From: Mercury News

Associated Press
Posted: 08/18/2010 06:33:54 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO -- The deal has been signed to transfer man-made Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay from the Navy to San Francisco.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus signed the transfer agreement on Tuesday. In includes a section of neighboring Yerba Buena Island.

Payments to the Navy could rise to $105 million, funded by private companies and revenue from developing the former Navy base into a model 21st century neighborhood.

Official transfer of the 400-acre island isn't expected until spring, when environmental reviews and project approvals are completed.
Developers plan about 8,000 homes, a 60-story skyscraper, three hotels and 300 acres of open space. A new ferry terminal and shuttle buses would connect the community with the city.

From: Energy Boom

A new study from Duke University concludes that, “solar photovoltaics have joined the ranks of lower-cost alternatives to new nuclear plants.”

The study by economist John Blackburn, Solar and Nuclear Costs - the historic crossover [pdf], looks at North Carolina as a case example where electricity from new solar installations is now chepaer than electricty from new nuclear plants.

Blackburn does not mince words with the significance of this finding saying that, "This new development has profound implications for North Carolina’s energy and economic future. Each and every stakeholder in North Carolina’s energy sector — citizens, elected officials, solar power installers and manufacturers, and electric utilities — should recognize this watershed moment."

From: Wall Street Journal

To Compete in Dry Market, Builders Grow Green Business
JUNE 23, 2010, 5:26 PM ET

Brandon Smith

Home builders, aware they can’t cut prices low enough to compete with bargain foreclosures and existing homes, are increasingly playing up their green homes.

Beazer Homes this month introduced solar-powered homes in Phoenix, part of its eSmart program. We previously wrote about KB Home, which has long touted its eco-friendly offerings, introducing the option to pre-wire homes for electric-vehicle charging stations. But buyers have to pay extra for that Jetson-esque feature.

Meritage Homes isn’t giving consumers a choice: Eco-features come standard in every house built in Lyon’s Gate, which officially opens in Gilbert, Ariz., Saturday. The company bills the prototype community as the nation’s largest environmentally-friendly development of its kind, with features that go way beyond low-flow toilets and recycled carpet. Each unit, for example, comes with an advanced solar electric and thermal system that generates twice the energy per square foot of conventional solar panels. Buyers can even monitor and control their electrical systems from anywhere via a smart phone or computer.

“Much of this technology wasn’t even around a year ago, and certainly not at a point where it could be utilized at a reasonable cost,” Brent Anderson, Meritage’s vice president of investor relations, tells Developments. We can “take advantage of [our] buying power and the leverage from the economies of scale.”

Plus, Meritage scooped up the land for the development last year, taking advantage of the post-boom prices. So, the company demands less green to go green: Homes in Lyon’s Gate start under $180,000.

The development will eventually include 210 addresses. But one is already taken: C.R. Herro, the company’s vice president of environmental affairs who helped design the community, is buying a three-bedroom ranch home. “I am keenly aware of all that exists in these houses and how much it would cost to replicate,” he says. “You can’t buy this kind of house anywhere.” (He’d know better than most people.)

From: SF Gate

San Francisco already has some of the nation's toughest green building standards for new construction. Today Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced legislation aimed at making those buildings already here as eco-friendly as possible.

The legislation submitted to the Board of Supervisors would require the owners of large commercial buildings in the city to conduct an energy efficiency audit every five years and to supply annual updates -- all of which would be available in a public database.

The audits would include a list of steps that would improve energy efficiency, like installing solar panels, sealing windows better or replacing outdated boilers, Newsom said. The reports would also include an estimate of energy savings from those steps, the cost of implementing them and their economic value. Property owners would have to supply that information to their tenants.

Newsom likened the audits to fuel efficiency ratings listed on car windows at an auto dealership.

"The same idea would apply to a commercial space," Newsom said. "As a renter you go, 'Boy, this is the efficiency standard. This is why I'm going to save money because it's a more efficient building.' So people aren't just looking at the baseline rent."

Newsom wants buildings to be green, like the Transamerica building.

It took nine months to craft the legislation after Newsom unveiled the plan in December at a press conference in front of the Transamerica Pyramid, which at the time was being awarded LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for reducing water consumption, recycling or composting 70 percent of its waste and other steps.

Part of the time was spent shoring up support on multiple fronts, Newsom said.

"Not every loves it, but I think it will be among the most aggressive standards I know of in any city in America," Newsom said. Similar programs exist in Berkeley, Sonoma County, Palm Desert and Boulder, Colo.

The local branch of the Building Owners and Managers Association, a commercial real estate industry advocacy group, supports the legislation, although there are still skeptics in the business community, the mayor said.

The measure applies only to nonresidential buildings with 5,000 square feet or more of gross area. There are exemptions for buildings less than five years old, those with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification and others.

If approved, the legislation sets a staggered, three-year schedule for compliance, starting in April. Certain property owners could request extensions.

Posted By: John Coté (Email) | August 10 2010 at 02:45 PM

From: treehugger.com

by Daniel Kessler on 07.20.10

BUSINESS & POLITICS

Yesterday, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a plan to increase the amount of white roofs at DOE facilities and at buildings across federal government. The Feds have committed to reducing their emissions by 28 percent by 2020, which where white roofs come in. Energy efficiency is dramatically increased by painting a roof white because it reflects the sun's rays, reducing heat island impacts.

Said Chu:
"Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change. By demonstrating the benefits of cool roofs on our facilities, the federal government can lead the nation toward more sustainable building practices, while reducing the federal carbon footprint and saving money for taxpayers."
If you've ever been in a city on a hot summer day, you've likely felt the effects of an urban heat island. Dark roofs and road pavement, which cover 50 to 65 percent of urban areas, combine to collect massive amounts of heat, turning a city into a jungle. White roofs would mitigate this effect, requiring less energy to cool buildings. DOE has already installed more than two million square feet of white roofs and it reports that it has consequently saved $500,000 a year in energy costs.

Here's Chu describing the beauty of white and cool roofs:

From SF Realtors: New SF Real Estate District Maps are available online

From: SF Gate

S.F. supes approve Hunters Point redevelopment

John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

(07-27) 21:28 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco supervisors ended more than a decade of hope and controversy Tuesday when they overwhelmingly approved a project to transform the abandoned Hunters Point Naval Shipyard into a new waterfront community of homes, businesses and green technology.

The 10-1 vote, with only Supervisor Chris Daly dissenting, was a joyous moment for Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who has spent most of her 10 years on the board pushing to build the community support and political backing needed to move the redevelopment project forward.

Early in the meeting, Maxwell called on the board to quickly approve the plan, which she said would reinvigorate the city's long-neglected southeast section, which she represents.

"We have the rare opportunity to achieve the great work of a number of community members who since 1974 have dreamed of how to fill a hole left in our neighborhood," she said. "There's a certain fear this will bring change to the Bayview. ... Well, I say, 'yes' and about time."

Historic day

The vote was also a victory for Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has called the shipyard project a key to the city's future.

"This is a proud and historic day for all San Francisco and for all those who have worked for years to achieve this milestone," he said in a statement. "Together we have secured a critical engine for our city's economic future and embraced a new vision of jobs, housing and hope for the Bayview-Hunters Point community."

The 702-acre project on a base closed in 1974 calls for 10,500 residential units, along with 320 acres of parks and open space. There also are plans for retail and entertainment facilities, as well as commercial space designed for green technology endeavors. The plan also includes a new stadium for the 49ers, should the team decide to remain in San Francisco.

The victory didn't come easy. Any hope Maxwell and other supporters had for a quick resolution rapidly disappeared when supervisors offered more than a dozen amendments to be debated, including a couple that could have killed the project.

The loudest objections came from Daly, who argued that it wasn't enough to set aside 32 percent of the planned units as affordable housing, especially when many of those units would still be too expensive for most Bayview residents.

Daly called for at least 50 percent of the housing to be affordable. He admitted that it would be impossible for Lennar, the project's Miami-based developer, to meet his expanded affordability requirement, but argued that shouldn't be a concern.

If the project becomes too expensive for local residents to move in, "there's going to be a pretty new neighborhood, with lots of white folks living in the Bayview," Daly said.

Michael Cohen, head of the mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, argued that Daly's amendment was a deal killer, because "the project is not financially viable at 50 percent affordable."

In what turned out to be the evening's most significant vote, the board rejected Daly's amendment 6-5, with Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, John Avalos, David Campos and Eric Mar joining Daly on the losing side.

The vote was the same on Mirkarimi's proposal to drop plans for a bridge across Yosemite Slough. While environmentalists believe the bridge will cause unnecessary damage to an important stretch of wetlands, Cohen said the bridge connecting the shipyard site with the planned business development at Candlestick Point will provide much-needed transit service for the area.

Lawsuits possible

Environmental groups already have promised to go to court to stop the project because of the bridge, and other project opponents could sue. But for Kofi Bonner, the Lennar vice president working on the shipyard project, the board's approval was the big hurdle.

"Now we have to find some money" to move forward with the project, he said after the vote. "But now we have standing to present a tangible project to investors and tell them, 'This is what we have to offer.' "

From: Wall Street Journal

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA - JULY 22, 2010

Uneven Rebound in the Housing Market

Overall Trend Numbers Mask Varied Experiences Among Homeowners; Slumping Prices for Many Local Properties

By CARI TUNA

Home values in major Bay Area cities are rising again. But a look at homes sold here at the height of the bubble and again in recent months gives an up-close view of how much the region's housing market remains off its peak and shows how widely individual homeowners' experiences have varied.

Four Homes, Four Neighborhoods

Theo Rigby for The Wall Street Journal
44 Newton St., San Francisco (Crocker Amazon neighborhood)

Sale price:

2007: $730,000

2010: $570,000

Change: -22%

In an analysis conducted for The Wall Street Journal, real-estate website Zillow.com identified all homes in three cities—Berkeley, San Francisco and San Jose—that sold during the local market's peak quarter and again during the three-month period ended in May 2010.

The results demonstrate how unevenly the downturn hit Bay Area home values. Many homes' sale prices fell more—and sometimes much more—than median home values did from their pre-recession peaks. In particular, home prices fell sharply in less-desirable neighborhoods and for properties that changed hands in short sales or had previously been in foreclosure. In a few affluent areas, prices have remained much more stable.

"There are many different scenarios that play out within the market," says Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. "They aggregate to the numbers we look at every day, but they each tell a different story."

Overall, the Bay Area's median home value was down 28% in May to $493,625 from its April 2006 peak, says Zillow. But in recent months, the regional housing market has begun to rebound, with median home values in every county except Napa and Solano rising above year-earlier levels in May.

View Full Image

Theo Rigby for The Wall Street Journal
2352 Renfield Way, San Jose (Evergreen neighborhood)

Sale price:

2007: $675,000

2010: $375,000

Change: -44%

Still, a four-bedroom home at 2352 Renfield Way in San Jose is a reminder of how far some prices remain off the top—and what a boon that can be for buyers. In April, Chidananda Khatua, an Intel Corp. senior program manager, bought the house in a short sale, in which a home is sold for less than the loan balance owed by the seller.

Mr. Khatua paid $375,000, down 44% from the home's June 2007 sale price of $675,000 during the San Jose housing market's peak quarter, Zillow says. That outpaced a 26% decline in the city's median home value during the same period.

Mr. Khatua says he thinks the property, with a swimming pool and two-car garage, was a "worthwhile investment," though he worries the housing market hasn't bottomed yet. "It takes some faith to jump into this kind of opportunity," he says.

Another house sold in a short sale, this one in the Berkeley Hills, shows how prices in prime locations have held up better than those in less-sought-after areas.

Situated on the edge of Tilden Regional Park, the two-bedroom home at 545 Cragmont Ave. sold for $650,000 in March, down 13% from a sale price of $750,000 in July 2005. (Berkeley's housing market peaked two years before San Jose's and San Francisco's, Zillow says.)

View Full Image

Theo Rigby for The Wall Street Journal
1496 29th Ave., San Francisco (Outer Sunset neighborhood)

Sale price:

2007: $830,000

2010: $1,010,000

Change: +22%

Despite the short sale, the home's price fell only slightly faster than Berkeley's median home value decline of 11% over the same period, Zillow says.

That is because the split-level home, with hardwood floors and a lemon tree in the yard, is in a "primary location in the hills" where the supply of for-sale houses is tight, says Tom Woo, the real-estate agent who brokered the sale. "When you have something that's a little more unique, it holds its price a bit better."

Zillow also identified a small number of homes that sold for more money this year than when they changed hands at the housing market's peak.

One such sale took place in San Francisco's Outer Sunset district, Zillow says.

In March, Peter Wong bought a single-family home at 1496 29th Ave., three blocks south of Golden Gate Park, for $1.01 million. That was 22% more than the $830,000 that the home fetched in August 2007, during the San Francisco housing market's peak quarter, Zillow says. During the same period, the median home value in San Francisco and the Outer Sunset fell 14% and 13%, respectively.

Driving the jump in the home's price likely were extensive renovations carried out by the previous owner, professional contractor Tommy Eng, who purchased the property in August 2007. Mr. Eng increased the home's square footage by relocating a staircase and enclosing a top-floor porch, Mr. Wong says.

View Full Image

Theo Rigby for The Wall Street Journal
545 Cragmont Ave., Berkeley

Sale price:

2005: $750,000

2010: $650,000

Change: -13%

Still, the recent sale price was lower than what Mr. Eng wanted—he had originally listed the five-bedroom house in early 2008 post-renovation for $1.35 million, says Michael Alahwal, Mr. Eng's real-estate agent at the time. Reached at Mr. Eng's construction company, his daughter said he was unavailable to comment

Mr. Wong says "the price was good to make the move," adding that he expects the home's value to appreciate "a good deal" over the next 10 to 15 years.

Another San Francisco sale, in the neighborhood of Crocker Amazon on the city's southern fringe, was more typical. A single-family home at 44 Newton St. sold for $570,000 in March, down 22% from a July 2007 sale price of $730,000. That outpaced a 15% decline in San Francisco's median home value during the same period, but roughly tracked a 23% drop in Crocker Amazon, Zillow says.

The seller and buyer couldn't be reached. The seller had bought the home out of foreclosure for $461,000 in October 2009, so profited from the sale.

Click for great graphs and photos in the original article

There are 2 great sites in the Bay Area to search for open houses.

The first is in San Francisco...

www.SFOpenHomes.com Averaging 5,000 Page-Views a Day

The Association's site for open houses, created about a year ago to publicize homes being held open for public viewing, averages 5,000 page-views per day. After the site was launched, the Association conducted a $50,000 campaign to draw attention to the site and increase traffic over time.

Traffic to the site parallels activity seen in the real estate market. Sunday page-views are twice as great as other days of the week with the most page-views occurring in September. Days during the summer months and the Thanksgiving Day and Christmas holidays generally have the least number of page-views.

Visitors to SFOpenHomes.com can search and view SFARMLS listing details, as well as open houses. The public can also view and print quick reports that include all open house entries in San Francisco, find a San Francisco Association REALTOR®, and view market statistics and Spotlight Videos with Tom Sinkovitz.

All open house listings in the MLS automatically appear in SFOpenHomes.com. In addition, capsule listings appear in the weekend edition of the Examiner newspaper. And, it's all provided as a service to MLS users.

The second is in Marin...

www.marinopenhomes.com

Welcome to Marin Open Homes, presented by the Marin Association of REALTORS®. You may search for current open homes in Marin County including Belvedere, Corte Madera, Fairfax, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Novato, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, and Tiburon.

Of course if you would like a Green Key agent to assist you with your search and purchase of a new home, please email me at chris@greenkeyrealestate.com and I will connect you with the best agent for your needs.

Come take a look at one of our newest listings located at 223 Garretson Avenue in Rodeo. (MLS#250887)

Here is our latest open house schedule:
Sunday, August 1st from 2p - 4:30p
Sunday, August 8th from 2p - 4p

For more information, download a copy our property listing flyer and contact me.

Gaby Diskin
(510) 290-3428
Gaby@GreenKeyRealEstate.com