Episode Twenty Three: Season Finale – Homeowner in the city?

When I told people that I was going to buy a house, some people looked at me like I'm crazy. And it is a bit crazy. I started the process a few weeks ago, in the midst of all my midterms. But now that I think of it, it's kinda funny how I got to this point.

It all started with my housing debacle. A couple of months ago, it was housing contract renewal season at Mission Bay. I had decided to renew my 3-bedroom apartment lease at Mission Bay even though I knew one of my roommates was moving out (she's moving closer to Parnassus next fall). I figured it shouldn't be that bad finding one roommate.

But after I've renewed my lease, my other roommate told me that she's moving in with her friend. So, I was kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. For a while, I was trying to find two people to fill the spot, but ultimately, I decided that it'll be too hard to find two roommates that can move in at the same time that my current roommates are moving out, so I decided to cancel my lease, and signed up for the waiting list for a studio/one bedroom at Mission Bay. The rates for studio are as high as $1300/month and it can go up to $1800 for a one bedroom apartment!

Right around the same time, we had our rotation lottery assignment. For the longest time, I wanted Davis as my rotation site, primarily because the project that I wanted to do (I'm in the Health Policy and Management Pathway) required a lot of MediCal data analysis, and so being in Sacramento would make it easier. Plus, my friends all were putting Davis as their top choice, so that was another incentive.

Not getting the Davis site rotation plus the looming possibility of being homeless gave me the motivation to look into buying my own place here in the city. When I was telling my friend that I pay close to a $1000 for rent and that I'm considering getting a one bedroom rental for $1800, she told me that for a HOUSE, her payment is $2000, and it's a 2 bed/2 bath with a yard; well, granted, it's in Antioch, but still!

So this got me thinking. I am definitely going to be in San Francisco for two more years, at least. I did some calculation, and I would come out ahead buying a house vs renting after 2.8 years, after tax considerations (writing off mortgage insurance, closing costs, mortgage interest), inflation, etc. Also, it's a good time to buy a house at the moment, if you have the resources to purchase. Fortunately for me, I have saved up a bit of my summer internship salary, and in addition to my mom's generous financial contribution, I would be able to afford the 3.5% down payment required for an FHA loan. From what I've gathered, San Francisco real estate has been quite steady and according to a few real estate agents that I've talked to, has not been as affected by the swoon in real estate prices as compared to other parts of the country. The $8000 housing stimulus tax credit is a nice little reward too. Most importantly, I wanted a concrete reason to stay in San Francisco.

So, for the past few weeks, I've been consumed with looking into housing possibilities. Trying to get paperwork done for pre-approval was a bit of work. Since I don't have a high enough income (though my credit scores are good), I had to get my sister and her husband to co-sign with me. Trying to get an agent was another big deal, though in the end, I can say that I have a good one. He follows up on me pretty regularly, and is easily reachable.

Even with an agent, I've done A LOT of research on my own. I've gotten myself more than familiarized with crime maps, investment analysis, house market values, and mortgage rates. I've made use of a lot of real estate websites like ziprealty.com, trulia.com, redfin.com, krunching.com, and countless of real estate blogs to get a better feel for the market and to better educate myself about the whole process. For every potential house/condo that I was interested in, I had my agent run a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) on each property to gauge how much to put in as our first offer. I also asked him to get disclosure packages so I know what exactly I'm getting myself into if I get the house.

The very first property that I saw, I fell in love. It was a tiny studio TIC unit off of Harrison St in Inner Mission, seven blocks away from SFGH. Everything was upgraded, with hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, tiled bathroom, and it even had a wooden deck, for $160k! That's unheard of in this city! Granted, it was probably about 350 sq ft (not including the deck), but it was pretty nice, and frankly, I shouldn't have that much space (I'm such a pack rat). Sadly, an investor swooped in and bought all four units, and so, I wasn't even able to put an offer for it.

I started looking for other places that I can afford. For my self-imposed limit (under $350k), there are not that many places to look at, which I guess is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.

Surprisingly, there are places around the city for that price range, even in Nob Hill (ok, it's a teeny tiny studio, but I can live with that!). But most of the available houses/condo in my price range are in Outer Mission, Silver Terrace, Bayview, Bayview Heights, Hunters Point, Excelsior, and Ingleside Heights. It worked out in a way, because most of these places are not as foggy as Parnassus (with the exception of Ingleside Heights). After seeing the different houses (I must have gone to more than 20 houses) and seeing their neighborhood, I've eliminated Bayview and Hunters Point from my search; it's too far from the city center, and it would be a pain to try to get to school (though, currently, I'm not doing so hot in that department, even with living in Mission Bay). The grittiness of the neighborhood also played a part, though not as much. Crimes do happen everywhere, as I have found out using the SFPD's Crime Map. In the past 90 days, there were more crimes in the ¼ mile vicinity of campus compared to a portion of Bayview Heights!

 

So now, there are a few properties that I'm eyeing, and I think I'm about to put in a few offers. Hopefully, with my column next year, I will get to write about my new home! Stay tuned!

Episode Twenty Two: Running away with the circus: Life as a flying trapeze artist

A couple of weeks ago, Vida and I were lucky enough to get this story assignment, visiting the San Francisco Circus Center and trying out their flying trapeze lesson. That's one of the nice things about being a Synapse editor; aside from getting paid, you get to do lots of cool things with little or no-cost.

Who would've thought that there's a circus school near UCSF, let alone two of them? Housed in a former high school gymnasium, the Circus Center is, in the words of Michael Kesselman, the general manager of Circus Center, a "world-class facility" and one of the elite circus centers in the world with instructors from all over the world (Quebec, Mongolia, China) who have toured with different troupes worldwide.

I have a clinically undiagnosed acrophobia, not anaphylactic-bad, but still bad enough to give me the goose bumps and the knee trembles, the queasiness and the stomach knots every time my feet are not touching the ground. But I said, what the heck, what have I got to lose, right? And besides, I'm wearing a harness, and if I fall, there's a safety net and a cushion to catch me.

Before we got up, we were given an on-the-ground training on what to do when we're up there. We were taught the basic commands that we needed to listen to and do each command sequentially. Simple enough; it didn't seem so bad when we were on the ground, and I thought this would be pretty easy!

When I was climbing up the ladder, I can feel my hands clamming up, my heart beating faster and faster. The platform sure felt a lot higher from up there than it is from the ground. Not only was it higher than I thought, it was smaller than I thought.

There's a certain method to the madness that is trapeze-flying. First, you hang on to the railing, and then you thrust your hips out as you reach out for the swing. Then with your other hand, you grab the bar, and when you're ready, your hand that's holding the platform will join the other hand in the bar. Then you bend your knees and jump off! There were definitely a few times when my nervousness would get the better of me and I would go back a step or two, which is apparently NOT what you're supposed to do.

But the people that work here were so encouraging and gave you confidence. I swear, they all have soothing voices that melt your irrational fears away, urging you to adopt a "jump off the high dive, stare down the barrel of a gun, pee into the wind" mentality. It also helped that all of the instructors were pretty good looking. Jennings, with his piercing eyes, Scott, with his silver-fox looks, and Jan Damm from Maine… Hot Damn… seriously.

The first trick that we learned was the "knee hang". On command, you lift your legs up and place it on the bar, then on the next command, you drop your hands. Then on the next command, you bring your hands up, followed by dropping your legs down. It was a bit harder doing it up there than it was down on the ground. But eventually, I got the hang of it, and was able to manage to do serviceable knee hangs.

The second trick that we learned was the "back flip". We didn't learn it at the ground first, but Jan Damm explained what we needed to do; on command we swung forward, backwards, forwards, and then touch our knees. I failed miserably the first time I tried it; I rushed my movements and I didn't flip at all. The next time that I did it was a lot better, if I may say. I looked at the grainy TiVo-like recording of my trick, and I was thoroughly impressed of my performance; it looked pretty legit!

For the next few days, as forewarned by Jan Damm and Scott, I was pretty sore. My bingo arms were hurting the next day; I worked out muscles that I never knew I had. But it's all good. I had so much fun doing it that I am inclined to spend $42.50 for an hour and a half drop-in lessons on Saturdays from time to time, but not enough to leave my day job, as Scott did (he graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Genetics and had work at a lab).

Episode Twenty One: Rites of Passage of a San Franciscan

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A few Friday ago, I was heading off to work, and since I was running late, I decided to drive to work. Big mistake. Trying to find a parking spot in the Castro on a Friday afternoon/early evening is like trying to find that proverbial needle in a haystack. The probability of getting struck by lightning three times in a row is probably bigger.

After driving around for 30 minutes, I finally found a spot on 18^th Street, just past Church. To my horror, when I got off work, I couldn't find my car! For a while, I was on denial, thinking that I must've parked somewhere else. Then I got melodramatic, thinking that my car got stolen. The grim reality finally set in; as I looked up, covered up by the trees, a sign read: "Tow-Away Zone: No Parking from 4-6pm".

To make myself feel better, I met up with my usual Chouchou's cohorts Kat and Meghan, and ate and drank my sorrows away; there's nothing better than their freshly baked pies, and if their pies couldn't have made me feel good, I don't know what could have. And let me tell you, that was the tastiest $368 (towing+ticket+taxi) piece of pie I've ever eaten.

As I told them my sad story, we got to talking about how we all have gotten towed and that getting towed is one of those "rites of passage" of being a San Franciscan. This got me thinking: what other experiences are uniquely San Franciscan? You know you have lived in San Francisco when:

You've gotten a parking ticket

Yeah, I know, you can get a ticket anywhere, and not just in San Francisco but I swear, I think the meter enforcers in the city are on top of it like no other. Either that or I'm just extremely unlucky. Once, I parked in a meter and had put enough coins for an hour. When I got back an hour and 5 minutes later, there it was, my little $50 present, stuck in my windshield wiper, and no, it's not a flier for an underground rave. At least, I haven't gotten the "curb ticket" or the "street cleaning ticket" that I know a lot of people have gotten. My friend Jan got ticketed while she was in front of her house.
She tried to contest it, to no avail. Well, I guess that taught her an expensive lesson.

You've spent an afternoon with the homeless, the yuppies, les
artistes, the drug addicts, the octogenarians and the trendsetters, all in one place, and you enjoyed it.

Of course, I'm talking about spending a lazy Saturday afternoon at Dolores Park. You'll see people with their picnic baskets and blankets, paper-bag-covered refreshments in tow and enjoying the sun. And afterwards, walking down to Bi-rite for some delicious ice cream!

You've walked across Golden Gate Bridge

Ah yes, the quintessential symbol of San Francisco, the bridge that launched millions of tourists' sails. As tourist-y as it sounds, the 1.7 mile walk is a refreshing way to experience the "bridge" experience. As an added bonus, you can park on the San Francisco side, walk across and enjoy the San Francisco view from the Marin side, and not have to pay for the toll!

You've spent a whole summer wearing a sweater

My friends Heather and William found this out the hard way last summer. Visitors from Detroit, they had this outrageous idea that California is warm, so they've packed only summer clothing. For the most part, they were correct. Before heading out to San Francisco, they spent a few days in San Diego and LA, and they got to experience what the California Sun feels like. Alas, they didn't have such luck when they got here. They ended up buying overly-priced "San Francisco" hoodies at the airport so that they wouldn't freeze to death.

You've eaten a carne asada burrito at El Farolito's

Our softball team goes here after our games. By far, this is the best Mexican food I've had in the city, and it goes toe-to-toe with San Diego's best. Their meat is pretty good, and the prices are reasonably affordable.

You've participated in Bay-to-Breakers/Castro Block Party/Stern Grove Concerts.

These kinds of events make you realize what a unique city San Francisco is. Bay-to-Breakers is a riotous concoction, a perfect blend of zany and outrageous, and it brings out the creative juices out of its participants. I had a few favorites from last year, including the "red-plastic-cup" group and the purple float with a DJ spinning some pumping dance music. With the "no-alcohol" rule, we'll see how tame this year's B2B will be, though I must say, that in the past, they said they were going to crack down on the au naturelles, but the cracks are still visible. In the summer, coinciding with the PRIDE weekend, Castro has a huge block party capping off the Dykes in Bikes parade on Saturday. All sorts of people come out for this event, and the streets are filled with happy people dancing their hearts out. Also in the summer, Stern Grove in Golden Gate Park hosts free concerts in the weekends. This year, I'm excited to see Roberta Flack and Les Nubians perform.