While a one-bedroom “penthouse” condo on the fifth floor of The Century (2200 Market Street) flew off the market ten months ago for $101,000 more than the $949,000 that was paid for the unit in April of 2014, another fifth floor unit, which was also purchased for $949,000 last April, has been on the market for three months.
And for the past 30 days, a list price of $899,000 hasn’t produced a buyer for 2200 Market Street #504.
Granted, unit #504 doesn’t include a deeded parking space, but neither did unit #502. And in fact, unit #504 measures 789 square feet, three square feet larger than unit #502 which resold for $1,050,000 ($1,336 per square foot) last June.
Despite a record high median sale price for a home in the city, a sale at asking would represent a 5 percent year-over-year drop in the value for the Upper Market unit #504 on an apples-to-apples basis.
And on a price per square foot basis, a sale at asking for 2200 Market #504 would close at 15 percent below the price which was paid for #502 last June.
789 sq ft is very small Assuming this is for bachelor’s or bachelorrettes only
That’s a pretty decent size for a one bedroom in town. I’d say it’s larger than most, really.
At the time of the earlier sale, was it clear that the ground floor retail would be a restaurant and a bar? (i.e. noisy)
Let us hope this is not the weak spot in the bubble, and rather just a defect of this apartment.
Have we finally run out of fools?
j/k this is SF. Where a million bucks will buy you the luxury to see your friends sleep on the couch.
Seller must be desperate for cash to be willing to sell at this price. They could probably rent the unit for close to $4k a month, which should more than cover their mortgage
949K and a $4K mortgage? Sure. Then you have property taxes, HOAs, income taxes, easily an extra 2K. This will cash-flow negative and are also in the red when you factor in amortization and tax credit on mortgage interest. Then you have to maintain the place, do repairs, and other expenses like special assessments.
This shows that these places are either speculative investments or just “I want to live there” purchases without much regard of a rent-vs-own calculation.
and then deal with bitchy tenants and good luck taking back possession of YOUR $1M condo after the tenant declares it theirs for life, as it’s the usual fashion in SF.
Or it could be a sign of a bigger storm coming. The word penthouse has been randomly misused. One bdrm o the top floor does not a penthouse make. Use that jargon in NYC or London and you would be laughed out of town.
I love it when some buildings boast 2 or 3 floors of penthouse level!
A sale at asking would be a pretty quick 6-figure loss with selling costs factored in. 50% loss assuming 20% was put down. It is very risky to buy in a super-heated market like this. Less risky if (a) you stay for at least 7-10 years, or (b) you have a ton of money. Maybe (b) applies here – or this would be painful.
To me, Unit #502 is better staged and the bathrooms are better designed. It has no clutter and the colors are nicely matched.
Unit #504 while nice, just seems not as nice as 502 from the pictures. The picnic table and the bench are out of place. The carpet in the living room is ugly and the living room just seems cluttered somehow with wires hanging out. The bathrooms walls actually look pretty sad while 502’s look amazing. Also, the pictures of the individual sink, lights, shower head…. what was that about?
The pictures are the first line of attraction. I think many ppl saw 502’s listing and went, “We GOTTA go check out this place!!” While 504’s reaction is more, “Meh. Just another condo.”
Huh? Are you saying that buyers simply plunk down large sums of money based solely on cosmetics and photos alone? I doubt it. Most buyers I know have toured anywhere between 20-50 homes, looked at location, and travel distances for work, did and re-did their math, and thought long and hard before submitting an offer. A lot of renters do more comparison shopping and they are just renting.
If that were 100% the case, staging a property would be a dying industry. Of course all those things are correct, but there’s an intangible factor that will push people towards one property instead of another.
One day I viewed a building that had all the features I was hunting for. Then there was one thing about one of the existing tenants that totally grossed me out. It was irrational in retrospect…
Presentation and marketing matters. This shouldn’t be a great shock to anyone. We even have college degrees and entire industry devoted to said presentation. Heck, there are even TV shows about these professionals.
Were the old fashioned window air conditioners in the living room and bedroom installed by the developer? It looks like a rinky-dink after thought installation and surprising for this price point.
If not, either the condo gets extremely hot, or the current owner wanted to keep the doors closed due to street noise.
there’s NO built-in air conditioning at 2200 Market, which boggles the mind. This was a CHEAPLY built affair (there’s no steel whatsoever above the first floor, either)
whats the purpose of air conditioning in SF? need it maybe 8 days per year
Clearly, the owner of this unit disagreed with you most likely for the reasons mentioned above.
I know people who live in that building. Those south-facing windows get a LOT of heat. Even from the street you can see 1) windows always open 2) floor fans running.
I wonder if people stomping on the roof deck could be heard within the top floor units? I once toured a top floor unit in a Victorian-style wood framed building, and had my hubby walk up to the roof deck and walk around, then stomp. Lordy, did that scare me. There is no way that would be tolerable to me. Whoever invents an affordable floating floor (or wall) system that effectively blocks your neighbor’s stomping or blasting audio to where you never detect it will be a quick billionaire!
Common area, especially the roof and exterior, will be a huge expense in 5 to 10 years. Reserves are always low-balled in new construction/condo conversion buildings. Best to buy in a building which has a few years on its odometer.
From the pics, it already looks like they aren’t investing much effort in the roof deck. Maybe it’s just the season, but the empty planter boxes is pretty depressing. I do wonder about all these roof decks being developed in town these days. With our micro-climate issues, will most of them ever be used very much? They always look great in the building brochures. But are they actually used?
i live in the richmond and use my roof all year long. its sunny the vast majority of days. i also have a heat lamp for night.