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You are here: Home / Archives for Neighborhoods / Cow Hollow

Vedanta Society Old Temple Gets New Paint

December 1, 2016 by Matt Fuller, GRI Leave a Comment

Located at 2963 Webster (on the southwest corner of the Filbert and Webster intersection in Cow Hollow), the Vedanta Society Old Temple is an architecturally stunning building. It’s one of our favorite buildings in all of San Francisco, and truly a Cow Hollow neighborhood gem.

The Vedanta Society Old Temple recently got a new paint job, and the new paint really makes the architectural details of the building pop! It’s a pleasure to see a neighborhood treasure restored and shining once again. Here are some photos:

The Vedanta Society Old Temple
A Cow Hollow neighborhood treasure at the intersection of Filbert and Webster.
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
A Cow Hollow neighborhood treasure at the intersection of Filbert and Webster.
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
2016 Paint Job
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
A Cow Hollow neighborhood treasure at the intersection of Filbert and Webster.
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
2016 Paint Job
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
2016 Paint Job
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
A Cow Hollow treasure
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
Vedanta Society Old Temple
The Vedanta Society Old Temple
A Cow Hollow neighborhood treasure at the intersection of Filbert and Webster.

Here’s a bit about the building from the Vedanta Society’s website:

The Old Temple was designed by Swami Trigunatitananda with Joseph A. Leonard, architect, of the San Francisco and Suburban Home Building Society.

The first two stories were constructed in 1905, and in 1908 the temple was completed with the addition of the third floor and towers.

Except for the lobated arched windows of the ground floor, the first two floors, with their bowed windows and cornices above at the front, and overhanging bay windows on the side of the frame building, represent typical turn-of-the-century architecture. The main entrance, on Webster Street, is recessed behind Ionic columns which frame the covered entryway. The 112-person auditorium and various offices comprise the first floor; the second and third floors were occupied by the monastery of the Vedanta Society for many decades.

Below are some “before” pictures that were taken a few years ago and show the previous paint job:

The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow
The Vedanta Society building at the intersection of Filbert and Webster in Cow Hollow

What are some of your favorite San Francisco buildings?

Filed Under: Blog, Cow Hollow

A Tale of Ten Areas in Three Charts About the Same City?

October 27, 2016 by Matt Fuller, GRI 1 Comment

What area of the city offers buyers the best return for their investment? Without getting into the 89 mls sub-districts, but broadly looking at the 10 districts (areas if you are jargon averse and want to avoid confusion with political or other city drawn disticts) which one has performed the best? SF real estate statistics surround us like a sea, but are they useful?

San Francisco MLS Districts. Source: San Francisco Association of Realtors. jacksonfuller.com
San Francisco MLS Districts. Source: San Francisco Association of Realtors.

Our team just didn’t vibe with a company-made chart presented at this week’s sales meeting. Which got us digging into a bunch of charts and numbers and suddenly we were down the San Francisco real estate data wormhole. How often we find ourselves in this place. Or, well, at least I do. Here’s the company chart that we don’t vibe with (it seems to be this thing I do):

Zephyr's Chart
Zephyr’s Chart

Zephyr used a quarterly basis for their numbers with quarterly values calculated using 3 month rolling averages. And while I agree those are reasonable paramaters, I also disagree. I pulled number using both average and median sales price, but looked at the average or median sales price for the year. I used YTD 2016 for 2016.

I did this because our sales volume and velocity, as well as all the linked market dynamics vary a lot by quarter. To average out that variation, I’m more comfortable using the average or median sales price based on the entire year’s sales and not a rolling average from one particular quarter that has some seasonality bias for lack of a better made up term?

Zephyr dropped D8 and D6 becauase they aren’t major single family areas. Which is, again, fair. But they do exist, so we think the annual average is a reasonable compromise and our chart includes them.

Using those adjustments, we come up with our own chart below using median sales price:

Appreciation by District using Median Sales Price San Francisco real estate jacksonfuller.com
Appreciation by District using Median Sales Price

Our chart, using median sales price, agrees that the Richmond (d1) area of the city saw the highest single family home price appreciation. Our data isn’t as optimistic on any of the neighborhood gains as the Zephyr chart, but we both agree on the first place area.

That’s where we diverge. Our data ranks both the Sunset/Parkside area (d2) and the Excelsior/ Bayview/Hunters Point area (d10) as outperforming the Potrero Hill/Bernal Heights/Mission (d9), and life in Pacific Heights (d7) has actually been rather nice, 20% appreciation on a $4,000,000 investment isn’t anything to call the attorneys about.

But if you feel like arguing with us, we’re one step ahead of you. We just need to use average sales price, an argument we could make because the annual average sales price uses amongst the largest data sets (all sales, all months) and thus is big enough to “absorb” any skewing by outliers and the neighborhoods areas are small and similar enough and homogenous enough in price that the mean average still presents an accurate picture of neighborhood price appreciation:

Appreciation by District using Average Sales Price san francisco real estate jacksonfuller.com
Appreciation by District using Average Sales Price

 

If we work off of the mean average sale price numbers, the Bayview/Hunters Point (d10) area zooms to first place, followed by Sunset (d2), Stonestown/Lakeside (d3), Potrero Hill/Bernal Heights/Mission (d9) then Castro/Noe Valley (d5), West of Twin Peaks (d4), then finally Richmond (d1) followed by the hills Russian and Nob (d8), Pacific Heights and north (d7), and Hayes Valley/Civic Center (d6).

So is the Richmond the hottest market or the seventh hottest? Did it appreciate at 28% or 48% or 76% since 2013? We could argue about it forever. But remember: you can’t buy a neighborhood. You can only buy a specific home in it, so our suggestion is to focus most of all on a particular home’s unique value to your life. It’s an investment you live in.

Filed Under: Alamo Square, Bayview, Bernal Heights, Blog, Cathedral Hill, Civic Center/Downtown/Van Ness, Clarendon Heights, Cole Valley, Corona Heights, Cow Hollow, Diamond Heights, Dogpatch/Central Waterfront, Duboce Park, Excelsior, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers, Forest Hill, Forest Hill Extension, Forest Knolls, Glen Park, Haight Ashbury, Hayes Valley, Ingleside, Inner Mission, Inner Sunset, Lower Pacific Heights, Marina, Market Commentary, Merced Manor, MIdtown Terrace, Miraloma Park, Mission Bay, Mission District, Mission Dolores, Mission Terrace, Monterey Heights, Neighborhoods, Nob Hill, Noe Valley, NOPA (North Panhandle), Outer Sunset, Pacific Heights, Parkside, Parnassus Heights, Potrero Hill, Presidio Heights, Richmond, Russian Hill, Sea Cliff, South Beach, South of Market Area (SOMA), St. Francis Wood, Sunnyside, Sunset, The Castro, Visitacion Valley, Western Addition, Westwood Park, Yerba Buena

1966 – 1968 Greenwich in Cow Hollow

October 3, 2013 by Matt Fuller, GRI Leave a Comment

This listing has sold and is no longer available.

Filed Under: Blog, Cow Hollow, For SF Buyers, Listings we Love

Tule Elk Park, Cow Hollow

May 30, 2013 by Matt Fuller, GRI Leave a Comment

This past Tuesday tour I had a few minutes to spare during the 10am block, which covers the Pacific Heights, Cow Hollow, Presidio Heights, and Marina district neighborhoods (district 7 on a SFAR map).

I stumbled across the sign you see below for Tule Elk Park, and delighted by the toy soldier gracefully guarding the top of the sign, I had to snap a quick picture. And blog about it. Because that’s just how we roll here at Team JacksonFuller.

Tule Elk Park in the Cow Hollow neighborhood

Tule Elk Park is an early education school/child development center that is operated by the SFUSD. And while all that is interesting, what I really liked was that Tule Elk Park has played an important role in the greening of San Francisco school. Tule Elk Park (TEP) is an original member of the Green Schoolyard Alliance here in San Francisco. In fact, so much has been learned about greening schools at TEP that a few books can trace their origins back to the site: How to Grow a School Garden by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel K. Pringle, and Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation by Sharon Danks.

In September of 2011, Tule Elk Park was also on the green schools tour for Engaging our Grounds: The 2011 International Green Schoolyard Conference.

Have you visited? What are your thoughts about greening schools in San Francisco to provide kids with more access to nature and outdoor play? We’d love to hear your thoughts, and while you’re at it, could someone please explain if it is just a coincidence that we pronounce both the “e” in Tule and the “e” in Noe? Inquiring minds want to know. Or at least want to start conspiracy theories…

Filed Under: Blog, Cow Hollow

Where Exactly is Cow Hollow?

April 9, 2013 by Matt Fuller, GRI Leave a Comment

Not to get too existential on everyone, but where, exactly, is Cow Hollow? This might sound like the dumbest question in the world, but even dumb questions can lead to interesting answers. The reason I bring it up is that our fair city has about as many neighborhood definitions as it does neighborhoods, and the groups defining the boundaries rarely speak to each other… Take, for example, Cow Hollow!

According to the San Francisco Association of Realtors, the Cow Hollow neighborhood is defined as:

The north side of Green street, north to Lombard (including the homes on the south side of Lombard, but not the north side). The east/west boundaries are Van Ness and Lyon. Below is a picture of the SFAR map for Cow Hollow, showing the boundaries with the Marina district to the north and Pacific Heights to the south.

SFAR Cow Hollow Map and Boundaries
SFAR Cow Hollow Map and Boundaries

 

The Cow Hollow Association, though, has completely different neighborhood boundaries, which are shown below:

As you can see, the Cow Hollow Association neighborhood boundaries begin further to the south than the SFAR, but do not run as far north. The Cow Hollow Association also uses Lyon as the western neighborhood boundary, but uses Pierce Street (instead of Van Ness) as the western boundary for the neighborhood.

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 10.19.57 AM
Cow Hollow Neighborhood Association – Different Cow Hollow boundaries

And while all this might seem to be just some guy with too much time pointing out how two maps don’t match, the reality is that the mis-match has some implications for homeowners, buyers, and sellers.

The Cow Hollow neighborhood is subject to neighborhood design guidelines,  which means that you could buy a house that is marketed as being in Pacific Heights only to discover that the property is part of the Cow Hollow neighborhood design guidelines. What are your thoughts on neighborhood boundaries and definitions in San Francisco?

Filed Under: Blog, Cow Hollow, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers

Lombard St: Cow Hollow or Marina?

February 18, 2013 by Matt Fuller, GRI Leave a Comment

Boundaries are arbitrary, but does it make sense for two different sides of the same street to belong to different neighborhoods?

District 7 SFAR Map
District 7 SFAR Map

For example, in District 7 of San Francisco, there are four neighborhoods (according to SFAR):

  • The Marina 
  • Cow Hollow
  • Pacific Heights
  • Presidio Heights

The north/south diving line between The Marina and Cow Hollow is Lombard St., which makes perfect sense. Does it make sense, though, that homes on the north side of Lombard are in the Marina while homes on the south side are in Cow Hollow? Given what a busy street Lombard is, I kind of have to agree with the boundary.

What about the north/south dividing line between Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights, though? The north/south boundary between the two neighborhoods is Green St., which means that homes on the north side of Green St. have a Cow Hollow MLS designation, while homes on the south side of the street have a Pacific Heights designation in the MLS. This one seems a little less obvious to me, since Green St. isn’t a particularly busy or commercial St. (that would belong to Union St., one to the north).

California St.
California St. serves as the north/south boundary between Pacific Heights (District 7) and Lower Pacific Heights (District 6). However, when the boundary line was drawn they (they being SFAR) put both sides of California St. in Pacific Heights, which means on the south side of the street the boundary runs along the fences in the backyard, not the street out front.

However, as soon as we get west of Presidio St., the north/south boundary goes back to the front side of California St., with homes on the north side belonging to Presidio Heights and homes on the south side belonging to Laurel Village/Jordan Park.

Clear as mud, right?

What are your thoughts about the SFAR map boundaries? I’ve only highlighted a few neighborhoods, but the list could go on and on…

Filed Under: Blog, Cow Hollow, For SF Buyers, For SF Sellers, Marina, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights

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Whether you're dreaming of your first home or planning for your next, we promise that you'll get the full benefit of our top-notch negotiation skills, industry relationships and market knowledge when you partner with us. Modern representation, even in Victorians.

Contact:
Matt Fuller and Britton Jackson
Ryan Fay
Omar Maissen
team@jacksonfuller.com
415.800.2058 - phone

JacksonFuller Real Estate
Alabama Naples Inc.
845 Market St., Suite 450, San Francisco, CA 94103

CA RE License Info:
Alabama Naples Corporate License - 01527131
Matt - 01342261
Britton - 01308661
Ryan - 01924701
Omar - 1998808

Matt Fuller & Britton Jackson - Zephyr Real Estate


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