Unit 1618 is a gorgeous, spacious corner Penthouse 2 bedroom/2 bath, with amazing all around city and bay views spanning from 555 California to Bay Bridge to San Mateo Bridge.  Minimally lived-in (under 1 year), it features a long private balcony, bamboo floors, beautiful dimming track lights over dining area, high-end UV window tinting, remote-controlled electric solar shades in all rooms, additional blackout shades in bedrooms, and GE Profile appliances. (Further information can be found here)

Unit 1402 is a very large, corner 2 bedroom/2 bath, with expansive East-South-West views displaying the most striking sunrises over the bay.  It features a balcony, floor-to-ceiling windows in master bedroom, brand-new high-end carpeting, beautiful dimming track lights in all rooms, UV window tinting, Lutron remote-controlled electric solar shades in all rooms, additional blackout shades in bedrooms, and Miele and Bosch appliances. (Further information can be found here)

Below is a collage showcasing the amazing views from both properties:

Sample of City and Bay Views (Created courtesy of the Owner)

Please call our office today at 415.495.1114 for additional information regarding Open House schedules, building amenities, or booking appointments.

Market inventory in the San Francisco Residntial Real Estate has decreased. We have  the Univercity of California  San Francisco expansion program, Bio Technology industy  growth,   and High Tech Company’s rapid development  to thank for this modest yet sustainable demand. SF News

My husband and I had two days over the weekend to find a rental in San Francisco, as we are moving quickly after receiving a job offer.  Both of us were incredibly stressed at the end of the day on Saturday after seeing several places that just didn’t fit our needs.  We happened upon AFI + Associates by accident while walking through their South Beach neighborhood.  The sales associate made an appointment for us to come back the next morning to see several places.  We were fortunate enough to have Afi herself take us around (on Valentine’s Day no less).

Afi was friendly, patient, positive and an excellent resource for us.  She knows SOMA/South Beach/Mission Bay extremely well, and she led us to our new home.  By Sunday afternoon, we had signed a new lease, and headed back to begin the process of packing.  Afi continued to be a great resource for us up until and through our move.  We would definitely recommend AFI + Associates for either leasing or buying a condo in the city.  She seemed to represent the most desirable high-end buildings.

--Kira S.

In honor of Easter Sunday, AFI Portfolio Real Estate’s office shall be closed on Sunday, April 4th.

We hope you have a great Easter Sunday!

]]> http://www.afirealestate.com/news/happy-easter/feed/ 0 http://www.afirealestate.com/news/hop-into-spring/ http://www.afirealestate.com/news/hop-into-spring/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:45:54 +0000 Samantha http://www.afirealestate.com/news/?p=496

Easter Bunnies

Spring is here! As a luxury real estate company,  it is helpful to understand multiple cultures and ethnic holidays. Friends, family, and prospective clients will appreciate this  gain in knowledge.  For example, did you know there are two Easters?

Many people will be celebrating Easter this Sunday (April 12^th), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted calendar. The computation for the Easter date is based on the cycle of the moon. It can fall on 35 possible dates between late March and late April.

The revised Julian calendar is used for holiday celebrations by Eastern/Oriental Orthodox Christians. In accordance to this calendar, Easter must fall after Passover. Christ celebrated Passover prior to his crucifixion. So Easter must fall after Passover (April 9). The Eastern Orthodox Easter this year is on April 19^th.

Easter is one of the most important religious and secular holidays for this sect of Christianity. Children are given large chocolate eggs or bunnies filled with toys and candies. Special breads are baked with colored eggs. In Greece, Leg of lamb is roasted slowly over a spit basted with lemon, garlic and oregano.

The Russians make a special sweet bread (kulich) baked in coffee cans, and a pyramid shaped cheesecake (Cheese Paska) embossed with the letters XB, the Russian abbreviation for “Christ has risen“. Some families bring kulich to church for the midnight service to have it blessed, and to share after the service. The service includes a procession circling the church three times. Then the priest declares, “Christ has risen”, and the congregation responds, “Indeed he has!” Then everyone disperses home or to friends’ homes to feast till the wee hours of the morning. The next day, people start all over again visiting friends and comparing the buffet and delicious offerings.

We celebrate it all! There are wonderful traditions in all religious feasts! These rituals get us to slow down and contemplate the wisdom and truths that are common to all of us. It is the celebration of the human spirit, and springtime when everything is born anew, nature’s resurrection. Happy Easter (twice), Happy Passover, and Happy Spring!

Easter Eggs

Dear Family and Friends –

We wish you a beautiful new day and Happy Norooz!

Persian new year and the moment of spring (time of equinox) is at 10:35 AM (PDT) on Saturday (March 20^th).  For those who want to know more about Persian New Year, read below.

The Customs and History of New Day Celebrations

Apr 25, 2007 Cyrus Dehkan

Norooz is an ancient holiday that has been embraced by different religions and nationalities. This article will briefly describe its history and tradition. Norooz means new day or daylight. The spellings and pronunciations of Norooz vary, depending on the culture. It symbolizes the first day of spring, at the time of the spring equinox, when sunlight is divided equally between northern and southern hemispheres. This traditional Iranian holiday is not only celebrated within Iran. It is also celebrated in Turkey, Afghanistan, Albania, the countries of Central Asia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, to name a few. It usually is celebrated on the 21st of March of each year, but can be celebrated either a day before or after this date, depending on where it is observed. Besides being a Zoroastrian holiday, Norooz has significance for the Bahai’i religion and Sufism.

Ancient History

In the article “The New Year of Iranian Peoples”, author Dr. Ali Jafari, states that Norooz had its origins some fifteen thousand years ago, during the reign of the mythical Persian King Jamshid. Since life, at that time, revolved around the seasons, spring was seen as a time of new growth, new life and that of abundance. According to Dr. Jafari, it was Jamshid who introduced and started the Norooz celebrations. The prophet Zoroaster, however, later added and put in place the many additional festivals and rituals associated with this celebration. To Zoroastrians, Norooz was a celebration of Ahura Mazda and the Holy Fire.

Persepolis

Twelve centuries later, in 487 BC, the Persian emperor Darius celebrated Norooz festivities at Persepolis. Much of the palace was adorned with statues depicting this celebration. It was here, that Norooz became a very special celebration, and it has been suggested that Persepolis may have been built for the purpose of celebrating Norooz. After Darius, Norooz traditions continued through the Parthian and Sassanid dynasties. It survived the introduction of Islam in 650AD and continued to be celebrated through the subsequent Turkish and Mongol invasions.

Norooz today

Norooz today is commemorated by several events. First, as the spring equinox approaches, all Persian families do a spring cleaning and buy new items, such as clothes. The disposal of the old, with the replacement of the new, symbolizes rebirth during the spring. Also, the night before the last Wednesday of the Persian calendar is the traditional Iranian Festival of Fire. This festival dates back to Zoroastrian times and symbolizes the celebration of the good (light) over the bad (darkness). Small fires are made in the streets and people jump over the fires to symbolically rid themselves of sickness and problems. The fire, in turn, replaces health and good luck to those who jump over it.

At home, a traditional table containing the seven S’s or haft seen is prepared. Seven items, which start with the letter S in Farsi, are placed on this table, each symbolizing different aspects of life. The table is adorned ornately, for it not only has spiritual value to those that make it, but also represents their good taste. On Norooz, family members gather around the haft seen and wait for the exact moment of the spring equinox, at which time gifts are exchanged. The families spend the rest of Norooz visiting close family, relatives and friends, with a number of short visits. Traditionally, the youngest of the family visits the eldest member first. As the day goes on the eldest will reciprocate and repay his respects to the younger family members. Visits are typically short and are highlighted with many varieties of sweets and pastries.

Read more at Suite101: Norooz: Persian New Year: The Customs and History of New Day Celebrations

http://middle-eastern-customs-holidays.suite101.com/article.cfm/norooz#ixzz0ieA13WKJ

UCSF Medical Center

Dear Mission Bay Neighbors,

On Friday March 19, the City and County of San Francisco plans to open Fourth Street to traffic through the UCSF Mission Bay campus, ending (of course) at 16th Street.

Please see article on UCSF website for more details:

http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/ucsf-prepares-for-opening-fourth-street-to-traffic-at-mission-bay/

Sincerely,

AFI PORTFOLIO REAL ESTATE

Learn more about, and view our current listings at The Infinity.

Happy Wednesday to you All!

The New York Times recently posted an article about real estate securitization.  Real estate securitization is one of the great innovations in finance in the last quarter-century. In an unprecedented way, it allows vast sums of money to go into the real estate market from people who traditionally did not take part in it.

AFI Portfolio Real Estate would like to share this article with you.

Enjoy!

Perspective, opinion, prognostication, prediction, frame of reference…Point of View

These terms all describe what our clients seek in us. Advice, good counsel and our thoughts on where the market is headed. Navigating the market used to be much easier in the past than it is today, to be sure!

Some things that we’ve observed over the past year:

Where are the Distressed Deals? – Investors are anxious to “buy deals” whether from the government (FDIC), from CMBS lenders and traditional banks, or from “distressed” sellers. Unfortunately, these “deals” have failed to materialize in large part.

Buyers Are Plentiful – there’s never been as many value oriented “tire kicking” buyers looking to steal a deal than we’ve seen in the past year. For every buyer we have talked to, there were scores more lined up behind them ready to sink their teeth into the latest distressed offering. The reality of the matter was that the severe lack of truly distressed assets in the market left many investors restless.

Sellers Are Resistant – Unprecedented reluctance to sell on the part of owners was the dominant theme of 2009 and for good reason. Unless an owner was forced to sell for a non-market motivated reason, there was high probability that the asset would trade at a number that was either less than their debt, their basis, or both. Coupled with this scenario was the fact that many long-time owners with a very low basis or no debt were not sellers either, feeling that the market was still in a volatile state of flux.

Disconnected Pricing – Unwilling to bend to the market’s terms, owners that we met with understood that the market had fallen, but were unwilling to take their losses today, favoring a more stabilized market in the future. The truth of the matter is that many of these owners were counting on a much quicker recovery, hoping that they can beat the cycle and sell into an “up” market. Some of these owners simply will not be able to hang on long enough for the recovery to occur, given the in place debt coverage ratios that they are trying to sustain on their property. We see this as being the breaking point that will help to define new pricing going forward.

General Malaise – Shell-shocked by the precipitous drop in the stock market as well as the disconnect in their property values, owners felt “poor” for the first time in decades. Even if they had managed to survive prior recessions, this one just “felt different”. Most owners, and many buyers sat on the sidelines all year trying to sort through the market and look for signals of any kind to decipher where things were headed.

Our Impressions for 2010:

Many economic and industry experts report that 2010 will feel much like 2009 and that there won’t be any material changes this year. We’re happy to report that the New Year has brought a new sentiment and we strongly disagree with the “official” opinion. In fact, here’s a summary of a few things that we’ve already observed in this very young year:

Price/Value Stabilization – The “free fall” of pricing has stopped and there are actually a few sales comps in the distress category which have framed the bottom of the market from our perspective. We feel we may be turning the corner, given a number of factors including investor and consumer sentiment as well as increasing visibility and activity from investors.

Buyers “Jumping Off the Fence” – Many buyers are getting tired of waiting for “killer deals” and are starting to get restless. The improved sentiment and positive economic indicators are pushing the early adopters to get serious on offerings. The multi-housing sector, usually an early predictor of activity in other sectors, is exhibiting much higher levels of offer activity on properties than in recent past.

Lenders are Lending – Contrary to popular belief, Government Agencies (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are not the only lenders in the market today. Two of the largest office transactions in San Diego County were completed at the end of 2009, with financing at 65% LTV from a large national bank and 50% LTV from a regional lending institution respectively.

Optimism for the market ahead – Investors are just plain tired of being depressed about the market and are ready to start taking control of their future. Fear and uncertainty about losing their properties to CMBS Special Servicers or traditional bank lenders has waned in the wake of a large wave of loan expirations. With most banks doing loan extensions or workouts on properties to side-step foreclosure, many owners feel like they have “dodged the bullet” on losing their properties to loan expirations. Owners have now turned their attention to shoring up occupancy and property performance. Conditions should continue to improve as this year unfolds - early indications show that leasing activity and foot traffic are increasing in all sectors. In fact, according to CB Richard Ellis 4th qtr statistics, total office and technology leasing activity for November and December 2009 totaled more than 1.5 million square feet in San Diego.

Enthusiasm for new offerings – Consistent with our thoughts on the impending recovery, buyers are taking a strong interest in new offerings that are being brought to the market today. The volume of e-blast “views”, phone calls, general inquiries and property tours are all up, and began to increase just before the end of the year. Many of these buyers were hopeful that they could get a head start on the market, or even entice a seller into an “end of year” deal. We see this sentiment continuing to grow throughout 2010.

via  Travis Buchanan

RBC Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets Corporation.

Member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC.