Purchased for $565,500 in August 2008, the 664 square foot Arterra one-bedroom known as 300 Berry #514 returned to the market “lovingly decorated…with artwork, wall coverings, custom paint colors and fine appointments” asking $499,000 in April and closed escrow with a reported contract price of $475,000 ($715 per square foot) this past Friday for a 16% drop in value over the past two years.
Green Apples-To-Apples To Be At Arterra: 300 Berry #514 [SocketSite]

10 thoughts on “A Lovingly Decorated Green Apple Is Picked At Arterra (300 Berry)”
  1. Also appreciate your update on the original thread regarding #1111 closing last week up 2% from the 12/2008 purchase price.

  2. Apparently the Fresno residents weren’t the only ones who couldn’t handle the 2008 price for this place. I doubt even they are envious of the likely 25%+ loss over 24 months(including transaction costs).

  3. If the seller of 1111 had to pay closing costs, the 2% gain was probably a small loss. However, give the seller credit for pulling the trigger and buying at the end of 2008 when the world was staring into the abyss. It certainly saved him here.
    It’s a very sad outcome for the seller of 514. She lost $66,500, probably another $15K in closing costs and transfer tax, over the 24 months she owned it, for a $3400 per month loss. Add another $1000 per month for commissions, and she’s out $4400 per month in terms of costs of unloading. Payments after taxes plus HOA were $2600, a little above what she’d pay to rent it.
    So again, someone got sucker punched by the rent vs buy being about even, only to get creamed when she sold. $7000 per month, every month for two years to live in a 1/1 with no view in SOMA. That sucks!
    The good news is that she got out when there were plenty of tax incentives to goose the price.

  4. Oh crap, you’re right, she lost $90,500.
    Conveniently for the math, that’s another $1000 per month, so she’s out $8000 per month, every month for two years, on something she could have rented for $2200. She paid $5800 per month in “non-rent” every month. Non-rent is really just throwing your money away!
    Of course, she might not have been permitted to put up that one wall of wallpaper! That was the most expensive wallpaper in history.

  5. I almost bought at Arterra in 2007 (pre-finished obviously), but put a deposit on a 1-bedroom + Den (no view) in the Hayes (sister property of the developer). The price for this larger 1-bedroom was $599,999. Once I started to see the market falter, I opted out of the property and lost the majority of my deposit. It was a lot of money for me to lose in a deposit ($17k), but, now, it seems like small potatoes. I would love any updates on the Hayes as well, but I bet it is pretty close to the Arterra’s 16% loss

  6. This is an interesting building to crawl on the SF Recorder’s website. Many loans are coming up on their two year anniversaries. It appears that most of the banks involved are more solid (solvent) players — Countrywide and WaMu lending operations had been effectively shutdown by this time — so there are few (if any) NODs. Lot’s of “real” money on the line here; will be interesting to watch.

  7. EBGuy,
    Yes, very interesting point. Another thing to keep in mind, these developments were giving out free HOAs for 2-3 years. When the free period is over, those loan holders will have a much higher monthly bill.

  8. [i]Realistically, I think this unit will sell easily at $450K-$475K.[/i]
    [i]Posted by: joh at April 27, 2010 12:41 AM[/i]
    Funny how it sold for much more than the $400K/$600psf that many predicted.

  9. Excellent prediction, joh! The purchase price makes sense if (1) you ignore the time value of the down payment, (2) you ignore the HOA fees, (3) you plan to live in this tiny place for many, many years, and (4) you discount to zero the risk of further price declines. In other words, another buyer “throwing money away on owning.” Nevertheless, I hope the buyer enjoys the place as I though it was perfectly nice.

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