There have been a lot of Google searches and even more emails coming to us wondering if we can “point [you] in the direction of the ‘Walk Down Lake Street'” from sfnewsletter that many of you saw mentioned in this article on SFGate. Those that have already read it already know that we added a few comments that didn’t make the cut.
So if you missed the walk, here it is. In its entirety: [Follow the break]
A TRIP DOWN LAKE STREET
Do you ever drive a street, see the signs, and wonder what that place is asking, what that one sold for, or why’s that one getting stale? We’re going to attempt to answer these questions, and provide a bit of story. You can get most of these answers if you’re checking our “reports” on a weekly basis, but in case you aren’t, here are a few notables on Lake Street.
125 and 129 Lake
These two properties are literally in the same building, and have seen entirely different results.
125 Lake is a 3 bed, 2 bath, 2-level condo, with zero parking, but a top-notch location.
Listed on 4/25/07 for $1,150,000, it received a pre-emptive offer, which was declined, was marketed for a couple weeks, had an offer date, received multiple offers, and sold over asking ($1,227,000) and spent a staggering 13 days on the market.
129 Lake, also a 3 bed, 2 bath, zero parking, but middle floor unit, is not doing so hot.
It hit the market on 9/06/07 for $1,195,000 (surely priced compared to 125 Lake), had a price reduction to $1,079,000, and is getting stale. Why? Square footage? Middle Unit? Parking? Price? Market?
420 Lake is a very nice six unit building with a gross income of $111,600, estimated expenses at $32,000, and a cap rate of 4.08%.
Listed on 8/16/07 for $1,950,000, they marketed it, showed it, set an offer date and we’re told, received multiple offers. It is scheduled to close next week. Moving on…
We come to 711 Lake a 2 bed, 1.5 bath, 1745 square foot, top floor condo, with parking and a HUGE storage unit.
This home came on the market 10/10/07 for $1,049,000 and the bees were definitely buzzing around this hive. Pre-emptive offers were not welcomed, an offer date was set, five offers were received, all above asking and all around $1.2M+. What’s that tell you, if anything? Let’s cruise down the road and see what else we see…
1638 Lake, a “beautifully renovated and enlarged” 5 bed, 3.5 bath, 3312 square foot home that was sold in an off market deal for $3,325,000.
It sold 5/10/07. So in case you live on Lake in this area and wondered why the moving trucks were there, and you suddenly had new neighbors, here’s your answer.
1807 Lake is a 3 bed, 1 bath, 1839 square foot Stalefish to be, asking $1,298,000, and now on the market 91 days.
It does “show beautifully”, but maybe we need to work on that price at this point. Just thinkin’…
Just a few buildings down we come to 1845 Lake, a 6 unit building with estimated income of $105,768, expenses of $39,811, and a cap rate of 3.66% that has quite a story…at least on paper.
From what we can tell this property came on the market 5/17/07 for $2,235,000 and quickly went into contract then quickly fell out. After what appears to be a couple ins and outs of contract, the price was reduced in July to $1,999,999 (looks like a “Happy Meal” price with all those 9’s). The listing then expired, was re-listed and went back into contract in August, and ultimately sold 9/26/07 for $1,800,000. Phew! Get us out of there…
Alright, let’s skip a few blocks.
2801 Lake is still there, still asking $2,995,000 (down from it’s 2003 asking price of $4.2M, and the most recent asking price of $3.6M), and just waiting for someone to look past all the clutter.
We see the listing agent wisely got rid of some of the pictures on MLS that didn’t do the property justice, but we found some for you to peruse. Sometimes being a “collector” isn’t such a good thing, especially when you’re trying to get $4M+ for your home.
Finally we hit the end of the road and come to 2910 Lake, a 4 bed, 4.5 bath, 5000 square foot home listed on 9/13/07 for $4,595,000.
This is an example of what to do when a home in this market doesn’t sell. (And the photo shopping of the blue sky and clouds is an example of what not to do. It makes it look Adam’s Family-esque.) Put it on for a couple weeks, if you don’t get bites, lower the price. This home was on for one month, no action, price chop $200,000 to $4,395,000, get two offers and you’ll have to follow up with your sfnewsletter provider to see what ultimately happens. (Fingers crossed it still closes…we don’t like to jinx things.)
SUMMARY
This was just a very tiny percentage of the activity still going on in our market. These same types of transactions are happening in every nook and cranny of this city. We can do this same thing for any street, we just need to hear it from you that this little stroll was interesting and we’ll do it again. You can even pick the street. Otherwise, next week, it’s back to sfnewsletter as usual.
Thank you to all the homes that participated in this stroll, and thanks to MLS for all the photos.
–What’s Happening now in the reportedly stormy San Francisco housing market [SFGate, Carol Lloyd]
–We Made the Papers! But I Must Add… [theFrontSteps]