Comments on: 1771 North Point: A First Look ™, Before-After, and Walkthrough of the 2007 Pacific Coast Builders Conference Eco-Friendly Marina Green Showcase Home

By: eddy

eddy — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 01:39:13 +0000

I finally got through the place and JJ is right. I think they might be stretching for that $5M a bit too far. Several properties have sold FAST in this price range recently, Stiener st / Pacific St. so there are buyers. I’d say if this isn’t in contract by this tuesday or wednesday; than the agent / developer have failed to price this right. In this market you don’t want to have a place sit for too long. If it gets a reduction it will also get a lot of publicity since its a fairly high profile property……. waiting…..

By: Boom

Boom — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:36:40 +0000

Eddy – U know it’s CRAZY TIME when u say ‘they should have priced it at $4 or $4.5 million’ to get a bidding war going! lol.

I love this market!

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:34:46 +0000

Nice concept, of course. However, the location is not so good. It’s right next door to several very large and noisy apartment complexes and there’s no view…of anything except your own walls, the apartment buildings next door, and the grass in the backyard. Not to mention it’s on landfill (check old maps of SF). Agreed the price is nice, at first glance. But the smart buyer will always remember…location, location, location!…which this place doesn’t have. And it dangerously ignores an important rule of thumb…never be the most expensive house on the block (or in your immediate neighborhood in this case). Caution to the prospective buyer!

By: marinachic

marinachic — Tue, 29 May 2007 00:11:23 +0000

Thanks Eddy! And thank you sfnewsletter.

By: eddy

eddy — Mon, 28 May 2007 21:38:05 +0000

Boom, I was talking about the general discount of Marina copared to other district 7 areas. In general, you can find a SFR for under 2M in Marina and that budget will get you almost nothing in PacH; a little better in Cow Hallow. And I’m not just talking about Broadway and Lyon.

The $3.7M place on Octavia you refer to was a really nice property and probably not as nice as this one now that I’ve seen some of the pics and researched it a bit more. It looks like they really went gonzo on this place and its probably a very sound rebuild. And I agree with you that most places in Marina have been retrofitted and will probably fare better next time around.

I think they are shooting for the moon with a $5M price and surely they don’t have the comps to justify it; but I still predict that they will get close since you don’t see a rebuild like this too often. They probably should have priced it at 4 or 4.5 and gotten a bidding war going.

PS: I couldn’t agree more about soma/downtown.

PPS: marina chick, as far as earthquake insurance; you can insure for any type of coverage for any event; heck llyods of london will write you alien protection insurance if you ask; but I know a few people that inquired about the premiums on insurance in marina and its very expensive.

By: Boom

Boom — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:05:03 +0000

Eddy – What discount are you talking about? Discount to the houses on Broadway and Lyon st. perhaps? I don’t call $4.995 million a discount by any means, unless you are being facetious?

The owners build 2,500sqft cheaper than $1,000/sqft, and they MAY get their $4.995 mil asking price. Now if they do, I will seriously be impressed, b/c that will mark the new record high for SFH in The Marina outside of the SFHs that face the water on Marina Blvd or The PalaceoFA.

Again, look at the Marina eartquake pictures. The houses that were hurt were not houses but large multi-unit buildings. It is the same building over and over again on Divis and Beach that is highlighted. The irony is that after 1989, the entire Marina has been retrofitted and upgraded, making it likely better suited than the rest of the city for an earthquake.

Go look at the geological gov’t maps. You want liquefaction? Go look downtown, SOMA, everywhere.

By: marinachic

marinachic — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:01:36 +0000

I do love the Marina. Regarding quake insurance, what does that really cover? I heard that it doesn’t actually cover loss in the event of a quake, but only loss in the event of a fire as a result of a quake. Got any insight on that?
I agree with Eddy, history cannot be forgotten, but can history in the Marina repeat itself?
See you on Chestnut sipping my coffee.

By: eddy

eddy — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:31:29 +0000

Hey Boom, Just cause someone has a family and doesn’t want them to live in the most dangerous / known area of city that has experienced major catastrophic events over the past 20 years doesn’t mean that they have to leave the bay area. Get real.
There is a reason marina properties trade at a discount; and that discount gets smaller the more memories fade from the 89 mess. This property happens to be sitting next to one of those multi-dwelling type properties that experienced structural failure during the 89 quake. So even if this place was built like a fortress; what if the building next door comes tumbling down?
This looks like a great property; but come on; you can cheerlead all you want and it isn’t going to change history. Those links / images that Towes posted are real and could be very much repeated.
PS: I agree that Alex is adding a lot to the sf blogging / scene here.
[Editor’s note: Thanks for the kind words. I’m just getting my feet wet in the sf blog scene, but it looks like I’ll be going in deep. Our team is building, and knowledge base is growing. Keep spreading the word, and I’ll keep at it.

By: Boom

Boom — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:51:54 +0000

BTW, nice job to SFnewsletter for highlighting this remodeled Marina house. Now all the other housing blogs are copying it.
I will help you with increased traffic and messages b/c: 1) You guys report real examples and actually FOLLOW THROUGH with the final sales prices, 2) Highlight property that people actually would like to live in instead of always highlighting over priced crappy location SOMA condos, 3) Don’t have amazing bitterness b/c you don’t own, and 4) Have more insight than the other blogs.
It’s amazing how the owners of some blogs are so on a mission to prove the market is falling, and still don’t believe the latest 6.6%+ YoY price figure. When you have a blog that can’t even recognize reality, that you know it has an agenda, and is only there for therapy for like-minded renters who missed the best wave in the past 10 years.
Keep up the good work Alex!!
Boomtime
[Editor's note: Boom, thanks for the kind words. We are striving to be the best...whatever that is in blog land. This is a work in progress, and if you can help us increase traffic...you da man!...or woman! Thanks for reading, and thanks for commenting.]

By: Boom

Boom — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:46:58 +0000

The best thing about The Marina, is that only a few are wealthy enough to live in The Marina, and therefore it is a much more pleasant place to live: cleaner, better restaurants, friendlier like-minded people etc.

I remember walking around the 1989 earthquake, and only the large multi-unit buildings with garages below had the big damage. Other SFHs were fine, and no worse off than any other house in SF. I remember wondering where all the damage was. The media, and a certain envious few continue to highlight the SAME BUILDINGS on the same street over and over again, where in reality, most of the Marina was fine.

If you’re afraid of an Earthquake, leave the Bay Area. And if you really want to arbitrage value, although no more given the $3.7 million new record high sale of 3321 Octavia St., try finding a Marina flat or SFH in the ‘MARINA GOLD BOX’ bordered by fort mason, laguna, van ess, and lombard. All those properties in the gold box are not on liquefaction.