- A 480-square-foot home in San Francisco was sold in December for $US600,000, making it one of the cheapest homes listed in the city’s overheated real-estate market.
- The home at 66 Bishop St. is nothing glamorous. It was advertised as a “fixer,” inviting developers and contractors to swoop in to renovate.
- Still, in a region whose housing market is bursting at the seams in part because of Silicon Valley’s ever-growing tech bubble, it sold quickly, after just a couple of months on the market.
The 480-square-foot pink home at 66 Bishop St. in San Francisco is one of the smallest in the city. It’s also, with its whopping $US600,000 price tag, one of the cheapest, SFGate reported.
The home sold in late December after two months on the market and a $US50,000 price cut. It was advertised as a “fixer,” meaning whoever bought it basically paid over half a million dollars for the listing’s location and space – it’s on a 2,500-square-foot lot and could expand to 3,500 square feet of living space.
But in one of the most competitive real-estate markets in the country, stoked by Silicon Valley’s ever-growing tech sphere, house hunters can’t afford to be picky.
Take a look at what $US600,000 bought the house’s new owners.
San Francisco and the surrounding Silicon Valley region is swarming with big tech companies.
Tech workers from around the world flock to the Bay Area for jobs in the industry.
The influx of tech recruits has only exacerbated the city’s housing crisis.
Home prices have skyrocketed in recent years as demand has outweighed supply.
Even properties in less-than-perfect condition come with high price tags …
… like a home in San Jose, just south of the city, that was pillaged by a fire and will need to be demolished — and still sold for almost $US1 million.
Source: Business Insider
The pink dwelling at 66 Bishop St., though not ravaged by a fire, is far from tip-top condition — and yet it just sold for $US600,000.
Source: Zillow
The 480-square-foot home is in Visitacion Valley, an area of town known for its affordability.
Source: SFGate
The median real-estate value in the neighbourhood is $US802,200, much more than the pink dwelling’s asking price.
Source: Zillow
However, a few blocks away sits a 1,605-square-foot shanty valued at $US1 million that’s currently off the market, so the area isn’t exempt from million-dollar homes.
Source: Zillow
For comparison, the median real-estate value in San Francisco overall is nearly $US1.4 million.
Source: Zillow
Linda Ngo, the property’s realtor, told Business Insider that the Visitacion Valley neighbourhood is getting more attention these days.
“There’s a shift of buyers looking into Visitacion Valley and Excelsior,” an adjacent neighbourhood, Ngo said.
The pink home was sold in June for $US400,000, relisted in October for $US650,000, then relisted 10 days later to $US589,900. The listing was removed in November and officially sold in late December for $US600,000.
It’s toward the bottom of a hill on Bishop Street.
The views from the street in front of the house are nice.
The bottom part of the home is the garage.
A staircase leads to the front door.
There’s a small patio before the entrance.
And through the front door …
… is a spacious living room and kitchen.
A grey wall accents the living room.
Source: Realtor
And a window provides some natural light.
The home is almost 100 years old — it was built in 1922.
Source: Zillow
But you’d never guess that from the modern kitchen appliances and crisp white fixings.
Ngo said that just in three days of the home being listed in October, she got “quite a few calls” from prospective buyers.
Source: Zillow
On average, homes listed in Visitacion Valley spend 51 days on the market.
Source: Realtor
Right off the living room is the bedroom.
The room has two windows, so natural light is not in short supply.
And there’s closet space in the corner.
Its walls are also partially grey, though of course the home’s new owners could do away with any of these features.
A small bathroom is just outside the bedroom off the kitchen.
The second story, however, is the only livable space now.
Per pending building plans, the property could be built out into a three-story home of up to 3,500 square feet.
Source: Linda Ngo
According to the listing, it could “easily expand” to a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house.
Source: Linda Ngo
But the house takes up only a third of the lot.
Source: SFGate
Much of the 2,500-square-foot lot stretches behind the 480-square-foot home.
Ngo said that 75% of the lot could be built out, per a conversation with the city’s planning department.
That’s still a fairly large blank canvas to construct a custom home, especially by San Francisco standards.
And the price was a rarity — Ngo said only a few homes on the market were listed at or below it.
Not every home in the city comes with a view like this either.
You can see over the rooftops of houses to the rolling hills in the area.
However, the property is still a major fixer-upper, and renovations could cost multiple times the asking price.
“You would have to find a buyer that is savvy with construction or knows someone who is,” Ngo said in October.
Even with the prospect of extensive renovation, however, the listing sold quickly.
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