On your mark, get ready...wait

Residential builders are gearing up for new projects in the Dogpatch, Rincon Hills and South of Market.

The few projects mentioned in this San Francisco Business Times article would create more than 600 units, but no one's breaking out the hammers and nails just yet. The number of active residential listings in San Francisco is 24% higher than a year ago.

Still, developers getting their ducks in a row is not a bad sign.

How low can they go?

This article by Luke Mullins for U.S. News & World Report spells out the seven things to know about the incredible shrinking mortage rates. There's something so tidy and concrete about a numbered list.

Mullins also wrote this article on home buyer tax credits.

Barbie's (life-size) Dream House

In honor of Barbie's milestone birthday (the big 5-0), designer Jonathan Adler created her Dream House in Malibu. Apartment Therapy covered it, as did a least one Los Angeles Times blogger.

So…when does Ken get his man cave?

DIY for the times

In a perfect world (or even a normal economy), you choose an experienced real estate agent when you decide to sell your home.

But the authors of "How to Sell a House When It's Worth Less Than the Mortgage" know there is nothing normal about a market in which tens of thousands of homeowners are "underwater." That is, their home is worth less than what they owe.

In fact, a Pew Research Center survey found that 20% of all homeowners believe they if they would have to sell their home right now, it would sell for less than they owe. Read the complete survey results here.

The San Francisco Dream House

On the market for $2,389,000 in September 2008, and to reduced to $2,280,000 in November, the new duplex property at 1240 5th Avenue in San Francisco was withdrawn without a sale.

Still, someone is going be very happy living there. Imagine forking over a mere $150 for a raffle ticket and winning a brand spanking new custom house with a guest cottage.

Sigh.

What? Oh, sorry. I was just daydreaming about having my morning coffee in my private courtyard before returning to the main house to call all my friends (and maybe a few strangers) to brag about my four-car garage.

The drawing will be held on July 25, 2009. Raffle proceeds benefit the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Details and photos are here.

A live/work/pray property?

The former Golden Gate Lutheran Church is on the market for just under $10 million.

The 17,000 square foot Gothic Revival-style building has been completely rehabbed to add a modern kitchen, three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and an open main floor (the original nave) with miles of glossy wood flooring. (That's a lot of Swiffering.)

Here's the SFGate story. I'll be watching to see how the next owner uses this "home."

Those three little words…

The people who say a picture's worth a thousand words haven't met San Francisco photographer Peter Bruce.

His photographs speak volumes, but his subjects summarize their feelings in just three words.

Visit his photo blog and see for yourself.