Our top two overbids this week are on paper very similar affairs, being western neighborhood houses that were just about the same size, listed just a little bit more than a week apart for almost the same sum, and sold within a few days of each other for close to the same money as.
The big difference is, one of these listings was just plain trying harder in certain key ways: For example, 2563 46th Avenue did everything it could to catch the eye of would-be homebuyers, including featuring dozens of elaborately staged and well-lit photos, and writing up details from the LED lighting to the period moldings and proximity to the zoo. It also listed for slightly less.
The house at 778 39th Avenue, on the other hand, sported only a few bare photos and a single sentence description. Mind you, we’re not taking shots at this listing or its agents–some people get very defensive about that kind of thing. We’re just noticing that there were two decidedly different approaches at work here.
And yes, if you already scoped out the sales table you know where this is going: The 39th Avenue property not only fetched a higher overbid but just a higher price in general than its neighbor to the north.
The difference is not huge–but it’s definitely there.
The moral of this story? Nothing really–just an observation that sometimes you can pull out all of the stops but still only come up second.
But when second place is $1.43 million, presumably everyone goes home happy.
| Address | BR/BA/Units | DOM | List Price | Sold Price | Overbid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 778 39th Avenue | 2/1/N/A | 14 | $998,000 | $1,480,000 | 48.30% |
| 2563 46th Avenue | 2/1/N/A | 6 | $985,000 | $1,430,000 | 45.18% |
| 1258 Stanyan Street | 2/3/ | 6 | $1,695,000 | $2,456,000 | 44.90% |
| 2 Santa Ana Avenue | 3/3/N/A | 8 | $2,795,000 | $4,025,000 | 44.01% |
| 1886 29th Avenue | 2/2/N/A | 9 | $1,188,000 | $1,708,888 | 43.85% |
| 40 Hanover Street | 3/2/N/A | 10 | $895,000 | $1,230,000 | 37.43% |
| 204 Russia Avenue | 3/4/N/A | 7 | $1,490,000 | $2,000,000 | 34.23% |
| 64 Valley Street | 2/1/ | 11 | $1,095,000 | $1,460,000 | 33.33% |
| 636 Diamond Street | 3/3/N/A | 6 | $2,195,000 | $2,900,000 | 32.12% |
| 2370 42nd Avenue | 3/2/N/A | 18 | $1,495,000 | $1,950,000 | 30.43% |
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39th Ave is the Richmond district, and 46th is Sunset, so not really the same neighborhood. The Richmond has always commanded slightly higher prices.