Purchased for $2,132,111 in December of 2017, the “luxe” two-bedroom, two-bath unit #25A in the Lumina tower at 201 Folsom Street, with “wrap-around floor-to-ceiling windows” and “awe-inspiring panoramic views,” returned to the market priced $2.5 million in August of 2018.
Re-listed for $2,488,000 early last year, around the time the “wave of millionaires” misanalysis was making the rounds, the list price for the 1,368-square-foot unit was subsequently reduced to $2,418,000, to $2,268,000 and then to $2,199,000 before being withdrawn from the MLS in December.
Briefly listed for rent at $7,000 this past April, the “spectacular” unit was listed anew for $2,058,000 in May, re-listed for $2,049,000 in July and then reduced to $1,949,000.
And the sale of 201 Folsom Street #25A has now closed escrow with a reported contract price of $1,900,000, down 10.9 percent ($232,111) on an apples-to-apples versus “median price” or indexed basis versus the fourth quarter of 2017 and without a tenant in place.
Property tax + HOA were in excess of $3K. 3% loan on 80% of $2.132M (earning 0% on the down payment) would run about $5K per month just for the interest, so the $7K in rent that they tried, but couldn’t get wasn’t even going to cover their costs.
Assuming the place is worth $6500/month in rent (it didn’t get $7K), the price will have to fall to $1.5M (a drop of $400,000, or 4/19: or 21%) before investors would wade back in to break even on the rent and hope for appreciation.
Obviously, this buyer was not an investor and bid higher, so prices don’t have to fall to that level, but it tells me prices are still falling. And note, the number of weekly listings to number of weekly sales increased to 3:1 yesterday, the highest it’s been by quite a bit. It’s been bouncing around 2 – 2.5:1. This still has a ways to run.
There were issues with the TTC area before the pandemic which have only been exacerbated. The TTC was supposed to be a 24/7 “hub” with shops, restaurants, museums and of course Hi-Speed rail. Well Hi-Speed rail will never come to the “box” and it’s possible CalTran won’t either. Many storefronts were not rented out and, on weekends, the TTC area was pretty much a wasteland. The next shoe to drop could well be tech companies vacating some of the space they occupy in the area. Add Covid and why would anyone choose too live in the area? In terms of investors as tipster says the price on this unit would have to drop significantly more to make it attractive to investors. The caveat there is that too many investors were willing to break even on the assumption of double digit appreciation. Those days at over for a long time in SF.
I’ve been in the area a handful of times since the lockdown, and the homeless situation has gotten a lot worse. It’s still not LA Skid Row bad, but there are several blocks that are lined with tents. I don’t see the situation improving anytime soon.
“Floor to ceiling windows” should actually go floor to ceiling, not two feet from floor to ceiling as this condo’s windows are.
In another 12 months, this unit would be worth $1.7M
Should the seller’s real estate agent be ashamed by this textbook example of chasing the market down? If he or she had set a reasonable price in Aug of 2018, say $2.3 million, it likely would have sold then, and the seller would have moved on and put it out of their mind by March of 2020.
Now, no one was predicting the new coronavirus last year, but they had multiple re-pricings in 2019, what were they thinking, that a few of the newly minted JUUL, Uber and Lyft millionaires were being overly picky and would eventually settle for what they could get?
The last time the editor posted on a unit in this building I noted that unit 16H was for sale as well. Been on the market for a month. Original asking price: $1.15 million. Current asking: $1.069 million.
While not evident on the MLS, the one-bedroom unit #16H was purchased for $1.2 million in July of 2016. And it has actually been on the market for 51 days.
The list price for 201 Folsom Street #16H has just been further reduced to $1.039 million, a sale at which would now be “at asking” but 13.4 percent below the units sale/purchase price in 2016.
there are some nice 2/2’s at the “infinity” going for 1.5M or so, why not buy one of those instead and save at least 400k.