According to the real estate aggregate site Redfin, it’s been a wild year for housing across the US, as they have recently published a ranking of ten real estate records broken across the US in 2021. Actually Redfin’s records only go back to 2013, so this might not be all that historic of a year–but … Continue reading The Real Estate Records SF Crushed In 2021–and the Ones We Didn’t
Category: theFrontSteps
Maximum Luxury: A Classic Pac Heights Remodel, Before & After
Maximum Luxury is a weekly column where we gander at the most expensive homes for sale in San Francisco, basically for no reason except that we want to. When 2620 Buchanan Street hit the market 90 days ago asking $18 million, it was actually the end of a long drama around this six bed, eight … Continue reading Maximum Luxury: A Classic Pac Heights Remodel, Before & After
How Did This 15-Bedroom Mission Victorian End Up On the Market?
Now here’s something you don’t see every day: A 15-bed, four-plus bath Victorian “manor” right smack dab in the middle of the Mission, listed for $4.88 million. Ordinarily a Victorian of this age (dated to 1890, per the ad) and proportions would have long since been chopped up into smaller units. But no, amazingly, this … Continue reading How Did This 15-Bedroom Mission Victorian End Up On the Market?
The Three Numbers That Show SF Hasn’t Built Enough Housing
How much new housing does San Francisco need? Housing watchers can argue this point all day without breaking for lunch and still never reach a conclusion. But if you just want to underscore the need, the Public Policy Institute of California, an SF-based nonpartisan non-profit, examined census data for every California county and boiled it … Continue reading The Three Numbers That Show SF Hasn’t Built Enough Housing
We Looked at All 391 MIRA Condos To Figure Out What’s Up With This Building
Even if you don’t know the name, everyone in San Francisco immediately recognizes MIRA, the twisting, Studio Gang-designed high-rise that opened in 2020 at 280 Spear Street–there’s no overlooking it. Just this week, a brand new MIRA unit listed for sale, a three bed, three bath condo on the 32nd floor asking just under $5 … Continue reading We Looked at All 391 MIRA Condos To Figure Out What’s Up With This Building
Onetime Hills Bros Mansion Sells For Less
Hills Bros’ Coffee remains a prominent part of the San Francisco landscape thanks to their giant, inescapable waterfront sign right next to the Bay Bridge. But the coffee tycoons left their mark on the city in other places too, such as the seven bed, eight bath circa 1937 mansion at 3498 Jackson Street that just … Continue reading Onetime Hills Bros Mansion Sells For Less
Build-It-Yourself Noe Valley House Asks $2.49 Million
We know where you can get a deal on a house in Noe Valley, but the catch is that you’ve got to build it yourself. Yes, it’s another “shovel ready” project for sale, this one at 942 Noe Street, just a few blocks from the main Noe Valley 24th Street strip. Ordinarily that term means … Continue reading Build-It-Yourself Noe Valley House Asks $2.49 Million
Maximum Overbid: Peaks In Valleys
The time has come once again to follow the money with Maximum Overbid, our weekly column examining just how much SF buyers went above and beyond when paying for a home. And for the first time in literally months, the top overbid for the week did NOT happen in the Sunset; instead it’s a Noe … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: Peaks In Valleys
A $1 Million SF Eichler Condo? It’s Real
Here we have a new listing for a three bed, two bath condo at 66 Cleary Court #305 that drops a tantalizing name, calling this an “Eichler-designed condo.” Is it true? Joseph Eichler did not create many homes in San Francisco compared to his work in Southern California and the larger Bay Area, but there … Continue reading A $1 Million SF Eichler Condo? It’s Real
The Latest SF Liquefaction Zone Maps (for those who must know)
Did you feel it? At about 7:30 PM last night, the US Geological Survey recorded an earthquake below one corner of El Cerrito’s Sunset View Cemetery, about 4.9 kilometers down. (That’s three miles, more or less.) It was really just a little bump and rattle, measuring 2.5 on the Richter scale–barely worth noticing, although people … Continue reading The Latest SF Liquefaction Zone Maps (for those who must know)
Maximum Luxury: $6.8 Million Pac Heights Vic Returns After Just Nine Months
Welcome back to Maximum Luxury, the column where we gander at the most expensive homes for sale in San Francisco, simply because we can. The offering at 2411 Washington Street in Pac Heights just opened very hot, listing on Black Friday for $6.8 million. This is a classic SF Victorian circa 1900–note that since that’s … Continue reading Maximum Luxury: $6.8 Million Pac Heights Vic Returns After Just Nine Months
Maximum Overbid: Stuffed With Thanks
This being a short week with a holiday, you’d imagine it wouldn’t be as busy on the homes front. And you’d be right; whereas an average of 161 homes closed each week in 2021 thus far, for the past seven days it was just 91. With things a little bit quiet, maybe this is an … Continue reading Maximum Overbid: Stuffed With Thanks
What Should a “Starter Home” Cost In SF?
Take a moment to consider 2574 46th Avenue, a two-bed, one-bath Outer Parkside classic now for sale: The new listing calls this a “wonderful starter home,” but can/should a “starter home” really cost $1.55 million? One perspective is that the concept of a “starter home” is anachronistic in the context of a city like San … Continue reading What Should a “Starter Home” Cost In SF?
We Answer Everyone’s Questions About San Francisco
People have questions about San Francisco, and we’ve got the answers. People use Google for all sorts of things, including trying to find information about our bayside city; some queries are everyday, some are highly specific, and some are even a little weird, but all of them are needful to one degree or another. We … Continue reading We Answer Everyone’s Questions About San Francisco
The San Francisco Exodus That Isn’t
Renters are fleeing San Francisco en masse, except only kind of and sort of and perhaps not really. That’s the conclusion from the latest “migration report” released last week by the rental platform Apartment List, which seems to include ill omens for SF’s rental market but upon closer inspection reveals a much more nuanced story. … Continue reading The San Francisco Exodus That Isn’t
Empty Bernal Heights Lot Becomes New House After 20-Year Campaign
According to the new listing for 106 Bache Street, the four bed, four bath property now asking $2.28 million is a “brand new house in Bernal Heights,” and that’s true–but it’s only a fraction of the story. Bernal Heights remains one of SF’s most popular and marketable residential neighborhoods, but it’s also one of the … Continue reading Empty Bernal Heights Lot Becomes New House After 20-Year Campaign