Purchased for $2.6 million in late 2014, the 2,100-square-foot contemporary Mission District condo at 859 Alabama Street, which “epitomizes sophisticated San Francisco city living and [offered] a rare opportunity to own an architecturally significant home,” returned to the market listed for $2.75 million this past April.
A sale at asking would represent total appreciation of 5.8 percent for the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home over the past 19 months, or roughly 3.7 percent per year, on an apples-to-apples basis.
And yesterday, the listing for 859 Alabama Street was withdrawn from the MLS after two months on the market without a reported sale.
It’s a nice pad, but the high end in the mish has gotten ahead of itself IMO.
OTOH, that whiteish SFH gut/flip a block away got snapped up at north of $3mil. Which surprised me. I think this condo is cooler. But the other one was an SFH, inspite of less than stellar layout and finished and views. Still, I saw some Chinese money floating through the open house. I wonder if it’ll be owner occupied, or if bozo Chinese investor money decided to pull lever A instead of lever B (meaning, kinda random which overpriced mish home (s)he decided to speculate on.)
I’ve been wondering about that SFH on Alabama sale, thanks for the info. Also, there are two other similar properties, on Hampshire near 19th and another on Hampshire between 23rd & 22nd. The one near 19th was listed for over 3mil and seemed to quickly sell, the one near 23rd is just sitting there empty not on the market.
I was surprised Hampshire/23 sold so fast. Didn’t get a chance to see it, did you?
I’m wondering if these high end SFH’s in the mission are selling to locals and not foreign investors. OTOH foreign investors are snapping up a lot of prime homes in Palo Alto, etc., so I’m not really sure if it’s one demographic over another in the mission.
I saw it. It was OK.
It seems to be owner occupied. I saw a young white couple coming out of there the other day. The prices in the Mission are so property specific, it’s hard to gauge what something will sell for.
When do you think walls will come back in style? I like open plans if there are beautiful, well placed partitions or other things to break up a space, but not having your first floor as one giant megaroom.
Another large condo on 24th at Folsom just resold for 24% more than its Feb. 2014 sale price (apples to apples). Lesser finishes and outdoor space compared to the place on Alabama.
I just don’t think people want to drop 2.5+ mill on a mission condo. I’d rather buy something around like-minded luxury millionaires in south beach rather than hearing someone bitch about tech workers/gentrification while I’m chomping on a burrito.
Somewhat rhetorical question… seems like people in SF are moving in and out of condos and houses after a very short occupancy… what’s with all these people buying and selling so quickly?
Some ideas: tech job got terminated; sensing top of the market and want to get out while the getting is good; overextended themselves on the mortgage payment and tired of feeling house rich but cash poor; heard that the Mission was the hip place to be, but now tired of the urine, late night rowdy drunks, and gun shots; had a baby and moved to the burbs; and to be fair, got even richer and traded up.
I’d love to see data, but anecdotally I agree with you that it does seem as though there are an unusually large number of short holds in SF. Possibly a bi-modal distribution as there are also many properties that have very long holds due to Prop 13.
How is this place “architecturally significant”? Just what does it signify?
Toured this place when it sold the first time. The upper decks are unusually nice, and there is an elevator to all levels IIRC. Didn’t skimp on marble. Couple thoughts:
– when this one and the lower unit first listed I’d thought lower was $1.6MM and this one was $1.95MM. Unless that’s mistaken, then at 2.6MM maybe it first sold in some bidding war.
– immediately next door there remains a sidewalk “community auto repair service”, let’s say. i.e., a couple guys working on cars all the time for cash. Classic Mission I guess.
I love how the “community auto repair service” can be confirmed just by looking at Google Street View.