The Real Story

My Year of Living Dangerously: Quality of life—one size fits all?

The Real Story — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:16:50 +0000

When one talks about “quality of life” in the San Francisco Bay Area, can one size fit all? It’s doubtful, when one considers the geographic, socio-economic, and political divisions that carve the Bay Area up into vastly different places and ways to live.

Chuck Underwood, generational researcher and author, visited with The Real Story in February, and made us aware that the psyche of Americans today is shaped by the key events of their early years, and creates “generations” within our culture. What surprised many of our readers and listeners the most about what Chuck had to say was that quality of life—and key values—vary so widely among the generational groups. Interestingly, the Boomers, who have influenced social and political change since their adolescence in the 1960’s, are now the senior managers at the helm in California and all over the country. It seems like a good idea to ask: “What happens when the Counter Culture becomes The Culture?”—especially now that this largest demographic group, which ushered in the civil rights movement, the feminist movement and the anti-war movement is now sitting in Congress and on Wall Street. Is the Me generation going to make good decisions for the We generation? Their children—called the Millennials—resemble them in sheer numbers, and in their attitude that they can create change. Their idea of change is greener, cleaner and more technology-based than their predecessors, and their drivers will have an enormous impact on the kind of homes and communities we live in.

Another aspect of quality of life are the “qualities” that make up one’s home life experience. The Real Story received some wonderful insights on looking at landscaping as more than a “labor of lawn” from Linda Gates, from Gates and Associates. Architect David Johnson, West Coast Studio Director for William McDonough + Partners, opened the door for a discussion about why quality in a home is more important than space, and how the younger buyers expect green, sustainable homes—not as an option or an upgrade, but as a value standard integrated into every home’s design.

Run around Oakland

The Real Story — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:47:53 +0000

If you’d like to kick off running season, there’s an opportunity coming at the 2010 Oakland Running Festival, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, March 27th and 28th. This inaugural event, the first running marathon to be held in Oakland in more than 25 years, has attracted some 5,000 registrants for its four races: full marathon, half marathon, 5K walk/run and 4-person relay.

A word of caution: Unless you’re a seasoned runner, both the Marathon and Half Marathon events might be biting off more than you can chew; eight days is hardly sufficient time to train for the physical challenge of running 26.2 or 13 miles. For those in search of a less-taxing experience, a 5K twilight run around Lake Merritt will be offered on the evening of March 27th.

Marathon runners will be able to take in some of Oakland’s most iconic architecture and points of interest. The route starts at City Hall, travels up Broadway, through Temescal and Rockridge, then through the redwoods of Temescal Regional Park and Montclair. Then it’s down the hill to the Diamond District, through Fruitvale, down International Boulevard, then to the waterfront, through Chinatown and west Oakland. The last few miles takes you around one of Oakland’s favorite settings for running and walking—Lake Merritt. There’ll be plenty of festivities at the finish line.

Runners are able to register online through March 21st. Even if you just watch the runners and join the party, it sounds like a fun way to spend a spring day.

My Year of Living Dangerously: Is green the new black?

The Real Story — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:52:40 +0000

Green is such a ubiquitous term—a label applied to businesses of almost every stripe—that it was difficult, initially, for The Real Story to pinpoint what “Green Living” might mean to Californians.

Fortunately, San Francisco is the home of West Coast Green, a conference about environmental innovation with a world-class roster of speakers. We spent a few days at Fort Mason last fall, and came back with a much better understanding of how the State of California impacts green living through its Energy Commission and the state Public Utilities Commission.

The California Energy Commission is in charge of changing the way NEW homes are built; the PUC is working on ways to improve the efficiency of existing homes. Part of the Federal Stimulus package passed last year earmarked a whopping $42 billion for energy related funds. But where does the money need to go?

We learned from talking to Brian Gitt of Bevilacqua-Knight that new homes, because of advances in building technology, contribute less than 2% to the problem of greenhouse gases. It’s the older homes—built before Title 24 was passed in 1978—that are the real energy drains. Of the 13.2 million existing homes in California, 75% of them were built before Title 24. That means we have almost 10 million homes with inadequate insulation, faulty ducting, single paned windows and/or manual heating systems to attend to if we’re going to meet the state’s goal of a 40% increase in home energy efficiency by 2020.

California’s Building Industry Association, led by the BIA of the Bay Area, has shown real leadership in developing—and agreeing to uphold—a set of green building standards that are a model for homebuilding now and in the future. Even though it currently costs more to build a home using green standards—especially in a market whose prices have been hammered by foreclosures—they’re going for it. This should be great news for the Millennial homebuyers, the younger strata of the buying populace, for whom green is not just an option—it’s essential in their buying decisions.

This year, The Real Story also learned a lot about solar energy—the fact that solar will be a mandatory in new home construction in the next few years and that California is preparing for more solar power by raising its net energy cap.

Finally, we have had the chance to see some of the new green products now available to consumers, like paints and wood stains that don’t emit pollutants, fabrics and furnishings that are sustainably made, insulation made from recycled blue jeans and even carpet pad made of recycled paper.

The Real Story interviewed some of the brilliant people who are envisioning our green future; we’ll talk about what we learned from them on Friday, when we wrap up the week with a post on Innovation.

My Year of Living Dangerously: The Real Story on buying and selling

The Real Story — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:34:17 +0000

What did we learn in the last year about the home sales market? When you look at the opportunity side for today’s homebuyer, you have to admit: the planets seem to be aligned. Prices are so low that 65% of all Californians could afford to buy a home today, according to the California Association of Realtors. On top of this, we are seeing historically low interest rates. And a buyer has the choice of a new home—currently being offered at prices that are less than replacement cost—repeat, less than it cost to build it– or a resale, a short sale or a foreclosure. So why are people still sitting on the fence? Because, it seems, we lack confidence. The 88% of the people who are employed are acting like the 12% who are not.

The biggest topics of interest to listeners and readers of The Real Story are all about foreclosure: “How do I stay out of foreclosure?” is rivaled only by “How do I buy one?” The bad news is that there’s not a clear path to success for people in either camp. Staying out of foreclosure is a much tougher road to travel than anyone ever imagined. With all of the well-meaning legislation, and all of the front-page headlines, only about a million loans were modified last year. The underlying problems are so deep that when people enter into the 90-day trial modification process, only about 20% of them are able to make their payments and qualify for the ongoing modification.

Acquiring a foreclosure? Some advice: this is not as easy as it looks. Right now the market is flooded with offers on foreclosed properties in commuter-friendly locations, both from people who want to be the owner/occupant, and the folks who want to create future wealth by purchasing foreclosures, fixing them up, renting them now and holding them until a better market makes them attractive to sell. If you are a first-time buyer, and you want to buy a foreclosure, go into it with your eyes open and a broker at your side. There are so many obstacles in the path, and so much competition; you have to be ready to make this your primary focus. If the foreclosure is too banged up, or has been looted, you cannot get a loan on it because loans are for habitable properties. If you are a cash buyer, you can play, but you are competing against individuals looking to build their net worth by owning rentals, or real estate syndicates whose business it is to pick up properties, literally a block at a time.

Are you exhausted yet? Tomorrow, let’s take on something more uplifting: how the green movement is creating healthy homes.

Free day, green day

The Real Story — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:42:13 +0000

On a day when the green is on everyone’s mind, you might want to visit one of the greenest buildings in the world: The California Academy of Sciences, located in Golden Gate Park. The museum’s March free admission day just happens to fall on St. Patrick’s Day. Normally, general admission is $24.95 for adults and $19.95 for youths, so this is quite a deal!

Designed by Renzo Piano, this 400,000 square foot building features an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history area and a four-story rainforest. Scheduled activities include coral reef dives, penguin feedings, planetarium shows and the popular Swamp Talk, a close look at creatures of the southern swamps—including the Museum’s rare albino alligator.

Should you work up an appetite, the Moss Room offers fine dining, emphasis on FINE. The executive chefs, Charles Phan of the Slanted Door and Loretta Keller of COCO500, have created a California/Mediterranean menu with organic, seasonal and local ingredients. It’s a guaranteed “This is a museum?” kind of experience with a trendy bar and contemporary décor, so plan enough time to sit and relax. Reservations can be made through Open Table.

My Year of Living Dangerously: The Real Story on finance

The Real Story — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:41:04 +0000

It’s been a year since we started talking to people about all things real estate. In Blog Years, that’s 52 interviews, 222 podcasts and 403 posts, on subjects ranging from shadow foreclosures to Federal loan modification programs to environmentally friendly home design.

Today, The Real Story looks at what we’ve learned about the financial side of real estate: the first big lesson being that not only does every story have two sides, but also roots and branches that connect it to dozens of other stories as well, some worthy of headlines and some that would get lost in a big news day. In the last year, we have seen the Federal government step up its participation in the housing market, with the FHA taking on the role of a new subprime source—making loans with only 3.5% down. Needless to say, FHA loans now make up 25% of ALL new mortgages in the country—and HALF of all new home mortgages. By October, when the FHA’s reserves fell to .53%, well below its 2% reserve threshold, Congress stepped in, loan requirements were tightened, and minimum credit scores were raised. John Burns and his associates from John Burns Real Estate Consulting were on Capitol Hill for this news; the full report is in our archives.

Early this year, Representative Barney Frank announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, privately-owned and taken over by the government in 2008, are “likely to be abolished.” Why? Although they are giants, owning more than $5 trillion in residential debt, they haven’t been able to make it without significant taxpayer aid (to the tune of about $110 billion.) Chris George talked about his view of the government stepping back and letting private industry re-enter this part of the financial market last year; his discussion is still topical.

Stan Humphries, chief analyst from Zillow.com, told The Real Story that there are about 3 million foreclosures in the current market and that one out of every five US households are under water. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 homes in the US whose owners are not making mortgage payments. To put it in perspective, although foreclosures are no longer front page news, more foreclosures are projected for 2010 than 2009 and there are at least 4-5 years of foreclosures in the pipeline.

We have been told that the real estate market has hit bottom and learned to tally what Carolyn Said, real estate and financial reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, calls “surface signs of stability.” We’ve been advised to keep an eye on the job market, the notices of default, negative equity, increasing interest rates, and to watch what happens to demand as tax credits are withdrawn. We have our marching orders; we’ll be reporting back on all of these issues in the next few weeks.

A beacon of hope

The Real Story — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:52:56 +0000

BRIDGE Housing is moving into a new era, with new leadership. Carol Galante, its president for the last thirteen years, has been recruited to head up HUD’s multifamily housing group. BRIDGE now has a new president and Rick Holliday, its co-founder has become its chairman.

Today, Rick talks to The Real Story about some of the things that never change at the beginning of every project envisioned—the need for community support, from the locals to the council level, and the process of introducing people to the BRIDGE process. That usually includes a tour of other existing BRIDGE projects to look at architectural design and scale, to see the quality of the upkeep and meet some of the residents. Each BRIDGE project needs to serve as a portfolio piece; something to point to with pride and serve as a demonstration for the next city considering bringing BRIDGE in.

In his words, he hopes that BRIDGE can be a beacon of hope, that it can serve as a model to demonstrate that good projects can be built, can be a good neighbor and can be managed well for the long-term. For more on BRIDGE, go to bridgehousing.com.

After the recession: What next for Bridge?

The Real Story — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:21:12 +0000

With this prolonged housing recession making both the private and public builders rethink their strategies and products, with the result being that many of them are leaving the Bay Area market altogether, what’s in store for BRIDGE Housing?

BRIDGE Chairman and co-founder Rick Holliday tells The Real Story that among the ways for BRIDGE to move ahead in its business of creating more affordable housing units is to look for ways to renovate and restore Bay Area buildings that are in foreclosure—in other words, get out of the building business in instances where that model doesn’t work, and develop a new model that lets BRIDGE apply both elbow grease and good management principles to buildings that have been over-leveraged and foreclosed upon.

In a nutshell, this kind of thinking would allow BRIDGE to take advantage of some of the banks’ underperforming assets, which might be resold at less than their replacement cost, allowing BRIDGE to convert some down-at-their-heels market-rate units into restored and retrofitted affordable housing stock.

A green spring cleaning out

The Real Story — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:22:27 +0000

Nothing says “fresh” and “new” like a thorough spring cleaning. Before you start scrubbing, you might want to focus on stuff. Even the tidiest of households seem to accumulate things over the winter, so this is a good time to assess stuff and do some clearing out.

The sustainable approach is to keep items out of landfills by donating and recycling. Decide where you’re going to start collecting piles for each, then start checking through drawers, closets, seldom-used rooms and the garage. Ask yourself: When did I last use this and will I ever use this again? You may have items that can be repurposed to new functions. For ideas, check out the Real Simple web site. If a item has no present or potential use—out it goes.

Donate it
One person’s old coat is another’s vintage find! Just think about what organizations might be able to use your castoffs. A local theatre’s prop department may need that end table or a college student, a set of dishes. Donate old books to your library for their book sale. Out-grown toys can always be used by a local preschool or younger kids in the neighborhood (with parent’s consent). Donate an old car to the autoshop program at the high school. Take things to any number of charities in your area that reuses items for fundraising and income.

For where to donate specific items, check out these links:
www.clutterfreeservices.com/resources.html
www.usedcomputer.com/nonprof.html
parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/charity/clothes.html

Recycle it
Anything paper can be recycled: magazines, newspaper, catalogs, mail, paper shopping bags, kids’ artwork. Put it in your recycle bin. Cardboard boxes are also recyclable, but you may want to keep a selection of sturdy boxes for your own mailing purposes. Take plastic shopping bags to the collection boxes at most grocery stores.

Sell it
If you’re interested in extra cash, consider a yard sale or reselling household items on eBay.

Remember: The important thing is to keep household items out of the waste stream.

Perception versus reality

The Real Story — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:04:10 +0000

Rick Holliday talks to The Real Story today about the perception of affordable housing—especially when it is announced in a neighborhood near one’s own. Rick, the Chairman and co-founder of BRIDGE Housing, makes no bones about the fact that the general perception of affordable housing is not positive—as he says, people worry about all the things that could go wrong, and don’t imagine any of the things that could go right.

So here are a few heartening things about affordable housing to help allay the fear factor: renters in BRIDGE communities have to compete for each available unit. That means that they have to have good credit, and a good history as a renter. Because BRIDGE manages its properties, its managers know that they can’t look the other way if there is a problem. BRIDGE is judged on the basis of its existing projects every day—if a representative from a city considering BRIDGE sees a property that doesn’t measure up to the market rate stock, they have little incentive to invite BRIDGE in.

On another note, we asked Rick: is it possible to build affordable housing, and keep it green? He tells us that green considerations have been a part of the envisioning process for new BRIDGE communities for years. Rick reminds The Real Story that one of the key goals of the green movement is to help get working people living closer to their work, so BRIDGE looks at location even more closely than it looks at individual green amenities, which may take years to pay back. A shorter commute, or a commute on public transportation makes an immediate, positive impact.