We see cycles occurring all around us every day. Some cycles are long, others are short. Cycles also tend to repeat themselves.

March brought us news that two of our local banks are in crisis mode. The feds came in and shut down Silicon Valley Bank. Its competitor, First Republic Bank, is still under tremendous pressure at the time of this writing.

The year is well underway, and like any other year, people are preparing for the big push in the spring real estate market. However, unlike every year, there is uncertainty in the air.

Being a rental property owner in San Francisco gets harder and harder each year. There is a new law that passed in 2020 that requires owners of residential units to get a license before they can increase the rent. This law went into effect for buildings with 10 or more units on July 1, 2022 and will go into effect for all other residential buildings on March 1, 2023 with updates required by every March 1 thereafter.

As 2022 comes to an end, we have had an interesting year in the real estate market. The question being asked at the end of the year is always, “Where is the real estate market headed?”

Ever since I wrote about the mortgage interest rates going up from 3% to 4.5% a couple of months ago and how that translates to the amount of real estate a buyer can purchase, I have been getting many questions on how that looks now that the interest rate is around 6.5 to 7%.

This November, we will have a plethora of ballot measures to go through both on the state and local level. We are already bombarded with ads for online gambling, abortion rights, affordable housing and candidates running for offices. I will stick to my expertise and cover the real estate related measures in this column and comment on others that can have an effect on real estate.

As a student of real estate my entire life, 2022 holds special interest for me as this prolonged real estate cycle is changing. Normally in September I write about what we can expect in our fall real estate market because it marks the start of our second selling season of the year in San Francisco. 

With more than 5,000 real estate agents selling properties in San Francisco, how do you go about choosing an agent to service your real estate needs? 

In the practice of real estate, conflicts and negotiation between buyers and sellers are commonplace. But what happens when an agreement cannot be reached and neither side is willing to compromise? Then we have to go to the next step beyond negotiations and go to third parties to resolve the conflicts.