Attention: My First Place (HGTV) in the Bay Area!

My First Place Is Looking for First-time Homebuyers to be on HGTV!

HGTV will be in the Bay Area and has asked if I can help locate some first time home buyers.

One of HGTV’s most popular weekly series, “My First Place” is coming to San Francisco for its EIGHTH season to tape first-time homebuyers through all the trials and tribulations of looking for, bidding on and ultimately buying their first place!

Each half-hour episode features people making the dream of homeownership a reality!

They are currently looking for homebuyers who are:

* Buying their FIRST place—the first home they’ve purchased.
* Fun, interesting people who are excited to be a part of this show.
* People willing to share their personal financial struggles with viewers and consider their lives an “open book.”
* Buyers that are going to be closing by the end of summer, 2010.
* Will be buying within a 60 to 90-minute radius of downtown San Francisco.

**Candidates who are selected to appear on the show will receive a surprise housewarming gift as part of taping and also a DVD copy of their episode after it airs on HGTV!

Singles, couples and families buying their first place are all encouraged to apply!

Contact:
               Cole Schneider
               Associate Producer, Casting
               "My First Place"--HGTV
               303.712.3100
               cschneider@highnoontv.com

First the artist, then the hipsters...

The artists infiltrate first, moving in for the cheap live-work space; then the hipsters arrive, coming for its rough-edged authenticity; and finally the developers.

One of the first entrants, Holliday Development, is building the Pacific Cannery Lofts in the initial phase of the Central Station community. The 163-unit project is an adaptive reuse of a historic warehouse, the 1911 Pacific Coast Cannery building, which was shuttered during the Great Depression and has sat empty for 50 years.

Ninety-nine lofts are centered on three interior courtyards in the original cannery building.

Experts say it's far greener to move closer to places you need to get to than it is just installing sustainable wood flooring or photovoltaic lights. Rick Holliday, founder and president of Holliday Development, did both. He built next to existing transit and incorporated enough energy-saving items to have the project Build It Green-certified.

Urban planners call this "smart growth." Specifically, smart growth means creating housing close to existing urban infrastructure and job centers while encouraging the next wave of improvements, such as grocery stores and retail shops.

But that car is hardly a necessity because 271 trains hit the West Oakland BART Station daily and the train ride to the Embarcadero station takes just six minutes. There are trains every 1 1/2 minutes during commute time, and the property offers quick access to Interstates 80, 880, 580 [980], [State Route 13 ]and Highway 24.

Complete SFGate Article