Took the family downtown for our first Chinese New Year Parade and managed to snag front row (standing) seats right at the corner of Powell and Post. Here are a few photos from the event.
A belated Happy New Year everyone. One of my new year’s resolutions is to blog more frequently. I love blogging about real estate! I just need to get faster at it. This can be a challenge if you care about getting the facts right. For example, I just spent about 4 hours over 2 days unearthing a discrepancy between my 2010 data on San Francisco home sales and the data provided by my generally excellent real estate feed, which you can find under the Market Trends tab. Turns out they’d incorrectly included sales from the northern part of San Mateo County, which resulted in a much lower median home sales price for 2010 and a very inaccurate read on what had happened in the SF Market over the last year. My next blog will cover those results.
Meanwhile, here is the best “rent vs. buy” calculator that I’ve seen, courtesy of the NY Times. A lot of the calculators out there are either too simple or too complex. This one hits the right balance and wraps it all up with a nice graphic. Here’s a screenshot. Continue reading “Rent or Buy: The Best Calculator”
Another glorious winter’s day in San Francisco. My family and I biked over the GG Bridge to Sausalito and then took the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf. Thirty-five years in this town and I’ve only done that ride twice. The previous time was a week ago, to celebrate my 10 year old son’s new birthday bike.
2009 was not a kind year. I feel very grateful that my family has come through in reasonable shape. It makes it easy to appreciate the fine views and the fine weather.
Exactly a year ago, I officially launched this blog. It’s been enormously gratifying writing it. First, it’s made me feel plugged into the market in ways both large and small. Secondly, because I’m a visual kinda guy, those charts that I’ve tried to make a central part of this blog have helped me understand and retain what’s going on in ways that columns of numbers just don’t. Plus, I’ve learned a heck of a lot more about Excel — and, alas, its limitations as a database — than I ever knew before.)
And finally, it’s been great to feel appreciated! Though I sometimes joke that I have a readership of 7½, it is a loyal, thoughtful and appreciative one. Well, that’s three of you anyway. 🙂
Happy New Year everyone! My best wishes to each of you, and thank you for your support.
