I’m from Pennsylvania and I am still adjusting to having to vote for propositions on the ballot. Personally, while it sounds like a good idea to give people the opportunity to put initiatives on the ballot that have a certain amount of support, I don’t think in reality it is such a good idea. As voters, we don’t have sufficient information about the economic impact a particular proposition may have. We vote for things in a vacuum, not understanding …
Carol Solfanelli | Compass | DRE License # 01347033 |
415-297-7031 | carol.solfanelli@compass.com
2022 and 2025 Real Trends America’s Best Real Estate Professional
Top 1.5% of Agents Nationwide
2022 and 2025 Real Trends America’s Best Real Estate Professional
Top 1.5% of Agents Nationwide
Author: Carol Solfanelli
One of my favorite cafes in North Beach is Mario’s. In 1987, before my husband, Michael, and I moved to San Francisco, we visited his sister, Ravenna, and her husband, Chuck. Ravenna took me to North Beach to a place called Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store for lunch. The cigars are no longer there but the café, a long time favorite of mine, still is. At that time, I would have ordered a meatball sandwich (before I swore off beef) and …
Where can you go in San Francisco to watch a sailboat race, walk a sandy trail along the water and grab a delicious caprese sandwich at the Beach Hut? If you guessed Crissy Field, you just guessed one of my favorite spots in the city and I did all of those things when I went for a walk there this past weekend. Ever since this area, which was a former Army airfield, was developed and opened to the public in …
A client of mine recently sold his beautiful home in Noe Valley. In the next year or so he would like to purchase another property. Since he just turned 55 this year, he is fortunate to have the opportunity to buy a property of lesser value within the next two years and transfer the original tax assessment of the property he just sold to his new residence; this will result in him paying less in real property taxes. Proposition 60 …
The market in San Francisco has been moving quickly over the last six months. An example of this can be found in the Central Richmond neighborhood of the city. Six siblings who still owned their family home after their parents had passed decided it was time to let go and sell it. While this was not an easy decision for them, they felt they needed to move forward. I came into the process as they were in the middle …
Watch out – you may just fall in love with my brand new listing at 288 Chattanooga! It is a newly and extensively renovated 3 bedroom, 3 bath Noe Valley Victorian. The owner, Ken Martin, is an architect who has a unique flare for creating spaces with inspired modern design perfect for 21st Century living. This is not your cookie-cutter renovation and is truly worth seeing. There are so many great details to his design like the dramatic loft-like, open …
When buying a home, make sure your realtor goes over the preliminary title report with you. There could be unexpected surprises within! A home in the Richmond neighborhood which recently had a sale pending, did not close on time and almost did not close at all. The reason? The sellers had taken back a second mortgage from the prior owner when they bought the home. As they were getting ready to close, the escrow company gave notice to the prior …
When we bought our tenant-occupied two unit building back in 1998 before I became a realtor, we never realized what a nightmare trying to move into our own home would be. Even in San Francisco, in a majority of instances, owners have the right to move into their own home! This can be done by way of an Owner Move-In Eviction or OMI. We bought our building planning to move into the lower “garden” unit and live in our new …
Imagine you are buying a property and you discover that $350,000 worth of seismic work is required. That is exactly what happened recently with an agent in my office whose client was buying a 6 unit building. Buyers must be aware that when buying a property, they may be subject to the San Francisco Soft Story ordinance that went into effect last year. If you are buying a condo, you may be buying into a percentage of the cost for …
On Broker’s Tour recently, an agent was walking out of a condo and turned to the listing agent and asked if there was anything unusual in the CC&Rs. The listing agent said that in fact there was something a little unique. “Lawyers are not allowed to live in this building.” While this may seem odd (and I, personally, do not want to be excluded from any buildings!), there was a case in the ’90’s involving a Bakersfield, CA, development company …