San Francisco’s Free Opera in the Park Is this Sunday

San Francisco Opera is once again hosting Opera in the Park, this year in celebration of the opening of its 96th season. The annual free concert has been held in Golden Gate Park since 1971, and it happens this Sunday.

The day will include arias al fresco (in the open air), featuring the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and stars from the fall season. Bring friends and family for a fantastic afternoon of performances.

It all begins in Robin Williams Meadow at 1:30 PM. Bring along food, snacks, or something to drink — if you forget to do so, not to worry, the event has items for sale. Bring only low beach chairs and/or picnic blankets so that everyone can have a chance to see the performances. After all, 20,000 people are expected to attend.

For more information, click here.

Free Rooftop Concert Series And More At Salesforce Park

The rooftop Salesforce Park just opened, and it’s already the place to be for free concerts and more. SF.Funcheap.com has posted a page that provides info on all the concerts taking place every Wednesday evening now through the end of October. Concerts start at 5 PM, with everything from blues to jazz to salsa to rockabilly being performed. Other musicians and entertainers take the stage on other days and at other times.

There are also free fitness and wellness activities taking place regularly on the rooftop, along with writing workshops, Litquake lunch breaks, and more.  To see all that’s being offered, including dates and times, please click here.

Noise Pop’s 20th Street Block Party Happens on Saturday

Noise Pop is presenting the sixth annual 20th Street Block Party to Benefit Mission Language and Vocational School. They expect 20,000 people will be there.

Organizers say the 20th Street corridor will be transformed into a free party to showcase and celebrate a diverse neighborhood that they say blends modern ideas with community traditions to create a new San Francisco experience. This free, delicious summer feast and dance party will feature some of the City’s best restaurants, local businesses and artisans, as well as a variety of indie bands.

Empress Of, Jeff Rosenstock, 
The Marías, The She’s, FAN (Meric Long of The Dodos), The Total Bettys, Small Crush, and others will be performing.

20th Street Block Party
Saturday, Noon to 6 PM
20th Street Corridor (between Harrison & Bryant)
FREE (general admission) – Suggested donation is $10 to benefit Mission Language and Vocational School (MLVS).

Concerts Coming Up at AT&T Park

Outside Lands just ended, and we can’t help but ask, “What’s next?” SFTravel.com has the answer — though at this point tickets might be hard to come by. Here’s what’s coming up at AT&T Park in the coming weeks:

Ed Sheeran: Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018

Multi-platinum-selling and multi-award-winning artist Ed Sheeran will appear at AT&T Park a week from tomorrow. This is a stop in Sheeran’s first-ever stadium tour in the United States, and supports his latest album which recently won Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards.

The Eagles with Zac Brown Band and the Doobie Brothers: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018

Legendary band The Eagles land at AT&T Park for their only Northern California tour appearance in 2018. Their 2014 tour broke numerous U.S. box office records and sold out Madison Square Garden five times and the Forum in Inglewood six times. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016. Special guests Zac Brown Band and the Doobie Brothers will also appear.

Journey and Def Leppard with Special Guest Foreigner: Friday, Sept. 21, 2018

Two of the world’s greatest rock bands — Journey and Def Leppard — are teaming up for a massive 58-city tour. AT&T Park will be the only Northern California stop on the tour. The bands, who also toured together 12 years ago, will perform popular hits such as “Don’t Stop Believin'”, “Faithfully”, “Photograph”, and “Rock of Ages”. What’s more, special guest — and multi-platinum album act — Foreigner will also perform in this epic classic rock show.

Great concerts in great venues. Just one of the things that makes this City so great!

Weekend Events and the Weekly Real Estate Update

Now in its 11th year, Outside Lands takes place today through Sunday in Golden Gate Park. Once again the festival will showcase world class music, art, and comedy along with some of the Bay Area’s best food, wine, and beer. Headliners include Janet Jackson, Florence + The Machine, and The Weekend. Meanwhile, there will be a huge “Rooftop Park and Salesforce Transit Center Opening” Block Party on Saturday from noon to 4PM — admission is free. There’s also the 2018 Hillwide Garage Sale in Bernal Heights on Saturday from 9AM to 2PM. Lastly, the Pistahan Parade & Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, celebrating the best in Filipino art, dance, music, and food — admission is free.

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On the “Homes for Sale in San Francisco” front, here’s our report for this week, 8/5/18 – 8/11/18

SF Just Ranked Among Top 5 U.S. Cities in Which to Live

We are constantly hearing about how expensive it is to live in San Francisco, and how people are moving away. Yet the website WalletHub just compared the 62 largest cities in the U.S. based on 56 key indicators of attractiveness, and found that San Francisco ranked 4th in the nation, just behind Seattle, Virginia Beach, and Austin.

Affordability is clearly a problem, but San Francisco ranked 2nd in “quality of life”, 3rd in “Education and Health”, and 6th in “Economy”. We were surprised at the economy ranking, but “Building-Permit Growth” and “Wealth Gap” were both factored into the category, and that might explain the lower than we would expect rating.

According to the report, cities all across the country are dealing with issues around the high cost of living, pollution, traffic delays, and limited living space. But big cities represent opportunity, economic and otherwise, which appeals to people of all walks of life — especially young professionals seeking advancement in their careers and social lives. Another main draw is easy access to diverse dining and entertainment options.

The bottom line is this: San Francisco remains a city that draws people from all over the world. People want to live here and, given our limited supply of real estate, that demand continues to drive up the cost of rent and the price of homes.

Transit Center & Rooftop Park Grand Opening Block Party

A free Neighborhood Block Party will be held this Saturday from noon to 4 PM at the brand new Salesforce Transit Center and Rooftop Park.  The event will feature music, food trucks, fitness classes, games, tours, and performances, as well as exhibits showcasing historic and state of the art buses — this is the Transit Center after all.

SF.FunCheap.com has all the details, and says the best entrance is the Grand Hall at 425 Mission Street at Fremont, where escalators will take you up to the bus deck and park. Keep in mind, the Gondola will not be open until September.

This is the long awaited grand opening, literally years in the making. We absolutely can’t wait to see it!

Salesforce Transit Center & Rooftop Park Grand Opening Block Party
Saturday, August 11, 2018 | Noon to 4PM
Salesforce Transit Center, 425 Mission Street, SF
FREE – RSVP on Facebook

Weekend Events and the Weekly Real Estate Update

The San Francisco Civic Music Association presents the Mozart to Mendelssohn concert, Pastoral, on Saturday night at Herbst Theater. Admission is free and registration/RSVPs are appreciated but not required. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 7:30 PM. The 41st running of the San Francisco Marathon (Full Marathon, 1st Half Marathon, 2nd Half Marathon, 5K and Ultramarathon) will fill San Francisco’s streets with over 27,500 runners on Sunday. The race expo, open to the public and free, will be held at Fort Mason today from 12 PM to 7 PM and tomorrow from 9 AM to 5 PM.  The San Francisco Ballet returns to Stern Grove Festival performing an afternoon of selections from the current repertory. It all starts at 2 PM on Sunday. Admission is free with seating on a first come, first served basis.

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On the “Homes for Sale in San Francisco” front, here’s our report for this week, 7/22/18 – 7/28/18

2nd Quarter 2018 San Francisco Real Estate Report

Hill & Co. recently released its 2nd Quarter 2018 San Francisco Real Estate Report. If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to take a look.

Prices for homes declined a bit from the first quarter, but the median sales price for a single family house remained above $1.6 million in all three months of the second quarter — well above last yearʼs median prices during the same period. Condominiums and lofts also saw an increase in the median sales price year-over-year, though the increase wasnʼt as steep in comparison to single family homes.

If the Bay Area were a nation, it would be the 19th largest economy in the world, according to a recent Mercury News report. Whatʼs more, the nine-county regionʼs dynamic economy is still charging ahead, and shows no signs of slowing down. This puts tremendous pressure on housing of course, and that explains why home values have continued to climb so dramatically year after year.

The 4-page Hill & Co. report features a number of charts, including second quarter home sales by neighborhood. This chart has information on the number of sales in each neighborhood, along with median sale prices, percent of change year-over-year, days on market, median price per square foot, and the most expensive sale in the quarter.

Other charts provide a month-by-month look at San Francisco home sales by property type – whether single family home or condo and loft – for April, May, and June.

To view the report, please click on, or copy and paste, the link that follows: https://bit.ly/2Nrivup

Weekend Events and the Weekly Real Estate Update

SF.FunCheap.com has published a great online guide to San Francisco’s best Bastille Day celebrations taking place Saturday. Enjoy all things French — food, music, wine , beer, and more at a variety of venues. Meanwhile the SF Anime & Cosplay Festival is happening from 11 AM to 4 PM in Japantown Peace Plaza. And on Sunday you can watch the World Cup Final, France vs. Croatia, on a big outdoor screen with thousands of others at Civic Center Plaza. It promises to be a spirited and fun event!

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On the “Homes for Sale in San Francisco” front, here’s our report for this week, 7/8/18 – 7/14/18

A California and Bay Area Real Estate Market Report

We will soon be releasing our 2018 Second Quarter Report, but in the meantime we thought we would share information provided by the California Association of Realtors, based on May 2018 real estate sales. A continued shortage of homes for sale pushed California’s median home sales price to a new record for the first time since the previous housing boom, with the Bay Area recording double-digit percent annual growth for the 11th straight month.

According to the report, the median sales price for a single-family home in the state was $600,860 in May, up 9.2 percent year-over-year for the highest annual rate of appreciation in four years. California’s median price surpassed its previous peak of $594,530, recorded 11 years ago.

“As we predicted last month, California’s statewide median home price broke the previous pre-recession peak set in May 2007 and hit another high as tight supply conditions continued to pour fuel on the price appreciation fire,” CAR Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young said in a statement accompanying the report. “With inventory starting to show signs of improvement, however, home price appreciation could decelerate in the second half of the year, especially since further rate increases are expected to hamper homebuyers’ affordability and limit how much they are willing to pay for their new home.”

The median sales price for a single-family home in the nine-county Bay Area climbed to $1,088,000, up by 16.4 percent from May 2017, marking the second straight month the region hit a new peak. More specifically, all five of the state’s million-dollar counties are in the Bay Area: San Francisco ($1,620,000). San Mateo ($1,600,000), Marin ($1,415,000), Santa Clara ($1,400,000), and Alameda ($1,025,000).

A Family-Friendly San Francisco Symphony

Think Star Wars, The Little Mermaid, and a free performance at the Stern Grove Festival, and you’ll understand why we believe the San Francisco Symphony is particularly family-friendly this July.

The Symphony has scheduled a number of performances that are sure to appeal to a broader audience, and even hosts the world-famous Mariachi Sol de México^®, led by the incomparable José Hernández, on July 12 at Davies Symphony Hall.

To see the entire schedule, please click here.

“People in Plazas” Concerts Kick Off This Thursday

People In Plazas produces free noontime musical concerts in San Francisco public spaces. The series kicks off this Thursday with Josh Klipp and the Klipptones performing at 333 Market Street, and Jose y sus Picantes playing at Transamerica Redwood Park.

The organization puts together 120 + free performances at lunchtime in public plazas Monday through Friday in July, August, and September. The program reaches an audience of more than 30,000 annually.

Their mission is to encourage visitors, residents, and workers to use our outdoor public spaces. They strive to make these spaces “everyone’s neighborhood.”

To download a PDF that presents the complete schedule of concerts, along with their locations, click here.