With closings and occupancy starting last month, and after about eight months of selling, we estimate there are still 100+ condominiums available for purchase in The Palms (about 65% sold).
Keep in mind that there are only 6 units in The Palms currently listed on the MLS, and thus the “official” inventory figures for San Francisco (and months of supply) are understated by at least 100 units based on this one development alone (more on this Monday).
∙ The Palms: Phase II Release [SocketSite]
∙ Listing: 555 4th Street #106 (3/3) – $1,295,000 [MLS]
∙ Listing: 555 4th Street #531 (2/2) – $865,800 [MLS]
∙ Listing: 555 4th Street #715 (1/1) – $629,000 [MLS]
∙ Listing: 555 4th Street #719 (1/1) – $608,000 [MLS]
∙ Listing: 555 4th Street #822 (2/2) – $845,000 [MLS]
∙ Listing: 555 4th Street #839 (2/2) – $1,250,000 [MLS]
∙ Inventory Update: Four Days Later [SocketSite]
I smell desperation in the air. Yesterday I was at Starbucks across from Palms and heard 2 sales people saying to each other that interest in Palms has been reduced to peanuts. They also mentioned that buyers apparently do not like the idea of “FOR SALE” sign restrictions and the seller is thinking of removing that clause. Ironically they also mentioned that most of the units are crap and no one in the right mind will pay the asking price.
I tried to look at the units once, but they required you to jump through all the hoops in getting pre-approved first and all that nonsense. In this market environment, they are doing themselves a disfavor. So, I went to look at the Watermark and 188 King instead. Every time you get pre-qualified, your credit score gets reduced a few points, and I am not going to do that. In this market, I have choices. The Palms deserves what they are getting.
Interesting. I had absolutely no problem walking in to the Palms with my agent, sitting through a short discussion with one of the sales people, and then geting a tour of several units on a couple of different floors. I was not overly impressed with the building.
But, I was never asked for preapproval before seeing any units. This was about a month ago.
They must have changed their practice in this new environment.
Actual photos of the units in the MLS listings would be nice. The pics look rendered and a bit scary. Kind of ghostly. Sounds like there are problems all over.
My guess is that they assume your agent wouldn’t be wasting his or her time showing you properties you can’t afford…
As with any development, getting to the right sales agent would improve your experience. [Removed by Editor]
Regarding getting pre-approval and protecting your credit score. You can get one pre-approval letter at a big bank (ex. Wells Fargo) and use the same letter for all new developments. Since all new development loans comes from the same office (ex. on WF Townsend Street Office), the loan reps all know each other.
[Removed by Editor] is an idiot. I met him while looking at a property on California and Van Ness a few month ago. I left my mobile number with him. He called me few days later asking me to look at Palms. I came in on time as promissed. He was with a client. 45 minutes later he went for a tour with the client making me wait an hour. When he got back he showed me a few pdf files with plans. Then he said that he WILL be my agent as he is the one who showed me the property. As a matter of fact I told him on California that my mother-in-law is my agent, but he tried to tell me that i never said so. After I left the sales office he called me to “remind” me about the buyer-agent etiquette. [Removed by Editor]
[Editor’s Note: Natasha – please don’t take this personally, and we know you were simply reacting to another comment, but perhaps this is an opportune time for everyone to review our comment guidelines. That being said, in abstract we believe the bulk of your comment is fair feedback concerning your experience at the sales office.]
I was able to walk in during the weekend a couple weeks ago. The agent there was friendly and showed me several 2 bed units in the upper floors. I interior units facing the courtyard had no privacy. There were units on all sides looking down at me. If I had to live in one of those interior units, I would always keep my curtains drawn for privacy (of course, that would turn my unit into a cave!)
The upper floor units facing downtown looks right onto the freeway. It was a ‘noisy’ view at best. And the alley facing the building was full of garbage and run-down shacks. The building itself was ok, but no way is it worth $800-900 SqFt.
You should consider the Beacon, your dollar will go much farther there, especially now when the present lawsuit might perhaps be slowing down sales; this is a great opportunity. [The rest of this comment has been moved to: The Brighter Side Of The Beacon]
why are all of you drooling over these trite lifetyle-marketing yuppie-boxes? These are wooden cubes painted with trendy bold colors and stocked with cheap discount hardware store kitchen apparati. The whole Ikea-yuppidom faux wealth look is so 2004
$500 hoa and 1 parking spot lmao
Ob-kenobe: Perhaps they are “yuppie-boxes”, but Studio Becker cabinets, Bosch appliances, and stone countertops hardly constitute “cheap discount hardware store kitchen apparati”. In fact, quite the opposite.
“The Palms”? In San Francisco? I’m looking forward to the next SOMA development which no doubt will be named “The Dunes”.
[Removed by Editor]
That’s why you always focus on buying in the best areas possible. Pity the fool who didn’t buy a nice condo in Pac Heights! lol
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Dear Renting…not everyone shares your lily-white view of what constitutes a great neighborhood. Many people have what’s called a BUDGET that dictates the neighborhoods they can choose from. As well, some like me know that SF won’t be home forever and want to live in an area that’s freeway accesible yet within walking distance to necessary amenities like shopping, restaurants and public transportation. [Removed by Editor]
I looked into The Palms when its sales office first opened. At the time, the sales agent showed me a list of all the supposedly “sold” units. It appeared that it was much more than 65% sold, and I did not have many units to choose from. Lies, lies, lies!!! I’m so sick and tired of lies!
After reconsidering the fact that it’s only a syringe’s throw away from Cracktown (2 blocks) and given that I felt it was overpriced for its location, I decided against it. Glad I did.
Come on, guys — not all of SOMA is ghetto, and not all of the Marina/Pacific Heights is paradise.
Sassy – what are we going to do with you. Ah! I’m no representative of the Palms, but they did have over 60% sold when they first came to market Nov/Dec last year. Much the same way One Rincon sold 90% in three weeks.
They first offered the units on the ‘friends and family’ plan which meant all the developer’s friends – all the sales agents, their clients, and anyone else on the super secret preferred list got a crack at them prior to the sales office officially opening to the public.
With refundable deposits and very low initial pricing, things started flying off the shelves… so much so they had to pull the program after a few weeks. But as things often go in the refundable deposit world when it came time to pony up there were a lot of people who flaked.
In addition there was a new disclosure of the fact that only some of the units had deeded parking while others had to lease their parking which caused a bit of a stir as many on the preferred list had originally been told otherwise. Voila, no more 65% pre sold.
Erego if you were one of the first in the door ‘officially’ post the pre grand opening, then I you were most certainly being told the gods honest truth at the time.
Refundable low priced deposits given to friends and family sounds like a cheap way to try to pump up the market by telling the few prospective suckers that the place was mostly “sold out”. I’d suspect they forgot to mention the highly tenuous nature of these so called “sales” to any of the suckers who were the real buyers.
I disagree. There’s always an attrition rate with pre sales and there’s no way to determine how high that will be. I think the Palms was higher than normal because of the parking lease vs deeded disclosure and because there’s a lot of fear in general about the real estate market.
Whether those buyers are suckers or not will get played out in the next 3 – 5 years. If they make $100k profit in that time I doubt anyone will call them ‘suckers’.
Did anyone notice that the floor plans offered at this building bear a striking resemblance to a rat’s maze? I’m sorry, but these places are a joke. There appears to have been virtually no thought put into the spatial design.
For those poor souls out there constituting the “65%”, rememeber that you can still get your money back up until the point that you’ve removed your financing contingencies.
Yeah, I would have to agree. The hallways seem narrow and dark. And there’s way too many units per floor. Feels too “apartment” like.
A building with a good layout is The Brannan. There are only a few units per floor and feels more boutique and intimate.
Seems like the Infinity will be similiar. There are only 5-7 units per floor(and 4 elevators!) and should have the same ‘intimate’ feel as the Brannan…
I agree with Rinconfan that the Brannan has a good layout, but I have to disagree with the narrow/dark comment seeming to give the perception that narrow and dark hallways are the purview of only the Palms. Check out the elevator landings and hallways of the Brannan – they’re jet black which A) makes the hallways obviously dark and makes finding the unit number more difficult than it should be, and B), gives the feeling of narrowness.
Where can one find pricing for the Palms without having to go to the city and sit with a sales rep or spend money on long distance calls? Are the MLS listings for “brand-new” units or for resale units? Why so much of a hassle to get pricing? Doesn’t seem customer-friendly to me.