A tipster notes that 521 Liberty has been gutted, rehabbed (new windows, doors, heating, roof, plumbing, electrical, hrdwd floors, paint, molding, kitchen, baths, and deck), and returned to the market (first open this weekend). Purchased last June for $1,161,500. On the market today for $1,950,000.
∙ Listing: 521 Liberty (3/2.5) – $1,950,000 [521liberty.com]
Best block of Liberty St.! This house will sell in a heartbeat.
“Best block of Liberty St.! This house will sell in a heartbeat.”
Are you the listing agent?
I love Liberty street. Feels very SF. Can anybody ballpark how much a total rehab like this run? Does $350-$400K seem like a reasonable guestimate?
My guess is $250,000 on the remodeling. Even when you figure a 5% sales commission and the cost of carrying the property for 6 months, it would seem that they stand to clear at least $350,000. The question I have is, if the property was worth $1,160,000 six months ago and you put an assumed $250,000 into it, why is it now worth $1,950,000?…yes, the hassle of not doing the work is worth something but not that much.
$250 seems low to me. It truly was a gut remodel..down to the studs. What’s the usual per square foot on something like that? Appears to be moderate/high end reno…not ultra luxurious materials, but the usual granite/subzero/etc etc.
I admit..does seem very expensive. But it is a great block.
I would guess that they put at LEAST 500k into it. I’d have to see it in real life though. If they found a contractor willing to rebuild for less than $200 psqft, let me know! lol.
$200 / sq ft would be about 350K
Down to the studs remodel? Depending on the contractor, it could be anywhere between $250-$350/sqft. High-end guys can be over $400/sqft.
However, given that commodity prices are dropping, maybe it could be a bit lower.
It’s a nice house, but honestly, I’d rather spend $2 million on a nicer neighborhood.
For 2 million, what’s with the super ugly fireplace?
That’s a smear, not a decorative element.
I actually like the mantel quite a bit, but I agree that they could have done a better job with the facade. And as long as we’re talking in the design subjective…think they should have carried the crown molding throughout the house, and considering they started with a blank slate those bathrooms are a disaster. Do love the location.
Beholder, the facade is original…I think that’s about the only original thing in the house.
“It’s a nice house, but honestly, I’d rather spend $2 million on a nicer neighborhood.”
This is a great neighborhood, one of the best in SF– but I guess a nice neighborhood is in the eye of the beholder. There are plenty of $2 million houses in this neighborhood– though I’m not sure this is one of them, especially if it is only about 1600 square feet.
What neighborhood is this called? I’d rathe be in Russian Hill or Pac Heights for $2 million. But that’s just me. That said, $2 mil might not buy much. I don’t see any SFH under $2 mil in those neighborhoods. Heard the market is pretty robust.
I think the owner deserves to make $200-300,000 on this place after their investment and work put into it. Hard work is generally always rewarded. You just have to go out there and recognize the opportunities and snatch them. So many people just bicker and complain without doing anything for themselves. Not these people.
While I don’t know the neighborhood, there has to be a mashup out there somewhere that combines Google/Yahoo maps with the SF neighborhood boundaries. If there’s not, there should be…
No one knows where Liberty (one of the best streets in SF, period) is? Weird.
I’ve always heard it referred to as Dolores Heights.
Someone say the housing market is hot in the North End of SF? You are spot on. This house went in 2 weeks (by choice) for $500,000 over asking to $4million bucks in Pac Heights. Purchase price? $1.9 mil in fall of 2005. Talk about a REMODEL and FLIP! $1 million remodel, big time returns at $4mil.
http://sfarmls.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Sanfrancisco&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=MhJQceZI4X4BMrAl7rXqwQgyCfPNmzCOucRhXYnUEqQ%3D&KeyRid=1
Socketsite, sorry i’m posting this here, but i thought it relevant, since we’re talking about quick 1 yr rennovations for big profits. I’ve been looking in SF for a while now, and it is not easy for buyers.
Good luck all!
curmudgeon – It’s the white facade of the fireplace (not the house) with which I think they could have done a better job.
Amused, there are one or more people (difficult to tell with anonymous posting) who boost the Marina and Pac Heights at every opportunity, but apparently have never been south of California St.
So to again orient that person or people: 521 Liberty St. is 4.5 miles south of the Marina Green.
Location: Broadly – Eureka Valley (Castro). Very close to the top of the hill…one block more and it would geographically be in Noe Valley. More specifically, the neighborhood (in realtor speak) is usually called Dolores Heights or sometimes Liberty Heights.
To WonderingAboutTheCrash,
Is this the only example you can think of? I’ve seen this posted several times on different boards
already. Please come up with more examples if you think the market is that hot in the PRIME neighborhoods.
^ I’m not WATC, nor am I a realtor, but there are lots of examples… Houses are moving really quickly in Pac Heights, but mostly for asking..
In escrow or sold in the past month:
2976 Broadway 9.5 mil
28?? Broadway 8.5 mil (sold)
2855 Pacific 7.7 mil (2 weeks on the market)
2960 Vallejo 7 mil (sold before it hit the market)
2600 Lyon 6.2 mil (after 2 years on the market)
2277 Green 4 mil (2 weeks on market)
2816 Buchanan 3.6 mil (2 weeks on market)
3176 Clay 3.3 mil
46 Presidio 2.6 mil
2204 Green 2 mil (2 weeks on the market)
The market for $3-10 million dollar houses in Pacific Heights is not relevant to this thread, which is about a $2 million house in Dolores Heights.
$2million in Dolores Heights equates to $2.8-$3 million in Pac Heights. Pretty interesting to me.
Dan.. someone had asked about sales in prime areas other than the Laguna sale, that’s why I posted the numbers.
For sources, just look at http://www.pacunion.com and http://sfnewsletter.wordpress.com/