It was over two years ago 690 Market Street #1404 first hit the market as a resale, and a little over a year ago the list price on the 2,090 square foot Ritz-Carlton three-bedroom was reduced “Over $500K” to $2,590,000 having been purchased for $2,775,500.
Yesterday the sixth “new” listing for the Ritz-Carlton condo was withdrawn from the market after just “57” days on the market at $1,949,000 without a reported sale despite being “offered @ [approximately] 30% less than [the] Seller’s 2007 purchase [price]” and well over a million dollars less than the seller’s (mis)expectations in 2008 and perhaps prior.
Will we see a number seven?
∙ Ritz-Carlton Sales Office Pulls An Infinity In An Attempt To Sell Out [SocketSite]
∙ Avram Goldman Speaks Then (2006) And Now (2009) [SocketSite]
What? This seller couldn’t take MORE THAN a mere eight hundred and thirty five thousand dollar loss?
I’m trying to figure out who I should feel worse about. The owner of this Ritz unit, who is probably out a million dollars in three years, or the owner of Metropolitan unit 2302, purchased almost 5 years ago for $1.725M and just lowered by $50K to $1.149M. That’s right: 1.725 to 1.149 and it hasn’t sold yet.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/355-1st-St-94105/unit-2302/home/2030051
Sure, it’s “only” down by five hundred seventy five thousand dollars if it sells at asking, but face it, most people never achieve that level of savings in their lifetimes.
San Francisco real estate has now destroyed the finances of entire families for generations. Buying just because everyone else is, or paying the market price just because a bunch of stupid people are paying it, is a great way to ruin your family’s finances.
So go ahead and listen to 45 Y.O talk about all the “deals” he sees but doesn’t seem to buy. The complete financial destruction of people’s lives is just beginning.
Maybe they could go timeshare. That would make the place more “affordable” 😉
The illusion that new condo towers would always fetch more then $1000/sf is now gone. What is left is the reality of $ paid vs location, livability and amenities. No more flipping anything at any price.
The Ritz is a nice but overpriced building in a transitional area. It never made sense to purchase here if one honestly evaluated it from a financial/investment standpoint.
I feel fairly sorry for the person who owns this, regardless of how bad a decision they made buying this in the first place. No matter how rich you are, $800k losses hurt at least a little.
There was a lot of speculation into units like these… always thinly supported by some rationale…
If I recall, there used to be a poster on SocketSite whose mother bought a unit here. their contention was that the place would do well because only the uber affluent like Al Gore were buying there, and the price didn’t matter because the buyers would be price insensitive.
I hope they are right, because otherwise the owners of this could be facing difficulty.
Just another anecdote. Nothing to see here, folks. OK, one of many, many very similar anecdotes, but still . . .
Snark aside, this is a pretty good illustration of the 2004-2008 madness, top-to-bottom, in all areas. A crap place in the Beacon cost $900/sf in 2007, so of course a really nice place in the Ritz was “worth” $1300/sf or more. A dumpy place in Bernal or the Excelsior was fetching $650/sf, so of course a middlin’ home in Noe was “worth” $950/sf.
First the crap fell, and then the quality places have fallen right behind. I don’t think (a la tipster) that we’re going back to 1996 prices. But we’re already back to about 2003 in just about all price ranges and areas with some areas and homes down a bit more and some a bit less. But given the high inventory and continuing very low sales, and the weak economy, 1999-2000 non-inflation-adjusted pricing is all but a certainty. The crash was obvious in 2007, so I really don’t feel that bad for those who pushed all their chips on the table and joined the party. And as I’ve said many times, in 2012 we’ll laugh about 2010 prices just like we’re laughing about 2007 prices now.
Tipster talks about the wealth destruction. Just think about the wealth destruction in this one not-so-large building. $50 million lost? $100 million? Amazing.
If it goes back to 1999, I’m going to
partybuy a house.Is there really an alternative entry/exit to this unit through the MBR closet ?
These condos are a hard sell. Too much inventory and sellers are dumb founded. Real estate in PH is smoking hot. Tons of properties going into escrow, including Malin’s $8.5 home. Haven’t looked at gains/losses, but properties are moving.
FYI – not a fan of the layout change on the front page.
“Is there really an alternative entry/exit to this unit through the MBR closet ?”
How Bruce Wayne!
“Is there really an alternative entry/exit to this unit through the MBR closet?”
That way when you hear “Honey, I’m home”, the bellboy has an easy escape…
I had a master bedroom closet with an external entrance in my apartment in Rio de Janeiro – the building was from the 1930s and was built at a time when the wealthy were just starting to consider flats in nice neighborhoods of the city.
This was a real innovation at the time. In apartments, you didn’t want the staff hanging about all the time. With a closet w/an exterior entrance, servants could take out the wash and leave clean, pressed clothing, all without being seen or heard. The closet in my apartment opened up onto a service area that had a washtub, a laundry rack, access to the servants’ quarters and to an exterior stairway (and service elevator). The servants’ quarters seem to be missing from this apartment.
Doesn’t necessarily make sense any more, but maybe whoever is rich enough to throw money at this place will want servants without human contact. Or maybe the Ritz actually thought that people who lived there would be sending their laundry out to the hotel. Who knows. It’s all a bit delusional at this point.
I miss my apartment. My fist and only re-hab of an art-deco gem.
Depends on just how rich they were. Meg Whitman just spent $141.5 million of her own money to lose the campaign for California governor. She’s still set for life, no one in her family will ever have to work for the rest of their lives, and losing that money certainly has not destroyed the finances of her entire family for generations.
The people that are selling this place might be in the same socioeconomic strata. An $800k loss might just end up being a few weeks salary at their hedge fund or royalties from sales of past work. Kind of annoying, but certainly within the realm of possibility.
1502 being auctioned dec 10
no minumum bid
http://www.sanfranritzauction.com/Home.html