Another glorious winter’s day in San Francisco.  My family and I biked over the GG Bridge to Sausalito and then took the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf. Thirty-five years in this town and I’ve only done that ride twice.   The previous time was a week ago, to celebrate my 10 year old son’s new birthday bike.

2009 was not a kind year.  I feel very grateful that my family has come through in reasonable shape.  It makes it easy to appreciate the fine views and the fine weather.

Exactly a year ago, I officially launched this blog. It’s been enormously gratifying writing it.  First, it’s made me feel plugged into the market in ways both large and small.  Secondly, because I’m a visual kinda guy, those charts that I’ve tried to make a central part of  this blog have helped me understand and retain what’s going on in ways that columns of numbers just don’t.   Plus, I’ve learned a heck of a lot more about Excel — and, alas, its limitations as a database –  than I ever knew before.)

And finally, it’s been great to feel appreciated!   Though I sometimes joke that I have a readership of 7½, it is a loyal, thoughtful and appreciative one.  Well, that’s three of you anyway.

Happy New Year everyone!  My best wishes to each of you, and thank you for your support.

For the three-and-a-half readers who may have wondered what happened to me, I’ve been up in the Sierras near Yosemite with my family at the wonderful San Francisco treasure, Camp Mather, a 9 mile bike-ride from Hetch-Hetchy reservoir, where San Francisco gets its world-class water from, and about a 45 minute drive from Yosemite.

No cell-phone service, no wi-fi.  Just lots of trees, sun, rock, and river.

Spent about 7 hours fly-fishing over two days and caught 3 fry and 1 bona-fide fish, probably not bigger than 9″.  (All were released.)

Fly-fishing has to be one of mankind’s greatest exercises in frustration.  How could we possibly make fishing more complicated.  Don’t use real bait, use tiny strings, beads, and feathers instead.  Don’t pick the right pattern, don’t get a fish.  Don’t “present” the fly naturally on the water, don’t get a fish.  Do all this will flinging 15 to 30 feet of line over your head while waist-deep in freezing water, surrounded by bushes, trees, rocks, and all manner of other obstacles that want to do nothing more than EAT YOUR FLY.

I had a blast!

The database for SF condos is almost complete, so I’ll be able to start reporting on that part of the market soon.  Still working on automating my district charts to that I can generate compartive charts more quickly.

Happy New Year everyone!  I’d intended to illustrate this post with suitable icons for every winter tradition from Christmas to Kwanzaa but decided against it when I  couldn’t think of a suitable graphic for non-believers.  And why should they (we) feel left out?

The image is of a sculpture by Rodin.  I saw it in the Rodin Museum in Paris during the summer of 2008 and, like so many of his sculptures, it seemed to glow from the inside.  For me, these hands express the tenderness and grace that we humans are capable of.  My wish for the New Year is that there be more of both in this  world.

And now, drum roll please….

This is the “official” launch of my blog, which I began writing in earnest last September.

As someone who has reached “a certain age”, I find blogging itself an interesting phenomenon, so I think it’s worth explaining what I hope to do with this blog and why.  Herewith a candid interview with yours truly….

How will your blog be different from other real estate blogs? Good question Misha.  There are lots of real estate agents and brokers who have beautiful websites full of  useful links, gorgeous pictures, and information feeds from other sources.  Very few of them spend a lot of time researching and writing substantive posts on the real estate market (some exceptions are included in my blogroll).  There are other real estate blogs that have a particular take on a specific issue  — for example, East Bay Housing Bubble (on my blogroll) covers… you guessed it.  Still others, like my friends at TheFrontSteps,  blog on everything from the latest real estate news to the best or worst new property listing for the week, and still have time to run a contest on who is San Francisco’s cutest real estate agent.

My blog will be mostly about real estate data and trends, both from a macro and micro point of view.  For example, several recent posts were on a real estate conference about the California real estate market in the context of the global economy. Another post compared  sales price trends of  individual neighborhoods (MLS districts) within San Francisco.  Yet another discussed the often quoted Case-Shiller Index and why it presents a somewhat misleading picture of the San Francisco market.

I’ll also cover subjects that I think are of interest to people who own or are thinking about buying residential property in San Francisco — how much does it cost to put in a garage or adding a new floor, for example.

And  from time to time, I’ll blog about other stuff that interests me — including blogging itself.  It’s a strange phenomenon, this intersection of the personal and the professional, the private and the public.  It almost seems wrong to blog and not be self-conscious about it.

How often will you blog? I hope to post once or twice a week.  My posts tend to be longer because of the nature of the subjects I cover.  And they take more time to research.

Why do you blog? Ah yes, why indeed!  First of all, blogging allows me to combine two of my main interests:  real estate and ‘riting.  Secondly, I believe that people want to know who they’re dealing with.  My posts are my opinions, my research, my writing.  They say something about me, my judgment, my interests.  If you find them useful, then perhaps you’ll think of me when you or someone you know are thinking about buying or selling property.  There’s the sales pitch, and it’s the only one you’ll find on this blog.

So Happy New Year one and all!  Thanks for coming! Come back often. Subscribe to my RSS feed.  Tell me how I can improve this blog and what subjects you’d like to see covered.

And please comment vigorously and often on my posts, or email me.   Because without you, this blog is just me talking to myself.