True, the market tanked. True, average home prices have come down in San Francisco. True, even A+ areas like Noe Valley and Pacific Heights have felt the pinch. False, it is death doom and destruction everywhere. Case in point, 394 Frederick St @ Belvedere in Cole Valley, is an awesome 4 bed, 4 bath, 3173 square foot home that spent a staggering ;-) 7 days on the market (one Sunday Open House, one Broker Tour) and received an offer with non-contingent financing (means they’re getting a loan, but they’re not worried about that loan approval falling apart), the offer is really close to asking, and it’s damn near a done deal.
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Call us crazy, but we’ve seen a lot of activity in the market as of late, at all price points.
For those wondering, last sale was in 2005 for $1,755,000 (asking was $1,395,000) but has since undergone a significant remodel, and added roughly 1209 square feet.
Kitchen Before:
Kitchen After:
Living Room Before:
Living Room After:
We’ve long stood by Cole Valley as a better investment than Noe Valley. Is the writing appearing on the wall? Time will tell. Maybe real estate doens’t suck after all.
–394 Frederick [MLS]
i go to one blog and everything is doom-‘n- gloom. i go to another blog and everything is happy-go-lucky. what’s goin’ on here? can’t we all just get along?
There is a SFH at 2604 Sacramento that came on last week. I drove by it on Friday and it already has a Sale Pending on the sign. MLS wasn’t updated however. Still isn’t actually so now I’m questioning my eyesight. Myguess is they are waiting until post broker tour to update the MLS in case they need a backup.
I’m surprised 394 Frederick is in contract so fast. It’s very nice but it’s a little (a lot) ugly on the exterior and the interior is very nice, but there are a lot of homes I’d chose in the city before this one at $2.4M. Just my 2 cents. Congrats to all involved in this transaction.
Alex, if your Cole Valley versus Noe Valley assertion is correct, it could be valuable for your readers to know! Do you have data that supports your theory, such as comparing the average price point of a SFH and/or Condo in Cole Valley in 1999 vs. 2009, and the same for Noe?
Cole Valley being a better investment makes sense because there’s a lot more inventory in Noe. Cole Valley has many fewer SFHs so even if demand is lower overall, demand per individual property will be higher.
Even in the mid-2 range, there’s not a lot of wonderful stuff in the market. Maybe Eddy hasn’t gone on a broker’s tour lately – the house on Frederick was definitely differentiated by a stellar floor plan, and really nice-looking finishes. It’s all about supply and demand…
In my mind, for the same amount of $, I would live in cole valley before I live in Noe Valley. It’s a much better established neighborhood, and much smaller.
Besides, the crew at Kezar’s on Carl/Cole is very friendly.
FYI For what it’s worth, a friend just got a mission condo appraised. 4 1/2 years, +15%.
We lived in Cole Valley before having kids and then moved to Noe. We love both and overall NV is probably better for raising kids (all the neighbors have them too, so you really feel like part of the community)and we definitely appreciate the good weather, but we really miss a lot of aspects of Cole Valley. It has a great small-town vibe, we really knew a lot of the merchants, there’s great proximity to GG park and BV park, public transportation is WAYYY better than NV, and while there aren’t a lot of restaurants, what’s there is really good.
For investment, we’d definitely look at Cole Valley first. We know a lot of realtors and they all say that there’s high demand for single family homes in Cole Valley, but few on the market at any given time.
When I was selling in Cole Valley I heard at least 5 times, “If this was in Noe Valley I would pay this price, but for Cole Valley it’s too high.” I like CV better as well, but I think the majority perception is that NV is better.
Overpaid. Busy Corner with buses.
This was a much better buy IMO for CV at 2.3MM. And it’s right across from an excellent (for the city) field and playground
socketsite.com/archives/2008/10/1342_shrader_out_of_the_pocket_and_on_to_the_mls_and_op.html
[Editor’s note: or as reported here:
http://thefrontsteps.com/2008/10/14/getting-twisted-in-cole-valley-1342-shrader/
For those that care to continue the debate on CV v NV, here you go: Battle Royale: Cole Valley versus Noe Valley. ]
I was at the open house for this property and was surprised at how little noise there was from the buses on Cole. The new 3rd floor, in particular, had new multi-pane windows – it was nearly silent in the new MBR which faces Frederick.
The Shrader house that Been There refers to had some really awkward floor plan issues, an oddly finished lower level and yes, a noisy kid’s playground across the street. That house, as I recall, started off asking well over $3M then went off and on the market, through a remodel, was listed around $2.9M, dropped to $2.6M, then threw in the towel in the mid-$2.3M range. They had great staging, but a corner lot is always awkward and it had some definite drawbacks.
I think it would be wrong to factor pricing based solely upon the bedroom count, square footage or general location. This home had a nearly-perfect floor plan, was great for families and for entertaining and had great green features, a built-in central audio and home theatre (with The Incredibles on the LCD flat screen while we were there) as well as very nice finishes.
A year ago this probably would have been a nearly $3M house – I think it was a pretty decent buy for $2.4M.