Purchased by a plugged-in reader for $2,850,000 in June of 2009, the Noe Valley “house with a conscience” at 3961 25th Street was listed for $3,299,000 this past May.
Reduced to $2,899,000 two weeks later, the sale of 3961 25th Street closed escrow yesterday with a reported contract price of $3,400,000, officially “17 percent over asking” according to industry stats, 3 percent over its original list price.
On an apples-to-apples basis, the sale represents total appreciation of 19 percent for the remodeled Noe Valley single-family home since 2009, an annualized rate of 4.6 percent.
lying for a living.
but that statement overlooks the valuable services provided by the industry, like being chauffeured in a leased entry-level Lexus, parrotting “you’re gonna love this place” or “that’s easy to fix!” when touring properties, and having GlamourShots head portraits adorning their business cards.
wow…just when you think the Noe market might be cooling a bit you get a heterodoxical data point like this.
though could this be the creation of a new sales tactic–perhaps dubbed the ‘rope a dope’? rather than start with an artificially low price designed to generate traffic and 50 bids, you start high, immediately lower the price, then create a competitive bidding process because people suddenly think they’re getting a great deal…only to find out the ultimate price needed to prevail is above the original list. doh!!!
I am not so sure this was intentional. All it takes for a bidding war to happen is 2 motivated buyers and right-timing. One theory:
– Prospective buyers 1 & 2 keep this place as a 2nd choice and bid on a 1st choice property.
– Prospective buyers 1 & 2 lose out on that 1st choice property to a higher bidder
– Prospective buyers 1 & 2 are frustrated and refocus their energy on their 2nd choice, and wage an epic bidding war
There are many other possible theories. Not all of them imply an evil conspiracy from the Realtor…
As the seller of the house I would have to say that the marketing done by our realtor Jesse Fowler and his intricate understanding of the market with his business partner Pete Branigan lead to very positive result for all.
Wow! I’m truly amazed it sold at this price. I didn’t think the design and finishes deserved this sort of money. It’s pretty mediocre in my opinion.
Gary Hayes–
This is not meant to be a sarcastic question, but if the optimal marketing strategy today is just to underprice a home by 20%, why not list with redfin and save the brokerage fee? That is, if all sales are auctions, what does a “full price” broker really add?
(I have no interest in or affiliation with redfin. I’m just curious what traditional brokers bring to the table today.)
Thanks.
Not entirely surprising. The market is insane all over the region. I have been bidding on much more modest properties in Berkeley and they have all been going well over asking. Finally was successful last week but went way higher than I wanted. We are definitely experiencing a significant increase in prices; the question is: is this upswing sustainable? As an investor I think (hope) it does but only time will tell.
I like the house and happy to be vindicated b/c the 4k sqft on Valley next to Mitchel’s didn’t yet sell.
Am surprised to see the bump in price here after the reduction.
Pete is fine gentleman, good things happen to his clients and I can’t necessarily explain why. So after fees and transfer tax, Gary pockets $350K in 4 years, tax free, which pretty much exactly pays for carrying the house using a normal-ish mortgage.
As a homeowner nearby, I can only rejoice.
Heady times indeed.
Dataquick has reported an all time high for SF median prices this month too…
What’s the real return if the loan was $1,821,900. Approx $1,028,100 down? Did it beat the stock market? Also taking the tax free capital gains into account. Thanks!!