What to expect in 2019

You can get dizzy reading even just a sampling of the headlines on articles previewing the 2019 real estate market: “2019 real estate market forecast: Power shifts to buyers.” ... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

Doing something or nothing

By John Zipperer

When producer Martin Gabel attended the initial rehearsal of the play The Assassin, he spotted an actress who was “gesticulating wildly instead of remaining motionless.” Irrita... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

The speed of housing

By John Zipperer

THE VALUE OF TIME On Oct. 11, Mayor London Breed created a new position, the director of housing delivery, to speed up the permitting time for new housing. The director will manage... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

Election selection

By John Zipperer

State voters will have a say on housing policy this November, as voters once again look at their long, multipage ballots and wonder what they did wrong to be confronted with this. ... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

Get a piece of the rock

By John Zipperer

San Francisco’s housing market is so competitive . . . How competitive is it? Here’s the headline from a recent Business Insider article: “San Francisco’s housing market is... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

Home of the whopper

The sky’s the limit for pricing; but a tariff-caused recession could dig a big hole for San Francisco real estate

By John Zipperer

When Board of Supervisors President London Breed became Mayor Breed in July, no one could escape hearing that the new mayor grew up in public housing, or that she has been a renter... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

Party over at Freddie and Fannie’s

By John Zipperer

Like almost nobody I know, I love secondary market mortgage securitization. It got a bum rap during the Great Recession, but its failings were in the execution, not the concept. ... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

It’s the recession, stupid

By John Zipperer

There’s an old saw in the political world that says a president is lucky to begin a presidency with a recession. During a four-year term, a downturn is reasonably likely to happe... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

A toast to agents?

By John Zipperer

AWAY WITH THE AGENTS? When I was a young editor working for a commercial real estate affiliate of the National Association of Realtors in the 1990s, I remember hearing that NAR big... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

The war over SB 827

By John Zipperer

If you want to start a heated argument with a neighbor, bring up SB 827. It’s a bill put forward by our state senator, Scott Wiener, which would push communities to increase the ... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

The off-market sales option

By John Zipperer

IS AN OFF-MARKET DEAL RIGHT FOR YOU? We’ve all heard the stories from recent years about homes selling within days or even hours of going on the market. That might sound like a s... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

City Hall changes?

By John Zipperer

SHIFT COMING IN CITY HOUSING POLICY? We can call it the Marina Times Columnist Surprise: District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin masterminded the process by which acting mayor London Br... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

The tax bill cometh

San Francisco will test the impact of major changes to housing tax law

By John Zipperer

TAXES AND HOUSING Conservatives finally got their long-sought tax bill at the end of December. To help pay for dramatic decreases in taxes for top earners, authors of the congressi... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

At year’s end

By John Zipperer

REVIEW THE PREVIEW I was tempted to offer my own real estate year in review, but having already done that for the world at large (see my cover story this issue), I decided instead ... Read More

Real Estate Reporter

Goring the ox

Will mortgage interest deduction be killed?

By John Zipperer

BATTLE OF THE MID-WAY In recent months, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have been trying to hammer out details of their proposed tax legislation. The fate of... Read More

Real Estate Reporter