Let's take another preliminary look at the priciest sales of 2016, focused this time on the Hill Section.
Top sale of the year to date is 872 6th (6br/8ba, 7130 sqft.), a large 2004-built home that was described as "inspired by summers in the Hamptons."
For readers who may not have left the state of California, the referenced location is east of New York City, a place where you go (at least) in August when the city is at its most forbidding.
For a high-priced Hill Section property, this one almost lacked the one thing you most expect in a high-priced Hill Section property: views. It's pretty far up the hill toward Poinsettia, but the only spot from which one draws a view of blue is from the master, while standing up. Mainly the home is built to be a sprawling manse with good, private outdoor space (and pool).
It was listed first at $9.499M, and not too long passed before a buyer came along and agreed that was pretty close, paying $8.950M. Yes, scratch at $9M and you will have a good shot at the #1 sale for the year.
What happened next was a bit surprising. You see, the home was marketed as being fully done, ready to go, even a "grand master-work."
To wit: "With well over $1 million in additional upgrades & deliberate function enhancements, this home has reached beyond the term 'custom' and has achieved legacy status."
It achieved "legacy status," and then the buyers went to work on it.
The months following the May sale were filled with contractors having their way with the onetime "grand master-work." The inside became a worksite. We did not invite ourselves in, but we'll report that there was plenty of evidence of woodwork and paint going on for the better part of 6 months.
Oh, paint. Speaking of paint...
You can see in the pool photo above that the exterior was once a soft grey. But that's not the case anymore. The home's shingled wrapping has now been painted black. (See photo.) So that's a change.
Next on the list of top sales was a home that more obviously needed change.
That was 940 1st (5br/6ba, 6600 sqft.), a custom-built early-90s home on a vast, sloping hillside lot of 10,000-odd sqft.
The views from this location are beyond magnificent, with added protections (as stated to potential buyers) against neighbors building up to block the views.
At $6.350M, the purchase price was within 7% of asking ($6.800M). Whoever got it was going to do what the new owners are doing: Get in there and upgrade the 25-year-old finishes, maybe tweak the layout just a bit.
It's clearly worth a lot to take on that work, for there are only a few homes in the Hill Section with comparable views. (Seriously, click the listing to see the views from many angles.)
Helicopters, ultralight aircraft... a really bouncy trampoline... those are just a few other ways to get comparable views in the area. At least while standing on the deck at 940 1st, you won't spill your wine glass.
Not far behind these sales of homes that are getting some work done was a lot sale that occurred off-market. In fact, 4 of the next 5 highest-priced sales in the Hill Section were all for land alone.
823 6th just closed in mid-November for $5.900M (off market).
The lot is 20 feet shy of 10,000 sqft., so just call it 10K.
There's a favorable 70' frontage on 6th and the 143' depth of the lot runs along an alley behind homes on Pacific. So it feels like a corner, almost.
The plot is on a rising part of the hill, and the lot itself has substantial upslope from front to back. If you know this section of the hill, you know how it rises continuously toward 8th/Pacific and, especially, toward John St. Well, this is one lot that benefits greatly from the rise.
The view photo here was taken from the raised backyard at 823 6th. Views from a new home will be delectable.
That wasn't the only lot sale nearby in the 5's this year. Not at all.
500 Pacific is a bigger lot, lower on the hill, that came in at $5.700M in March.
It's a true corner with good views over the greenbelt and toward PV.
The lot here is 11,400 sqft.
And that, coincidentally is also the size of the lot immediately north of it, 512 Pacific, which sold a month before 500 Pacific for slightly less: $5.500M. (That's the brown-shingled home pictured to one side of the corner photo, plus below it.)
There's a little more backstory to these twin, neighboring lots – which are both construction sites now.
500 Pacific hung around on the market for nearly 6 months, after a very high start at $6.825M. We know now that that was 16% too high; for most of the time we only knew it was "obviously too high."
Sometimes agents don't know the right price, or don't want to push their sellers. Or sometimes they go along with a drastic overpricing like that in the subtle hope that a buyer might eventually "go direct" to them (hire the listing agent) to try to work out a better deal. While everyone else is watching the listing, waiting for the seller to "get real," the listing agent might get paid double. Woohoo!
Alas, life teaches you not to try too hard to control things that really are out of your control.
And so it was that the only "double-pop" that happened was at the neighbor, 512 Pacific. The agents for that one took one look at the stalled listing at 500 Pacific and suggested that the sellers bring 512 to market very low, at $4.599M.
Suddenly, all the buyers wanting 11,400 sqft. lots on Pacific near 5th Street converged on 512. It was an instant bidding war. (No kidding.)
The price went up to $5.500M (+20%) and, whether by design or not, the listing broker represented the buyer, too. (See "512 Pacific Gets $5.5M; Now, Neighbor?")
Bidding for 500 Pacific began shortly thereafter, once a market level was established. And the successful buyers brought their own agent.
Take a look at the land PPSF for each of these recent large-lot sales:
- 823 6th ($5.900M, 10K sqft.): $591/PSF for dirt
- 500 Pacific ($5.700M, 11.4K sqft.): $500/PSF for dirt
- 512 Pacific ($5.500M, 11.4K sqft.): $482/PSF for dirt
After all that, guess who didn't make the top sales of the year?
Homes that didn't sell:
712 John (7br/8ba, 6785 sqft., 9940 sqft. lot) (pictured), asking $13.500M at one time this year, down to $11.995M now with different agents.
917 Highview (5br/5ba, 6350 sqft., 12,250 sqft. lot), asking $8.350M at first, now at $7.550M.
205 Anderson (5br/6ba, 6300 sqft., 8125 sqft. lot), asking $8.300M at first, down to $7.499M before going off market.
But not to worry. There's a whole new year coming.
All you've got to do to enroll in next year's competition is to come to market and give it your best shot.