Purchased for $2,195,000 in November of 2017, the “impeccable” three-bedroom Bernal Heights home with “ultra-clean architectural lines and [a] floorplan that flows across 3 levels” at 29 Joy Street returned to the market priced at $2,680,000 in the third quarter of last year.
And according to all industry stats, and perhaps a future postcard or two, the property just sold for “$400,000 over asking!”
But as the list price for the property was changed to $2,500,000 in November, to $2,450,000 in February, to $2,298,000 in March and then to an articulated “starting bid” of $1,800,000 in May, the actual sale price for 29 Joy was $2,200,000, representing total appreciation of 0.2 percent ($5,000) since the fourth quarter of 2017 for the contemporary Bernal Heights home on an apples-to-apples basis.
Comments from Plugged-In Readers
Comments are closed.
that’s a lot of words to say it sold for the same price it did in nov 2017
I think the editor is merely observing that used-house salespeople use language that tries to obfuscate actual market conditions.
Editor has been making similar observations for over 10 years now.
and realtors have been doing the same thing for over ten years and it still fools some people.
I have literally never heard realtors brag about homes selling over asking. Currently, they just brag about how much they’ll kick back to me at close.
You have to be really dense to think that “sold over asking” means anything at all. It doesn’t.
Many agents encourage their clients to prices things too low — often below the price the seller is even willing to accept, which (IMO) is unethical — and so they generate a feeding frenzy of offers, all “above asking price.”
If people were setting the asking prices at what they actually thought market value is, and at a price they’d be happy to accept, then “above asking” would be meaningful. But in our market, nobody seems to do that any more. So “it sold above asking” just means you priced it below market.
Why is it unethical? A lower price will drive traffic and generate offers in a particular market. There’s nothing unethical about it at all.
Nice house, but this is an unpreposessing part of Bernal that isn’t walkable to anything.
Yet it sold for $2,195,000 in November of 2017.
And hasn’t increased in value since then, therefore demonstrating the maximum anyone is willing to pay for a nice house in an unappealing, car-dependent neighborhood.
I like it. It’s clean design is what 936 Noe Street aspired to be and couldn’t.
I’m ok with the galley kitchen. You can walk to the old Clam House! How much more SF can you get?
Not walkable to anything depends how fit you are willing to get.
If you actually enjoy walking, that area of Bernal is very nice indeed.
Plenty of very expensive homes that aren’t readily walkable to much.
Depends on how far you can walk. It’s only about 4 blocks to Bernal Hts Park and about 7 blocks to Precita Park (and cafe). Shopping yes, you will need a car. I’ve walked in that part of Bernal Hts occasionally – it’s the Bayshore Freeway right below that to me is a big noisy negative.
Cute look but that’s a kitchen that’s perfectly designed to unpack takeout.
So True. It looks like the standard one wall kitchen from a modern studio apartment with a island added. Yet the house is 2455 square feet.
id say the sellers did pretty well getting the same price as 2017 sales. I mean they of course lost money, but it couldve been much worse consider the poor location and the pandemic timing (on top of an already falling market)
Yes, it does make more sense to talk about selling prices than listing prices. Another case in point in this price range. 3124 Clay St condo was listed at $2 million and sold for $2.2 million (in contract in 6 days and closed 4 weeks later). 10% “over asking” which is irrelevant we all can agree. But it sold for $1,625,000 in August 2016. They redid a bathroom, so call it about a 33% gain in 4 years. Just a single anecdote, which is meaningless. Better to focus on case shiller or MLS statistics to get a better sense of the market as a whole.
Remodeling definitely helps increase the value of a property, beyond the cost of the job. And of course, you might have noted the kitchen and second bathroom upgrades for the Clay Street condo as well, along with a number of other improvements prior to its re-sale.
At least you’re not confusing the sale of two different units this time around!
‘Remodeling definitely helps increase the value of a property, beyond the cost of the job’
Do you have a source on that? Remodeling magazine’s estimates from surveys show lower values. I’m not an industry professional, but am curious about how the economics work.
At a guess, I’d think remodeling helps in cases where the buyer was planning on doing that remodel themselves; since it’s already done, they presumably save time (don’t have to wait X weeks for the remodel), which has a value. But that’s probably only true if there’s sufficient demand.
Redfin is letting them sweep over their tracks. None of the price drops show up. All you see is listed at 1.8 and sold at 2.2.
Also, this weird auction BS: “Luxury & Non-distressed Live Auction! Bidding to start from $1,800,000! Live Auction June 18, 2020 @ 12pm. No Buyer Premium. All Property, Seller Reports/Disclosures completed…All offers encouraged. Loan or cash! Easy process to register to bid. Online bidding and streaming available.”