The Sunset Connection - Perspectives from SF's Sunset Neighborhood

Senior Sharp & Sunset Smart: Margaret Graf on Real Estate, Aging, and Community

• Jessica J. Ho • Season 1 • Episode 4

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In today's episode of The Sunset Connection, host Jessica Ho introduces two exciting new segments: The Realty Rundown and Community Announcements!

We start by exploring the latest real estate trends impacting San Francisco's Sunset District, highlighting key market insights, financial opportunities, and the city's beneficial DALP program for first-time homebuyers.

Our special guest is Margaret Graf, a dedicated advocate for seniors, retired nurse and attorney, and accomplished author. Margaret shares rich stories from over six decades in the Sunset District, reflecting on San Francisco's transformation, her work with seniors through her nonprofit Senior Power, and her impactful roles with the Advisory Council on Aging and Disability Services (DAS). She also discusses her delightful children's book, "The Adventures of Rob Raven: Climate Change by Wing and Tail," and previews her upcoming book, "Senior Sharp," celebrating the art and joy of aging.

Community Announcements:

  • Join Vindy Chan and the Taraval Police Station’s Scam Awareness Project, meeting every other month, next in May 2025. Email Jessica or Vindy (info below) for more information!
  • Attend the Never Better Elders Event by Community Living Campaign on May 15th, 1-4 pm, at the Hall of Flowers, featuring senior resources, entertainment, and appearances by Margaret Graf and Art with Elders.

Key Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

  • DALP (Downpayment Assistance Loan Program): SF Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development
    • Application Deadline: June 2nd, 2025
  • Senior Power Newsletter & Community Living Campaign:
    • Contact Margaret Graf: opoygan1@yahoo.com
  • SF Department of Aging and Disability (DAS):
    • Aging & Disability Resource Line: (415) 355-6700
    • SF Department of Disability and Aging Services
  • Vindy Chan (Safety Liaison, Taraval Police Station)
    • Email: vindy.chan@sfgov.org
  • "The Adventures of Rob Raven: Climate Change by Wing and Tail" by Margaret Graf:
  • Upcoming Book "Senior Sharp" by Margaret Graf:
    • Stay tuned for release information in May 2025
  • Never Better Elders Event:
    • Date: May 15th, 2025, 1-4 pm
    • Location: Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
    • Community Living Campaign Events

Stay Connected:

  • Host Jessica Ho:
    • Jessica.jasmine.ho@gmail.com

Thank you for tuning in to The Sunset Connection. Let’s stay connected and continue supporting our vibrant community!

Until next time, that’s all folks!

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The Sunset Connection — exploring the stories and histories that connect us.

Jessica Ho:

Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Sunset Connection. I'm your host, jessica Ho, bringing you the latest stories and insights from our vibrant neighborhood. As our podcast evolves, I'm excited to introduce two new segments to help serve our listeners better, since I've recently transitioned into the real estate industry. The first segment, the Realty Rundown, will briefly discuss the latest real estate trends and developments in the Sunset District and the west side of San Francisco. Then we'll move into our featured guest interview segment and wrap things up with some community announcements. Today I'm thrilled to welcome Margaret Graff, a longtime Sunset resident, dedicated senior advocate and accomplished author. A longtime Sunset resident, dedicated senior advocate and accomplished author. Welcome to the first edition of the Realty Rundown.

Jessica Ho:

We'll start with some interest rates and finance and then we'll move into more of a personal understanding of what it means to live in the Sunset District. Currently, interest rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage remain around 67%. There was talk that there might be a cut in interest rates but unfortunately yesterday Jerome Powell, who is the head of the Federal Reserve, decided not to cut and it doesn't seem like interest rates are going to come down anytime soon. So that's bad news for first-time homebuyers who rely on loans.

Jessica Ho:

Sunset District's real estate market, though, continues to be very robust, especially for single-family homes, which are closing at about 30% above listing prices. Unfortunately, condos and multifamily housing, as well as commercial real estate, are seeing a slower recovery, but they present new opportunities for buyers waiting for prices to adjust. My broker at Park North Real Estate recently listed a home in Mount Davidson Manor by Ocean Avenue and it listed for $1.275 million, but he got over 17 offers and it went for over $1.8 million, which is crazy. But that's kind of what the single family home market was, and that just closed, like last month. So you know. I think that the Sunset District housing market has been very desirable, which has never been the case prior. Okay, if I give input.

Margaret Graf:

Absolutely there on the Great Highway, which is where I live, about second house up from Vicente. I don't believe it was listed on market. It was off market 1.9. And I do not believe anything had been done to that house in many years.

Margaret Graf:

It looked like it Right, and that was early November, if I recall correctly. I think that was the most recent one that sold on my block. I live in, the 2500 block, which I've been told by realtors is a sweet spot. For one thing, there's no overhead power lines yeah, that's a big one. And another one those homes are set back a little further so that your driveways are a little deeper and what it used to be in terms of the weather was cold and foggy. But climate change is here yes, it is, and that's no longer the rule and the days are getting sunnier. It's like that the outer sunset has been discovered and the great secret is out.

Jessica Ho:

Yeah, I think that lifted with the fog. Yeah, it did. One more thing before we wrap up the first edition of Realty Rundown is San Francisco offers a down payment assistance loan program, also known as DALP, and if you are a first time home buyer, you might be eligible to get a loan up to $500,000 for a down payment. You have to apply before June 2nd, though, so make sure that you take advantage of this opportunity. So if you're considering selling or buying, now might be an excellent time. Still, feel free to reach out to me and I'd be happy to connect you to the appropriate real estate agent or expert to help you out, whether with loans or with interest rates. So I think it's important that you have a conversation with a trusted resource first to see whether or not you are in a position to buy and how you can really leverage your resources to think about buying in the future. So it's never too early to start planning.

Jessica Ho:

All right, now it's my pleasure to introduce today's special guest, margaret Graff. Margaret is a true Sunset Treasure, a retired nurse and attorney, passionate advocate for seniors and founder of the advocacy group Senior Power. She represents District 4 on San Francisco's Advisory Council on Aging and Stability. Margaret is also the author of the Adventures of Rob Raven Climate Change by Wing and Tail a charming and insightful story about environmental awareness through the eyes of the Adventures of Rob Raven. Climate Change by Wing and Tail a charming and insightful story about environmental awareness through the eyes of a raven. Welcome, margaret, thank you.

Margaret Graf:

Thank you for having me.

Jessica Ho:

Margaret, you've called the Sunset District home for over six decades. What initially drew you here and what's kept you here all these years?

Margaret Graf:

Well, you have to go back to the 60s and understand the climate in the nation at that point in time. At that point we were living in Minneapolis. It's very cold in Minneapolis in the wintertime and there's a lot of snow. And my husband and I just one day looked at one another and said why are we here? We could not think of a good reason. So California beckoned. This is when all the songs, all the mood, everybody wanted to go to California. It was like, you know, the sunshine, gold rush, if you will. This was the 60s and it was very popular. It was the summer of love, it was all of those things and it set itself up as a mecca. You came thinking there would be opportunities and choices and freedom.

Jessica Ho:

Were you here for the Summer of Love. I think that was 1968. Oh yeah.

Margaret Graf:

Of course I was in the 60s. I was here at the beginning.

Jessica Ho:

That's amazing. Can you tell me what the mood was like?

Margaret Graf:

Something in the air and it was singing and it was coming together, to use the phrase.

Jessica Ho:

Did you live in the Sunset at that time?

Margaret Graf:

Yes, I always lived in the same house in the Sunset since I got here.

Jessica Ho:

When you got here in the 60s, what did your friends think of the Sunset? Did you ever hear like, oh, I don't want to go all the way to the Sunset District, you live too far out in the boonies, or anything like that? No, we all went to the Haight, oh, ok. So you guys went to the Haight, got it OK, so, yeah. So that was where the central kind of location was for all the activity.

Margaret Graf:

Yes, got it and yes, people would go to the beach. But you know if you wanted to go out, if you were in the party mood, you know you went to the Haight.

Jessica Ho:

Do you remember where those spots were?

Margaret Graf:

Oh gosh, no, that was a long time ago. The Haight has changed a lot as well, and I'm sure none of them are there. And what kept you here all these years? I had a family. The Sunset was a good place to raise a family, even back then. Well, especially back then. Especially back then because, as I said, there were a lot of kids in the neighborhood. Back then the kids wanted to go to their friends and I would just say to them okay, well, 5 o'clock you're back in the door, and then never worry. When my children started school, I would initially walk them until I was sure they knew the way home, and then I wouldn't.

Jessica Ho:

Do you think it's because it was safer back then?

Margaret Graf:

I think we were a little more blind back then. We weren't so much aware of the potential dangers Do I think the dangers have increased, definitely. But I think we also were a little naive. I would admit that for myself, anyhow.

Jessica Ho:

Do you think that that was just sort of the culture back then?

Margaret Graf:

Yes, because everybody did it Right, if you accept that as the culture base. But everybody had everybody else's home phone number. I mean, I was a stay-at-home mom for 13 years, so there was a parent in residence. It wasn't like open city and kids running wild and we just took turns.

Jessica Ho:

And now you have to hire nannies or like and pay $25 an hour. Yeah, it's not cheap. Yeah, tell me a little bit about how you've seen San Francisco change since the 60s. What's changed between then and now?

Margaret Graf:

We don't trust one another anymore. We're more suspicious. I'm not saying that there isn't reason for it, but we're quicker on the trigger to react to what we consider a slight maybe somebody looks at you funny. It triggers a more violent reaction. I think we were more relaxed back in the 60s and certainly even into the 70s. I think there's an aura of anxiety.

Jessica Ho:

When did you see that kind of switch from like a more relaxed environment, more trusting environment, to more anxious and more suspicious?

Margaret Graf:

I may not have the right years right, but I think it's somewhat recent and I think, particularly when we hit the 2020s, it's gotten much worse. Back when I actually started Senior Power, my nonprofit organization, in 2018, I started it because I was frustrated that there was a lack of resources for seniors.

Jessica Ho:

It was like they were isolated in their houses and were afraid to go out. That was even before the pandemic and that was even before the pandemic, right, right, but they were, you know.

Margaret Graf:

I would have people tell me that then, that they had not left their house in 10 years because they'd lost their confidence in themselves to go out. And when they did go out, there was nothing to go out too, and that was one of the primary motivators for starting Senior Power is to give seniors a place to go to meet, to socialize and to learn resources. Isolation is one of the most dangerous things that happens to seniors, absolutely.

Jessica Ho:

Anyone yeah?

Margaret Graf:

There is a lot of families in the Sunset that are three-generational families and the seniors play a very active role, which is fantastic. It's a cultural thing in some cases and in some cases it is not, but the number of seniors living alone in the Sunset is a very high number.

Jessica Ho:

Thank you for sharing what inspired you to start Senior Power. How do we reach those people Like how? What are your efforts in trying to be able to? Because they're, you know they're isolated, so how do you?

Margaret Graf:

Well, it's a slow, painful learning process is what it is With Senior Power. I started monthly meetings. When I held my very first Senior Power meeting, which, I'm pleased to say, you were my guest speaker. It was an idea and I did not know if I would be sitting there with you and maybe three of my best friends and that would be it. But when I put the word out we had over 30 people. That's right and I thought there's a need here, there is a need.

Jessica Ho:

I've got something.

Margaret Graf:

And we went along very happily with our monthly meetings until COVID hit Right, and then we couldn't meet, and seniors you couldn't get have gotten them out of their house if you had dragged them, because they were afraid, and rightly so. And so I thought how do I keep the cohesiveness of my group and still give them resources in a way to keep together? So I started a newsletter and we simply sent it out on the Internet. And seniors did not have access to the Internet Right, so that meant we had to have programs to teach them. Now you know, they can do quite a bit with their phone, even if they do not have actual computers sitting in their house. But seniors aren't that stupid. They caught on and they thought oh, this is another world, this is how I can stay in touch. And they actually wanted to come to programs to learn how to use the Internet. And once they had that, it was easy to cut together programs to teach them things and to provide their resources.

Margaret Graf:

After we had cured COVID and people could start to get out again, then people were desperate to leave their house. They wanted to get out again. Then people were desperate to leave their house Friday, wanted to get out. But they didn't want to go sit in another room, just in another building. So I bought a tent and we erected this big tent once a month and we held outdoor meetings and we had sing-alongs, and seniors brought their musical instruments and they brought their hobbies and activities that they'd learned to do and that went along fine until it started to rain. And then of course that wasn't such a brilliant idea anymore. It evolved and it changed as it needed to, depending upon what the time and the climate was then.

Jessica Ho:

Where are we now, in 2025? What's going on with Senior Power?

Margaret Graf:

I still do a newsletter three times a month. I have a very small number of people who still are seniors, obviously, and do not have internet and have no interest nor want to be involved with internet, and for them I do a direct mailing. But the far majority now has welcomed the internet.

Jessica Ho:

Can people reach out to you by email that want to be added to the newsletter? Yes, Okay. I'll link your email to the show notes. Okay, great.

Margaret Graf:

I have a partner that I work with, which is Community Living Campaign, which is a nonprofit here in San Francisco, and they have a lot of programs for seniors which are all free, and we have walking groups now in the sunset here. We have exercise programs here in the sunset, judy Hubbell does a Tai Chi and Ocean Beach Park. There's things that have popped up based upon the evolving of our needs, and a lot of them are strictly senior-oriented Not all, but they are that way.

Jessica Ho:

As a representative of the Advisory Council on Aging and Disability. What are the key issues facing seniors today?

Margaret Graf:

Housing it's always the top of the list is housing. I don't think there's a sadder sight than to see a homeless senior In the Sunset area. That is probably less of an issue. I don't mean it doesn't exist, I do not mean to say that at all but I think it is probably less of an issue than it is in the hot spots in San Francisco. We call it DAS for short, and that's the Department of Aging and Disability Services. They have a phone number which is a hub. If you will and if you are to call into that number, they can put you in touch with any and all of their services, depending upon what your particular need is.

Margaret Graf:

Back in the day, this was probably about 2017, when I was beginning to wake up to the fact that DAS's programs are vast and wide, but it was a disconnect between downtown and what the services were there and what we were able to know, utilize or even be aware of on the western side, and one of my goals was to get rid of that disconnect. Thank God for self-help for the elderly. For years, we had only one senior center and it was on 40th and Vicente. My kids went to preschool there. Self-help for the elderly now runs it and at the moment it is closed because they're renovating it, which my personal thought. It's the first time they've done so since my kids went to preschool there. But they are renovating it, but it's one in our entire huge center with our huge population of seniors. Self-help also has now purchased 1234 Great Highway, which was the old motel that was there on the lower Great Highway in Lincoln Boulevard, and they are in the process of getting permits. They're doing public meetings to get the public involved about it, but they're going to build, at least as of the last meeting, a seven-story home for seniors and they are going to also have a new senior center there.

Margaret Graf:

That's great, it's all great. It's not enough, but it is progress. These things take a long time. It's the San Francisco permitting. It's getting the neighborhood's acceptance. It's the building. It's the San Francisco permitting. It's getting the neighborhood's acceptance. It's the building. It's expensive, but this is badly needed housing and I had the experience of having a very, very good friend and we had so many talks about how sad she was about having to leave San Francisco and live down the peninsula.

Jessica Ho:

That's rough. It's very, very sad. So you recently published a book called the Adventures of Rob Raven. What inspired this book, what's it about and what do you hope readers will gain from it?

Margaret Graf:

What inspired the book was climate change. In my heart, I'm an environmentalist. If you have to learn climate change and about it when you're my age, or even your age, it's too late. I think climate change needs to be taught to small children. I wrote the book as a book to be shared between a parent and a grandparent and a child, where a raven has to leave his home in a metropolitan area because it's become so polluted and he can't find materials for his nest and whatever, and he has to go and find a new home. This resonates for seniors, because so many of them are like the friend I just described to you that had to, at her comfortable old age, leave her security of her friends in her home and relocate someplace else.

Margaret Graf:

That was totally different. This is very hard, but I chose a common raven because, first of all, it's about the smartest bird. They do relate to humans and I needed him to be very imaginative to tell the story. But as we go through each of the 12 chapters, each one ends with a common activity for the grandparent and the child to do together, like, for instance, after chapter one, it's how to make homemade suet cakes for birds. But each chapter is followed by how to read a tide table or warnings when you go to the beach and what should you take with you. It's an interactive book. As I said, I wrote it because children relate to animals and birds and because it was just a way to tell the story of what it means to be an old bird, if you will, and how we can adapt.

Jessica Ho:

It's a great story and I actually bought one of your books and I'm sending it to my brother-in-law so that he can read it to his children, who are, I think, one and three, so we'll see if they can grasp the concept. But I love the book too, because it tells the story of Ocean Beach and the animals are all native to Ocean Beach, which is great, so I think it's also like a beautiful sunset story. It is.

Margaret Graf:

Well, they say write what you know. The beach is across, it's my front yard, it's across the street from me, so all of it. So I did not have to go far for the pictures or the story about the animals I live amongst ravens. Those are all my little neighbors and they're all in the book.

Jessica Ho:

Thank you for sharing about the book that you published, and I hear that you're actually in the process of publishing another book.

Margaret Graf:

Yes, well, if I'm very lucky, I will have it in hand the middle of May. This is my second book. This is not for children. This is a story about the art of aging. I feel qualified to talk about aging because I am. I have certainly aged. I'm 86 years old. I have a lot of experience aging, and so I think we need to take the fear of aging away. People are afraid of getting old and I think we need to show them it's just a cycle, that's all it is. It's just a cycle and you pass for many of them through your life. You went from infant to a small child. You went from a small child to teenager, to teenager, to college. All of those are simply cycles. Aging is just exactly that.

Margaret Graf:

The title of the new book is Senior Sharp, because we Are Never underestimate us. We are still sharp. It consists of 45 essays, all written by me, on aging and life and 45 art pieces that were all by seniors who were in a senior living facility and all of whom partook in another nonprofit, in San Francisco's program Art with Elders, and they go into all of these assisted living facilities and they teach them art, and some of the artists, I think, have never held a paintbrush in their life and some of them studied art in Paris. You know there's a broad range, but they're all expressing themselves and I have picked and chosen an art piece to match each of my 45 essays. It's beautiful. So you see the visual aspects, a beautiful art piece. And then you look, you read my essay at least that's my plan and you get a feeling for how seniors live, how aging is and why it's an art. I believe it was Betty Davis who said that aging is not for sissies.

Jessica Ho:

I mean, she's not wrong.

Margaret Graf:

No.

Jessica Ho:

And it's something that no one can really escape right, no matter how hard you try.

Margaret Graf:

Let me put it this way you do not want to escape it, because the only escape is not a good choice. If you don't get to age, you are not here anymore, that's it. So you want to age, it's how you do it. So you want to age, it's how you do it, that's up to you. And the point is to take away the fear and to just say, okay, sad I had to give up my career, sad that this is no longer there. The kids have left home. Whatever there's new experiences. As I said, some of the people that produced the artwork that is in my book, I really think, had never held a paintbrush before in their lives and they were totally startled to learn they could. Art is an expression of you. Show us what you are, show us your inner self, show us how you would wish to express yourself. That's a gift.

Jessica Ho:

All right. So before we close, I just want to make a few. Well, I want to make one community announcement as a follow-up from my episode with Captain Brian Hu. There's been some feedback about, you know, scams not only impacting seniors but everyone, especially with the advent of technology. And in fact, Vindy Chan, as part of the she's, our safety liaison for the TerraVale police station, reached out and really wanted to invite all of our listeners to join us in like a scam awareness project that she's working on, where we meet every other month, and we just met in March and so we'll be meeting in May again. So if you're interested in joining that or learning more about how you can get involved stopping scams, please reach out. Margaret. Are there any other community resources or events you'd like to?

Margaret Graf:

Yes, on May 15th, in the Hall of Flowers from 1 to 4 pm, community Living Campaign is going to be having what they call Never Better Elders. It's a senior resource program. There'll be entertainment. I may be reading one of my books. I will be there along with Art with Elders, which is the art program that I spoke of earlier. We'll be manning a table. I will have my hopefully two books there. There'll be entertainment. There'll be food, there'll be resources. There'll be a lot of takeaways that you can use.

Jessica Ho:

So, yes, I wanted to highlight that Great and yeah, we'll also make sure to link that to the show notes as well. Margaret, thank you for sharing your time, wisdom and passion with us today. It's been so delightful hearing your perspective. And thank you, listeners, for tuning in to the Sunset Connection. Let's continue supporting each other and staying informed Until next time. That's all folks.

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