Luba Muzichenko

San Francisco Realtor

San Francisco Condo Conversion

San Francisco Realtors and Homeowners Support Condo Conversion

By

Fair warning….. this post is taken STRAIGHT from an email from the folks at Plan C, an organization of moderate voices that support San Francisco home ownership and, thus, condo conversion.
San Francisco’s condo conversion lottery requires luck, patience and nerves of steel, but Plan C and its supporters (SF Realtors and property owners to name a few) are yet again, hosting a rally supporting changes to the current condominium conversion rules that would allow TIC owners a chance at owning more than a fractional interest in their properties.
So here’s the scoop, straight from Plan C’s mouth, er, um, email:

Wednesday morning, February 2nd at 8:15AM (before the condo lottery that is scheduled to be held at 9AM),  Plan C San Francisco, in conjunction with the Small Property Owners of San Francisco, will be sponsoring a rally for Condo Conversion reform.

This is one of your primary opportunities to bring attention to the fact that City Hall has failed to support homeownership for the thousands of people that seek it as a means of solidifying their place in our community.

If you are a first-time homeowner please take the time to attend this important event! Let’s show our city’s elected leaders that those seeking housing stability through ownership are the lifeblood of our city. You are the teachers, healthcare workers, public service employees, first responders, even members of our very own Board of Supervisors that are seeking to put down roots in our community. Public policy should be helping you to stay in San Francisco not harming you.

If you are not able to attend, we encourage you to contact the Mayor and city supervisors through our website. Write a note identifying yourself and tell them your story. Tell them that you support overall reform of the completely broken condo conversion process. Tell them that your only path to homeownership was through the purchase of a TIC, but the financial stability you seek won’t fully come until you can convert your shared interest into a condominium. Tell them that as a former renter you are tired of being ignored and vilified for pursuing the American dream.

You can e-mail the Mayor and city Supervisors here. After you have written your e-mail, only click “submit” once. Although it may look like you message has not been sent, it has!

Learn More About Plan C

To learn more about Plan C visit www.plancsf.org

More News on San Francisco Pay to Play Condo Converstion Policy

By

Plan C San Francisco

So I got a GREAT email from Plan C.  And while I usually love to add my two cents, they pretty much said it ALL for me.  So here it is, verbatim, for your condo conversion supporting pleasure:

We have good news to report regarding the proposed one time “condo bypass” for TIC owners, originally proposed in 2009 by Supervisor Elsbernd: the Mayor has included the condo bypass proposal as part of this year’s budget.
The details of the proposal are as follows:   TICs must have participated in the 2010 condo conversion lottery in order to be eligible for the condo bypass.  The fee for the bypass starts at $20,000 per unit for those who first participated in the lottery in 2010, and declines by 20% for each previous year of unsuccessful lottery participation. So, if 2010 was the first year your TIC participated in the lottery, your fee will be $20,000 per unit in the building. If 2010 was your second year, your fee will be $16,000 per unit. If 2010 was your third year of participation your fee with be $12,000 per unit. If 2010 was your fourth year $8,000/unit, and if it was your fifth year and beyond, $4,000/unit.  Note:  If your TIC only qualified to participate in the last 25 units which were drawn from Pool B of the 2010 lottery (because of eviction history), you are not eligible for the one-time bypass.
Plan C has worked with the Mayor’s office on this issue since it was first proposed, and we are very pleased that the Mayor has included the plan in the budget.  The proposal will bring significant revenue (likely in excess of $8M) to the city during this time of budget crisis – money that will provide funding to affordable and supportive housing programs that might otherwise be cut.  At the same time the legislation will bring much needed ownership and mortgage relief to middle income San Franciscans that owner occupy their TICs.  This is sensible legislation that helps everyone – it addresses the needs of TIC owners AND provides funding to low-income residents with special housing needs.  Tenants are also protected – to be eligible to participate in the lottery, the TIC building must not have been subject to recent Ellis Act evictions, must not have evicted any protected tenants and must not have more than one no fault eviction.
How you can help!
Email the Mayor and Key Supervisors. The Mayor and the Supervisors need to hear from us – contact them today by clicking here – let them know that you support the one-time condo bypass. Tell them that the program would help thousands of first-time homeowners, would hurt no one, and that it would help solve the City’s budget mess. And then tell them that you support overall reform of the completely broken condo conversion process! If you have the time and desire to call them, do that too. (contact information available here).
Attend the budget hearing on June 21.  The condo bypass will be considered at the budget hearing at City Hall on June 21. The hearing starts at 10AM, and the Condo Bypass is Item Number 4.  We don’t expect the Board to get to Item 4 until at least noon.  Please come and speak in public comment – tell the supervisors that you support the condo bypass! We know that the opponents of this program will be out in force – so it is critical to have supporters there as well.  If you are able to attend the hearing, let us know by email at [email protected]– we may be able to give you better information as to exactly when to show up as it gets closer to June 21.