Having sold for $1.4 million in October of 2014, the 1,700 square-foot condo #812W at 101 Lombard Street, which features a private terrace, high ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace and deeded parking, returned to the market five weeks later listed as a “rarely available” unit for $1,499,000 and re-sold for $1.375 million in March of 2015.

The unit then returned to the market in early 2016 and resold for $1.4 million that March.

And having returned to the market this past June with a $1.675 million price tag, the fourth re-sale of the “rarely available” unit over the past five years has now closed escrow with a contract price of $1.5 million, a price at which would appear to represent total appreciation of 7.1 percent for the “spacious [and] serene” two-bedroom condo, “nestled at the base of Telegraph Hill,” since the first quarter of 2016.

But unfortunately, the most recent sale wasn’t actually apples-to-apples, as the sellers “invested generously in a fully permitted kitchen and bathroom remodel with upscale finishes” over the past three years.

19 thoughts on “Rarely Available Condo Trades Anew”
  1. The kitchen is nice, but very small and narrow. It would have cost approximately $15K. The bathroom remodel was probably another $10K. So, they still came out ahead nicely.

    1. How did they come out ahead? 100K “gain” was more than eaten up by remodeling costs ($40K), new flooring (10K), commissions ($75K) and transfer taxes ($11K). Looks like they lost $36K, +/-.

      That’s “nicely” in the magical world of realtors.

      1. Fair enough about the commissions, but where are you getting $40K of remodeling costs, plus another $10K for the floor? The kitchen and bathroom would have been about $25K total, especially for a super-tiny kitchen (and frankly, its not that “high end”). I suppose they may have paid $10K to remove the old carpet in the living and bedroom and redo the hardwood beneath it. That is $35K total, You seem to be tacking on an extra $15K.

        1. It looks like they opened up the wall and redid the floor in the kitchen, and unless they were Ikea cabinets likely at least $10k just for those so I think your estimate is a bit lowball.

          20 years ago my boss had a unit in the building and he liked it because he could walk to work on Montgomery, but now that much of the offices have moved south of Market I imagine this location has less appeal than it once did.

          1. I have had bigger and nicer kitchen remodels that cost about 25K, but again, we are talking about a bigger kitchen with nicer finishes. I have friends who are contractors in the city and the surrounding area, so I know what they charge. The wall doesn’t seemed opened up to me, maybe brought back a bit, but it is obviously not load bearing.

            It is still a crappy, tiny galley kitchen. If they spent more than $15K on this little kitchen remodel, they got ripped off and threw money down the drain. It is fine if you want to make changes for your own benefit if you plan to live in a place a long period of time, go ahead, spend a million dollars on a kitchen (don’t expect to get it back), but it is stupid to over-invest in a remodeling for resale.

            If I had been selling it, I would have cleaned it, redone the floors in the living area only, and done a re-facing, not replacement in the kitchen or bathroom. Even $25K (perhaps more with the floor refinishing), which is what I think they spent, was way too much for resale. They should have spent no more than $10K, and called it a day.

        2. The permit they pulled lists the cost of the remodel at $36,000. In San Francisco this means the actual costs was significantly higher, maybe double. Yes it is a lot for what they did, but this is typical for San Francisco. Having done work with permits on my house, as well as talking to neighbors in SF who have done permitted work, I can assure you there is no way it came in at close to $35k.

  2. Pretty decent remodel but what’s with the microwave sticking out about 6 inches from the wall? Also, $1.5 million for a deck that looks right into your neighbors?

  3. I get that you can’t be too picky with housing in SF, but I also can’t imagine a person in their mid-20s (or whoever is buying condos right now) wanting to live here. It looks like every mediocre uptown condo in almost every small to medium-sized city I’ve ever lived. Carpet and all.

  4. Anoyne know if it is legal in SF to shore-up / maintain a functional grandfathered wood burning fire place?

  5. Four sales in 5 years?! What could possibly encourage this kind of turnover, is anyone familiar with this building and location?

    1. It is on flat land at the base of the North East corner of Telegraph Hill. It is walking distance from the Fog City Diner, Levis Plaza, The Embarcadero and Pier 39. There was a dog walk on the roof. Joe Montana lived there when he was with the 49’ers. When you rang the doorbell it would pulse dial the landline phone, so you could hear what his phone number was.

      1. It’s also a building that tends to attract older residents. The dues are steep – but worth it if you take advantage of the heated outdoor pool, I suppose.

  6. Hey Derry: I suspect flipperitis. Not a lot of open inventory in this building or surrounding bldgs, for that matter. The area is sought after by corporations for apts, and folks who work in the FiDi, but don’t want to live downtown. BayClub is near, as is the GG Bridge (escape to parts north, wine country etc) and some nice views too.

  7. Someone used the term “cave condo”. Maybe it is an artifact of the photography, but I get a feeling or really low ceilings. Cavernous in a bad way.

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