Posts Tagged ‘sf’

AIA San Francisco home tour goes public

October 2nd, 2010 by Katy Dinner

The Mission House, above, and top, is both the home and the living laboratory of its owners, who have used the house to test materials, light and unorthodox construction techniques. Credit: Cesar Rubio photos

By Tracey Taylor

Now in its eighth year, the American Institute of Architects’ San Francisco Living home tours program continues to appeal to our voyeuristic instincts, allowing us to explore and admire private homes that not only showcase superior architecture and design, but, just this once, are also open to the (ticket-holding) public.

This year, the AIA received 30 submissions for residential projects, which were then reviewed by its Home Tours Committee, with 11 selected to feature on the tour. Projects were judged on quality of design, location, innovation and thoughtful integration into the neighborhood. The committee was also interested in seeing projects that exhibited environmentally responsible features.

If there’s a theme this year, it is a willingness on behalf of architects in these cash-strapped times to think small, sustainable and economical. In many cases, tight budgets have lead to ingenious solutions, and the plethora of state-of-the-art green features helps contain clients’ future expenditure still further. The tour takes place Saturday and Sunday. Here are some highlights:

Mission House

Mission District – Interstice Architects The home of architect Andrew Dunbar and landscape architect Zoee Astrakhan, husband and wife and partners at Interstice Architects, is a laboratory as much as a place to live. The 2,200-square-foot building, originally an early 20th century retail space that they bought in 2000, has been as much a place to experiment with materials and sustainable techniques as it has been an office and dwelling in which to raise two kids…Read More (via SF Gate)

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Organize your stuff to declutter your garage

October 1st, 2010 by Katy Dinner

A garage gives you three solid walls you can use for storage. Steel, wood-grain and melamine-laminated particle board cabinet systems can give you closed storage for items you want away from the elements. Credit: ClosetMaid

By Jeannie Matteucci

If your garage has become the designated “dump zone” of your house, you’re not alone.

The National Association of Professional Organizers ( www.napo.net) reports that 5o percent of homeowners say their garage is the most disorganized space in their home, says Lisa Engel, a representative for ClosetMaid (www.closetmaid.com).

“The biggest mistake people make is that they don’t do the first step of making sure everything they have in the garage are things they want to keep. The garage should be an extension of your house, with a combination of open and closed storage. The open storage is meant to give you quick access to the items you use on a more frequent basis.”

With summer soon a memory and the busy holiday season just around the corner, now is the ideal time to streamline your garage. Bringing some order to your garage is the perfect September to-do project. “This is the biggest transition time, with kids going back to school and everyone getting back into the swing of things,” Engel says. Here are her tips for creating an organized garage where you can store the stuff you need – even your car…Read More (via SF Gate)

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Home tours showcase Bay Area living

October 1st, 2010 by Katy Dinner

Arc du Triumph, one of the stops on the Sausalito Floating Homes Tour. Credit: Ric Miller

By Anabelle Garay

Gaze at bay views, lush gardens, cobblestone walkways, intricate woodwork and classic architecture in the Bay Area during fall home tours taking place next weekend and extending into October.

Four tours covering a range of architectural styles in Oakland, Sausalito and Alameda feature dozens of houses where owners have preserved the quirky character or former grandeur while enhancing with modern comforts:

Sausalito Floating Homes Tour

Now in its 25th year, this parade of the floating community includes seven homes never before on the tour and two that haven’t been part of it in years.

With 19 homes spread over four docks, it could be hard to choose what to check out. Among the must-sees are the Ameer, an ark still bearing its original design and the only ark on Richardson Bay; the Oyama Flower, a 4,000-square-foot, three-level floating home designed to resemble a Japanese barn; and the Red Star, a home featuring wrap-around windows and etched glass, said tour committee spokesman Paul Winward…Read More (via SF Gate)

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Experts illuminate the future of lighting

September 30th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

Lighting designer Randall Whitehead's San Francisco living room is illuminated by LEDs and a fluorescent lamp in the hanging fixture. Credit: Dennis Anderson

By Jeannie Matteucci

When lighting designer Randall Whitehead of San Francisco set out to remodel a two-bedroom home on Potrero Hill, he knew he wanted to upgrade the lighting and make it more energy efficient. But while Whitehead wanted to be green, he had no plans to sacrifice the style and look of his home.

“I have made it my personal mission to find energy-efficient lighting that can be attractive – and dare I say it – sexy,” he says.

“All the lighting in my home has been changed to energy-efficient lighting. OK, to be totally truthful, the fridge and the oven still have incandescent lamps. I haven’t yet found a viable alternative for those two locations. I could buy a new refrigerator with LED lighting but that just isn’t in the budget at the moment.” Read More (via SF Gate)

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Eco-responsible bathroom water conservation

September 30th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

By Jeannie Matteucci

Simple, inexpensive upgrades to bathroom and kitchen fixtures are a great way to start conserving water. Something as basic as replacing an old faucet with a water-efficient model can save 8,000 gallons of water a year.

This kind of easy change is just one of the many tips and helpful information you can pick up at the Responsible Bathroom Water Conservation Tour, making four stops in the Bay Area this week…Read More (via SF Gate)

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South Mission Historic Homes Pegged for Protection

September 29th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

By Gregory Thomas

Recognizing that real estate informs culture, city planners have embarked on a project to preserve the historic character of the south Mission, one building at a time. Architecture, they said, is a key component of a community’s identity, and protecting it would be a boon to the socioeconomic diversity that has earned the Mission its reputation as a cultural hub.

“There’s always an interrelationship between architecture and cultural values,” said Matt Weintraub, who heads the city Planning Department’s Historic Resources Survey Team.

Weintraub and his team recently wrapped up a three-year initiative during which they identified and evaluated the historic significance of 3,787 properties. The survey covers the area from Potrero Avenue west to Guerrero Street, and 20th Street south to Cesar Chavez.

“South Mission is one of the few remaining 19th-century streetcar suburbs that are intact in San Francisco,” Weintraub said.

The 1906 earthquake and the fire that followed wreaked havoc on the Mission as far north as 20th Street. Today, the neighborhood retains buildings built as far back as the 1850s, a period of pioneer expansion. “It is unique in terms of being able to go back to the earliest, at least, U.S., settlement in San Francisco,” Weintraub said.

South Mission is one of four areas the department is evaluating as part of an effort, begun in the 1990s, to compile a comprehensive list of historic resources for the entire city…Read More (via Mission Local)

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6 Things You Think Add Value To Your Home – But Really Don’t

September 28th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

Every homeowner must pay for routine home maintenance, such as replacing worn-out plumbing components or staining the deck, but some choose to make improvements with the intention of increasing the home’s value. Certain projects, such as adding a well thought-out family room – or other functional space – can be a wise investment, as they do add to the value of the home. Other projects, however, allow little opportunity to recover the costs when it’s time to sell. (For more, check out Top 5 Home Renos For Your Money.)

Even though the current homeowner may greatly appreciate the improvement, a buyer could be unimpressed and unwilling to factor the upgrade into the purchase price. Homeowners, therefore, need to be careful with how they choose to spend their money if they are expecting the investment to pay off. Here are six things you think add value to your home, but really don’t.

1. Swimming Pools
Swimming pools are one of those things that may be nice to enjoy at your friend’s or neighbor’s house, but that can be a hassle to have at your own home. Many potential homebuyers view swimming pools as dangerous, expensive to maintain and a lawsuit waiting to happen. Families with young children in particular may turn down an otherwise perfect house because of the pool (and the fear of a child going in the pool unsupervised). In fact, a would-be buyer’s offer may be contingent on the home seller dismantling an above-ground pool or filling in an in-ground pool.

An in-ground pool costs anywhere from $10,000 to more than $100,000, and additional yearly maintenance expenses need to be considered. That’s a significant amount of money that might never be recouped if and when the house is sold.

2. Overbuilding for the Neighborhood
Homeowners may, in an attempt to increase the value of a home, make improvements to the property that unintentionally make the home fall outside of the norm for the neighborhood. While a large, expensive remodel, such as adding a second story with two bedrooms and a full bath, might make the home more appealing, it will not add significantly to the resale value if the house is in the midst of a neighborhood of small, one-story homes. (Overbuilding might be anticipating your neighborhood’s next move. Find out more in 8 Signs Your Neighborhood Is On The Upswing.)

In general, homebuyers do not want to pay $250,000 for a house that sits in a neighborhood with an average sales price of $150,000; the house will seem overpriced even if it is more desirable than the surrounding properties. The buyer will instead look to spend the $250,000 in a $250,000 neighborhood. The house might be beautiful, but any money spent on overbuilding might be difficult to recover unless the other homes in the neighborhood follow suit…Read More (via SF Gate)

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Architects’ Prize: Emeryville Center for Arts

September 28th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

Michael Macor / The Chronicle - Kent Chiang and Roslyn Cole of Aidlin Darling Design have a look at the 30,000-square-foot space to be the future Emeryville Center for the Arts.

“Welcome to the Emeryville Center for the Arts,” David Meckel told the architects sitting on folding chairs in a long building with concrete floors, brick walls and dim natural light. “We need your help finishing it off, but we’re close.”

From 1963 until 2006 this structure housed the United Stamping Co., a fabricator that produced such trinkets as the accelerator pedal for infantry transport vehicles. Now it’s a dusty shell – and the prize in what may prove to be the Bay Area’s most intriguing architectural competition in memory.

That’s no easy task, given recent high-profile showdowns held by the Berkeley Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. But the Emeryville competition is confined to emerging local architects. It also has the blessing of powers-that-be at City Hall – an embrace of the unknown that other municipalities would do well to emulate.

The six firms in the running were selected on criteria that includes having worked at roughly the scale of the center, which has a $12 million budget. They also need experience in arts-related design but – to keep things fresh – the firm’s leader cannot be a fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

“I thought about putting in an age limit, but that sort of thing’s not allowed,” joked Meckel, the center’s adviser on what is billed officially as an “architect selection process.” Read More (via SF Gate)

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10 Habits Of Highly Effective Real Estate Investors

September 27th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

Real estate has long been regarded as a sound investment. Wholesaling and property management of commercial and residential property are just a few of the ways investors can profit from real estate, but it takes a little savvy to become successful in this competitive arena. While certain universities do offer coursework and programs that specifically benefit real estate investors, such as the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s Master of Science in Real Estate, a degree is not necessarily a prerequisite to profitable real estate investing. Whether an investor has a degree or not, there are certain characteristics that top real estate investors commonly possess.

  • Treat Investments as Businesses
    It is important for real estate investors to approach their real estate activities as a business in order to establish and achieve short- and long-term goals. A business plan allows real estate investors to not only identify objectives, but also determine a viable course of action towards their attainment. A business plan also allows investors to visualize the big picture, which helps maintain focus on the goals rather than on any minor setback.Real estate investing can be complicated and demanding, and a solid plan can keep investors organized and on task.
  • Know Their Markets
    Effective real estate investors acquire an in-depth knowledge of their selected market(s). The more an investor understands a particular market, the more qualified he or she will be to make sound business decisions. Keeping abreast of current trends, including any changes in consumer spending habits, mortgage rates and the unemployment rate, to name a few, enables savvy real estate investors to acknowledge current conditions, and plan for the future. Being familiar with specific markets allows investors to predict when trends are going to change, creating potentially beneficial opportunities for the prepared investor.
  • Maintain High Ethical Standards
    Realtors are bound to act according to a code of ethics and standards of practice policy, and real estate agents are held to each state’s real estate commission rules and standards. Real estate investors, however, unless they are associated with membership-based organizations, are not usually required to maintain a particular degree of ethics in their business practices, as long as they operate within the boundaries of the law. Even though it would be easy to take advantage of this situation, most successful real estate investors, and especially those who remain in the business for the long haul, maintain high ethical standards. Since real estate investing involves actively working with people, an investor’s reputation is likely to be far reaching. In the case of an investor lacking in ethics, the consequences can be damaging. Effective real estate investors know it is better to conduct fair business, rather than seeing what they can get away with.
  • Develop a Focus or Niche
    Because there are so many ways to invest in real estate, it is important for investors to develop a focus in order to gain the depth of knowledge essential to becoming successful. This involves learning everything about a certain type of investment – whether it is wholesaling or commercial real estate – and becoming confident in that arena. Taking the time to develop this level of understanding is integral to the long-term success of the investor. Once a particular market is mastered, the investor can move on to additional areas using the same in-depth approach. Savvy investors know that it is better to do one thing well than five things poorly…Read More (via SF Gate)
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    Top 10 most expensive real estate markets in the US: Bay Area on the list, again and again

    September 27th, 2010 by Katy Dinner

    If all we listened to were Meg Whitman, Jerry Brown, and Governor Schwarzenegger, we might forget that actually, California is still a very rich state. In fact, according to a 2010 Coldwell Banker 2010 survey, this state commands five of the top ten priciest real estate markets in the nation– and the Bay Area takes second and fourth place.

    The survey data for “The Home Listing Report” (HLR) provide the average home listing price for four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties on coldwellbanker.com listed between February and August 2010 from nearly 300 U.S. markets. Markets in the HLR had to have at least six properties fitting the above description listed within the relevant time frame.

    The HLR found The U.S. average for the surveyed listings was $353,032. But we all know about averages: the average number of legs of a man and a horse is three, yet neither creature has three legs. The same misrepresentation applies in the case of the American average listing, because Coldwell Banker found a $1.7 million difference between the nation’s most expensive and most affordable housing markets. As illustration: Newport Beach, CA, led the list with an average home listing price of $1,826,348. Meanwhile, our most affordable market was Detroit, Mich., with an average listing price of $68,007….Read More (via SF Gate)

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