Here’s an overbid riddle for you: When can being just average also make you the best? The answer: When you’re selling a home like 1826 23rd Avenue, far and away our top overbid for the week after closing for more than $1.52 million from a $899K asking price, a margin of well over 69 percent. … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
Category: real estate
Mill Valley’s Most Expensive Home Asks $12.5 Million
What makes a home listing stand out? Sometimes its historicity, sometimes it’s architectural daring, and sometimes it’s the insight that a property can provide about a city or neighborhood. But maybe the simplest way is just to be worth a whole pile of money, as in the case of 9 Walsh Drive, which listed this … Continue reading Mill Valley’s Most Expensive Home Asks $12.5 Million
Home Prices Soar Across Bay Area Since 2020
What does it cost to buy a house in San Francisco? It’s not an exaggeration to say that the world wants to know–SF real estate prices make headlines internationally all the time. In a raft of data just released by the California Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a house (not condo) in … Continue reading Home Prices Soar Across Bay Area Since 2020
Maximum Overbid: Riding Into the Sunset
Another week, another shockingly high San Francisco western neighborhoods overbid–or at least that’s how it feels sometimes. This week’s number one overbid is once again an Outer Sunset prospect, a three bed, two bath house at 2026 47th Avenue that originally listed for $995K but closed this week for $1.6 million, a spike of more … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: Riding Into the Sunset
Barbary Lane: The Most Famous SF Street That Doesn’t Exist
Macondray Lane is a narrow Russian Hill alleyway that branches off of Leavenworth, just north of Green Street. It’s a pleasant greenbelt with great views (most of it traversable only on foot), but seemingly unremarkable. And yet, this is actually one of the most famous streets in San Francisco–or rather, it’s the nearest proxy for … Continue reading Barbary Lane: The Most Famous SF Street That Doesn’t Exist
Condos Selling at Hayes Valley Development Featured In Bribery Scandal
There are new listings for condos at 555 Fulton Street in Hayes Valley–and if that address rings a bell, oh boy, should it ever. The long-delayed 555 Fulton project was the eye of the storm in the bribery scandal that engulfed the Department of Public works in 2020, the full ramifications of which are still … Continue reading Condos Selling at Hayes Valley Development Featured In Bribery Scandal
Maximum Overbid: The Telltale Bargain
When is a bargain not quite what it seems? When it turns into an overbid instead. That’s what happened with this week’s top overbid at 2358 41st Avenue. This two bed, one bath, Outer Sunset setup listed for $1.09-plus million less than two weeks ago, advertised as a “great price,” and closed out for $1.5 … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: The Telltale Bargain
Mammoth Mill Valley A-Frame Asks $1.15 Million
We’ve talked before about the nearly cult-like fascination some people have with A-frame homes, spurred in large part by the muscular simplicity of their design and their association with remote NorCal locations, American post-war prosperity, and 20th century nostalgia. But not every home of a certain style has to fit the formula: In the case … Continue reading Mammoth Mill Valley A-Frame Asks $1.15 Million
SF’s Oldest Home Listing Dumps $10 Million Off Price
Some things get better with age; home listings are not usually reckoned one of them, but there are exceptions. The penthouse at 1080 Chestnut Street is currently the oldest public San Francisco home listing, having gone on the market way back in October of 2019; in fact, in two weeks it will be precisely two … Continue reading SF’s Oldest Home Listing Dumps $10 Million Off Price
Before & After: 1890 Castro Victorian Renovation
Sellers love to push the “r-words”: “renovate,” “refurbish,” “remodel.” Sometimes this is a practical consideration: Certain homes really could do with a new look and more modern sensibilities. Other times it’s simply a shrewd marketing move: People feel motivated to buy things that are new, and University of Western Ontario, Canada researchers find that one … Continue reading Before & After: 1890 Castro Victorian Renovation
Maximum Overbid: Top Sellers Close After Two Weeks Or Less
Even when we’re talking about overbids, money isn’t everything. After all, the most valuable commodity of all is time. Case in point, this week’s top overbid, a three bed, one bath circa 1943 house at 1735 39th Avenue, which listed for just under $1.1 million and closed this week for $1.6, more than 46 percent … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: Top Sellers Close After Two Weeks Or Less
PG&E Building Deal To Oust Famous Falcons From Roof Nest
The big news downtown is that Hines, the developer that bought the longtime headquarters of embattled power utility Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for $800 million back in May, plans to redevelop the entire block and create a new, 800-foot building with over 700 homes. That’s all well and good, but the question remains: … Continue reading PG&E Building Deal To Oust Famous Falcons From Roof Nest
Rich People Are Still Buying Homes In the Sinking, Tilting Millennium Tower
Last week saw the news of still more structural problems in the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower, which is now seeing some plumbing problems due to its uneven settling. It’s just more bad news for this top-dollar building with rock-bottom problems. What’s interesting though is that even after five solid years of basically nothing but … Continue reading Rich People Are Still Buying Homes In the Sinking, Tilting Millennium Tower
Barren Glen Park Lot Becomes $5.3 Million Home
They grow up so fast. Just two years ago, Glen Park’s 80 Thor Avenue was a weedy, overgrown lot about the size of a standard tennis court, as it had been for years. That was when its owners put it up for sale, seeking a hopeful $1.85 million, with the addition of permits for an … Continue reading Barren Glen Park Lot Becomes $5.3 Million Home
Maximum Overbid: Great Recession Loser Returns With a Vengeance
Sometimes an overbid gives you perspective on the past as well as the current market–and boy can perspective knock you for a loop. Case in point, this week’s number one spillover is 2242 17th Avenue, a three bed, three bath Parkside house that sold this week for more than $2.2 million, 47-plus percent more than … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: Great Recession Loser Returns With a Vengeance
“Modified A-Frame” North of Lake Tahoe Asks $675K
If you’re looking for decisive vindication of the idea that Lake Tahoe is an entirely different world from San Francisco in housing terms, consider that a two bed, two bath house in Truckee (on the north side of the lake) can be had for the SF-frugal price of $675,000. Now of course this is not … Continue reading “Modified A-Frame” North of Lake Tahoe Asks $675K