• A house in San Francisco listed for $488,000 is worth more than three times that.

• The catch is that there is already a tenant living there who has the right to do so for another 30 years.

• San Francisco is notoriously expensive and cheap real estate is rare.

A three-bedroom house in San Francisco is for sale for $488,000.

This may seem like a bargain in a notoriously expensive city where the average sales price is over $1.4 million.

According to the San Francisco Standard, the house is worth about $1.8 million – more than three times the market price.

However, there is a catch: the buyer may not be able to move in for 30 years.

According to a listing on Park North Real Estate, the property in Russian Hill, an upscale neighborhood of San Francisco, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and is 1,070 square feet.

However, it is also inhabited, and the tenant has a rental right until 2053.

The ad states that the tenant will pay $416.67 per month and will continue to pay that amount for the entire time he or she lives there.

Steven MacDonald, a legal expert on tenancy law, told ABC 7 News: “For some reason they gave this person a 30-year right of possession. I've seen this happen before. It's a pretty sloppy way of doing estate planning.”

He added: “They can do it that way. I think they should have done it differently.”

MacDonald said it would take a “very, very unique buyer” who would be willing to buy the property below value and wait decades to move in.

Ilia Smith, who lives on the street, said the listing surprised people in the neighborhood.

She told ABC 7 News: “Thirty years. I don't think I'll live to see that.”

According to the San Francisco Standard, the unusual offer for sale is due to a family drama.

As the local newspaper reported, the current tenant, 83-year-old Sandra Lee, lives there with her daughter Cheryl Lee, 66.

It belongs to Sandra Lee's son. Sandra Lee told The Standard that he put the house up for sale against her wishes.

She said her stepfather secretly negotiated a lease for her in 2018 that guaranteed her low rent and housing until 2053.

“If it weren’t for the rental agreement, [my son] “If I didn't know this was filmed in 2018, I don't know where we would be,” she told The Standard.

Business Insider was unable to reach the son for comment. Park North Real Estate also did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the greater San Francisco area is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.

The Demographia International Housing Affordability Report ranked it as “impossibly unaffordable.”

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Helen Byrne, 94, has called the same San Francisco apartment for more than eight decades, having moved in with her father and sisters when she was 12.

Her Mission District neighborhood looks a lot different these days, but Byrne's apartment is practically a time capsule from a bygone era.

She still sleeps in her childhood room, where she now spends most of her time after a fall last year. She said she wanted to spend the rest of her life here, surrounded by her long-time friends and neighbors.

But Byrne's life was turned upside down when the four-unit building was purchased in 2020 by real estate investors operating through an LLC.

Now she and the building's other decades-long tenants are trying to fend off an eviction attempt they never expected, and they could potentially be evicted from their homes within weeks.

“It was a surprise to me, a shock to me actually, that I had to move away from here,” Byrne said. “Where should I go? I’m so used to this place.”

Byrne outlived the rest of her family and lives alone, but her neighbor Cecilia Matias helps look after her.

“Right now she is strong because of this building,” Matias said. “This apartment alone makes her feel at home.”

Matias has lived in the building herself for 40 years – the first apartment her family moved into after leaving the Philippines. She and Byrne have grown close over the years, almost like a family, they say.

“She was very good to me,” Byrne said. “She’s like a daughter to me.”

Cecilia's sister also lives in the building. This also applies to Anthony Martin, who lives with his wife and son, an Iraq war veteran. Because all of the tenants have lived in the rent-controlled building for decades, their rent is much lower than San Francisco's sky-high market rates.

This is also the reason why their new landlords have been trying to get them out of their apartments since they took over the building more than three years ago.

NBC Bay Area reviewed emails that Daniel Mytels, the manager of the LLC, sent to his lender as part of the eviction case, which outlined plans to clear the building from its inception, either through buyouts or evictions.

In a 2020 email, Mytels called the building “an almost unbelievably good value,” adding that the property is “encumbered with four long-term tenants paying a total of only about $3,800 in total rent per month.” So he outlined plans to lure tenants out and rent out the apartments at higher prices. Or, if necessary, sell the empty building.

By phone, Mytels told NBC Bay Area it was a terrible situation, but said tenants' current rent cannot cover the building's operating costs.

According to letters reviewed by NBC Bay Area, landlords initially offered tenants severance packages — essentially cash for keys — in the range of $70,000 to $85,000 per unit. Even more so when everyone in the building accepted the offer, but every tenant rejected it.

“I want to stay here for the rest of my life,” Byrne said. “I have all my friends and neighbors living here with me.”

Four months after the takeover bid was rejected, tenants were bombarded with notices saying the building's owners were invoking the Ellis Act, a law that allows landlords to evict their tenants if they leave the property for at least five Take years off the rental market. In the notices of termination they were given a notice period of four months plus a legally permissible extension of one year due to the age of the tenants.

“His goal here was speculation, pure speculation,” said Steve Collier, managing attorney for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a San Francisco nonprofit that combats the displacement of low-income residents.

In an email, the landlord's attorney, Raymond M. Yetka, said the owners were aware of the difficulties posed by the eviction, adding: “The owner initially attempted to award significant amounts of money to the tenants for the eviction pay. However, when all tenants refused, the landlord’s only option was to terminate the lease under the Ellis Act.”

Collier said the tenants didn't want to give up the fight, in part because Byrne had nowhere else to go.

“[The Ellis Act] is often used by speculators to empty buildings and then sell them at a higher value because the long-term rent control tenants are not in the building,” Collier said.

However, the owners' lawyer defended the move.

“The Ellis Act was created to address unintended consequences of local rent control laws and allow landlords to exit the rental market when rental prices make it impossible to function as a housing provider,” Yetka wrote in an email.

Instead of moving out, however, the tenants turned to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic for help. Their Ellis Act exit window has expired and they are now fighting an eviction lawsuit in court.

“I do not want [Byrne] to go somewhere else,” Matias said. “I told her, 'You think you don't have a family, but you do.' It's me. No matter what happens, I'll take care of you.' Even though we’re not related by blood, I feel like we’re closer.”

Even their neighborhood priest, who has known Byrne and the building's other residents for more than a decade, is there to help them.

“People are not just numbers to be discarded,” Father said. John Jimenez, priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “It is wrong that this is happening. You shouldn’t have to lose the house that you’ve lived in all your life, paid your rent and done all the responsible things.”

When asked about future plans for the building, Yetka said, among other things: “…The most likely outcomes are a sale of the vacant property as a whole or conversion of the units into Tenants-in-Common-Interests (TIC) for sale to owner-occupiers.” “

Collier said the fate of Byrne and her neighbors could be decided in court soon, possibly in the next few days.

“She’s 94,” Matias said. “She has already lived her life. But let her be happy…in peace.

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Houston-based Hines submitted an action plan to fix its four-year-old building after two floods caused by a faulty sprinkler system deemed it uninhabitable, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

The firm received a plumbing permit to repair a section of 33 Tehama in San Francisco’s fire sprinkler system that caused the “reoccurring leaks,” public records show. A Hines spokesperson told the Business Times that the company now has 30 days to make repairs to the standpipe, but added that it will “amend the permits” if more time is needed.

Magnusson Klemencic Associates, the structural engineer of record, inspected the property after the incidents and came to the conclusion that “there has been no structural impact to the building,” according to the plan, which was filed with the Department of Building Inspection.

The initial incident in June that caused this call to action was a failure of a coupling on the 35th (top) floor standpipe, which resulted in 20,000 gallons of water flooding the building.

The most recent incident was another water leak that caused the evacuation of 10 residents and 15 construction workers last month. That leak was caused by a pipe being disconnected at the same standpipe that caused the first flood.

DBI issued the action plan after visiting the building in August and delivered Hines a Notice of Violation on Aug. 16. The notice’s aim was to pressure the firm to begin working on the required repairs.

Hines hired Turner Construction to complete the repairs of the 403-unit SoMa building. They did not disclose any estimated costs for the repairs.

The most recent flood happened weeks after Hines changed reoccupation timelines presented in June for the building, where it told residents that the building would remain uninhabitable until late this year or early next year. Residents were initially told they would be able to return in phases between August and October. The new goal is a return during the first half of 2023.

Hines told the business times that it “will not have a more accurate target timeline until our assessments of the fire suppression system and electrical system are complete.”

The firm stopped providing financial assistance to displaced residents and said residents may terminate their lease or come back to the building when it is safe. Residents have not been obligated to pay rent since Aug. 18.

Hines and Invesco delivered the building in 2018. Lendlease Group was the general contractor; Arquitectonica was the architect.

— Pawan Naidu

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Reflecting on my first “tiny home” in San Francisco is a multi-dimensional exercise, one rooted in gratitude, reality, and nostalgia.

I’ve long been a fan of tiny living. Establishing a more micro everyday lifestyle has long seemed the most pragmatic and realistic way of making a financially solvent career as a writer, sans roommates. But even in San Francisco — which still boasts the one of country’s most expensive rental markets despite seeing rental prices drop some 26% since the pandemic began — even living tiny has a lofty price tag.

Before Covid-19, it was common to see $2,000-plus monthly rents for units spanning less than 200 square feet. A 161-square-foot unit a block away from my past address had become famous in 2019 for its astronomically high $2,295 a month rent. It featured a wedge-shaped closet, nothing resembling a kitchen, antiquated cabinets, and a shared in-hall bathroom.

However, when that apartment began making rounds on social media for its comic absurdity, I remember earnestly thinking to myself I… I actually could make that work and kind of like it. Except it was well out of my budget.

Fast-forward some months one global pandemic later, and I typed this very article in a unit with identical square footage  — my former home, which was my first solo apartment in San Francisco. (It also had an updated kitchenette, a normal rectangular closet, fresh coats of paint, better hardwood flooring, and crown molding.)

My rent at that time? A paltry $1,050 a month with two months free and no deposit down.

It was my lease, under just my name. For a rent-controlled unit. Two things I never thought I’d be able to have (and probably would never have, had it not been for the pandemic) in San Francisco. And even though I’ve since moved to a studio apartment in Nob Hill — a serendipitous find that I, somehow, managed to acquire for $1,250 a month — it was this first apartment to myself in SF; it will always hold a special place in my heart.

That apartment I once live in is described as a comparatively large SRO unit which, per the property management company, boasts “modern amenities and luxury touches.” (For context: My building, the now Saratoga Hotel constructed in 1908, is a historic San Francisco property and consists of eight SRO units, among 50 other more traditional one-bedroom and studio units, spread across four floors.)

These SROs are relics of depression-area housing stock in which units share either a bathroom or kitchen or both; in my case, I shared 1.5 baths with two neighbors who’ve each been in the building for over 20 years. And because many San Francisco properties that feature SRO units have certain grandfathered-in maintenance clauses, the restrooms were cleaned by janitorial staff twice a day — which, frankly, was more often than I cleaned any bathroom in my life.

Much like ’90s fashion and nostalgia-drenched sitcoms, SROs and other mico-style apartments are enjoying a recent boom in popularity. Millennials and Gen Xers are learning to live with less, and housing prices are still through the roof.

So while it’s near as much impossible for many current thirty- and fortysomethings to envision themselves either owning Bay Area property or living in a 700-square-foot-plus apartment without housemates, urban tiny living at least brings some semblance of reality back into the picture.

That… and living small is more fiscally sound and environmentally sustainable. Living in such a condensed, purposeful way also helps one keep things tidy; in many anecdotal cases, those who’ve “gone small” have reported improved mental health and traded excess chores for more free time.

(For context: I carried those same habits; that same mindset; these environmentally-sustainable practices to my new residence, which measures just shy of 300 square feet. I can’t fathom moving someplace larger, surrendering those previously mentioned upsides for the sake of having a larger kitchen counter.)

Before moving into that SRO in Lower Nob Hill, I briefly lived in an all too familiar Bay Area setup: a cell-like room inside a 1,700-square-foot, four-bedroom, 1.5-bath house in Noe Valley for $1,350 that I wasn’t the master tenant of. I dedicated substantial brackets of time each week to helping my housemates clean the common areas; disinfect and scrub the bathroom; water the patio plants after sweeping the patio itself; vacuum the hallway; and dust off the shelves and wood banisters. At some point during the week, I would eventually get to tidying up my 100-square-foot room — which, comparatively, took no time at all.

About 163.7 square feet, my previous SRO removed 90% of those household chores. There was also no need to purchase any bathroom cleaning supplies, as well.

Living in such a small space did come with certain adjustments and acclimations, mind you.

As someone who’s doted over tiny houses and stayed in some overnight, I can assure you it’s still quite jarring to walk into an empty sub-200-square-foot home and realize you must get your entire life inside of it. Unlike even the smallest of traditional city studio apartments, you have to boundary and give multipurpose to all your living areas — all while taking into account each square inch of space.

You quickly realize retractable measurement tapes become secondary appendages. That Murphy beds are a godsend. That a quality bistro table set on casters can double as a mobile meal preparation and dining area. That at just an inch thick, Samsung’s Frame TVs are, in fact, worth every fucking penny. That vertical storage is your best friend — and horizontal clutter is your gravest foe.

Almost three years ago, I wrote in my journal I wanted to have a tiny home all to myself by the time I was 35 years old. And while I couldn’t exactly wheel that second-floor SRO around to National Parks, I had (in a roundabout way) achieved that goal before my 30th birthday.

Or as my mother affectionately said when I signed the lease: “You got your own tiny house—it’s just in a building.”

Feature Image: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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• A new law fast-tracking affordable and mixed-income housing is paying off in San Francisco. 
• Plans for the tallest-ever apartment building in the city are being fast-tracked under the new state law. 
• The Bay Area city is in desperate need of new housing, particularly affordable units. 

San Francisco is on track to get its tallest-ever apartment building, thanks to a new state law streamlining construction of affordable and mixed-income housing in commercial corridors.

The project — a 71-story apartment building in the city’s southern financial district — is being fast-tracked by Assembly Bill 2011, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022.

Under the law, the building — which will replace a parking lot and a four-story office complex — isn’t subject to the lengthy approval processes under California’s Environmental Quality Act. It also doesn’t have to be approved by the city Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors, which often slow down or derail construction projects. It’s only the second project in San Francisco to use AB2011.

San Francisco has for years faced a severe housing affordability crisis and struggled to meet its state-mandated home building requirements, in part because of its lengthy permitting and approval processes.

About 10% of the one, two, and three-bedroom apartments — 67 of the 672 units — will have below market-rate rents. The building will also have a bridge connecting it to Salesforce park — a five-and-a-half-acre rooftop filled with greenery and fountains.

The tower at 530 Howard Street will be the tallest residential building in San Francisco and the third-tallest building citywide, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The developer behind it, Paul Paradis, has already helped shape the San Francisco skyline with the looming Salesforce Tower and the JPMorgan Chase building.

The 840-foot high apartment complex will have “incredible views,” Paradis told the Chronicle. “It’ll set a new standard for rental properties in San Francisco.”

AB2011 is one of a slew of pro-housing laws the California legislature has passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed in recent years. Newsom signed more than 50 housing bills last month that loosen restrictions imposed by CEQA, fast-track affordable housing projects, and encourage more dense, infill residential construction.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has pushed hard to eliminate burdensome regulations on home construction and praised the new state laws.

“CEQA can’t be abused like it has in the past because of changes to our state laws,” she said during a panel at the Bloomberg CityLab conference in Washington last month.

And she celebrated the record-setting financial district tower.

“Turning a parking lot into housing, including affordable housing, is exactly what we need to do to build a stronger, more resilient San Francisco,” Breed said in a statement to the Chronicle. “It’s good for the future of our city, for our restaurants, and retail, and for the long-term health of our entire economy.”

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More people have been looking to move to San Antonio in 2023. (Especially from Austin!) But San Antonio rents aren’t dropping. From finding your perfect new home to negotiating rent prices, searching for an apartment in San Antonio can be quite the experience. Taking inspiration from our sister publication SFGate in San Francisco, MySA is looking at local properties showcasing the best, worst, and everything in between here in the Alamo City. Let’s guess the rent.

This week we are heading up north outside of San Antonio to look at an apartment at the Hill and Fair Oaks outside of Boerne. 

Craigslist

Last week, our Guess the Rent trip took us to a renovated home in Tobin Hill near the St. Mary’s Strip. It offered up living space near one of San Antonio’s bustling food and drink spots. This week we are heading back up north past La Cantera and the The Rim to look at an apartment on the way to Boerne. 

This week’s listing is a two-bedroom unit at the Hills at Fair Oaks Apartments located at 8700 Starr Ranch, Boerne, TX 78015. The apartments are north of the Dominion area and right outside of Fair Oaks Ranch. That should be one clue to the pricing, or the rental figure could surprise you. Maybe. The apartments are also near a new H-E-B in the Lemon Creek Ranch development. 

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So how much will this two-bedroom apartment cost you?

The dining space is conveniently next to the kitchen. 

Craigslist

The kitchen and dining are conveniently right next to one another. From here the kitchen is doing much in the way of more modern fixtures that you see in newer apartments. 

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A closer look at the kitchen gives a better look at the black appliances and countertops. 

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This angle shows us the black appliances that come with the kitchen. You can also make out the wood flooring. 

The bedroom has enough space for a large bed but it looks like space would be tight with a dresser in this room.

Craigslist

The bedroom only has one window to let in natural light. Other than that, the space seems pretty standard and big enough to fit a large bed.

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It’s your standard bathroom with a tile shower. The little accent stripe of tile is a nice touch. 

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Now on to the bathroom, which is trying too hard to be unique, but it’s a bathroom that provides the necessities. The brown tile stripe in the shower does give it some character. 

This cozy park area is a nice spot to cookout and lounge. 

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On top of the resort-style pool seen at the top of this story, the Hills at Fair Oaks also provides a grilling area under trees with string lights and a hammock for lounging around. 

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So how much do you think this apartment will cost? The Craigslist post says $1,167 for this 960-sqaure-foot apartment, well below the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment of $1,575, according to Zumper. 

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