Acquired for $12 million by way of a forced bankruptcy sale in 2016 and then “dazzingly re-imagined for the 21st Century” to serve as the Decorator Showcase in 2019, the 18,000-square-foot Presidio Heights mansion at 3800 Washington Street, which was modeled after Le Petit Trianon in Versailles France, has quietly traded hands.
Listed for $30 million when showcased, 3800 Washington was re-listed for $23.8 million in November of 2019, reduced to $21.8 million in January of 2020, reduced to $20.8 million in June of 2020 and then re-listed for $17.3 million two months ago.
And while the listing for 3800 Washington has been removed from the MLS without a reported sale or price, a plugged-in tipster reports that the mansion has quietly traded hands and a transfer tax of $695,750 was paid, which translates to a hush-hush sale price of $12.65 million.
“Reimagined” is real estate speak for destroyed.
Would you prefer they take out a full page ad in the Chronicle or something?
The quietness is the point here. Real estate agents trumpet gains in their advertising, even boasting the “over asking!!” (yet under last sale) non-gains. But missed expectations like this are quietly glossed over. This helps fortify the perception that the RE market is an all-win, no lose bet.
Not really sure a home like this is a representation of the “RE market” with the exception of high end luxury properties.
$30 million or $12.5 million homes are not the norm and they are only in reach for the tiniest fraction of a fraction of very wealthy people. Very few real estate agents market ultra-expensive homes and there are very few buyers for them. This is an interesting tidbit of real estate p*rn, but it is not relevant to most people’s experience with buying or selling a home in the Bay Area or anywhere else.
This type of ultra-luxury, super-expensive home doesn’t say much of anything about the rest of the real estate market. Hardly any real estate agents sell super-expensive homes like this one, even in SF, and there are very few buyers that can afford them, period. So, the “quietness” or “loudness” of the sale is irrelevant to most sellers or buyers.
First take: somebody got a deal.
Second take: what’s the catch?
It’s on the UMB lsit
Maybe I’m searching the wrong database, but I don’t see it.
Or that was a joke that went right over my head.
In my experience the Decorator Showcase houses are a train wreck. You have a dozen designers who all want to show off their style / make a statement. So what you end up with is (1) completely over the top and not something anyone would want to actually live in, and (2) totally disjointed from room to room … if you love one room, I can almost guarantee you’ll hate the next one.
Looking through the gallery on this page: whitewashed neoclassic; mid-century modern revival; more mid-century revival; ersatz White House Palm Room.
At least there’s one consistent element: mirrors installed in pairs.
A nod to Delbert Grady’s twin daughters. /s
Nothing wrong with the location.
I liked it better when it was a high-end hacker hostel
transfer taxes are 5.5% of sales price?
Yes, above $10M. They’ll pay 695,750 in transfer taxes, and they paid about a million in property taxes. With realtor fees they probably lost $1.5M.
$12M in an S&P fund in 2016 would be worth $26M today. Instead they are left with $10.5M. Down $15.5M. Hope they had many happy memories here in place of the $15.5M in vacations they could have taken.
You’re looking at a good 2-3 million in redecorating here to give it a cohesive look.
It was dated in 2016. If they manage to keep even a quarter of the decorator finishes it will still cost less to renovate than [it would have] before to the showcasing.
Isn’t that Danielle Steele’s house?
No. That’s by Lafayette Park.
Bummer. Was a nice place to skateboard. A paper “breakeven”, before taxes, remodeling $$$ , and probably interest, not to mention the opportunity cost of not being invested in a better performing and perfectly liquid asset class like the public equity market. Several million probably lost on this one. Sidebar: we do realize that this site heavily favors reporting the poor outcomes rather that the good outcomes, and intuition tells me the good outcomes around here have far exceeded the poor ones during the course of this site’s lifetime. Now with a 40 year interest rate tailwind disappearing, the poor outcomes could > the good ones for an extended time.
Did they spin off the maids quarters/guesthouse that was being squatted in? If So, I’m not sure the sales price is apples-to-apples…
As previously outlined and linked above: “The bankruptcy sale [of the property back in 2016] included the adjacent 2,600-square-foot guesthouse at 3810 Washington and the undeveloped garden lot behind the mansion fronting Maple Street, as it did when Minor, who co-founded CNET and is currently the CEO of a bitcoin venture, purchased the property in 2007, but the three parcels were sold to different entities and the mansion fetched $12 million by itself.”
it seems like a few commenters above missed that detail
Thanks!