Converting TIC to Condo in San Francisco

The San Francisco Department of Public Works published a flow chart of how the a 2-unit Owner Occupied building gets converted to Condos here http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/sfdpw/bsm/FlowchartConversion2UnitBypass.pdf

For Buildings with 3 to 6 units, or a 2-unit building with only one owner occupier, if you want to convert to condos in San Francisco you must go through the lottery process. I found a surprisingly informed discussion about the lottery on SocketSite after they published a San Francisco Chronicle article about the Mayor's Office considering the idea of allowing lottery participants to buy the right to convert. That San Francisco Chronicle article can be found here.... but for those curious about how some of the TIC rules work, and for an interesting discussion of the pros and cons of TICs, rent control, and condo conversion in San Francisco, the SocketSite comments are smarter than your average joe (well, most of them :)

That discussion can be found here. The article was typical of mass media... bad. The final comment was perfect... someone saying a lottery is fairer than allowing someone to buy their way out of the lottery. Not well thought through because if you can't afford to buy your way out, wouldn't you hope and pray that EVERYONE else did? You'd then be the only remaining building in the lottery... so obviously you'd win. So the more the merrier right? Anyway... watch out for anything mass media says... including the Chronicle, when it comes to Real Estate. Blogs can be notoriously un-researched, but most people know that... whereas they think a paper like the Chronicle must always be accurate, thorough, researched, and fair... hardly.