As we wrote in February, having sold for $4,250,000 in November 2007 (asking $4,595,000 at the time), 2910 Lake Street returned to the market two months ago asking $3,990,000.
And as a plugged-in reader added:
Made the tour. Very nice home. No real flaws. Some easy updates. Views are pretty good from the second level. Felt very traditional and solid. Not a huge fan of the kitchen, but I’ve seen much worse. I think it will sell quickly.
Four days ago the 2010 sale of 2910 Lake Street closed escrow with a reported contract price of $3,940,000 (7 percent below its 2007 value).
∙ A “Premium” Apples To Apples Sea Cliff Sale To Be (2910 Lake Street) [SocketSite]
This place could only be described as stunning.
What I mean is a half a million dollar housing cost in 2.5 years is stunning.
I could think of some better ways to spend $500,000 in that period of time, but I hope they had a grand time.
Undoubtedly a lot of $ down the drain!
But only 7% down from what has to be very close to peak price is interesting, given that the top tier is allegedly the one that is struggling the most.
There were many, many other ways to lose $500k over this time period – at least they got to live somewhere nice while it happened!!
Purchased for $4.25m in 11/07 and assuming self-financing, some modest improvements and faithful tax payments, they were in for maybe $4.5m. Out the door at $3.94m and walk away at close with maybe $3.7m, or an $800k loss.
And, if they secured a big-hitter loan, this loss may have been somewhat mitigated…
However, this kind of money–the kind needed to roll up to a home like this–always parks somewhere, and rarely in cash. The S&P is off 20% over the same time period and that assumes the ’07 money invested would have held on through thick and thin, long enough to enjoy the recent bear rally.
Of course they may have been in brilliant hedge funds…but, hey, in ’08 everyone took a bath.
One way or another, these folks were losing roughly the same amount of cash. My bet: it’s a wash to them. Really.
This was (is) a very nice home; congrats to the buyers who I think got a very good deal and a very prime home. I’m actually a little surprised that it didn’t go for over asking but it was on the market for a good 30 days before hitting escrow. I think sellers are very (and rightfully so) a bit nervous on the falling knife situation. This house was estate-sized and has a lot of grand features. I would have priced this a bit higher and held out a little longer. There really hasn’t been anything this nice on the market in this nabe for some time and I think the right buyer at 4+ would have emerged.
Honestly, who really cares how much the sellers lost on this home. For all we know they made $2M on the sale of their prior home in 2007 before moving into this place. Buying / selling a home with less than a 5 year hold (at minimum) is a sure fire way to lose a lot of money.
The only real metric that counts here is the market metric of down 7% from 11/2007. Call it down 3.5% annually. Considering all that has transpired from the happy high flying easy money days of 2007, down 7% is actually quite remarkable. I still think this home could have sold for more if the seller agent and seller had a little more fortitude.
yep editor, sky is falling for sure. in the midst of what many posters call the “greatest collapse of our generation” you can see that ‘prime stuff’ is really taking it on the chin, lol. biased much?
Man. Seems like a lot of us caught a lot of heat for talking about 5 to 10 percent off peak. Why is so much of it shaking out that way, then?
so true anonn. i think the bears just don’t want the facts to get in the way of their opinions.
btw, did you see 621 waller? or 737 cole?
I saw 737 Cole. Missed the Waller st one. Cole seemed to sell for about the right price. What did you think?
i still think $2million is alot of money. 737 cole, though while quite nicely remodeled was basically a tight 3 bedroom floorplan with a vertical ladder up to the attic. not grand, and not ‘primo’ cole valley. and 621 waller had low ceilings down below, virtually no yard and sits in the lower haight…for 2million bucks? in this market? i’m flabbergasted. where are the deals?