SocketSite™

Ok, so my bf and I took a look at this building (conveniently located next door to Whole Foods where we were making groceries) and I have to say, wow, what an insult to our intelligence. These are adorable in the same way that an Ian Schrager hotel room is adorable. There is, simply, no room to breath, much less live. And the price per square foot rivals sea cliff. I felt so sorry for the desperate souls trying to rationalize the affordable price (the only thing about cubic that holds any appeal), and overheard one after another speaking the words "east bay" into a cell phone. One caveat -- if in the condo rules you can rent these out by the day, and/or form joint tenancy within one unit, then I could see several east/north/south bay couples pitching in to share a sleep over pad in SF, and rent it out to tourists on the side. Cubic is like one of those diamond rings that has lots of gilt surrounding a tenth of a karat.

This place looks deceptively huge! Picture 9 (same set used for each listing) is so optically distorted, it's unsportsmanlike.

These are the 300 sq foot ones, right? They should list the sq feet on the mls -- people will assume it's a misprint :)

These will be selling for $90k in about 3 years when the novelty wears off. I might even buy one as a shag pad. Ahem, "pied a terre" (sorry, its SF... I forgot).

I'm totally ignorant on this building, not having seen it or tracked it, but a few thoughts while I'm bored at work:

- If previous comments are correct, you're getting about 7 times the size of Scott Peterson's San Quentin cell for $269K.

- Given that this is about as entry-level as one can get in SF the buyers probably won't stay long.

- If you assume a conservative 5-year stay and zero appreciation it will cost about $14K to sell it or about $230/month amortized over the time you live there (of course you may be able to benefit from a net capital loss). So with HOA, you're effectively at $500/month before you even start paying a mortgage, taxes and insurance.

- Rough monthly mortgage interest cost after tax (assuming 6.5% mortgage, 33% tax rate, 20% down) is $781/month. Rough opportunity cost lost on your $54K down payment (assuming 2.5% yield, 33 tax rate) is $75/month.

- After-tax property tax cost of $165/month.

OK, I'm up to a conservative $1521 a month in after-tax, pissed-away, rent-equivalent not including insurance, maintenance, and repairs.

Why not skip the risk and rent a hotel room-size home?

You think that's small? Take a look at the "net rooms" in Japan.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/no-hiding-place-for-homeless/2008/08/29/1219516735792.html

I heard a rumor they were having a difficult time selling.

wow. what a quaint living room.

I can't wait to see the dining room and master bedroom!

There's always a market for "new condo smell". Where else can you buy new condo smell for so little ? Good luck on the resale though.

Their craigslist advertisement says Studios from $249.

Watch out below!

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/reb/841751350.html

The article picture is so misleading - that's the ENTIRE unit! Isn't something missing, like say, a bed?? I wonder if they have sold even one unit.

I find $2 million condos offensive. Nobody can afford condos anymore, so why do we keep building them? Developer's wishful thinking? We need more cheap housing like this. It is what it is, SFers have gotten too used to large suburban style units, and now that that market is tanking, tanking, tanking faster than the Titanic, it's good to see diversity in the housing market. I'm sure that out of 1 million SFers they will find 98 who will live here.

They are overpriced, but not that badly. The location is prime, so a more reasonable minimum would be around $500 per square foot which would come to about $110,000.

The prices vary because the plans vary quite a bit. The units at the inside corners have a strange shape and seem to have less access to air and light. Those probably have, or will get, the "starting at" prices.

It is good to have different options for different people. There is always the east bay. Lots of folks travel almost all the time and end up living in hotel rooms anyway, so how is this different? Much time in the home is spent in the bathroom or at the kitchen sink, and that isn't going to be a radically different experience here.

Was in the neighborhood last night actually, and scrolled through the directory listing. There is so far one person moved in. And the ground level space looks great, it will be a great building at streetscape, which can't be said for the mammoth offensive whole foods car dealership next door.

Mole Man: If you think these units should be priced at $110K and the cheapest one is selling for $249K, then by your very own logic they are badly (grossly) overpriced.

I think these units are going to be a tough sell in the secondary market. Is it possible that the building could still go the rental route?

Anyway, Cubix is a great idea but poorly executed. They missed the mark by about an additional 200 square feet. This is San Francisco not Tokyo or Manhattan.

The unit for $249k is 271sf. Most all the units hover around $1000/sf and the HOA's are around $300/mo. They are co-broking 2.5% to brokers...

On Sunday afternoon there was a couple in one of the sales offices asking questions and seemed interested.

Although it's a high quality building (in terms of fit and finishes) they are way too small to live full time in. I see these as better corporate rentals.

People can work downtown during the week and have (or rent) a weekend place somewhere out of town.

I saw the units, and would consider buying at maybe $200K if they had parking.

"Much time in the home is spent in the bathroom or at the kitchen sink, and that isn't going to be a radically different experience here."

Beg to differ on that. The bathroom, yes - almost too much space relative to the remainder; the kitchen, woefully inadequate for anyone who would want to live in the unit full time. And this is coming from someone who nukes everything and never prepares fresh food. The sink is too small to be useful; the microwave is oddly placed; the refrigerator is an incredibly tiny, cheap dorm-sized unit! Manufacturers make narrow but tall fridge/freezer (w/separate compartment) models that would be perfect for these units but you'd have to tear out a lot of cabinets to install.

I'd buy one of these units if they would completely remove the kitchen (so I could build a real one) and credit me the difference.

My points re the inadequacy of the kitchens when I toured the models was met with "Well, they're not for everyone." How are they going to close sales with that kind of attitude?!

Washer & dryer??

^ more importantly, closets??

Unfortunately, no W/D. Connections for a 24" all-in-one undercounter model would have been nice (even if "ventless" has been fairly well panned on this site). There is a small laundry room on each floor with room for a couple of stacked units. Guess they'll be coin or card op - more along the "dorm-like" positioning.
Closets? If you think there is room for a closet in this amount of space you don't get the concept. The frosted glass door to the bathroom has been cited for lack of privacy, sound transmission, etc. BUT it IS space efficient. Transfer that thinking to clothing storage and you get a free-standing wardrobe -- very practical solution but again, "not for everyone".

No one has mentioned the Methedone Clinic next door.