As plugged-in people know, the infamous Gurbaksh Chahal (a.k.a. “G”) has been trying to unload his 3,355-square-foot penthouse unit #37B atop the Infinity at 301 Main Street for nearly a year and was originally asking an unlisted $12 million for the pad.
Quietly listed for $8.8 million four months later, an effective 27 percent reduction, the listing was withdrawn from the MLS in October without a reported sale.
And this morning, 301 Main Street #37B was listed anew with an official “1” day on the market and an “original” asking price of $7.995 million, but an effective reduction of $4 million from its asking price of ten months ago.
The penthouse was purchased by “G” as new for $6.925 million in early 2008 and another million was subsequently invested in upgrading the condo, which included a reported $250,000 in marble flooring alone.
Still no word on where Chahal and his monogrammed headboard are headed, or if he has already landed, but having been sued by the Infinity’s Homeowners Association and run afoul of the law for assaulting a girlfriend in the condo’s master bedroom, G’s departure isn’t likely to garner too many tears from other residents in the building unless he records a loss on the sale.
UPDATE (10/25): With the master bedroom having been repainted in muted colors and stripped of the monogrammed “G” bed, and the pendant lights in the living room which plugged-in readers couldn’t understand and signature “G” spot rug since removed and replaced, G’s penthouse unit has just been relisted anew for $12 million.
That’s a lotta ceiling.
These tower units always seem so cold and unappealing to me. Don’t know what it is.
Was this over-priced to begin with?
Then again, since 2008 a gain of “just” 1.070 million? That does not sound right.
That $250k of marble probably lowered the value. That living room looks like a bathroom.
I don’t think the marble makes much difference one way or another, and anyone with money to buy the place can afford to put in new flooring.
What probably would lower the value (in that it may turn away otherwise eager buyers) is the gaudy wallpaper and cheap furniture. However, I would assume the owner paid for staging to have the place white-washed into the typical bland for-sale unit.
The place is still listing for $1 million over its original purchase price just 8 years ago, and even factoring in the cost of whatever the guy put into remodeling, it is still an extraordinary profit to make on a condo in just 8 years.
He put in another $1 million above the purchase price, so now he’s at breakeven before transfer costs, so really looking at a significant loss.
For some perspective if the money was put in an index fund in the stock market it would be worth about $9-10 million now.
and that doesn’t include the money invested after the purchase.
I guess I missed reading just how much he squandered on the gaudy renovation.
That said, real estate is not (or at least it is not supposed to be) anything like the stock market. People who want to make big bucks take on a significantly higher amount of risk investing in stocks, as opposed to real estate (at least if they are smart about their real estate investments). Aside from bubble investments, which end badly for the all but the lucky few, real estate is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Real estate generally has less risks, and therefore, less of return.
Also, he did not buy the property as an investment property. He bought it as his principal place of residence. When you by a property as your residence, turning a huge profit should be near the bottom of the list of your considerations–about break-even or maybe a small profit is about right, and what many people across the country end up getting. The primary purpose of a home is to provide a roof over one’s head–no matter how much you spend on it.
And from an investment perspective, buying an expensive property, at the height of the market, in an expensive neighborhood (meaning there is not much room for appreciation) is almost never going to reap you a big profit when you sell later.
Good taste costs no less.
How much for the wine chalice?
Does it come with an exorcism?
This place makes me want to assault myself.
whoever buys this palace of Chali G should strip it to the studs, so to speak.
This place makes me want to jump off the balcony. That said, it could be very stunning with a major renovation.
Someone did jump off the balcony of 301 Main 30A during an open house about one year ago. The property still sold! Wonder if the new buyers knew about that??
Yikes! I hate balconies. Not that I would want to jump off one, but I dislike them as I have a fear of heights. Would never use it.
Is that, uhhhhhh, wallpaper in the last picture?
That bedroom looks like a french bordello.
That’s not a very nice thing to say about a bordello.
Well, if Asians passed on the 8.8M lucky price tag that is not good news. That should have been automatic…. 😉
Maybe he went in the wrong direction, should have listed it for $8,888,888.88 instead.
I’m sure his parents are very proud.
I’m sure his parents own a marble quarry.
I hope it comes with a large supply of bleach to wipe the blood off the marble floor from where he beat his girlfriend 117 times within a 30 minute span.
Even Kelly Wearstler is like gurl too much.
Can this possibly be worth more than $2.5?
An assault on the eyes. If his people read this website, what buyers want are warmer rooms, lighter wood floors, the wallpaper is awful. The rooms are awful. The kitchen is sterile and ugly.
He’s going to have to go lower in price to unload this white elephant.
He is still asking about $1 million over what he paid for it, and even if he sunk $300K or so into the unit (for the marble and other touches), that is still an absolutely huge increase in just 8 years, and it was bought at the height of the last housing bubble.
I assume he can pay to have it staged and given the usual white-washed look. But, I think what people aren’t getting is that it is not normal for a rather new unit in an already well-established neighborhood to appreciate that much in value, even in San Francisco.
If you want eye-popping returns, either try your luck in the stock market, or buy a flip property in a neighborhood that is just on the cusp of a turn-around, or find an under-valued property in an already established neighborhood that needs some TLC. Buying an expensive unit in an expensive neighborhood at the height of a bubble, is just not going to get you a huge return, even 8 years later.
Keep in mind that closer to $1 million was spent to remodel the unit. And even if you discount that entire amount, a million dollar increase on a seven million dollar property over eight years is an absolutely huge increase of 1.7 percent per year (which is roughly a third the long-term average appreciation for San Francisco).
There’s no accounting for this person’s taste even with the $1m remodel!
As I mentioned earlier, I missed he spent that much renovating the property.
Yes, the return now seems about right. As I said in my comment above (after I realized he had spent $1 million+), real estate is not the stock market (at least it shouldn’t be), and providing a roof over one’s head is the primary reason someone should purchase a principal place of residence.
Also, if you plan on living in a place for a while, then you should remodel a home to suit you, which may mean in some cases, simply not getting back everything (or even most) of what you put into the place. If this is what he liked, as tacky as it may be, then good for him. Hopefully, he enjoyed it while he lived there. He should now take what the market is willing to pay, and move on gracefully.
Yeah, this is part of the myth that gets sold. On the surface it appears that “Wow, he made $700,000!!!! That is a huge increase!”
Then you figure in: $1 million remodel, $550,000 selling costs and transfer tax; $650,000 property taxes, plus insurance, etc. And it turns out he walks away with about $1.5 million less than where he started (ignoring the opportunity costs of the $7 million he tied up). Really need to look at the complete picture.
How many ways can you say “hideous”?
At no point in time did any of this look good
Well, let’s see…… Say something nice….The clothes closet looks cozy….
If/when this place sells, he should be forced to donate the proceeds to organizations in SF that support battered women.
Maybe he’s selling because he got his latest invoice from Willy Brown?
Tacky penthouse
I think there are times when people should not make interior design choices without professional help, or even at all … and this Penthouse is exhibit A. The interior design is as low class as its owner.
G did have “professional help”. Check the archives. “Interior design by Vaso Peritos….”
Good God.
Why haven’t the stagers gotten rid of the wallpaper and red ceiling in the bedroom? Also, get as much carpeting as possible to cover the vast expanses of marble flooring. And replace all the light fixtures with simple ones. Put in simple, classic Knoll pieces and it would look much better. But there is no way he’s not going to take a huge loss.
At least take out that “G” spot rug in the living room and burn it.
I asked in another post how much the price goes up if it was owned by a celebrity like Chip Kelly. How much does the price go down if it was owned by a [person] like G?
UPDATE: The Infamous G’s Penthouse Delisted without a Reported Sale
UPDATE: G’s penthouse atop the Infinty tower at 301 Main Street has once again been listed anew for $7.995 million, and with an official “1” day on the market according to industry stats and reports.
UPDATE: With the master bedroom having been repainted in muted colors and stripped of the monogrammed “G” bed, and the pendant lights in the living room, which plugged-in readers couldn’t understand, and signature “G” spot rug since removed and replaced (see new photos at the end of the post above), G’s penthouse atop The Infinity has just been relisted anew for $12 million.