SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – San Francisco is still recovering from the pandemic the slowest of all major US cities. Thirty-four percent of downtown office space is now vacant. At the same time, there is not enough housing in the city. Could some of this vacant office space be converted into much-needed housing?

San Francisco is in a constant battle with itself: too much commercial space, but not enough housing.

“In many cases, it is cheaper to remodel one of these buildings than to build new,” says Marc Babsin, head of Emerald Fund, a real estate development company based in San Francisco.

That's what Mayor London Breed wants to hear.

She is convinced that the “coming together” of the two, like a marriage, could contribute to the revitalization of the city center.

“We will continue to adapt, we will adjust and we will get better,” Breed stressed.

The key word is “conversions”. This has been done before.

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The story of a decades-vacant lot on San Francisco's Nob Hill may help explain the city's ongoing housing crisis, SF Standard reports.

In 2006, the Royal Insurance Building on the corner of Sansome and Pine Streets, across from the old Pacific Stock Exchange, was converted from office space into 46 condominiums.

The 52-unit Ritz-Carlton building on Market Street was once the headquarters of the San Francisco Chronicle.

And in the 1930s, AP Giannini had a branch of the Bank of Italy, which later became the Bank of America, which lent Walt Disney the money to complete his first feature film, Snow White, and later for other projects.

This building, One Powell Street, was converted into 44 high-end lofts in 2004.

We know it's possible, but what does it take to convert commercial space into residential units? The answer: It's not that simple.

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Strachan Forgan knows a lot about conversions.

His firm, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, was responsible for the largest office-to-residential conversion in San Francisco's history: 100 Van Ness, a 29-story building that now houses 418 rental units.

100 Van Ness was the old AAA building.

100 Van Ness, the former AAA building, was converted into residential units.

“The biggest change we made to the building was to remove the old precast concrete facade and replace it with floor-to-ceiling glass facades to really exploit the building’s view potential,” explained Forgan.

In many interior renovation projects, plumbing installation is one of the biggest challenges.

“This means we have to cut new vertical risers throughout the building,” Forgan explained.

This means that holes have to be drilled through the concrete.

Each unit must now have its own piping, sprinkler heads, thermostat, heating and ventilation, and lighting.

“Light, air and natural light in the residential units is a big deal,” said Joseph Camajani of engineering consulting firm IMEG. “Many of these offices are very large and deep, and it's difficult to get natural light into the bedroom units.”

For IMEG, a floor-to-ceiling glass façade was ideal.

VIDEO: SF sues Chinatown hotel owners offering single rooms over health and safety risks

One tenant reports that there is an ongoing rat and cockroach problem, the ceiling leaks and she has no hot water. But lawyers are convinced that the city attorney's lawsuit will change everything.

ABC7 asked: When will you decide to tear down the building and rebuild from scratch?

“I think some buildings have reached the end of their useful life and the best use of the property might be to build new buildings there,” Forgan said.

He is currently reviewing 15 possible redevelopments in San Francisco, but only three to five are potential candidates.

The other challenge is dealing with the planning department.

Because the city was determined to make 100 Van Ness a success, approvals were expedited.

The property was purchased in 2011 and was ready for occupancy just four years later.

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Investigators from the city of San Francisco are currently examining the Mint Plaza residential complex.

Other conversions have also proven extremely profitable, such as the conversion of the former University of the Pacific dental school at 2121 Webster Street in Pacific Heights.

It came on the market in 2016 and the sale of the 76 condominiums is said to have brought in $300 million.

But that was then. Today, in 2023, conversions may be less profitable.

“Construction costs have probably doubled compared to last year and rents have now fallen so much that they are barely above the 2012 level,” reveals Babsin.

In addition, when 100 Van Ness was built, the city required owners to set aside 13 percent of the units for affordable housing; today, that number is 21 percent.

Any developer, architect or engineer will tell you that City Hall needs to create more incentives to make these conversions more realistic.

“We have a huge inventory of buildings that could be good enough and could serve the people who need them,” Camajani said.

If you use the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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Bridges Restaurant & Bar, Danville, California, was facing seemingly intractable performance problems with its kitchen ventilation system and was willing to spend more than $20,000 on a new rooftop fresh air system.

Instead of reaching outside through the dual exhaust hood, smoke and food odors invaded portions of the 300-square-foot dining area, leading to complaints from guests sitting at tables near the kitchen.

The 24-year-old independent Bridges is best known in the San Francisco area for its casually elegant restaurants and as a famous setting for actor Robin Williams' comedic multiple costume changes in the Hollywood film “Mrs. Doubtfire.” According to Kevin Gin, executive chef and member of the restaurant's investor consortium, due to its upscale image and popularity, the annoying cooking smells in the dining area were detrimental to the business and detracted from the overall guest experience.

Additionally, drafts from the existing fresh air HVAC system sucked in smoke and grease that should have been contained in the hood and deposited it on the diffuser, walls, ceilings and other kitchen surfaces, resulting in an annual maintenance expense of over $1,000 US dollars required and cleaning supplies.

In addition to odor intrusion and maintenance costs, air conditioning drafts over the food preparation area resulted in prepared hot entrees being cooled prematurely, while employees in other kitchen areas were uncomfortably hot.

Find a cost-effective solution
A major HVAC retrofit expense seemed imminent until an arranged meeting between Gin and an HVAC ventilation product manager who was attending a dinner hosted by Bridges to mark the 25th anniversary of the nearby Food Service Technology Center (FSTC), one in San Ramon, California-based commercial foodservice equipment testing laboratory funded by Pacific Gas & Electric. Nick Paschke, product manager for fabric HVAC duct manufacturer DuctSox Corp., Peosta, Iowa, recommended a custom fabric air distribution system designed specifically for kitchens. The ceiling unit distributes the air flow evenly, parallel and in front of the kitchen extractor hood. The fabric diffuser is an easy-to-install replacement for metal air distribution diffusers that often cause kitchen hood overflow.

Instead of replacing the 5,000 cfm fresh air equipment, only the kitchen's single conventional 3' x 3' utility box and four metal diffusers were replaced. The diffusers were located above the food prep line to distribute air throughout the 1,000 square foot kitchen and were replaced with two D-shaped KitchenSox fabric diffusers measuring 8 feet long and 28 inches in diameter. Instead of the metal diffuser's estimated 500 feet per minute airflow, which caused turbulence and interruptions in the range hood's capture, the air is distributed gently and evenly through the fabric throughout the kitchen area at a significantly slower rate of 85 feet per minute . Without the previous high-velocity airflow and resulting turbulence, the dual exhaust range hood now efficiently meets its design standards, trapping smoke, grease particles and cooking odors without causing overflow.

CulinAire Systems, El Dorado Hills, Calif., a foodservice ventilation company specializing in on-demand ventilation controls and engineered kitchen ventilation equipment, fabricated the sheet metal plenum and metal/fabric adapters that feed the 16-foot-long fabric ducts. The fabric duct system and metal accessories were installed by CulinAire overnight without interrupting kitchen operations.

Without the draft, there is no longer any excess air smoke, grease buildup and dirt that the return air system once sucked onto diffusers, kitchen walls, ceilings and cabinets, speeding up daily cleaning and hygiene routines.

Gin also plans to do an annual cleaning, as the fabric diffuser can be disassembled by kitchen staff in minutes and cleaned in the laundry, a process that would take several days with an outside contractor using a metal system.

Green mission accomplished
By improving air distribution and preventing hot air from overflowing from the hood into the kitchen, significant energy savings are achieved, complementing Bridges' green mission, which is strategically marketed to its customers. Gin said it is difficult to accurately determine the energy savings of the new system because FSTC continually uses Bridges as a beta testing site for new technologies. However, Gin estimated that Bridges' recent conservation efforts saved the restaurant more than 20 percent in energy costs and quickly paid off the investment.

For example, FSTC monitors the results of the Bridges Intelli-Hood variable speed controller, manufactured by Melink Corp., Milford, Ohio, which won the prestigious AHR Innovation Award in the ventilation category at the 2012 AHR Expo was awarded in Chicago.

Other eco-friendly devices include:
· A 96% efficient Cyclone Xi water heater from AO Smith, Ashland City, Tennessee;
· Variable temperature control for more efficient operation of walk-in refrigerators from E-Control Systems, Sherman Oaks, California;
· High-temperature/reduced water kitchen and bar dishwashers from Hobart Corp., Troy, Ohio;
· A lighting conversion from standard lamps to compact fluorescent lamps;
· The highest efficiency appliances available today in deep fryers, convection ovens and ice cream makers from Vulcan-Hart Co., Baltimore, Maryland; the Garland Group, Freeland, Pennsylvania; and Manitowoc Ice Inc., Manitowoc, Wis.; respectively.

Bridges' HVAC ventilation challenges were completely solved with fabric diffusers, which cost less than ten percent of the approximately $20,000 for a new fresh air system. In addition, the energy savings and lower maintenance costs allow the air distribution system to pay for itself in less than a year. “This is really a common problem (insufficient draft in the extractor hood). I think a lot of restaurants are suffering from this and don’t realize there’s an easy, cost-effective solution,” Gin said. “We previously thought replacing the HVAC system would improve our kitchen ventilation challenges, but now we realize it likely would not have solved the actual ventilation problem that fabric ducts solved.”

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San Francisco’s 47-year-old mayor, London Breed, grew up in this city of postcard views, but much of that was not part of her youth. “I grew up in poverty,” she said. “I grew up in public housing, so I wasn’t really exposed early on to all of the beauty that you see now. I didn’t know some of these neighborhoods even existed in San Francisco.”

For this mayor who has risen from poverty, fighting the city’s inequality is one of her major challenges. In an area that’s home to many of the world’s most valuable companies, San Francisco now counts 8,000 homeless people, the fourth highest rate of any US city, and that has been made worse by some of the country’s highest housing prices.

Smash-and-grab robberies, along with car break-ins, have become their own postcard, underscored by the fact that police solve less than seven percent of those property crimes, infuriating both residents and the city’s more than $6 billion tourism industry.

Correspondent John Blackstone asked Breed, “You said yourself, many people in the city don’t feel safe here any longer.”

“Yeah, and I think that’s why we’re working on it,” she replied, “with making sure we’re able to add more police officers. We’re working on it by having alternatives to policing, to respond to people who are dealing with mental health challenges.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed with correspondent John Blackstone.

CBS News

After Breed was elected four years ago, she picked up a broom and planned to spent tens of millions of dollars a year cleaning the streets. In total, San Francisco is spending one billion city, state and federal dollars on homelessness.

“Every single morning there are people who work for the City and County of San Francisco cleaning up where you wouldn’t even know it’s the same neighborhood,” Breed said. “And even before noon, we’re dealing with some of the same challenges of the litter and the feces and the urine and some of the other issues that many of us are frustrated over.”

Those frustrations, particularly over crime, may be making this famously liberal city a little less liberal. In a recall this month, voters threw out the district attorney whom critics called “soft” on crime. That followed the recall in February of left-leaning school board members who’d focused on renaming buildings rather than reopening them during the pandemic.

On the national stage, politics here are a juicy target for critics on the right. On Fox News, conservative commentator Jesse Watters described San Francisco as “a tech mecca surrounded by a filthy moat of degeneracy, lawlessness, criminals and drugs.”

It is rhetoric with a long legacy, that was amplified in 2007 when a San Francisco Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, became the first female Speaker of the House. Republicans talked disdainfully about “San Francisco values.” On “The Bill O’Reilly Show,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, “I mean, Nancy Pelosi represents a San Francisco values ​​system.”

Blackstone asked Breed, “What are San Francisco values?”

“I think San Francisco values ​​really consist of pushing the envelope and willing to try things that may make people uncomfortable for the purpose of really turning people’s lives around,” she replied.

“But it seems to me the problem that San Francisco faces is that, for people on the right, it’s become shorthand for ‘liberal crazies.'”

“Yeah, and again, there’s nothing I can do about that, other than to make sure that we’re taking care of our city,” said Breed. “We’re cleaning it up, we’re keeping people safe, and we’re doing the things that make the people who live, work, and visit here happy.”

In December the mayor broke from the city’s often-lenient policies when she announced plans to get tough on crime: “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies , and less tolerant of all the bulls*** that has destroyed our city.”

San Francisco has been struggling with homelessness, and a rise in car break-ins and other property crimes.

CBS News

Blackstone asked, “I looked at the police dashboard. The retail theft, that’s up this year. Is your crackdown on crime working?”

“I don’t think it’s a fair assessment, to take statistics and then to equate them to a major headline around San Francisco being dangerous,” she said, “especially in light of when you look at our homicide rate, in particular, and when you look at the number of cases we’ve been able to solve, and the number of people that we’ve been able to hold accountable.”

FBI violent crime statistics confirm: at least 65 other cities have higher rates of murder, rape and assault than San Francisco. But highly-visible crimes, like car thefts and shoplifting, are up nearly 17% so far this year compared to last year.

Breed said, “I don’t think numbers mean anything when something happens to you. And so, ultimately, we’ve gotta do a better job with improving how people feel in the city.”

Among the improvements the mayor is proud of is a transformed corner in a tough neighborhood. “The corner of Hyde and Turk, this used to be a notorious area where there was a lot of drug-dealing and drug-using and all kind of things going on there. You go there today and there’s a park, a brand-new park there, and kids are now using the park.”

The Turk-Hyde Mini Park was created for preschoolers in the heart of the Tenderloin.

CBS News

Blackstone asked, “Let me ask you just to explain San Francisco to an outsider.”

“Ooh, that’s a hard one!” Breed laughed. “Complicated. Unique. Beautiful. Crazy. Wild. Fun. Innovative. Challenging. All of those things and more.”

Like any other American city, San Francisco has plenty of problems, but much like any other big city mayor, London Breed is her city’s biggest fan: “I love San Francisco, even though it’s a complex city with all of its challenges, its issues . But it’s a place of beauty. It’s a place of hope. It’s a place of opportunity.”

For more information:

Story produced by John Goodwin and Christine Weicher. Editor: Ben McCormick.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Some cities and neighborhoods were able to come back to life in the past two years since the region-wide shelter-in-place order, but businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown continue to struggle.

On March 16, 2020, a region-wide shelter-in-place was ordered to try and stop the spread of COVID-19. As people stayed home, the initial lockdown turned entire cities into ghost towns.

READ MORE: 2nd Victim Dies in Weekend Shooting In Fairfield

There hasn’t been a lot of business to go around. And now, many Chinatown businesses that survived are struggling to keep up with rent.

“We have to close the store. We cannot afford the rent because it’s too high for us,” said Mrs. Wong, who owns Dot’s Printing and Stationery.

She is specifically struggling with the back-due rent she owes. With little to no customers over the past two years, she hasn’t made enough to keep up. Now she says her landlord is demanding back rent.

“I have no choice,” she said. “They’ve forced us to retire. But we don’t want to get out of Chinatown.”

Wong has been in business on Stockton Street for several decades.

Edward Siu, the owner of Classics Tour and head of the Chinatown Merchants United Association of San Francisco, says Wong is not alone in her struggle with past-due rent.

READ MORE: Long Road To Recovery For San Francisco Bar In 2 Years Since COVID-19 Shutdown

“It’s really a hardship to us,” Siu said. “I believe there are more tenants who are facing the same kind of problem that we are.”

On Wednesday, the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development hosted a bilingual workshop in Chinatown about the small business rent relief pilot program.

There’s a total of $2 million that will help out around 50 small businesses struggling with back-due rent from when they were closed because of COVID, according to Diana Ponce De Leon, the Director of Invest in Neighborhoods for the Office of Economic and Workforce Development .

“For those who owe back due rent due to COVID when businesses were closed, they can apply for a grant of up to 50% of back due rent, up to $35,000,” Ponce De Leon said. “There are still businesses that aren’t fully back up to operation, and they still owe rent. Hopefully it’ll help to stabilize local businesses negotiate with their property owners on back due rent to stabilize them moving forward.”

Siu is glad some struggling small business owners will get a chance to grab this lifeline. However, he thinks landlords should be more understanding of the struggles their tenants continue to face – and should be more willing to negotiate.

“The landlords should be understanding of the tenants facing the problems, no matter where you are,” Siu said.

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To learn more about the program or how to apply, go to www.oewd.org.

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SACRAMENTO – From a bird’s eye view, San Francisco appears to be a relatively easy place to draw new political maps, as its residents are densely populated on a narrow peninsula and numbered to occupy a congressional district and multiple legislative seats.

In practice, however, creating new district lines proves to be a pain as the city has many strong ethnic and cultural communities. Sometimes moving a line a few blocks can have a significant impact on a block’s voting rights.

This difficult balancing act is playing out as the California Citizens Redistricting Commission draws new political boundaries for the next decade to accommodate the population changes reflected in the recent U.S. census.

“It’s such a melting pot that it’s hard to draw boundaries that communities don’t divide,” said Samuel Garrett-Pate, a spokesman for Equality California, an LGBTQ advocacy group, of the San Francisco relocation. “It’s possible, it just takes hard, thoughtful work. Communities don’t live in pretty little boxes in which you can draw pretty lines around them. “

The commission has proposed few significant changes to the city’s congressional seat held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or the Senate seat held by Scott Wiener, both Democrats.

But the commission’s work card would change the city’s two assembly districts dramatically. The proposal has angered some local leaders who say it would dilute the influence of Asian Americans, Latinos, African Americans, and LGBTQ residents.

Your proposal to have a working ‘visualization’ at this point could be published as a draft map next week and the Commission will seek public comments. The Commission has until the end of December to adopt its final cards.

The commission has tried to draw more Asian American majority counties across California, including the west side of San Francisco. But by moving more colored voters to an assembly district on the west side of the city, it could also create a white majority district on the east side. Both districts currently have a sizeable Asian population.

David Lee, executive director of the Sino-American Voter Education Committee, said community leaders fear the card could inadvertently reduce minority representation by cramming colored voters into a district.

“Why is the east side of San Francisco getting whiter under this plan?” asked Lee. “Some have suggested that this could be viewed as packing, trying to put all Asians into one district and thereby dilute their power.”

For decades, San Francisco’s assembly districts have essentially divided the city in half from north to south, with District 19 on the west and District 17 on the east. Both areas have elected Asian-American MPs for many years, most recently with members of the Democratic Assembly, Phil Ting in District 19 and David Chiu in District 17 (Chiu recently resigned after being appointed city attorney).

The advocates of the map commissioners would instead divide the city into two ornate L-shaped districts:

• In the south, several multi-colored working-class neighborhoods – including Bayview-Hunters Point, the Outer Mission and Visitacion Valley – would be incorporated into District 19.

• In the north, several predominantly white and affluent neighborhoods – including the Marina District, Pacific Heights, and Sea Cliff – would join District 17.

Reallocation officers have spent little time discussing these changes in their public line drawing meetings. A commission spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on concerns about the proposed San Francisco boroughs.

If the cards are ultimately adopted, the demographics of the boroughs would change dramatically.

According to an analysis by the Sino-American Voter Education Committee, white people would make up about 56% of voters in District 17, instead of 40% in the current district. District 17 would also have a much smaller percentage of Asian voters: 25% versus 34% today.

In the meantime, District 19 would become more diverse, with fewer white voters and slightly more Asians. Asian Americans would make up 49% of the district on the new map, compared to 47% today.

David Ho, a political advisor and long-time organizer in Chinatown, said someone unfamiliar with San Francisco might look at the map and believe it gives the city a more Asian-American influenced district.

He said this attitude ignored the city’s long history of electing different representatives in both assembly districts. He said it also ignores the nuanced nature of neighborhoods because it would separate Chinatown from other allied working-class neighborhoods like Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley.

The map would also break up other color communities in the city, including separating the historic Black Fillmore neighborhood from Bayview-Hunters Point, which is now home to many black residents. The map would also separate the Mission District from the Outer Mission and divide Latino voters.

“I think this card is a bit annoying for everyone,” said Ho. “This iteration is just offensive. I don’t see any group that would support this iteration locally. “

LGBTQ leaders have also raised concerns about the map as it moves two neighborhoods, Bernal Heights and parts of Twin Peaks, to District 19. These neighborhoods have a lot of LGBTQ residents and were previously grouped into District 17 with Castro and SOMA.

“We didn’t see the priority of keeping the LGBTQ community together the way we need to,” said Garrett-Godfather, chairman of Equality California.

David Campos, a former board member running for Chius’ old seat in District 17, lives in Bernal Heights and could be pulled out of District 17. The new card will not be used for this special election, but it will apply for the regular election next year for the district.

Campos said that beyond the potential impact on his campaign, he finds the proposed district lines confusing due to the impact it will have on blacks, Latinos and LGBTQ residents.

“If the goal was to disenfranchise color and LGBTQ communities, they did an excellent job,” he said. “It seems like the visualizations are as bad as you can imagine from a stock perspective.”

Dustin Gardiner is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner

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A global survey of the sector shows COVID-19 is moving to the cloud faster for nonprofits, but planning, skills and resource gaps remain.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2021 / PRNewswire / – TechSoup, the leading not-for-profit network facilitating the distribution of technology solutions to civil society organizations worldwide, today released the results of the largest global civil society research study ever conducted to understand computing practices and digital readiness of nonprofits and identify ways organizations like TechSoup can drive digital transformation of nonprofits and improve the impact on the sector.

TechSoup logo (PRNewsfoto / TechSoup)

The study, commissioned by TechSoup and supported in part by a generous grant from Okta for Good, interviewed 11,758 civil society technology decision-makers in 135 countries and in 41 languages. Survey distribution partners included TechSoup Global Network, BoardSource, Center for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Civicus, Institute for the Development of Social Investment, Technology Association of Grantmakers, RNW Media, Transparency and Accountability Initiative, and WINGS.

“Okta for Good is proud to sponsor this global research project that is providing valuable insights into the digital needs of nonprofits,” said Erin Baudo Filzer, Vice President for Social Impact and Sustainability at Okta. “The scope and scope of this study shows a sector that is making significant strides but needs better tools and programs to thrive in an increasingly digital world.”

“As a global alliance of organizations and activists committed to empowering citizenship and civil society around the world, it is critical that we understand the digital state of civil society around the world,” added Amy Taylor, Chief Networks Officer of Civicus. “With its global reach and comprehensive analysis of organizations’ needs and capabilities, this study helps define how activists and organizations engage in a digital world to serve, support, engage and inspire our most vulnerable communities. “

The story goes on

The study, carried out in summer 2020, asked companies about IT resources, digital readiness, data management and the effects of COVID-19. The most important findings include:

• Tech Budgets: IT budgets are typically low but are likely to increase over the next 2 years. Most decisions about IT products and services are made at the employee level, with an average purchase size of $ 375 Need permits. The number of people working on an IT team is limited and volunteers are often used.

• Transition Ready ?: A quarter of nonprofits have a defined strategy for achieving digital readiness. The biggest barriers to digital adoption, digital enhancement, and data management are cost, employee training, and availability.

• Data processing: Most organizations collect recipient, donor, and financial information. Across all data types, cloud-based data storage is the most widely used option today.

• Killer App: Organizations rely on spreadsheets for all aspects of data handling, including collecting, storing and sharing data.

• Pandemic focus: The major negative effects of COVID-19 affected workflows across the company and prompted a rethinking of the way they work. Most programs, fundraising and marketing have been negatively impacted while internal communication has improved. COVID-19 has sparked digital adoption primarily in cloud-based apps, followed by hardware and desktop apps.

• Need for Nonprofits: The adoption of cloud-based services, cybersecurity tools and other digital resources could be accelerated by increased funding, access to IT consultants / staff to facilitate digital transformation, staff skills or training and increased awareness of available digital tools become.

“Our global study is an important first step in moving beyond the rhetoric and conventional wisdom about nonprofits and technology,” said Chris Worman, TechSoup vice president of alliances and program development. “This gives us comprehensive baseline data that will enable us to hit the industry where it is and develop programs that support digital transformation and maturity so that our industry can thrive through digitization.”

To further explore the findings from the survey, TechSoup will convene a series of workshops with key stakeholders from civil society, foundations, government, business and the TechSoup community. In addition, a dashboard is created to share the data so that others can make their own inquiries and increase the collective benefit to the industry.

You can access a copy of the TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study here.

About studying
The TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study is based on an online survey of nonprofit IT decision makers that was conducted in the summer of 2020. The survey was conducted through the TechSoup Global Network (TSGN) and other industry organizations such as Civicus, WINGS, BoardSource, TAG, CSIP, RNW, TAI and IDIS to reach global reach and was an open link with anonymous responses. A total of 11,758 qualified answers from 135 countries and 41 languages ​​were considered.

Via the TechSoup Global Network
The TechSoup Global Network brings together over 60 organizations on six continents who work together to help more than 1.3 million NGOs meet the world’s most pressing needs. The partners, who work in 39 languages, are all united by a commitment to achieving social impact through access to technology. Together, the TechSoup Global Network partners have a big impact.

About TechSoup
For more than 30 years, TechSoup has provided the transformative technology solutions, the digital platforms and the personal experiences that enable people to work together for a fairer world. TechSoup manages the only global philanthropy program that brings together more than 825 companies and foundations to make technology donations to NGOs everywhere. TechSoup’s data and validation services enable companies, foundations, and governments to connect their philanthropic resources with verified NGOs around the world. TechSoup has reached more than 1.2 million NGOs and distributes technology products and grants worth more than. facilitated $ 15 billion. https://www.techsoup.org/

Media contacts
TechSoup Media Relations
mo.shafroth@shafroth.com
720-470-3653

Cision

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SOURCE TechSoup Global

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) – As the exodus from the Bay Area to Sacramento continues, local realtors and appraisers scramble to keep up with fluctuating demand from home buyers.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sacramento area is now a seller’s market, which means there are many homebuyers but limited inventory. This has created an unprecedented and challenging real estate market for both realtors and potential homeowners.

For El Dorado Hills real estate agent Melissa Quade, who experienced this 10 years ago in Seattle, seeing a big boom in the real estate market is not an unfamiliar job.

“I saw prices go up exponentially when I was in this market and now I see it here too,” Quade told FOX40.

But COVID-19 has created a unique situation for Quade and other realtors in the Sacramento and Bay areas.

San Francisco residents fled to Sacramento in large numbers during the pandemic: report

A recent CBRE research study showed that migration from densely populated and expensive areas has increased tremendously. Case in point: Moves from San Francisco to Sacramento County increased 70%.

“The buyers are in full force out there,” explained Quade. “Lots of movement from the Bay Area. You don’t have to live there anymore because you can work remotely so come here where you can get a lot more bang for your buck. “

The problem right now, however, is that sellers are in short supply.

“In El Dorado County, where I am, we have 75 percent fewer records than last year,” Quade said.

Quade added that this is frustrating for potential home buyers, “not just because they don’t have the money the Bay Area buyer has, but just because things are being done very, very differently now, and that Buyers have to take a much greater risk. ”

Quade said the median retail price in the Sacramento area, which includes counties of Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo, rose over 20% between March 2020 and March 2021. Since January of this year the market has risen 9% and is on the right track to keep rising.

“We haven’t seen a stock shortage like this in recent history, and we haven’t seen that many buyers out here, and that just creates insane,” Quade said.

There is also the gap between the estimated value and the real market value of homes, which is also difficult for appraiser and market analyst Ryan Lundquist.

“Our average price in January was $ 485,000 and just months later it was about $ 530,000,” Lundquist said. “And so we really saw very, very rapid growth.”

Out of the 30 largest subway areas in the US, Sacramento ranks number one in terms of net removals, most of which come from San Francisco.

And while it may seem daunting, the Sacramento real estate market offers plenty of opportunity.

“We actually had high sales volume for 10 months in a row,” Lundquist told FOX40. “Buyers are pulling the trigger for what’s out there. So we actually got numbers that are higher than 2019 and 2020.”

“It’s been a seller’s market here for a long time, but not like that,” Quade said.

Quade’s advice to first-time buyers in Sacramento is simple: be patient, competitive, negotiate terms, and focus on homes that have been in the market for at least a week.

According to Lundquist, there is good news for buyers: offers in the region are on the rise, and mortgage applications at the national level have been falling for three straight weeks. That means less competition.

Real estate boom: why people are paying thousands more than the asking price

It’s not all bad news for local real estate. In fact, Quade said this was the best time to sell. The only thing a seller is best at is finding a new home out of state.

Lundquist also gave advice to sellers: don’t be overzealous and put off potential buyers.

“Although buyers are hungry, they are not so desperate where they are literally paying for anything for any price and for any home,” he said.

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