Liberty Hill Cottage Fetches Over $3K Per Square Foot!
October 16, 2018
The two-bedroom, 870-square-foot cottage at 835 Sanchez Street, which sits on a 2,200-square-foot parcel with big views atop Liberty Hill, has just sold for $2.725 million. That’s $3,132 per square foot!
But as is the case with almost every breathless report about the “insane!” price of a fire damaged, dilapidated or substandard shack in San Francisco or to its south, the purchase price was based on the lot value and development potential of the site, not the existing structure itself.
And in fact, plans to raze the existing cottage and develop a modern 3,936-square-foot, four-level home designed by Dumican Mosey have already been drawn and both the project and permits have already been approved, as rendered below but subject to change.
We’ll also note that the parcel and approved plans, which have been in the works since 2016 when the parcel was secured for $1.9 million, had actually been priced at $2.995 million in June.
Comments from Plugged-In Readers
Comments are closed.
“why can we no longer have cute cottages in San Francisco” Pt II
Indeed, more heavily barricaded, psuedo-modern amenity boxes for the One Percent. I miss funky old San Francisco. RIP. I am sure that this is what they will do with my house once I decide I’ve had enough and get out of Dodge.
Oh get over it… it’s beautiful and represents the 21st century.
if you want a sterile office meeting room for a dining area……
Or a fertility clinic waiting room.
The SF version of the 21st century. People in other places are building more interesting things….
it feels warmer once filled with family and friends.
One hopes the buyer can afford both this and those.
Thank you Stanley.
Hah, Welcome to the beautiful 21rst century – as we head into the last quarter of 2020, it’s still sitting there, with vines growing over the windows. Something will eventually get built there, but I sure hope it isn’t that ugly, poorly proportioned box of 21rst century beauty…..
That’s quite a house next door.
Almost qualifies as a compound.
That interior design aesthetic is growing increasingly boring.
“Increasingly”? It was boring from the beginning.
Indeed. It was DOA in my opinion. About as useless as an open office plan (which has been found to be less than ideal).
@StopDriving: That ‘house next door’ sold for $9,995,000 in March 2018. That’s just the garage/guesthouse you’re looking at.
Apartments are banned in Liberty Hill, but four-level SFHs, no problem. This is what climate denial looks like.
Oh but it’ll be LEED Platinum Certified !!! Uses only as many resources as a four family apartment house (as opposed to, say, a six-family one)
amazing the trend of living in hotel lobbies…
I went to a party at this house abut twenty years ago when a friend and his wife were renting it. Was a neat little house back then. At least us unimproved ’90s hayseeds thought so.
That facade doesn’t send me, will they have 30 caliber machine guns in the gun turret on top?
I’m think particle beam weapons, myself.
I actually don’t mind it. It’s not a concrete box.
This seems more than a little overboard from the Editor. $2.725 million dirt value for a small lot might not be unprecedented but is still fairly insane.
The sub $2 million lot value sale occurred back in 2016. The sale price today reflected the lot value plus the value of the approved and permitted plans and the time value of the two years it took to entitle the project.
But again, this shack just sold for over $3K per square foot! Or $2.725 million for the dirt! (Ignoring the value of the approved and permitted plans and the time value of the two years it took to entitle the project.)
800K for plans? Not generally. They have value of course. But 800? I don’t see that sort of markup. Not on this side of town.
That said, they likely got the price they did because of the several very high price sales in D5 that were not really happening during the 20-teens. There was a sort of arbitrary ceiling at ~5M for Noe Valley and surrounding for a few years, there. It’s no longer the case in the current market.
That’s odd. There have actually been fewer sales above the $5 million mark in Noe Valley and the surrounding area over the past two years than there were prior, at least according to actual sales records versus one’s recollection.
And once again, the added value wasn’t simply “plans” but the entitlement and approved permits, both building and demolition, as well.
Read what I wrote again. You’re not responding to what was written, there, and you’re being snarky while doing so.
“800K for plans? Not generally. They have value of course. But 800? I don’t see that sort of markup. Not on this side of town.”
[T]he added value wasn’t simply “plans” but the entitlement and approved permits, both building and demolition, as well.
“There was a sort of arbitrary ceiling at ~5M for Noe Valley and surrounding for a few years, there. It’s no longer the case in the current market.”
There have actually been fewer sales above the $5 million mark in Noe Valley and the surrounding area over the past two years than there were prior, at least according to actual sales records versus one’s recollection.
Yes of course plain old “plans” without entitlements aren’t worth much generally.
You say years prior. That was not the point. The point was that there was a lull in 5M and up Noe and surrounding sales, beginning late 2015 and lasting throughout 2016 with only an exception or two. That market has come back in the past year, year and a half.
So I went back and reread what I’d wrote. I should have said “mid-teens.”
But this whole thing is a strawman post anyway. Nobody touted the dollar per foot count here. It was always about the lot and the entitled permits. But there you are, criticizing language of your own invention as a lede, and then criticizing others’ language. heh.
Those who have lived in Noe for a long time will probably agree that when a significant local tech unicorn IPO is on the horizon (e.g. FB in 2012), local banks (led by FRB) will float low cost mortgages allowing a pledge of equity as a proxy for downpayment so even mid-level execs can start buying before the actual IPO event or lockup period expires…with a noticeable effect on local SFR interest and activity. Barring a significant tech market collapse, 2019 will probably see Uber ($120b?), Airbnb ($40b?), Palantir ($40b?), Stripe ($30b?), Lyft ($20b?), Pinterest ($15b?). Could be an interesting year ahead…
Meanwhile, with Apple ($1T), Google ($765B), Facebook ($445B) and Salesforce ($106B) still trading near their all-time highs, the actual sales volume of homes in San Francisco recently dropped to a 7-year low while inventory has climbed to a 7-year high and price cuts are on the rise.
Maybe double up on some of those question marks.
inside looks nice, outside looks like Woody Allen vision of houses in the future.
insert giant tomato
Does it come with an orgasmatron?
Yes, and a mega-vegetable garden in back, with 8-foot long bananas and tomatoes 3 feet across.
This is near the top of Noe Hill (just 1/2 or so block away). Liberty Hill is a registered historic district.