Priced by the sales office at $1.25 million in January of 2017, the sale of the one-bedroom unit #18D within the new Lumina tower at 201 Folsom Street closed escrow with a contract price of $1.235 million that March.

This past August, the 876-square-foot unit returned to the market priced at $1.249 million, listed as “rarely available” yet “almost new.”

And having been reduced to $1.199 million in November, the list price for 201 Folsom Street #18D has just been reduced to $1.099 million, a sale at which would represent actual depreciation of 11 percent for the Transbay unit on an apples-to-apples, versus “median price,” basis since the first quarter of 2017.

25 thoughts on “Price Cuts for ‘Rarely Available,’ yet Almost New, One-Bedroom”
  1. 1 million for a 1 bedroom!! That’s about $1,000 a month in non deductible property taxes alone! Add non deductible HOA dues of about $600 (guess) to get $1600 before Principal or Interest. this sounds more like LUNACY, not LUMINA.

    1. you underestimate property taxes, and way way underestimate HOA at this building. i don’t know the exact number for either but they are certainly higher than that.

      1. For the property taxes, he said “non-deductible”. $10,000 per year or $833 per month would be deductible. So that’s a total of $22,000 per year in property taxes he’s estimating. Would you still call it low? I wouldn’t know without doing some research because I’ve owned my place for 37 years and Prop. 13 saves my bacon. I do agree the HOA estimate is probably low. Mine’s over $1000/month now for a 2/2 in a different full service building.

        1. my take is he just took a rough estimation of what the total property tax would be (but which i picked on and said was too low) and assumed all of it to be non-deductible, which is most likely correct if the buyer is someone who already pays more than 10K in state income tax, which they probably do.

        2. No, $10,000 is NOT deductible, ZERO is deductible. Anyone who buys this will already have $10,000 in state income taxes that will eat up the entire $10,000 limit. The property taxes give you no additional deduction. The deduction for property taxes in the State of California is ZERO.

    1. And Lumina may be new enough they are still artificially low (as developers always set them) although that amount does sound about right.

  2. AT 4% interest, if it sells for $1M, they’ll be paying $32K/yr on the loan, plus you’ll forgo 2.5% on the 200K down, for another $5K, $37K total or $3K per month. Now add $1K for property tax and $1K for HOA and you’ll be paying $5K to live in a place you can rent for a little less than that.

    A 5/1 will run 3.4%, which knocks $400/mo off the payment. That could be a very stupid move, given that interest rates are historically low and the Federal Reserve is chomping at the bit to increase them. But that would make a $1M purchase price about rental parity, assuming it doesn’t fall further. I’m guessing it sells for about this price.

    If it sells for $1M, it means it only cost them about $350,000 to live in a one bedroom apartment for a year. Hope they made some happy memories.

  3. If you guys think the general costs are high, you should check out the new buildings like Mira:

    1 bedroom HOAs are $1100, (valet parking etc.) and, now there is an additional CFD tax on all the new buildings/units in the downtown core. it’s an additional $8/sq foot per month. On an 792 sq ft new unit, it’s around $6336 a year. PLUS the regular property tax.

    So new building minimum pricing for a 1 bedroom will be:

    $1100 HOA
    $1100 Property tax. (1.14%)
    $528 CFD Tax

    You’re running $2728/mnth in just taxes/HOA, before paying into ANY mortgage. That is ridiculous. Go rent.

    What will be additional interesting is the comparison between Lumina and Mira in the long run. They’re literally across the street from each other but one has an additional tax and only 2-3 years difference in being “new”. I actually foresee Lumina doing better in the long term. They’re only 2-3 years apart, and this will mean nothing in 20 years. Both will rent for the same pricing – renters won’t care but Mira has higher running costs.

    1. Stay away from condos with additional CFB tax loads that will use a total of 44% of the funding for subsidized housing exclusively benefiting people who did nothing to deserve it. Why should you work like a dog and pay through the the nose to fund cheap housing for big brothers lottery winning sweepstakes ? The gravy train for entitled grifters is running full steam ahead in San Francisco. I would refuse to be shaken down for this graft, on pure principal. Exclusive private luxury housing is not a “community” benefit. It’ is a PERSONAL benefit.

  4. What is the large “HP” square notch in the bedroom shown on the floor plan? This does not look like a closet and I am unfamiliar with this floor plan abbreviation.

    1. It appears there are a number of options.

      I would narrow my choices down to two:
      – High Pressure (I believe that would be a wet standpipe for firefighting)
      – Heat Pump

      Given the lack of any other HVAC showing on the plan, and the fact that such appears in every floor plan – often independent of the bedroom – the latter would be my choice.

        1. The large heat pump mechanical enclosure seems like an awkward use of space in the bedroom. Thanks to everyone for the explanation of the abbreviation.

          1. I won’t dispute that, but, as I noted, they’re placed differently in other units – one in a living room..which seems a lot more awkward ! ..wonder if the differing placements affect the market value (?)

  5. One friend with a pretty typical bay area house just spent $50k on a new roof and $100k on reinforcing the foundation. It makes this $1,060 HOA seem dirt cheap in comparison, especially when it includes maintenance, utilities, security, shipping/recieving, gym, movie room, party room, etc.

    1. 50k on a new roof which will last 20 years, is about 2.5 k a year, which is $200 per month. $100k on the foundation is a one time cost. Not even close. These HOA dues are absurdly high because of the wages of 24 hr doormen, elevators (expensive union contracts for repair), parking lifts if any, repair of garage doors, and building insurance.

  6. I chose a computer science job in San Diego over the Bay Area mostly because of this lunacy housing situation (and also the better weather). I love SF but it’s just not worth these prices. I look forward to visiting in the future though.

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