Category Archives: Observations
Asides, Observations

San Francisco Is So Hot Right Now

While my Massachusetts pals are posting hauntingly beautiful snow pics to Instagram, my seashell collection is growing from winter walks at Ocean Beach. We’re gardening at SOMArts. And I saw a naked guy on my way to work yesterday.

Temperature aside, though, San Francisco is hot right now in the art world. The Walker Art Center is running a film series today highlighting Alternative Film And Video In The San Francisco Bay Area. HowlRound’s new City Series is highlighting the City by the Bay first, kicked off with a beautiful and personal description of the city’s art pulse  by Deborah Cullinan.

February is not exactly a quiet month in the city, but it is definitely a time of year when I see friends a little more. My new year’s resolutions are still fresh and it feels like a good time to take risks and explore. I would love to go to Minneapolis and see how people are responding to Cadillac Ranch/Media Burn and others.

Which makes me wonder … if I could choose three contemporary artworks I saw last year in SF to get national attention, which would I choose, and why?

What would you choose?

W Posted Feb 02, 2012     w No Comments
Observations

Looking Back: Top Ten List, Year of the Rabbit

Okay, so use of “epic” is a little dramatic. Dan makes a Top Ten list every year and I thought I’d try it.

1. Bought a home
Home ownership is something I’ve wanted for over 10 years. Then we moved to San Francisco. A lot of friends told me it couldn’t happen here, but we stayed in our tiny studio and started saving and looking at every possible lending and homeownership program. I read every blog by anyone who might have helpful information, and trekked to dozens of open houses in unfamiliar neighborhoods.Working it all out was a minor miracle, but if we can do it then other people can too. Housing affordability across the US is at a record high but San Francisco is #1 (above NYC) least affordable rental and ownership market. I personally feel this is one of the most urgent problems facing our city.

2. Celebrated 1st Wedding Anniversary
Most of 2010 involved planning our wedding. 2011 was the first full year we were married. Love is good. CONTINUE READING ]

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W Posted Jan 26, 2012     w No Comments
Observations

And Puppy Makes Four: Becoming a Dog Owner in San Francisco

Introducing ... Riggins!

It started with Rupert. Then came Loretta, followed by Momo and General Peaches. Getting a dog was the furthest thing from my mind as recently as six months ago; Dan and I have a wonderful cat named Stella. But it is a testament to the insidious persuasive nature of social networking that after Fibonnaci-rate growth of photos shared by our friends who appeared to live, work,and have a social life with their dogs, I caught puppy fever. Once we moved to Outer Sunset where there was a beach and a park and no landlord it was just a matter of time. In San Francisco, dogs outnumber kids by about 13,000. CONTINUE READING ]

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W Posted Dec 12, 2011     w No Comments
Observations

On My Mind: What Press Is Good Press?

My most recent blog posts have been about homebuying and affordability. It’s a topic I find deeply interesting, but it also provides a change of pace from the in-depth—and often intense—conversations about art and activism happening daily over at SOMArts. Writing requires time for reflection, and this fall instead of reflecting on and writing about art I chose to spend my post-work hours running, learning guitar and seeing art in other spaces. No regrets!

This week, however, I am back to writing about art as part of the inaugural Animating Democracy Blog Salon of Americans for the Arts. It’s an impressive cohort and I am learning a lot. A particular favorite is Every Museum Needs A Community Organizer by Damon Rich, an artist who transformed several galleries of the Queens Museum of Art into a place to explore how our society pays for housing, how the system has broken down, and the arguments over fixing it.

Last week I had lunch with a friend who asked me “what type of publicity do you hope for at SOMArts?” CONTINUE READING ]

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W Posted Nov 07, 2011     w No Comments
Observations

Search and Decide—The Homebuying Process

About a month ago I promised to write a blog post about making homebuying decisions with a partner.

Several rough drafts later, I am admitting defeat. Dan and I get along ridiculously well and our decision-making process was pretty basic. We were thorough—we made a checklist of things we really wanted, and things that were deal-breakers. There were only 10-20 homes in San Francisco each month that were in our price range and could be financed with our FHA loan, and somewhat matched our checklist. Then we would go visit an open house and discover that “fixer-upper” meant it had no walls … or an unpermited in-law unit, or cracks in the foundation. So that narrowed it down to about three viable homes for sale each month, and most of those were sold above list price.

As this recent New York Times article points out, decision-making is stressful, period. We can only make a certain number of decisions each day with out getting fatigued. Certain kinds of decisions, such as trade-offs and compromises, are more taxing than others. Making decisions—even the “easy” ones—saps your energy and willpower.

We looked at flips. We explored unfamiliar neighborhoods. The hardest part for me was making the decisions without as much information as I would have liked. This happens more than you might imagine in the homebuying process.

Almost a year ago, the New York Times ran a photo essay, “In San Francisco, A Bleak Neighborhood is Revived.” Dan forwarded it to me because the neighborhood—Outer Sunset—reminded him of New London, Connecticut. He was suggesting we visit Trouble Coffee, or maybe get dinner at Outerlands… we hadn’t even started our home search yet. But I was in love with the beach and the fog and even the odd quiet outside-ness of the neighborhood. When a house came along in our price range we were with the crowd lined up outside the first day it was open for viewing. Unfortunately, it needed too much work. We saw it three times and named it “Bleak House” because we couldn’t take on the repairs it would have needed. CONTINUE READING ]

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W Posted Oct 12, 2011     w No Comments
Observations

Zombies, RUN!

It’s true, I’m behind on my homebuying series. Trying to write about homebuying decisions as a couple while you are making home-unpacking decisions as a couple is tougher than I expected. Also, it’s September and I’m working five nights a week.

Something I promised myself I’d do once we moved was start running again. To stay motivated, I’m using a couch-to-5k program that exports to my google calendar and tells me how far to run and on which days. I’m in week 3 and it’s going pretty well so far, but this morning while cooling down and reading news.me I discovered ZOMBIES, RUN!

I’m fairly obsessed with games that integrate real life activity and people. The Beast was the best ever in my opinion, because at the time it felt like a completely new and exciting way to use the internet. Shadow Cities is interesting to me because you ally with or compete against people who live and work near you, it’s place-based and therefore connects players who don’t already know each other.

So far, the arts apps I’ve tried that used place-based technology are pretty lame. ZOMBIES, RUN! looks intriguing and I can’t wait to try it out.

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W Posted Sep 14, 2011     w No Comments
Observations

The House Hunt: Website Roundup

New shelves in-progress.

Happy Monday! This is the big week for Dan and I, the week we finally move into our new place. We spent the weekend moving plants and glassware and assembling new Ikea Stolmen shelves.

Dan tells me the Stolmen shelves are a knock-off of the elegant Vitsoe shelves designed by Dieter Rams, whose hugely influential work is in a show at SFMoMA. Rams wrote the Ten Principles Of Good Design, and famously influenced Apple.

But I digress. There are so many spammy websites targeted at homebuyers, it can be tough to weed through them. Here are some that I found to be actually helpful.

Financial Planning

Rent vs. Buy
The New York Times website does the calculus for you. Use the advanced calculator if you are factoring in condo fees. This could also help if you are trying to show a partner the benefits of buying instead of just renting a bigger place.

Google Advisor
Helps you get a sense of fluctuating mortgage rates.

Zillow
Zillow’s mortgage calculator was the most accurate in predicting our actual mortgage payment. They also had the most accurate records for previous listings. This can be helpful when you are deciding on what price to offer.

Neighborhood Vetting

CrimeMapping
Instead of making assumptions about “bad” neighborhoods, check out the data.

EveryBlock
Get a feel for potential ‘hoods. This site aggregates Yelp reviews, Craigslist posts and photos on Flickr.

SF Neighborhoods Prone to Liquefecation
Not as bad as I thought it would be.

SF Property Information Map
Find out if the home of your dreams has an outstanding permit or a cranky neighbor.

Blogs

Curbed SF
Brass tacks neighborhood news and affordable housing alongside glamor shots of mansions and eco-kitchens.

Bay Area Sweet Digs
Redfin’s local blog now has a “heat index” by zip code. Useful when deciding how much to offer.

Housing Views
Standard & Poor’s blog

Ongoing Reference

Redfin
Weed out non-starters and start tracking homes a few months ahead of time to get a feel for listing price vs. actual sale price of properties you like.

SF Gate Home Guides
Short articles about everything you don’t know you need to know (yet).

SF Planning Department
A crystal ball into the future of development, transit, you-name-it.

That’s all for now. If you have any useful sites (particularly for transit or schools), please add them in the comments.

 

 

 

 

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W Posted Aug 29, 2011     w No Comments
Observations

Money Matters: Affording a Home As A Non Dot-com

Stella naps because she doesn't have to pack boxes.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on my first blog post about buying a home to share your struggles and victories. On Tuesday, I attended a mayoral debate and nearly all of the candidates were talking about the importance of affordable housing. Many of them have adressed the issue on their websites—if there was ever a time for advocacy on this issue, it’s now. The debate was exciting and inspired me to learn more.

If you are a nonprofit worker or an artist, chances are you make at or below median income. When Dan and I started looking for a home we examined every possible financing program.

Mortgages: Finding A Fit

We started looking in Massachusetts, where we required to take a free class to certify for a first-time homebuyer program. The 2011 income limits for participation in San Francisco’s first-time homebuyers program may be found on the Mayor’s Office of Housing website. Median income for one person is $71,100. For two people, it is $81,300.

One of the things that irks me about the city’s BMR program and other programs such as Fannie Mae’s HomePath is that the websites are not user friendly, and not kept current. If you look on the city’s site now, you will see a listing for a Bush Street Jr 1-bedroom for $229k that sold over three months ago.

I’m no expert, but in the past it seemed like people buying their entry-level home could expect to make a profit on the sale. With a BMR unit, the city dictates the resale price and your chances of making a profit are slim. However, profit is only one motivation for buying a home, and you can still build equity and write off your interest. CONTINUE READING ]

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W Posted Aug 25, 2011     w No Comments