the litigation and the final decision). Of course, local residents who filed the lawsuit used their rights to challenge the project. The Burlingame Elementary School District failed in its duty to properly research the school impact on the neighborhood traffic. The District should have responded to neighbors’ concerns about traffic impact and address it in appropriate manner averting a full environmental investigation and its unknown consequences. 

Little Hollywood Neighborhood in San Francisco

Many newcomers to San Francisco has never heard about it. Little Hollywood is a small neighborhood in the southeastern edge of San Francisco. It is centered between Blanken Avenue, Bayshore Boulevard and U.S. Route 101. Little Hollywood Park, one of the local landmarks is located on Lathrop Avenue, and the Bayshore Caltrain station just south of the neighborhood, on Tunnel Avenue. It is well hidden in the plane view.

The Little Hollywood was considered to be a part of the Visitacion Valley until recently, but in 2009 together with a few other neighborhoods (see the map), such as Yerba Buena, Barbary Coast it was elevated to become an “independent neighborhood” of San Francisco.

There is ongoing discussion where its name is coming from. It does not look as anyone knows for sure, but according to Ron Filion, the author of the San Francisco Genealogy  some of the tall tales include: "1. Mae West, the actress, built and lived in a large home there during the 1939 International Exposition; 2. That the developer of Hollywood moved north with his plans and duplicated them there; and 3. That it was once a secret enclave of movie stars.” Choose the one you like!

Little Hollywood definitely has a feel of a separate neighborhood. It really is a quiet oasis of palm trees and Spanish architecture. "One of the biggest problems for the neighborhood appears to have been traffic and parking caused by crowds for the 49ers and Giants game” according to Filion, but this is not going to last. Below, are a few pictures of the Little Hollywood neighborhood, both the old and new and its surroundings.

Old Spanish architecture house

A view towards Hwy 101

Mary Teresa Street

Mary Teresa Street / Megan Drive

Lois Lane

So, if you have not discovered Little Hollywood yet, check it out. San Francisco has big plans for the Candlestick Park area just across the highway 101 and these plans will undoubtedly impact the future of this neighborhood.

The America’s Cup 2013 is Over!

Yes, it is all over and I managed to see the final. I had a probate auction in the SF Court that morning, so it worked out really well for me. I am sharing a few pictures taken during the final race in Marina. I have seen a few races before including the one which the Kiwis won, but it was nullified because they exceeded the 40 min time limit. Kiwis were almost there! Following that, the Oracle team rebuilt the boat (or at least it felt like they did). It neither could sail upwind, nor get on its foils in weak wind before. It can now!  It was fun to watch. But nothing can take credit away from Jim Spithill and the team. The pressure they were under was unbelievable and they managed to wrestle the win. Hats off to them! You would think that everyone in San Francisco would be happy, but look to the today’s headline in the San Francisco Chronicle – "Home team takes the Cup – but is San Francisco eager to host again?" It cites one of the (in)famous San Francisco Supervisors - "I think they (The Oracle's Team) should give San Diego the opportunity to subsidize Larry Ellison's hobby." They even took down the bleachers in Marina during the final race. Go figure! Only in San Francisco…

The Mission District is Changing

Change is good. Usually. The changes taking place in the Mission District are quite fast and dramatic. Every day we can see more and more beautifully renovated homes like the ones below.

Grocery stores as the one below are still relatively easy to find.

New ethnic groups bring cultural and culinary diversity. There are Vietnamese restaurants next to restaurants offering authentic Mexican food and restaurants offering Indian and Pakistani food, such as Pakwan.

   

Fritz, a Belgian Waffle place is another good example. Not only does it add to the desired variety but its decoration provides eye-candy. Both, the food and decoration are the brain child of the owner and mosaic artist, Santiago. Check it out!

Craftsmen & Wolves and next to it Dandelion Chocolate are part of the change.

Every now and then we still can see the Old Mission. Or is it also new (7 up and not a can of beer in a brown bag)?

But what happens if everything changes and there is nothing more to change? Or if the change will eliminate those behind its character? Will we get used to the new Mission and forget the old one?  Or will we be missing something? 

HOME BUYING METHODS OTHER THAN COMMISSIONS IN CALIFORNIA

Commissions are the most popular way of paying for real estate agent services when purchasing real estate today. Buyers often believe that their agents are free as they are not asked to pay any money upfront to start working with an agent. These services are not free. The commission is included in the price of a house. So, are there other home buying methods one could use? How do they compare to the commissions?

In this post I am focusing on characterizing the following home buying methods: cash back (or discounting) commonly offered by real estate agents, the Redfin method which combines the use of employees with discounting offered by Redfin and professional services offered by lawyers and the independent brokers, such as Cimpler Real Estate.

Cash back (or discounting) has been quite common in the Bay Area for quite some time. It is a variant of the commission method in which the buyer and his/her agent agree for part of the commission to be refunded to the buyer at transaction completion. Its popularity is fueled by large amount of agents competing for clients. Many newly licensed agents are using it to break to the market helped the established agents to fight back discounters by claiming that they provide inferior and incomplete service. The opposite claim that an agent provides full service, so it has to be superior is often just an empty promise.  It certainly means that agent will charge a full commission, but says nothing about the amount of service to be provided or its quality.

The Redfin Method: The key innovation of the Redfin method is its use of real estate licensees as employees and not independent contractors. Anyone who provides home buying and selling services in California has to be licensed by the State of California, so both agents working as independent contractors (most) and Redfin employees are licensed California real estate agents. Additionally, Redfin is a discounter and offers cash back to clients at the completion of home selling or buying transaction.

The key differentiator of the Redfin’s method is that Redfin’s  real estate licensees are employees, therefore not paid commissions but wages. Redfin believes that they can control the quality of the process better by using employees instead independent contractors, so they will have more happy customers. The main question is "will the best professionals surrender their independence for a steady income of companies such as Redfin?" Will a Redfin employee do everything an independent agent would do? Imagine that you are calling both, an independent contractor and employee during the Giants game. The employee might forego his premium by not responding to a client’s call, but independent contractor would risk the entire commission by doing so. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out who is going to answer your call! At the same time, there is no doubt that Redfin is in a better position to control the quality of the less skilled agents.

Professional fees for home buying: While they are not offered and used as widely as commissions they provide home buyers with the option to pay less. Professional services are offered by many smaller, independent brokers and by real estate lawyers. The key advantage is that you pay only for service you requested and not for all unpaid services your agent provided for other clients (agents working for commissions perform a lot of work for which they are never paid for as transactions frequently fall through) .

• The Cimpler Way is a fee based method of Cimpler Real Estate. Buyers pay fees only at the completion of a home buying transaction. To make first time buyers comfortable and secure with paying fees Cimpler also offers an all inclusive comprehensive service, similar to a full service in a commission based method.  A very important distinction of the Cimpler Way is that discounts are offered by lowering the price of the house and not as cash back to a buyer. Thus, the buyer not only pays less for the house, but also pays less for other services which cost depends on the house price, such as real estate tax, mortgage, home insurance and down payment. Cimpler offers part of its commission (transaction savings) directly to seller increasing seller’s proceeds.  Cimpler allows buyer, either to choose his/her own real estate agent, or to work with a Cimpler selected agent.

• Using a lawyer (who also has real estate license) for selected services is another choice you have. Please note that California is a state that does not require an attorney for closing of a real estate transactions (some states do require it). The payment methods and fees vary for different lawyers, you might pay per hour or pay a fixed fee per transaction for specific service requested. Per hour charges are usually high and add up very quickly, but if a fee for service method is used, buyer pays much less than if a commission method is used. A lawyer will provide the purchase agreement and help buyers to negotiate the final contract. All other services being part of home buying are performed by buyers. This method is mainly used by experienced buyers, most of the time investors, who can perform many services usually performed by agents.

Do your research and choose the method that suits your needs best. This post was prepared using the “Cimpler Advisory for the CA Home Buyers”. The Advisory helps buyers to take better advantage of resources available on the internet to learn how to buy a house and how and when to choose an agent. Most importantly the Advisory also shows how to distinguish between any real estate agent and someone who really is a “real estate professional”. If you are interested to receive the entire copy of the Advisory, please contact the author.

America’s Cup – Races # 6 and #7

Race #6 -  Oracle still ahead of Kiwis

The America's Cup race # 6 on September 12 started well for the Oracle team as it was on the lead for first two legs of the race. Unfortunately, as soon as they started to tack upwind, the Kiwis took the lead and never looked back. Kiwis won the race # 7 an hour later as well and need just 3 more wins to capture the Cup now (Oracle would have to win 10 - see below). It looks as the Cup will be over soon…

Hopefully the Oracle Team can extend the races and the visual pleasure that comes with watching these year boats (catamarans). It would be real shame if it is all over on Sunday. These boats are quite amazing - very fast and definitely worth to see. 

To give you an idea how fast they are, here are some statistics from the race #7:

Race 7 Performance Data

·         Course: 5 Legs/10.14 nautical miles

·         Elapsed Time: ETNZ – 24:48, OTUSA – 25:54

·         Delta: ETNZ +1:06

·         Total distance sailed: ETNZ – 11.6 NM, OTUSA – 12.0 NM

·         Average Speed: ETNZ – 28.32 knots (32 mph), OTUSA – 27.86 knots (32 mph)

·         Top Speed: ETNZ – 44.73 knots (51 mph), OTUSA – 41.00 knots (47 mph)

·         Windspeed: Average – 16.3 knots, Peak – 17.8 knots

Can you imagine? With the maximum wind speed of 17.8 knots or 20.4 miles an hour the Kiwi boat reached the speed of 44.73 knots or 51 mph! This is quite amazing. You should see it! Here are a few more pictures from today’s race!

Kiwis and Team US acknowledging fans following the race # 6

The new and old Bay Bridge in the race background

If you still have not done so, I hope that you will find some time and see at least one the remaining races. Check the America's Cup schedule and mark your calendar!

America’s Cup Final schedule (first to 9 points wins) - per Americas's Cup website:

• Saturday, Sept. 14: Final Race 8 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 9 (2:15 pm PT)
• Sunday, Sept. 15: Final Race 10 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 11* (2:15 pm PT)
• Monday, Sept. 16: Final Race 12* (1:15 pm PT)
• Tuesday, Sept. 17: Final Race 13* (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 14* (2:15 pm PT)
• Wednesday, Sept. 18: Reserve Day
• Thursday, Sept. 19: Final Race 15* (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 16* (2:15 pm PT)
• Friday, Sept. 20: Reserve Day
• Saturday, Sept. 21: Final Race 17* (1:15 pm PT)
• Sunday, Sept. 22: Reserve Day
• Monday, Sept. 23: Reserve Day
  (*If necessary. Note: By order of the International Jury and pursuant to Protocol Article 15.4(d)(iv), ORACLE TEAM USA shall be penalized one point for each of the first two races of the Match in which they would otherwise score a point.)