Carol Solfanelli | Compass | DRE License # 01347033 | 415-297-7031 | carol.solfanelli@compass.com
2022 Real Trends America’s Best Real Estate Professional
Top 1.5% of 1.6 Million Agents Nationwide

Blog Posts

Keeping Real Property Taxes Low!

Chattanooga Ext

A client of mine recently sold his beautiful home in Noe Valley. In the next year or so he would like to purchase another property. Since he just turned 55 this year, he is fortunate to have the opportunity to buy a property of lesser value within the next two years and transfer the original tax assessment of the property he just sold to his new residence; this will result in him paying less in real property taxes. Proposition 60

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The Central Richmond is Hot!

thAve LR

  The market in San Francisco has been moving quickly over the last six months. An example of this can be found in the Central Richmond neighborhood of the city. Six siblings who still owned their family home after their parents had passed decided it was time to let go and sell it. While this was not an easy decision for them, they felt they needed to move forward. I came into the process as they were in the middle

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Falling In Love With a Noe Valley Victorian Updated with Inspired Modern Design

Chattanooga Kitch

Watch out – you may just fall in love with my brand new listing at 288 Chattanooga!  It is a newly and extensively renovated 3 bedroom, 3 bath Noe Valley Victorian. The owner, Ken Martin, is an architect who has a unique flare for creating spaces with inspired modern design perfect for 21st Century living. This is not your cookie-cutter renovation and is truly worth seeing. There are so many great details to his design like the dramatic loft-like, open

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A Home Seller’s Nightmare!

nightmare IMG  Version

When buying a home, make sure your realtor goes over the preliminary title report with you. There could be unexpected surprises within! A home in the Richmond neighborhood which recently had a sale pending, did not close on time and almost did not close at all. The reason? The sellers had taken back a second mortgage from the prior owner when they bought the home. As they were getting ready to close, the escrow company gave notice to the prior

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Why We Couldn’t Move Into The Home We Bought!

photo begging arms

When we bought our tenant-occupied two unit building back in 1998 before I became a realtor, we never realized what a nightmare trying to move into our own home would be. Even in San Francisco, in a majority of instances, owners have the right to move into their own home! This can be done by way of an Owner Move-In Eviction or OMI. We bought our building planning to move into the lower “garden” unit and live in our new

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The Mandatory Seismic Retrofit

building

Imagine you are buying a property and you discover that $350,000 worth of seismic work is required. That is exactly what happened recently with an agent in my office whose client was buying a 6 unit building. Buyers must be aware that when buying a property, they may be subject to the San Francisco Soft Story ordinance that went into effect last year. If you are buying a condo, you may be buying into a percentage of the cost for

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No Lawyers Allowed!

On Broker’s Tour recently, an agent was walking out of a condo and turned to the listing agent and asked if there was anything unusual in the CC&Rs. The listing agent said that in fact there was something a little unique. “Lawyers are not allowed to live in this building.” While this may seem odd (and I, personally, do not want to be excluded from any buildings!), there was a case in the ’90’s involving a Bakersfield, CA, development company

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Classic Modern Condo In the Heart of it All!

Waller LR

My new listing, a two-level, three bedroom Edwardian condo, at 1332 Waller Street (at Masonic), blends traditional with modern to make a great place to live. It is located in the middle of three vibrant neighborhoods – Haight Ashbury, Cole Valley and Ashbury Heights. Open Sunday, March 2, from 2pm-5pm and Tuesday, March 4, from noon – 1:30pm and 5:30pm -6:30pm. Go to www.1332WallerStreet.com for more photos and information.

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The Transformation of Noe Valley

Noe

Noe Valley is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city.  It has sentimental value for me since my husband and I purchased our first home there – a two bedroom condo with a fireplace and outlooks to a beautifully manicured garden. I have many fond memories of that 850 square foot condo!  But when we bought it in 1990, Noe was not the Noe Valley we now know. In fact, a few short years before we made our purchase,

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Deck

Watch Out For Those CC&Rs! When you buy a condominium, you become a member of an HOA (homeowner’s association). This association is governed by CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions). These are rules and regulations that prescribe how the homeowner’s association operates and how the owners (and their tenants or guests) must act. They are legally enforceable by the HOA.It is important that as a buyer you read all of them. However, there are a few specific things you should look

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