As we wrote about 844 Bay in August 2008:
In 2004 844 Bay Street (the one with the red door) was a two-bedroom single-family home of two thousand and thirty-five square feet and sold for $1,550,000 ($761 per square foot). Having been completely rebuilt and remodeled, a four thousand and five hundred square foot 844 Bay Street closed escrow this past Friday (8/8/08) with a reported contract price of $4,600,000 ($1,022 per square foot). They were asking $5,249,000.
We assume no plugged-in person would ever make the mistake of confusing that 34% increase in the price per square foot with market appreciation (not that over one thousand a square foot is anything to be sneezed at). We have to note, however, that industry statistics will.
As a plugged-in tipster notes, 844 Bay has returned to the market as a high-end apple listed for $4,800,000 ($1,067 per square) and likely wishing its address were 888.
UPDATE: Well, while we wouldn’t call it a “completely through remodel,” we did miss the permit that a plugged-in reader didn’t for the wine cellar addition, bathroom retiling and master suite reconfiguration which was completed in 2009. That being said, we’re still calling it an apple but with a minor asterisk.
UPDATE: Forget the asterisk, we’re now pulling our “apple” designation altogether.
While not referenced in the building permit for the latest remodel, the permit fees for which were based on an estimated project cost of “$5,000,” our aforementioned reader correctly notes the kitchen was also remodeled, the floor replaced, and a number of other improvements have occurred as well.
The kitchen and floor at 844 Bay in 2008:
The kitchen and floor today:
∙ Listing: 844 Bay Street (3/3.5) – $4,800,000 [MLS]
∙ That Same House In Address Only Sells (And Gooses The $/SQFT) [SocketSite]
∙ The Same House In Address Only: A Contemporary 844 Bay Street [SocketSite]
∙ Rolling Easy Eights Up North (And Here At The High-End) [SocketSite]
Ok I think that’s enough racist references for one day. Can we move on from the reactionary “8” fetishism, please??
[Editor’s Note: Please don’t confuse a cultural reference with racism, especially when it’s a topical trend.]
Only asking 200k more since 2008, and it underwent a completely thorough remodel in 2009…
[Editor’s Note: Good catch and now noted above, but we’re not sure we’d call the wine cellar addition, bathroom retiling, and master suite reconfiguration a “completely thorough remodel.”]
A second remodel in 2009 on top of what was done between 2004 and 2008? What a waste.
well also a new kitchen, new herringbone floors, and recovering of many walls….not a full remodel but some good money spent on it considering, check out CH+D magazine for more details.
[Editor’s Note: We stand corrected again and are working on another update. Cheers!]
UPDATE: Forget the asterisk, we’ve now pulled our “apple” designation altogether and added before and after photos for the kitchen above.
We’ll also note the permit fess for the latest remodeling are based on an estimated project cost of “$5,000” and doesn’t reference any work on the kitchen or floors.
I always wanted to cook in a high school science lab.
Curious Geo wrote:
> Ok I think that’s enough racist references
> for one day. Can we move on from the
> reactionary “8” fetishism, please??
Over my years in real estate I have had dozens of clients of Chinese descent who not only had phone numbers with lots of “8’s”, but who would add lots of 8’s to the price of real estate they were buying or put lots of “8’s” in the loan amounts they requested.
The few times I mentioned something like “Chinese people tend to like the number 8” in super PC San Francisco I was branded a horrible racist. I was happy to find out that the Chinese started the Olympics in Beijing at 8:08 on 8/8/08 (anyone that still thinks I am a racist and that telling people that the Chinese like the number 8 is a plot by the white man to keep the Chinese down can look it up)…
I like the kitchen a lot, it reminds me of something you would see on Shorpy.com (for instance, check sig link), and manages to be both homey and modern. I
Tangentially, IMO saying “8’s are lucky in Chinese culture” isn’t any more racist than “four leafed clovers are lucky in Irish culture” unless you are implying that Asians are more superstitious than white people, which would be both an offensive and untrue thing to say. I think some folks here might have skirted that particular line when expounding on the “8” thing so I don’t really blame Curious Geo for bringing it up.
The “8” phenomenon is not racist, it’s superstition. My day and year of birth have an 8, my street address has an 8 and my apartment number has an 8. And I live on the 8th floor. I have been deemed very lucky more than once by people of Chinese descent.
I do, however, own a black cat, so hopefully that is not canceling out the luck of the 8s. 😉
Trying again because of link fail. I hit post too soon anyway. I meant to say I really have always wanted a kitchen like a high school laboratory, hehe.
It’s nice enough looking, but REMOVING kitchen storage? Crazy. And having to bend down to get anything in the kitchen? Crazier. Not a kitchen designed for cooks, clearly.
There are also Chinese restaurants with 8s in the title. Three 8s is even better. I remember a dim sum place in Manhattan called Triple 8, that I believe was on 88 E. Broadway. There’s also an 888 dim sum place in the San Gabriel Valley, if I remember correctly.
Different cultures have different customs on this. Some people write gift checks for $51 or $101 instead of $50 or 100.
Check out the next elevator you ride in a taller building, and see if you don’t go from 12 to 14. I once lived in a building that did an admirable job of masking the fact that it didn’t have a 13th floor by the arrangement of the elevator buttons.
I recall when “444 Market Street” was purchased by an asian company and they went so far as to move the main entrance and rebrand it “One Front Street” because triple 4 was unlucky. The poor unlucky tenants changing all their stationary, websites, marketing etc.!
The building where our Hong Kong office is has no floor 4, 13, 14, 24, 34, or 40-49. I’m betting they get a lot higher rent for floors 8, 18, etc., although I’m just guessing on that latter point. Crazy superstitious.
8888888888888884888888888
Lucky or unlucky?
In case people weren’t aware, the word for ‘8’ in Chinese rhymes with the word for ‘fortune.’ So if you ever see a vanity license plate with some variation of ‘168,’ it is meant to recall a phrase through rhyme that means something akin to “fortune along the road.”
The fascination with 8 is not racist, just an actual superstition. Now, 4, on the other hand, is completely unlucky, as it sounds very similar (more so than ‘8’ and ‘fortune’) to the word for death, only varying by an inflection.
There, your linguistics lesson for the day. =)
if this sells at or near this price the market is back big time…and perhaps one 8 is enough.
When did one $5M home become representative of “the market”?
This is not a great location – Bay is a constant traffic street. Can’t imagine living here, 8 or no 8.
isn’t this still an apple? i don’t care how much you spend on your remodel – if the end result is that most buyers don’t see a value difference, than it is an apple. a big waste of money for the seller – but an apple for market statistics.
8 is not only lucky, it symbolizes wealth. And I was always told that ‘168’ symbolized ‘road to riches,’ rather than ‘fortune along the road.’
Speaking of floor numbers, I don’t ever recall seeing a 4th floor in HK, though I have seen 13th floors in many buildings.
In Vancouver, many of the older high-rises (early 90s and older) skip floor 13, but include floor 4, just like in the US. But the newer buildings lack both.
Note that SF has Funston in place of 13th Ave. and Division where 13th street would go.
One wonders whether the Superstition Gods are really fooled by skipping floor numbers. In a building without 4th of 13th floors are the people who live on the “5th” (really the 4th) and “15th” still unlucky?
There’s a section that’s 13th street, actually.
There is a part of 13th Street that exists. I think between Mission and either Folsom or Harrison. There’s also a 13th Street on Treasure Island.
You guys are right, two blocks of 13th St. between Mission and Folsom. Interesting about the 13th on TI. I guess the Navy can’t afford superstition.
Is 844 Bay under priced? 844 and 850 Bay Street were projects of the same developer. 844 was purchased in 2008 and extensively upgraded. The kitchen was completely redone, as were all of the bathrooms. All of the lighting was upgraded including a Lutron system. A wine cellar, steam room and extensive shelving have been installed. The outdoor space was designed by one of the city’s top landscape architects. Apples? Well I guess it’s still 844. By the way 850 just closed for $5,300,000.
The listing for 844 Bay Street has been withdrawn from the MLS without a reported sale.
844 Bay Street has been listed once again asking $4,800,000 with an official one day on the market.