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2010 Decorator Showcase is Announced
March 8, 2010 – 5:14 pm | No Comment

“Make no small plans for they have not the power to stir men’s minds.”
Willis Polk may easily have uttered those words when referencing his design of 3450 Washington Street,  location …

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Architecture & Interior Design

Profiling the top designers and architects in the San Francisco Bay Area through photos and interviews updated regularly.

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Top-tier Bay Area sub-contractors and vendors share insight and information about their challenges and successes.

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Interior design finishes explores everything from paint to carpet, including metals, timber flooring and types of wood.

Real Estate

The best and brightest stars of the San Francisco real estate industry offer insight into the latest forecasts and trends.

Real Estate »

5 reasons why the San Francisco Peninsula real estate market is HOT
August 25, 2010 – 10:35 pm | No Comment

5 reasons why the San Francisco Peninsula real estate market is HOT

(Pulled directly from the Examiner.com – written by David Gowans)

With all the negativity about the economy and real estate market in the media, it is understandable that most people in the country believe that the current real estate market is terrible. Despite what the media says, the fact is that the San Francisco Peninsula is one of the best and strongest real estate markets in the country. Take a minute to remove your thoughts from their immersion in media negativity and I’ll give you five reasons why the media is wrong about the Peninsula real estate market.

Reason #1: The latest statistics published by the San Mateo County Board of Realtors report that during the month of May, San Mateo County had 418 closed home sales and 665 new listings out of its inventory of 1,831 homes for sale. This seems to indicate that around 25% of the home inventory sold in May, with a slight increase in supply.

Reason #2: The average sale price for a home on the San Francisco Peninsula during May 2010 was $969,435 for a total sales volume of $404,254,657.00. Not too bad for a horrible real estate market.

Reason #3: Of the San Mateo homes that sold in May, the average time it took to sell those homes was 47 days. Put another way, it took about 47 days to sell each of the homes that closed escrow in May 2010. If this fact isn’t staggering to the naysayers, allow me to put it in perspective. I recently did business in a real estate market on the East Coast were the average sales time for a home was 290 days. That’s an AVERAGE of over 9 months to sell a house. The movement is San Mateo is blistering by comparison.

Reason #4: With approximately 25% of the inventory selling in May, it’s clear that despite the tightening of lending restrictions, buyers are still buying.

Reason #5: These May 2010 figures follow a 2010 first quarter that averaged a 64-day sale time and increasing sales numbers.

With the summer months now here and the natural summer increase in market activity, it’s very possible that the Peninsula market could go from good to great by September. The adage “numbers don’t lie” is rarely wrong. From where I’m sitting, the future looks incredible.

The Magic of Flushing: Receptacles
August 17, 2010 – 12:30 pm | No Comment

Why is it that switches and outlets always sneak into the scene of what should be a perfectly clean wall?  And why can’t the building codes allow us to display art work without the intrusion …

SocketSite’s San Francisco Listed Housing Inventory: 7/12/10
July 13, 2010 – 5:00 pm | No Comment
SocketSite’s San Francisco Listed Housing Inventory: 7/12/10

Inventory of Active listed single-family homes, condos, and TICs in San Francisco has continued to climb over the past two weeks having increased 1% versus an average increase of 2.4% for the same two weeks over …

Interview with Joel Goodrich
July 6, 2010 – 9:12 pm | 2 Comments
Interview with Joel Goodrich

Joel Goodrich is one of the leading luxury real estate agents in the San Francisco Bay Area with numerous mulit-million dollar listings and at least 4 current listings over $15,000,000. I sat down with him …

Interview with Lewis Butler, Butler Armsden Architects
June 21, 2010 – 4:12 pm | No Comment
Interview with Lewis Butler, Butler Armsden Architects

Prior to co-founding Butler Armsden Architects, Lewis was a member of the distinguished firm of William Turnbull & Associates in San Francisco. He is the recipient of the 2010 California Home + Design Award for …

Interview with Gary Hutton, Principal at Gary Hutton Design
June 9, 2010 – 10:26 pm | No Comment
Interview with Gary Hutton, Principal at Gary Hutton Design

If you’ve worked with Gary then you already know what a fantastic human being he is. Down to earth, gracious, funny, enthusiastic, and with more creativity in his pinky than we’ll ever attain collectively. …

2010 San Francisco Decorator Showcase
June 7, 2010 – 9:01 pm | No Comment
2010 San Francisco Decorator Showcase

Thank you to all the Designers of the 2010 Decorator’s Showcase for your hard work and sharing your vision with us.
Best wishes to Joel Goodrich and his partners on selling this magnificent home.
Below are some …

Coming Soon! Fancoil Facades
June 1, 2010 – 9:44 pm | No Comment

Innovative ways to hide -disguise- those hotel like heating units in high rise apartments – called Fan Coils
Just for now – read the description of what a fan coil actually is and does.
Taken from Wikipedia
Fan …

Luxury Home Sales – Improving
June 1, 2010 – 3:59 pm | No Comment

Still not quite there yet – but plenty of indicators now of signs of improvement.
Taken from an article published by First Republic Bank
See the full article here:   Prestige Home Index
and an interesting trend in home …

Client Interview with Dr.Marilyn Rosenwein & Dr.Howard Cohen
May 27, 2010 – 10:15 am | No Comment
Client Interview with Dr.Marilyn Rosenwein & Dr.Howard Cohen

Dr. Marilyn Rosenwein is President of the H.O.A at the St. Regis Residences, San Francisco.   Marilyn & Howard were one of the first clients Whitehouse Builders worked for in this building.  We are proud …

SFMOMA Announces Finalists for Design of Expansion
May 11, 2010 – 10:05 pm | One Comment

Selected Architecture Firm Will Collaborate with SFMOMA to Triple the Size of the Galleries, Transform the Visitor Experience, and Create an Unparalleled Cultural Resource on the West Coast; Expansion Will House Fisher Collection of Contemporary …