September 2026

Greetings, All:

There’s been a lot of talk lately about AI and where all of this is headed. The recent warning from Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, certainly got people’s attention. His concern is that the AI industry is racing toward self-improving superintelligence without really knowing where that road leads. That’s a pretty sobering thought.

I understand why people are alarmed. None of us really knows what AI is going to become, and the people building it don’t know either. But I also think we need to take a step back. There’s a big difference between saying something *could* happen and saying it *will* happen. We’ve become so accustomed to getting breaking news, predictions and worst-case scenarios delivered to us 24/7 that sometimes we start living as though tomorrow has already happened.

And maybe that’s the part that concerns me more than AI itself—the tendency we have to worry about a future that isn’t here yet.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more aware of how quickly time passes. When you’re younger, there always seems to be plenty of it. Eventually you realize there isn’t. You start thinking about all the things you thought you’d get around to someday—calling someone, taking that trip, spending more time with family, saying the things you meant to say. And you realize that *someday* isn’t guaranteed.

That doesn’t mean we should ignore what’s happening with AI. We should pay attention. We should ask questions. We should expect the people developing these incredibly powerful technologies to do it responsibly, and we should expect our government to put reasonable safeguards in place. There are legitimate questions about what AI may mean for our jobs, our privacy, our economy and, potentially, our safety. Those questions deserve serious discussion.

But I don’t want to spend today worrying about a future that may or may not come to pass.

There’s something I’ve come to believe about living in the present: **being present doesn’t mean ignoring the future. It means not sacrificing today to something that hasn’t happened yet.** We can prepare for tomorrow without forgetting to appreciate today.

So yes, I’ll continue to follow what’s happening with AI. I’ll probably marvel at some of it and worry about some of it. But in the meantime, there are people I love who are here today. There are friends I haven’t called. There are meals to enjoy, places to go, dogs to walk, sunsets to watch and a home to come back to.

The future will arrive soon enough. Whatever it brings, we’ll deal with it when we get there.

For now, I’m going to try to be here.

Till next month,

Derek, Emily, Natalie, Mo & Arwin

Monthly Economic Summary

Team News

Neighborhood Reflection

Down the Hill to 24th Street

I’m back in Noe Valley a lot lately, because we have a new listing there, at 971 Sanchez Street, a house I must have strolled past a thousand times. I have walked down Sanchez Street so many times that my calves have it memorized. Years ago I lived just a block up the hill on Sanchez Street, which is where I brought my son Emerson home from the hospital. I loved Noe so much that when it came time to move, we didn’t go far. We went all the way to Liberty Street, a whopping few blocks away. Commitment issues? Not at all, especially when it comes to this neighborhood :)

Back then, every errand was an excuse to walk down the hill to 24th Street: a Whole Foods run, fresh air with the baby, or the very important business of grabbing a burrito. Over the years I’ve watched 24th Street reinvent itself a few times over, with shops and restaurants coming and going, but the charm never left. These days my favorites are Novy, Grand Lake Kitchen, and Fiorella, and Firefly remains my tried-and-true, never-lets-me-down classic.

When my boys were babies, we practically lived at Noe Valley Playground. They went on to St. Philip’s, the darling Catholic school at 24th and Diamond, and by middle school they were hopping on the J-Church on their own to shoot hoops in the gym at Upper Noe Rec Center or practice baseball on the field.

It’s no surprise Noe is one of the hottest and most competitive neighborhoods in San Francisco. Multiple offers are common, and buyers need to be ready to move fast, because everyone wants what I found here: a walkable village feel, a little extra sunshine, great schools, and real community.

I’ve since moved out of Noe Valley, but thank goodness I have close friends who still live there, so I get the best of both worlds: all the Noe charm, none of the hill-climbing with groceries. And now I get to help someone else start their own new chapter here!

– Emily Dunn

Did You Know?

* The Farm is having a moment, besides the farm-to-table dining trend that keeps going strong: Farm-themed hotels are popping up around the globe, mostly influenced by the originals Blackberry Farm, Babbington House and Babylonstoren, although versions of this existed for decades in France and Italy. The modern farmhouse style in the U.S. delivers a style transitioning away from stark, mass-produced cookie-cutter aesthetics toward a warmer, more authentic “organic modern” and cottage-fusion design…..

* FICO is a debt score, not a wealth score……an IOU score. Your score is about debt, how you manage debt. You can have a billion dollars, no score, but not be able to rent an apartment, and even if you could buy the entire building for cash. FICO does not measure your wealth building. Recently, the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow all approved lenders to use VantageScore 4.0. that scores 33 million more people by using alternative data and eliminates the 6-month minimum.

* There is no forecast that predicts a 3% mortgage rate in the next 5 years. However, who saw such low home loan rates on the horizon in 2007 when rates were about where they are now? Things like the Great Recession and a global pandemic are rarely on the radar, and such drastic events are what it takes to move mortgage rates into the cellar.

News

Sleepy Alameda becomes unexpected culinary destination for pastry

The laid-back island city of Alameda has always been an appealing day trip for its beaches and waterfront breweries, but often, its dining scene gets overshadowed by Oakland and Berkeley. That’s changing fast.

One of SF’s rare floating homes hits the market for $1.7M

Tyson Graham still thinks of himself as “the new guy” in San Francisco’s Mission Creek floating home community. He bought his house 25 years ago, hardly recent by most standards, but just three of these homes have ever come up for sale on the open market, and most instead pass down from generation to generation.

SF’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to host a professional sports team in 2027

The San Francisco Signal, an expansion women’s volleyball team set to start in January 2027, will make the 111-year-old venue their home, the team announced Friday. Signal president and co-owner Stephanie Martin said the team will play all of its home matches in League One Volleyball (LOVB) at the historic auditorium.

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The Dunn & Chin Group
Top 1% SF Realtors

Derek Chin DRE #: 00854466
Emily Dunn DRE #: 01424486
Natalie Rome DRE #: 01386654
Mo Salimi DRE #: 02128819