Recent Activity

The second weekend of the year is here. We had anticipated seeing listings by this time, and we are happy to report that the shipment has arrived! Since our Hotsheet report on January 7th, There have been:

55 Single Family Homes,
96 Condos/Coop/Loft/TICs, and
11 2-4 Unit Buildings released onto the market.

That should include something for everyone to look at as most neighborhoods and price ranges are covered in that list. One of the single family homes has already sold after only four days on the market. It is a three bedroom, three bath home, just over 1930 square feet, and it sits at the ocean's edge.
This tri level home was built in 1997 and is located on the Great Highway at Wawona. The list price was $899,000; we will keep you posted for the sales price.

Another listing that was snatched up after only one day on the market was this 2 unit building on 20th Avenue in Central Richmond. It was listed both as separate TIC interests and as an entire building. It had been on the market last year for 47 days and then withdrawn. It came back on at the same price just yesterday, and they have already accepted an offer. Somebody may have seen it last year and wasn't ready to move until now.

Noe Valley is in the lead with 8 new single family home listings. They range in price from $699,000 for a total fixer to $2,595,000 for a remodelled 5 bedroom 3.5bath home on 23rd & Castro.

SOMA is the leader with 15 new condo listings. These particular listings start at $449,000 for a studio condominium at the Palms on 4th Street at Brannan. Believe it or not, the high end listing is in the same building. It is a two level, two bedroom condominium with a private terrace listed at $1,089,000. The Palms features a concierge, gym, yoga studio, movie room, club room, and a business center. The nice thing is if you like the building, you are sure to find something there in your price range.

In the 2-4 Unit category, the neighborhood with the most activity is the Inner Mission. There are three new listings in the $900,000 range. They are all tenant occupied, which is why they are on the lower end of the price range for two unit buildings in the neighborhood. Stay tuned for information on our 2 Unit listing in the Inner Mission.

Tuesday Tour

Anja and I hit the streets today for our weekly Tuesday Broker's Tour. It was a beautiful sunny day to look at houses, but about halfway through the day Anja mentioned how quiet it seemed. Thinking about it, I realized we had been the only agents at every house we'd seen so far. As the day went on, we did begin running into other agents, but the general feel of the tour was extremely light.

The amount of traffic on a tour day in any given house is always a good indication of how much interest there will be in that house. You will always hear people say, "If a house is priced right and presented well it will sell quickly". We did see one such house today. It had the most traffic of any house we had seen thus far on the tour. 365 Richland Ave is a four bedroom, two bath, 1800 square foot home in Bernal Heights priced at $999,000. It was full of agents and a few buyers when we arrived. Maybe some showed up because of the listing agent's promise of lottery tickets to all those who attended, but I think the majority were there to preview the house. We have yet to see if the price is right, but the turn out proves that there is a need for this size house in Bernal in this price range. It is vacant and staged nicely; has good curb appeal, and is freshly painted in festive and cheerful colors. These things will certainly help. The listing agent is trying the good old fashioned two week marketing period with a set offer date of October 15th. I will keep you posted.

Another property where the listing agent tried the same short marketing period with a set offer date is 257-259 Lexington Street, a two unit building in the Inner Mission. It was on tour today, but it's offer date was last Wednesday. This is a two unit Victorian on a great little street with original details and two car parking. Both flats will be delivered vacant. Sounds perfect, right? The one not so perfect part may be the price at $1,438,000 which is a bit steep for that neighborhood. Had it been priced right I think it would have sold right away.

Our last stop on today's tour was the Sunset Idea House which I wrote about on 8/30/07 in an entry called "Going Green in San Francisco". I was so excited to see this house as I live close by and have seen in built from the ground up. Also, it is exciting to have one of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified residential remodeled homes in the nation right in our backyard. The anticipation was killing me.

I have to say that I was extremely disappointed. It's not yet finished, so I'll give them that. Also, only the smaller of the two units is for sale, and that is the only one we were able to see. Maybe the larger unit is amazing. The smaller unit was just a bit confusing. I think the concept of it being an idea house is a great one. I'm all for giving the community ideas on how they can make their homes more energy efficient. 90% of the materials are recycled construction waste. The floors were taken from an old barn, the banisters are recycled steel, the counter tops are recycled glass and cement, and the list goes on. They also have a solar hot water system, a wind energy system, solar panels, energy star appliances, and again the list goes on.

All of that I loved. I also loved the deck right off of the kitchen which was a really wonderful outdoor space overlooking the garden. The rest of the unit was unfortunately dark and uninviting. It didn't seem to have a flow or much warmth. The unfortunate statement that this makes is that to go green you must go cold and modern. Hopefully the community sees past this, takes the ideas, and uses them in their own homes. I recommend waiting to see this house until it is finished. Maybe it will make more sense then. The Sunset magazine tours will happen towards the end of the year. Again, I will keep you posted.