wow — complete Noe wreck, on a busy street, sans views

This property was so run down that there was yellow tape everywhere. Visitors literally couldn’t walk in more than one area due to the fact that they would fall into the sub-basement, or worse. Yet it sold for 25K over asking, for $1.02M. On the one hand it’s understandable. It’s Noe Valley and a large lot. On the other hand, it is not. It’s mid-summer 2008 and this isn’t supposed to be happening, especially on previously less desirable streets such as Clipper. Your thoughts?

28 thoughts on “wow — complete Noe wreck, on a busy street, sans views

  1. The lot is 3400 sf? It mentions a side by side, so I wasn’t sure if the property was twice that. That does seem like a lot for a total redo.

  2. Yeah the lot was mega. However the house took up the whole lot! Like, you would have needed to remove some of the back of the house in order to properly develop the lot. The tax records read 1983 feet but it was much larger than that. There were outlying wings or even separate structures that couldn’t have been counted in the tax records. I think you would want to demolish them in this instance instead of claiming any sort of grandfather clause.

    The two car parking was also good to have. But an inside ingress from the garage won’t be possible without quite a lot of excavation and retrofitting, if then. No, in my opinion this one is a total surprise. Even at the top of the avowed citywide market’s peak in spring 2006 Noe fixers weren’t getting this much.

  3. What’s that line? “It only takes one…”

    It only takes one person to overbid on a house.

  4. “What’s that line? “It only takes one…”

    It only takes one person to overbid on a house.

    The greater fool theory? I don’t know. I bet there were several offers or else it wouldn’t have gone for more than asking.

  5. Joemama,

    Here are my thoughts. First, 30th street has been doing very well of late. Two, big lot, it’s 25 by 114 or something. Three, in 2005 the southern reaches of Noe Valley were not commanding the type of dollars they are now. Four this one advertises a remodel too. Those are the positives.

    Negatives, one — tho a large yard it is not a south-facing yard. Two, it’s got a streetcar line right out front. Three, and more important, it’s a 2br 2ba. That third bedroom always adds a ton of value.

    All told I think it’s fairly priced. It’s perhaps a bit of a teaser price depending upon the state of the 2br buyer’s market and how many buyers are in it. Regardless I think it is likely to sell relatively quickly. This is sight unseen, OK? I’m shooting from my hip based upon having developed a few properties in the area.

  6. thanks kenny.

    You have a strong knowledge of this area and I respect your opinion.

    Why do you think the south reaches of Noe have done well post 2005? the mysterious google effect?

    Although it says re-model, i looked at the permits and couldn’t find much indication of the remodeling in the permits. Also, I know it has an unwarranted area, which is probably why it is priced above most 2br/2ba.

    I think it will go for btw $1.25mm and $1.35MM, what do you think?

  7. Joemamma,

    I really want to say you’re right, that I think more like the higher end of that range say $1.35M or so. However I can’t do it without viewing the property. Somebody will come along and tell me how much of a stupid idiot I am and it isn’t worth it!

    I think the southern part of Noe became more attractive for a few reasons. ONe is because of SF’s shift toward being more of a bedroom community for Silicon Valley. Two eighty is right there practically.

    The second one is people looked around and said, “Hey, wait a minute. There’s a better grocery, a better meat market, comparable if not better restaurants, the same train, and a much better park is just about to be here.” (It might even be finished I just drove past and it looked pretty well completed.) So it was like, “tell me again why this neighborhood is the ugly sister?” Too bad I sold my property over that way a little too soon!

    A couple other reasons I just thought of are that the stretch of Mission between Valencia and like Virginia became more vibrant and more safe, Glen Park gentrified, and the views are pretty good in spots.

  8. Fluj (aka the Wayne County Recordhawk) is quite correct on this. For years

    30th Street was the frontier between upscale Noe Valley and blue collar-

    working class Glen Park. Noe Valley was accessible and coveted-Glen Park

    was “too far out”.

  9. really though, this isn’t that exciting of a story. 2.4% over asking indicates multiple offers- or that the buyer was one of the transient inhabitants of this crack shack and wanted to insure he/she would always have a place to call home. The former is most likely the accurate hypothesis. 24% over asking- now that would have been a something. The arguably overpriced 1143 Diamond (1.398 at 1200sq ft) around the corner is in contract. multiple offer situation again. If nothing else, these points indicate that Noe is still faring well in this less than ideal real estate climate.

  10. buyers were a young couple representing a wealthy investor. they plan to fully rebuild and remodel the property, spending about $2m.

  11. Well, the overbid itself was not the exciting aspect. The exciting aspects were how much of an unbelievable wreck this was, on a particularly busy stretch of Clipper, and it still went for north of a mil.

  12. And Wayne County Recordhawk?

    You have combined several names that are indeed from my past. Yet it isn’t quite right. Who the heck are you?

  13. sure, no problem. That’s really all I can divulge at this time. read what you want into it, but yes, it will be a complete transformation, and the neighborhood should be happy.

  14. If I had a million bucks lying around, I would’ve bought 469 Clipper.

    The fact it’s falling down makes life at the building department heaps easier. It’s RH-2 so you can easily make a tidy profit on it. There aren’t lots of flip type properties for sale whose investment wisdoms are so clear cut, but this one is.

  15. I second kaya. For a developer, there is value in the fact that the place is about to fall down.

  16. If I had the money I would too. The property actually needs to have square footage subtracted in order to be developed properly. But remember what time it is? “It’s armageddion time” — Joe Strummer.

    Just kidding. But $1M for a fixer in Noe? OK on Clipper? OK. NOW? that’s the pertinent query

  17. fluj, i agree with you that it sounds risky, but these folks have immersed themselves in a long term project, not a short term one. Armageddon may be a good time to buy…

  18. not true at all with regard to the building in dis-repair. this does NOT make it easier to remodel and build. the building is classified as an historic resource. the facade of the house and facade of the garage must be retained. any additions must be distinctly different from the original architecture.

    even though it’s zoned RH-2, it will remain a single family residence. the owners bought it for under market value and will reap a nice reward in about 2 years when the full project is complete. I’m bullish on Noe Valley real estate.

  19. Historic gets complicated. But depending on the shape of the place more work can be done if it fails the soundness report. That and you can bring it back to historic if some funky later additions are there (per fluj), or you can show that the historic details don’t exist anymore (but that doesn’t seem to be the case here)

  20. 3888 26th sold for $1.2MM…..i dont know what the predictions were here but i was surprised until i realized its right next door to the firehouse and chloes.

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