Home of the Week

Home of the Week: Conversion Loft in Mint Plaza

The most beautiful industrial conversion condo I have ever seen…

Well, I have seen some good ones so it’s hard to justify the absoluteness of that statement.  But that’s the reaction I had when I walked in last week and saw 410 Jessie #1002 (also known as 2 Mint Plaza).  It’s a spectacular space, all on one level, with soaring 12’ ceilings and exposed concrete beams.  One bedroom and one bath but at nearly 1200 square feet, there’s plenty of room to create a guest sleeping area.  Open floor plan, with a gourmet kitchen and an architecturally interesting spiral staircase that ascends to a large private roof deck with views of the city.  The photos really don’t do it justice.  If you want to see how right I am about that, take a look — it’s open Sunday, January 29 from 2 to 4.

The building features a large workout space with a roofdeck a few steps away that has a hot tub with a view and a dog walking area.  Nice!

Mint Plaza is located behind the old Mint at 5^th & Mission.  Right across the street from the valet parking entrance to Nordstrom’s.  A sophisticated space in an equally sophisticated location perfect for a 1^st home or a pied a terre.  Listed by Ron Parks at Decker Bullock Sothebys.

“Crown Jewel” of Pacific Heights

This week I have a fun one.  I often drive back and forth over Pacific Heights on Divisadero and have noticed for years that one of the homes appears to have carousel horses in the windows.  This Georgian mansion is the grandly named Herbst Manor, which was built by Ernest Coxhead in 1899, for a relocated Philadelphian art collector and owned by the Herbst family since 1967.  It does, in fact, have historic carousel horses frolicking here and there and I went there last Tuesday to see them close up.  It was worth the trip.  In addition to sparkling like Versailles, 2800 Pacific has ornate and beautifully detailed pubic rooms, about the grandest staircase in town, warm and sunny south facing outdoor spaces, five bedrooms, a pent-room with wrap around views of the bay/bridge and city and TWO car parking.  Herbst Manor is offered at $12,500,000 by Cia Townsend of Alain Pinel.  To see more photos, click here.

(And if you’re a Prop 13 true believer, perhaps this will give you some food for thought:  the current taxes on this home are $5,000/year.  The new taxes if it sells for asking price will be $175,000/year.  Please support our schools by writing an offer today :))

City-Bound Italianate Estate

Driving down Geary Street between Arguello and Masonic, it seems pretty commercial.  It even can seem strip-mallesque.  Not much like good, old, Victorian San Francisco.  Well, about half way between these two points is tiny, dead-end Cook Street.  Positioned in the middle of what one Client in the Know calls the “Laurel Pits,” 46 Cook awaits a new owner with the right touch.  On a triple-wide lot, this 1885 Italianate farmhouse PLUS Carriage house is hidden from the street by tall plants and makeshift fencing.  The lush garden is so large you can imagine you are anywhere – not just in the middle of a large city.  It would be excellently creepy at Halloween (think Anne Rice’s vampire books).  Its price tag, at $1.9 million, may seem like a lot at first for a fixer, but considering that 11 Cook came on the market August 5 for $2.5 million and sold in just five days with a normal sized lot, it is actually a bargain with significant potential upside.

But perhaps my favorite thing about 46 Cook is the house next door, which sports a Mobilgas Pegasus dramatically charging aloft through the front portico.  I have seen few blocks more interesting or eclectic.  Let me know if you are interested in a personal tour!

Home of the Week: Heart of Noe Condo

Despite the lousy weather, I was busy this Sunday at my chic new listing at 4124 26^th Street.  Not a surprise, as 4124 26^th Street has the perfect combination of location, amenities, updated finishes and Victorian details.  Beautifully staged by Julie Jay, it’s an oversized 2 bedroom condo with two fireplaces, parking, storage, lush shared garden and a real laundry room.

Come see for yourself on Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 6:30!  I’ll be there with some wine and snacks.  Please stop by!

A Stately Home in Jordan Park

I forgot the rest of the movie, but the characters motivating goal of residing in “a stately home,” has stuck with me…  Crimes were committed, hearts were broken, and, in the end, they get the house.  My kind of movie.  (Turns out the movie is Shooting Fish, 1997.)

Fifty Five Palm is the kind of stately home that could motivate a person.  This 1915 seven bedroom, six and 1/2 bath completely remodeled home is stunning.  Even on the dimmest day, the fact that it’s fully detached with huge windows means it’s filled with light.  The interior is painted with colorful personality and decorated to match.  French doors open onto a a walk-out garden with south/west exposure from the kitchen/family/dining room… And all done so well you don’t really notice that the floor plan has been adapted from it’s original design.

Jordan Park is an elegant well-located neighborhood bordered by Arguello on the west, California on the north, Spruce on the east and Geary on the south.  Close to the foot of Clement and to Laurel Village as well as Sacramento Street.

In a house full of thoughtful details, my two favorites were the his and hers walk in closets.  Check out the pictures!  Another nice one was that the upstairs hall bathroom has a subtle mural of the Hawaiian Islands painted on the floor.

Asking price:  $4,198,000.  Listed by Carrie Buchanan-Goodman and Lisa Miller of Paragon Real Estate Group.  Check out the pictures and more details here.

Fairmont Heights View Victorian Home featured on SF Gate!

It is with great pleasure that I write that my listing at 181 Randall was chosen for the SF Gate editorial feature “The Walk Through” today.  It is a beautiful home and if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to stop by on Sunday 6/20 when it will be open 2 to 4 p.m.  Of course, if you are interested in purchasing the home, we can arrange to get you in there lickety split!  Because I don’t think it will last much longer with this kind of buzz …

To see more pictures see http://www.181 Randall.com.  To see the SF Gate article, click HERE.

Home of the Week: It Doesn't Get Any Greener Than This!

I was wowwed! LEED Certified Platinum construction meticulously designed by Handel Architects. The development is called NOVE and it contains nine homes, each with outdoor space, direct connect parking (not a common garage), bright white modern finishes, private outdoor spaces and views and lots of bright sunlight.

My favorite features were the shiny orange epoxy garage floors and the completely real looking artificial grass in the “backyards.” That and the fact the solar panels are cleverly integrated into the curved roof design to catch more of that south sun.

These 3 and 4 bedroom homes are all designed on two levels and are well located on Guerrero between 21st and 22nd (where the Palm Broker used to be). Just the right place for a low-carbon footprint pedestrian lifestyle. Bargain priced at between 1.1MM and 1.6MM, but they seem to be going fast. the two top corner townhomes are already sold.

Please let me know if you want to take a look!

Home of the Week: Little Miss Broadway Anyone?

In a quick survey of adults I have taken, it appears that most of you have forgotten all about the 1938 Shirley Temple classic “Little Miss Broadway.” In this fine film, Miss Temple plays an orphan (of course) who is adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. She lives on the top floor (or is it the wealthy villian who does?). In any event, drama and tap dancing ensue before the predictable happy ending. While I never wanted to be an orphan, I did covet the real estate.

The Hamilton reminds me of this film because it is a 1930, 21 story, Art-Deco hotel that now houses 185 gracious studio condos and one gigantic, fabulous, full-floor penthouse. While showing a studio last summer, I was told by one of the residents that the penthouse had a lap pool on the east end. Naturally, when it came on the market, I needed to go check! As you can see from the picture of the atrium at right, there is no pool, but there is one heck of a 360-degree view. Add to this original marble and parquet floors, tromp o’lei backdrops and “wallpaper,” his and hers master baths (with matching view bathtubs carved of a single piece of Carrera marble), antique fireplace mantles, an outdoor space with fountain, two car parking, and a wonderful gourmet kitchen and you have over 3,800 square feet of sophisticated urban living. Any takers?

Home(s) of the Week: A Tale of Two Houses

The first house is done to the “9s” in dwell-magazine perfection and presented with professional panache. The 2nd house is smaller and in somewhat dated condition and presented with underlit photos and so-so marketing. They are a block apart and both 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms.

Guess which one sells for more? The smaller, less polished one. In fact it sold in 8 days on the market, while the other home took nearly six months before garnering an acceptable offer. Why? I’ll get to that. But first, so you can be even more amazed, take a look at the houses (click on the pictures to view more photos):

House #1 – 701 3rd Avenue: Larger and Stylish

House #2 – 726 4th Avenue: Smaller and Dated

In this case, it all came down to pricing strategy and a realistic attitude on the part of the sellers. The first home was priced 17.25% higher than the price it actually sold for. The 2nd home was also over-priced, but by just about 5%. The first home was marketed for a full 2 months at a whopping $1,885,000 before it was reduced by 90k to $1,795,000. Then 2 months later it was reduced by another 100k to $1695,000 before finally selling 2 months after that for about 135k less ($1,560,000). By the time it finally sold, the phrase “motivated seller” was on all the marketing materials. This is a tragic story of a seller’s failure to listen to what the market is telling them and potentially, the failure of their agent to forcefully tell them. They likely would have gotten one of their intermediary prices if they had only started there in the first place. In any event, anyone who’se ever had their house on the market knows how hard it is to live always at the ready for a showing.

The story of the 2nd home is much happier. It was initially priced at $1,649,000 and accepted an offer six days later for $1,566,000. This shows that the seller was accepting market facts, like the fact that the average sale price for a 3br home in the neighborhood was $1,430,857 in that time frame. And the fact that if you get an offer or two in your first two weeks of marketing, these are likely to be as good as it gets.

Although our example doesn’t perfectly fit, houses that sell quickly are closing, on average, for a little over asking price. (Quick-selling Condos & TICs average 98% of asking.) As time on market increases, the discount off original list price grows dramatically. Interestingly, whatever the time on market, homes sell on average within about 4% of final list price (after price reductions) – indicating that buyers generally won’t make offers on homes they consider significantly overpriced.

If you would like an estimate of your home’s value and my analysis of how to price it to get it sold for the highest possible price, please just let me know. Paragon has the highest performance statistics for original list price to sale price of any major brokerage in San Francisco, and I am proud to be part of that team.

Home of the Week: When It's Time For a Tent

As you might have noticed, due to the fanfare around The Big Rumble, last Saturday was the 20th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. Not to get to preachy about the whole thing, but are you prepared?

If anyone reading this does not know how to shut off their gas, please let me know and I will come show you or at least explain it on the phone.  But in addition to that, you might want to think about getting an earthquake preparedness kit together.  These can be assembled or purchased.  Here’s a great source for one stop shopping:  Disaster Survival Solutions.  They make a kit in a weather proof box you can keep outside your home (which is really important if your house falls down…).  If you want to assemble your own, just take a look at what’s in the kit do it yourself.

After you have your tent, sleeping bags and 3,600 calorie food bars, and WATER, you might want to consider making sure you know what to do and how to best help if the big one hits.  The San Francisco fire department offers fantastic free Neighborhood Earthquake Readiness Traning or “NERT.”  Elvis wants me to take the traning to get the free hard hat.  But fashion options aside, it’s probably a good idea, which I hope you will consider.  To find out more click here.