Senior and disabled tenants protest unjust
evictions by Zephyr Realty

by PNN staff One flyer from Zephyr Realty advises landlords that they can raise the value of their buildings by 20% if they sell buildings that are empty of any tenants. Another flyer lists property bought a few years ago and then re-sold in the last year at huge profits-the flyer notes "Come In And Ask About Ellis Evictions." These practices, and the involvement of Zephyr Realtor’s buying buildings, evicting tenants and converting the apartments to condos was the focus of a tenant protest and picket at Zephyr Reality in Noe Valley. Zephyr is one of the leading players in real estate speculation in San Francisco leading to the evictions of tenants for condo conversions. Their ads for condos often say "VACANT" or "DELIVERED VACANT." These condos are being sold empty because the tenants have been evicted, usually under the state Ellis Act. Real estate investors are buying up buildings, evicting tenants under the Ellis Act, and then using loopholes in the condo conversion law, the units are sold as condos-usually for about $425,000 per apartment (with the real estate speculator typically getting $500,000 profit per building). These evictions-for-condos are the leading cause of evictions in the city. Using the state Ellis Act, real estate have evicted about a thousand tenants in the past year for the purpose of condo conversion. Even though the city’s condo conversion law limits conversions to 200 a year and prohibits senior evictions for condos, these real estate investors utilize loopholes in the condo law to convert thousands of units. The Tenants Union is putting a measure on the November ballot to bring all types of "condominium-type" conversions into condo law. When such a law is passed, all rental units which are sold as condos will be covered by the condo law, regardless of how the sale is structured or recorded on the deed. INFORMATION: Ted Gullicken 282-6543 Pager: 791-1528 558 CAAP STREET- SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110 - PHONE (415) 282-6543-FAX:(415) 282-6622 Z

ZEPHYR

NOTABLE ZEPHYR FACTS

Zephyr officers and realtors are very active as landlords and
real estate speculators. The 1998 effort to repeal rent
control was led by Zephyr: Iise Cordoni-a longtime Zephyr
agent & officer and currently a Director of the California
Association of Realtors was the largest single donor to the
anti-rent-control campaign, giving $25,000. Zephyr
President and Founder William Drypolcher-who had
residential property holdings worth $2.5 million in 1998
valuation, gave the anti-rent-control-campaign $5,000.

Zephyr preaches the philosophy of DELIVERED
VACANT. The current issue of Zephyr’s newsletter says:
"Buildings which are delivered vacant sell for considerably
more than those which are partially or wholly tenant
occupied. The question is how much is a vacant unit
worth?" "20% more, Zephyr says." The newsletter goes to
give and example of a two unit occupied building which for
$569,000. The sale fell through in escrow and the building
was put back on the market empty and sold for $100,000
more, for $670,000. One Zephyr realtor’s flyer lists a
number of buildings bought and then re-sold for 50-100%
more in the same year, followed by "Call and ask me about
Ellis Evictions.

SOME BUILDING EXAMPLES

348-350 SCOTT

Tenants were evicted under the Ellis Act in Late
1998 by Zephyr realtor Bonnie Spindler. Spindler
bought the property in May of 1998 for $430,000;
in September, she gave tenants an Ellis Eviction
notice (this is typical of most Ellis evictions: a real
estate investor buys the rental units and
immediately files an Ellis eviction to remove the
units from the rental market). By February of this
year, she had sold all 4 units for a total of
$975,000 (yielding her a profit of over half
a-million dollars. Spindler has been an active real
estate speculator in the past and besides this Ellis
eviction she’s doing an "owner move in" eviction
on another building in the Lower Haight which is
being converted to condos and previously did an
OMI eviction for herself at 1500 Fell.

362-366 SANCHEZ

This 6 unit building was bought by a Zephyr
Realtor in 1998 who began converting it into
condo-type units. Two tenants were evicted for
"owner move in" and then the realtor/landlords
(Tuan Tran and George Uyeda) did an Ellis
eviction to complete conversions of the
apartment units into condo-type units.

273-277 HERMANN

Three unit building created as condos via OMI
evictions in 1997. In May Zephyr was offering
one of the condo-type units for $345,000
Evictees included a 20+ year rent tenant.

Greed, Avarice, OUT OF CONTROL
PROFITS.

IT’S ABOUT HOW MUCH $$$$$$ CAN
BE MADE OUT OF REAL ESTATE MARKET
SPECULATION. INSPITE OF HAVING MORE
THAN ENOUGH TO LIVE ON, FORCING OUT
TENANTS BECAUSE THEY CAN. WHERE
AND WHEN DOES THIS FISCAL
INSANITY END? WILL YOU BE
‘ELLISSED OUT NEXT IS ANYONE
SAFE?