Purchased out of foreclosure for $450,000 back in 2011, the former 760-square-foot, one-bedroom home at 330 Banks Street was completely remodeled, modernized and re-sold as a 1,253-square-foot, three-bedroom home, “fit for Dwell magazine,” for $1.5 million in November 2013.

Since featured in the aforementioned magazine, the modern Bernal Heights pad has just returned to the market priced at $1.545 million or roughly $1,233 per square foot, a sale at which would represent total appreciation of 3 percent for the single-family Dwell-ing over the past three years.

28 thoughts on “Bernal Heights Dwell-ing Back on the Market Priced at $1.55 Million”
  1. Will be fascinating to see how this pans out. Bernal price gains are falling off for the non-dwelled properties. Will be interesting to see if this one can maintain gains. My guess is 1.8 but I might be a bit high.

    1. Bernal prices are falling off? Sounds as if you’re in the market, from your other posts. What is your perception of the Bernal marketplace?

      1. Getting choppy. Non-dwellish places seem to have stagnated a bit. Fixers can be had for less than 1.0, while true tear downs are still getting more than 800 on occassion. So it’s not as if the non-flip market is dead, but it ain’t 2015 any more. OTOH, dwellish flips in south bernal are still pushing past 1.5. A new offering just half a block from this place was asking 2.2 but is now off the market apparently. That will be an interesting property to watch if and when it reappears.

          1. Thanks. That anecdote goes along with my general feeling, which is that Bernal still is inching up a bit, sub 1.5M is very competitive, and 2M – 3M sales are going to become fairly common. It’s the mortgage affordability aspect again And in Bernal, lots are smaller, so houses can’t really get big enough to see 3M+ anyway. That’s why Richard’s take was interesting. That said, he’s clearly in it, so he knows.

    1. It’s indeed a huge bummer. We figured it was a good house for a single, couple or couple with 1 kid at a stretch. But there are quite a few bespoke features that compensate for the small space. It has a lot of charm for the aesthetic.

    1. Living room? Jeeze, how fancy are you people anyway. There is a wood bench with a throw pillow at the back of the kitchen.

      Actually there does appear to be a small living room next to the garage in front.

  2. 136 Bradford was a “Bernal Box” flip that closed Dec 21. Purchased for $1.225 in July 2015 in totally livable but outdated condition and they did a pretty good job on the improvements but it took too long. Added a bath upstairs, improved the bottom floor by removing some sections of wall to create better flow, did some foundation work and minor roof improvements. Didn’t do much in the yard except for some new fencing and real basic landscaping. But overall finishes seemed nice. Came on market at $2MM closed at $1.85MM which is about $1,030/sf. $2MM was a stretch.

    Another interesting data point was another Bernal Box closed at 27 Nebraska right behind this deal on Bradford for $1.4MM, $784/sf, on Nov 29th. Same floor plan minus the extra bath. Perfectly fine condition though outdated. Better location because of view and less steep and wider street. Also bigger lot with yard but unimproved and huge storage area under house.

    I wouldn’t say either of those two sales shows much weakness in the Bernal Market. Though I’m not sure the flipper made much cash considering the hold, transaction cost, level of improvements. But I’m not a contractor or investor so I really don’t know. Someone here does though right?

    1. See also 15 Putnam. 1.17 on 11/16, looks like it was an off market sale. Last sold for 725k in April 2014. Unclear if any renovations, but there must have been for that kind of annual appreciation rate?

  3. I’m curious about the story of 401 Gates Street, sold on 11/30. The house was sold mid-flip for 1.038m. The flipper must have either run out of cash or realized that prices won’t rise at 2014 levels forever. I’m not a flipper, so I have no idea.

    1. Not sure what you mean. The “great room” effect? Maybe. But the rest of the house is totally livable. Three bathrooms, closets in each average sized room, large closet downstairs den, yard which can be better utilized with some work, two car garage. What’s unlivable?

    2. Oops, sorry, wasn’t reading thread correctly. I had the Bradford property on my mind. I agree with your low livability score for the Banks house.

  4. 100 Milton was listed for $1.495M and sold for $1.730M. It’s a larger home but it sold for much higher than I expected.

  5. Hate to be a young adult in the City now days. Affordability is long gone. This place is a tiny tarted up cracker box. If it is in Dwell it is because of location – not because of real design.

  6. “Contractor Aaron Gordon bought the modest cottage in SF’s Bernal Heights with his own family in mind. But when he approached Red Dot Studio architect Karen Curtiss to modernize it, he had decided to overhaul the house for resale and came to her with a mandate: “I was asked to transform the structure from one bedroom to three without expanding the building’s envelope,” says Curtiss. “It was a dream project.”” (Small-House Remodel: From One Bedroom to Three—No Addition Required)

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