Designed by Frederick Herman Meyer and finished in 1913, the Belgravia at 795 Sutter Street is a classic 18-unit building.
Purchased for $1.5 million in May of 2016, unit #301 measures roughly 2,000 square feet and features a proportionate 9-foot ceiling, beautifully maintained finishes and a three-bedroom, two-bath layout with a formal, yet open, dining room to boot.
The unit’s kitchen and baths have since been remodeled.
And having returned to the market priced at $1,759,000 this past March, a sale at which would have represented total appreciation of 17.3 percent for the classic condo since the second quarter of 2016, not accounting for the costs of the aforementioned remodeling, the resale of 795 Sutter Street #301 has just closed escrow with a contract price of $1,341,600, down 10.6 percent since the second quarter of 2016 (not accounting for the costs of the aforementioned remodeling).
And yes, the HOA dues are relatively high for an older condo building ($1,222 per month) but fund an onsite building manager, a storage room in the basement and the use of a separate apartment in the building for guests.
Not every building has its blueprints – well some of them, anyway – online!
Excellent find!
Those were the days!
That upturned corner of the living room rug is bothering more than it probably should.
Curious where one would put a television other than the master bedroom. I suppose in the living room, but behind a movable panel or something so that the space can still function as a formal public space? A common issue with pre-war units of this size, I suppose.
Generally pretty nice, though I wouldn’t stomach those monthly dues for this. The guest apartment idea is interesting, but if it serves the whole building, no guarantee you’ll have it for your guests.
Various tv makers, such as Samsung sell high-end flush wall mounted flat tv’s that have “invisible” clear ultra-thin wire connections and various high-end frame finishes so they appear to be hung paintings. You can even select to have works of art displayed when the tv is not in use. So, you can hang your tv without it detracting from the public space. Alternatively, you can pay to install a custom cover panel that hides the tv when it is not in use.
What floor is this on? I didn’t notice any views.
Is that a dumbwaiter behind the breakfast table?
I would rather have the HOA sell the guest unit and lower the monthly fee.
if going by usual convention, the unit # is indicative of the floor.
Having toured the unit:
– The views are of a wall and a neighboring barbed wire fence.
– Yes, that’s a dumbwaiter.
Thanks, Wanda P. Is the dumbwaiter still functional? What is it used for?
>I would rather have the HOA sell the guest unit and lower the monthly fee.
It’s not clear how that would happen — opportunity cost doesn’t actually go into HOAs, so if they sell the unit and disburse the proceeds to the existing 18 owners, then why would the HOA be lower? Electricity bills for the unit wouldn’t need to be paid by the 18 owners? How much would that save?
The HOA is high because you have 18 owners paying for an onsite manager and to first order, the reduction in HOA from selling the unit would be that now it is 19 people paying for an onsite manager, for a monthly savings of 70 bucks. Stuff like “there is a package room” may make the HOA more palatable but doesn’t in and of itself account for the high HOA, because upkeep for the package room isn’t driving the costs here.
You’ve never been in an HOA. They must have reserves to pay for the expected and unexpected. Monthly dues can be high if they’re trying to build a a big reserve or avoid a special assessment. If you suddenly get a chunk of change, the dues could be lowered.
This is wishful thinking. It’s an old building that is expensive to maintain and needs to support onsite maintenance with only a few units paying for it all. The last a unit from this building was on the market, the HOA was also astronomical. Converting the guest area will add one more unit and that would be the only impact on the HOA — there is no lowering of the HOA in the future of this building nor is the guest unit the reason why the HOA is so high.
LOVE this building!! I’ve toured the entire interior and exterior as a building inspector years ago.
The person who sold it in 2016 enjoyed 10% CAGR over 22 years, though.
109 cornwall street just sold for $1.775M. 70% appreciate over the $1.08M in Dec 2014
I mentioned a few week ago on a another thread, which I cant find. there was a kitchen remodel and painting, but cant imagine over $80K spent on updating
while i do realize the prices have stabilized and some dropped, this is a different example. Inner richmond (especially east of 8th) is very hot right now as people flock away from the homeless nightmare in other areas, and our days of fog in the summer are now less than 20.
As we noted two weeks ago: “The resale of 109 Cornwall has closed escrow with a contract price of $1.775 million. But in addition to the aforementioned work, keep in mind that the now three-bedroom home was relisted with an additional 400 square feet of space (now 1,770 in total) for a resale price of $1,003 per square foot.”
I spoke with the listing agent and confirmed there was no addition. She told me the sq footage was previously miscalculated. there is no way they put more than $80K in their remodel. i saw it before and after. I realize this price increase may be an anomaly, and maybe the previous owners got a steal, or maybe new owners overpaid, but it is worth noting here. the open houses were flooded with people.
another big sale half block away earlier this year was a 3bdroom condo at 210 2nd Ave for $1.85M. it is not an apple sale, but the unit above it (208 2nd ave) sold for $855K in 2013.
the neighborhood is hot
Or perhaps the additional square footage was captured by way of the new stairwell between the home’s two floors, along with a bit of first floor remodeling (“create office/entry closet/laundry area at previous rec room”) as well.
But you are correct, $610 per effective square foot (if you’re sticking with the 1,770 number) would have been rather cheap for a single-family home at the end of 2014.
And once again, if improvements were simply valued based on out of pocket costs, neither flipping nor development would ever yield any returns.
I walked through it both times. The stairs were there. No new wall construction
Which is weird, because the permit for said work was issued in 2018, the steel work appears to have been inspected that July, the framing was inspected that October, and the final inspection was completed and approved last month.
Purchased for $1.500 million in June of 2018 and listed for $1.549 million this past April, unit #103 in the Belgravia has just resold for $1.449 million having traded for $1.450 million in the second quarter of 2016 following a “down to the studs designer remodel.”