With the downturn in the economy I have taken to the tried and true, but not for everyone, cold call. Yes this means knocking on doors and introducing myself as a Realtor based in the McGuire Real Estate Noe Valley office at the corner of Church and Clipper. This is the first installment in a series of blog posts as a record of my experiences “on the street” and the questions, thoughts and comments of the people I meet.

Walking up 25th Street from Church toward Dolores I spotted two young men who looked old enough to be home owners in shorts, no shirts, basking in the sun having lunch on the deck on top the garage. Climbing the stairs I said to them, “You guys really know how to spend the day” and introduced myself. They stopped me and said they did not live there, but were tourists from Sweden staying in the bed and breakfast. We chatted a moment and they commented on how great it was to be in San Francisco staying in the Mission. A bit surprised, I told them this was Noe Valley, not the Mission District and they asked, “Where is the Mission?”





I answered that the Mission is roughly bordered by Valencia, DuBoce, Potrero and Cesar Chavez. But for real estate there are specific borders with a jog here and there, and that this was true in all areas. This is especially meaningful with Internet searches, because the San Francisco Association of Realtors produces a map divided into areas labeled with numbers (districts) and letters (sub-districts/neighborhoods). If a search is set on one of the many real estate sites and Noe Valley is checked]=, a home may be only across the street in the “Mission” and will not appear in the list produced from the search. Also property values are higher than in the Mission and just being labeled the “Mission” can affect the value of a property.





My clients all use the Internet in their search for property. It is important to look closely at the SFAR map and search a wide area that includes all possible streets of interest.





I said good-bye to the Swedish convention visitors knowing they could return home and begin their search for their San Francisco pied-à-terre and find one in Noe Valley.