As we first reported last year when we noticed An Uptick in Listings, and Reductions, for Unfinished Flips in San Francisco, the asking price for the Pacific Heights building at 2620 Buchanan Street, which was purchased for $4.1 million in 2014 and relisted for $6.5 million last September, with plans to transform the legal 3-unit building into a contemporary home “designed to be used as a single family residence,” had subsequently been reduced to $5.5 million.
Withdrawn from the MLS at the end of last year without a reported sale, despite a reduction to $4.995 million, the property was relisted at the same price last month.
And today, the price for 2620 Buchanan was further reduced to $4.7 million, roughly 28 percent, or $1.8 million, below the asking price for the “incredible building opportunity” of five months ago.
What, they expect to be paid for $600K just owning this place for a while?
Knife catchers get ripped.
The RE agents must love this. Everyone else loses when they fail to understand the market in which they’re participating. What fools.
Ummm, you realize the owners/sellers of this property are real estate agents themselves, right? They’ve been developing and selling property in the city for 20+ years. So you may want to dial back your commentary a little.
Then these are agents who have no clue about their own market. Sad that so many in RE lack the intellect one finds in other professional industries. It’s always seemed like lazy people are attracted to this profession, which is great news for RE litigators, but not so good for the RE profession.
listen up folks. when people are selling flips with “plans” it’s time to eat out less.
THAT is a wise comment!
Did they get into trouble for “Dwelling Unit Merger” a famous crime in San Francisco?
Probably not. Well over “market” rate.
A Google SketchUp drawing? They could not afford a professional renderer?
Hey, these folks have 20+ years of experience in RE. They’re not doctors.
How much experience do you have in RE?
Stop Driving: FYI it takes brass balls to sell real estate in this city. Your top agents should and often do earn more than doctors and lawyers and they are well deserving of these high commissions.
[Anybody] can go to his office and complete 8 hours of nothing, but top brokers are out there selling, negotiating and constantly marketing for sometimes 12 hours a day. You can only hope your children consider such a profession because it’s probably the only way they will be able to take care of [you once] you burn through your retirement account.
It take brass balls to *buy* real estate in this city. Being a middleman between buyer and seller puts you somewhere between stale bread and soft clay.
“FYI it takes brass balls to sell real estate in this city. Your top agents should and often do earn more than doctors and lawyers and they are well deserving of these high commissions.”
Funniest thing I’ve heard in the last few weeks and I’ve been watching the Republican debates.
When the value of RE as a profession was set, the rate was 6% of a sales price 1/20th of today’s market.
That was about right.
I respect the RE profession. I just don’t think it should be excessively lauded. The fact that the agents who own this home didn’t recognize the market peaking last September is just an example of the silly things I’ve seen agents do. I work in the RE field and spend much of my time fixing agents’ mistakes.
the market took a dip right at the start of last September actually
Thanks for reinforcing my point.
Did I? wouldn’t that have made August the peak? or since not a lot happens in the summer, spring 2015?
Are you guys really going to do the whole: “The peak was August 25 3:43pm. No, you’re crazy, the peak was clearly August 25 3:47pm! No you lunatic, 3:43pm was the peak, i bet you live in your mother’s basement in pleasonton” thing?
is that a thing? ha ha ha. good one either way. no, not my intent. I was wondering how I made Stop Driving’s point is all.
Yes indeed, agents and brokers are entitled to every penny they earn. In fact, they should increase their commissions. Such devotion, education, specialized knowledge, charm, face lifts, expensive cars, not to mention good taste (as proved by ‘staging’) should entitle them to income equivalent to CEOs, not poor middle class doctors and lawyers. Of course they earn exactly what the market allows and always will.
That sounds depressingly vapid and shallow. I certainly hope my children expect more from their professions.
Highflyer: That might be the dumbest comment I’ve heard on this site to date. Certainly you’re a real estate agent yourself since there is no education requirement.
Sure, the top agents in SF (think Gregg Lynn, Nina Hatvany, Barbara Callan) make some serious bank, but they’re very much the exception, not the rule. Most agents probably average about $60K-$80K annually and many drop out after their first year or two. I know it must look incredibly easy, but unless you’ve done itself and succeeded, you’ve really no place to say how “easy” it is.
Fischum, you’re the only one here who has used the term ‘easy.’ You’re arguing with yourself. No doubt a worthy opponent. BTW, you can’t mention the SFRE All-Stars and omit MaryLou Castellanos. She’s legendary!
Hard to make a living in an easy job.
The truth in this aphorism is that any job that anyone can do is bound to be beset by competition which drives down the wages. Same problem, though at a different level, with the app economy. Once tools make it so easy for nearly any college grad to make a phone app, it drives the average value of a phone app down to almost nothing.
legit question: more licensed RE agents or licensed dogs in the City?
Well my dog has a real estate license, so any numbers you get might be skewed.
UPDATE: The sale of 2620 Buchanan has closed escrow with a reported contact price of $4.7 million.