SocketSite™

All right, I'll be the first to start....

Basically no sales since before the public noticed the gathering credit crunch (back in late August)?

I guess the GOOG bus doesn't drive down on Van Ness? Not even a secretary or receptionist who wants a condo and is practically the only GOOG employee who can't buy in Noe Valley or Atherton?

They're also doing a promotion for current owners in contract to refer new buyers.

If I refer a friend, and they buy a condo at Symphony, then I get 6 months paid HOA, and they get 2,500 in free upgrades.

So if you want to buy at Symphony Towers, let me refer you!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! A new development didn't sell out months before people started moving in! $50 condos for everyone soon!

I think what we're seeing in a lot of new developments is a return to a more normal market. It's only been a few years now where you could pre-sell units before completion and with most typical developments, you can only really effectively sell the units fairly close to when they will be delivered. In the past, you would see a chunk of sales from pre-sales and then the project would sell a couple of units a month until they were done - and this is what is happening again. And yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a hiccup in sales after the credit turmoil of this summer.

I've purchased two units in different buildings when the market was pretty strong. Both buildings took over a year to sell all the units. So I don't know if this kind of factoid is that useful right now especially since there won't even be open houses this time of year for most homes.

We won't know more about the state of the market until we get through a few solid weeks of open houses....say by the end of January.

Van Ness is scary. It will take these units a while to move even with the nice layouts and prices. Meh.

these units are not even cheaper on a PSF basis than the new buildings in SOMA. the low end studios w/ parking are well over 400k, and the unit is right around 400 sq ft. the cheapest one bed was 540k and go over 700k for upper floors. i dont know how they got the reputation for being affordable.

This building has been pushing the studios that started in the 300Ks in their ads which is probably where the affordability angle came from. I agree that its well above market for that part of the city, considering its psf numbers for the 1bd and larger. That and the almost $400 HOA makes it more inline with the more "luxury" Soma Grand.

i visited the project twice and took the tour, and both times they acted so secretive about what's available that it turned me off. i ask what's available in terms of the studios, hoping i can see several of them and compare. all they said was "i think we have one available for 390k, w/o parking, i'll have to make sure which floor that was on", and ended the tour. at which point will they reveal to a potential buyer a complete list of what's available so he can make an informed decision??

I stayed away from SOMA because I wanted to be on bedrock. I love the Van Ness area and with the new buildings coming in I think the area has some of the best apprecation potential in SF. Plus, living in an established neighborhood where I can walk to places is high on my list.

Van Ness corridor is one of the few places the City is promoting enough residential density to have a positive impact in terms of new businesses (think bars, restaurants, etc.) In five years, the Polk corridor went from tranny central, to kind or hip. I'm sure in another 5 it will be significantly improved. It's actually turning into a new viable submarket.

the polk corridor is still tranny central.

Van Ness is a great location...walking convenience to at least 4 other neighborhoods. Couple that with the BRT project and this will expand quick access to the entire city. Look at the amount of building activity going on in the corridor. It is not SOMA...that is the point. It has a "feel" to it which actually is the essence of a neighborhood.

"great location...walking convenience to at least 4 other neighborhoods"

which neighborhoods? i tried to convince myself to buy here, but thought about the location. if i were walking out at night, of the 4 directions one can walk in, the only safer direction is to walk along van ness towards the marina direction. the other 3 directions lead you into downright scary neighborhoods just within 1 block.

SF is a city and there are dangerous pockets everywhere. I love Van Ness and being able to walk to the movie theater, farmer's market, hayes valley, theaters, etc. spanning three directions. As for the TL, the 4th direction, it is also one of my favorite places to go out. With bourbon and branch, swig, bambouda lounge... it continues to get better.

I have lived at Opera Plaza for 26 years. There is nothing scary around there and the transportation is great plus I can quickly walk to symphony, opera, city hall, Asian Art Museum, Main Library and BART/Muni Metro.

Jeez! People write stuff here than sounds like they all live on outer Broadway.