Built on Alameda’s Gold Coast back in 1903, the year after a new shipping canal turned the former East Bay peninsula into an island, the 4,700-sqaure-foot home at 1405 San Antonio Avenue sold for $2 million in October of 2015 having been well kept by the same family for five generations.
Since seismically upgraded, expanded to 6,465 square feet of finished space, and renovated with high-end finishes, while maintaining its ethos and warmth, throughout, the home returned to the market priced at $3.4 million in October of last year.
Reduced to $3.2 million after two weeks on the market, to $3.0 million in mid-November and then to $2.9 million at the beginning of this year, the sale of 1405 San Antonio Avenue has just closed escrow with a contract price of $2.75 million or roughly $409 per remodeled square foot.
But having been re-listed for “$2.695 million” as of this morning, the sale will be considered to be “over asking,” and with only “1 day on the market,” according to all industry stats and aggregate reports.
And while today’s sale price is nearly 40 percent ($750K) more than the sellers paid for the property back in the fourth quarter of 2015, that’s not accounting for the additional investment to expand and improve the property, an additional investment which totaled over $1.5 million according to the seller and listing agent’s copy.
Brutal
Ah yes, realtor copy, the benchmark of financial accuracy.
I can’t help but wonder if this was a contactor and the $1.5MM in upgrades was what he would have charged versus what was actually spent. It seems odd that someone would buy this building for $2MM, spend another $1.5MM, and then promptly list it for $3.4MM.
Nice looking house by the way.
One doesn’t often hear about seismic upgrades for SFR’s – unless they’re some unusual construction that draws attention to itself – but older houses like this, with cripple walls and (presumably) something other than plywood sheathing, have certain definite vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, upgrades aren’t very visible, and offer a benefit only in the event of disaster – unlike a kitchen remodel – so the extra money spent might not help the selling price much…stories like this don’t help, not that much of that $1.5 M was the engineering work, I imagine.
Of course, the kitchen was completely remodeled as well. And a new foundation enabled the expansion from 4,700 to 6,500 square feet of finished space.
1800sqft*$400/psft = $720K
Kitchen = $60K
Foundation = $100K
Probably closer to $880K. Which, added to the $2M purchase price, explains the original $3.4M list price. They still lost money, after suffering through a kitchen remodel. That had to hurt.
I think that declining marginal utility of square footage in excess of 4,000 sqft in this location was part of the challenge for the seller. Really a wonderful and beautiful home now even if it might be “overbuilt” for Alameda.