A Tale of Two Cities

Sunday the 19th was suitably foggy and windy to allow for open house hunting without furtive glances over one's shoulder at a sun soaked Golden Gate Park. I meant to only look at one bedrooms, as they are at least possible future purchases, and I had my eye on just one so as to do a proper job reviewing it. But as usual on a Sunday, I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of OPEN signs on homes for sale, and ended up viewing two instead of the single one I meant to see. This turned out to be fortuitious, since each property is at opposite ends of the San Francisco buyer spectrum, so offer much edification.

1. 513 Clayton.: A beautiful 3bed/1ba condo at $999K. Shouldn't have started here, because everything after it was going to look like a hovel.

But once inside, I found it hard to leave. I mean, picture yourself serving a meal in this dining room:


cooked in this kitchen:



Right? Anything tastes better, even the bitter bile I get in my throat knowing the closest I'll ever get to such a place is if I'm hired as a caterer.

Tired of my life, I looked with interest at the two bedrooms, both opulently staged in colors evoking the Ottoman Empire. Here's one:


In fact, the entire flat feels like this: sumptuous, elegant, spacious (including the closet space!). Room for a family or the really overpaid single who wants room to host guests in style. Beautiful period details, reverently restored.

Notes:
-other occupants in building long-time owners. They want an owner/occupier. If you plan to buy and then rent the pad, you could have some unpleasantness.
-1 car parking, side by side (no tandem tantrums!)
-very walkable neighborhood (see 1778 Page notes).
-Haight is an iffy neighborhood for a family with young kids. In some ways, it could be educational, but in other ways, perilous. Explore the streets both in
daylight and night time to see if you'd feel comfortable. Ideally, I see it as a 'hood for a single, or a youngish/childless couple, or family with older children.
- pretty, but small yard: mostly deck.

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2. Moving along (head full of million dollar swank), I hit 1778 Page St., #B. This is a 1br/1ba TIC in the bottom of a weathered Haight-Ashbury Victorian. The entire building has beautiful bones, but has been a rental for years; consequently, those bones now need a lot of fleshing out. This apartment, B, is way in the back of the structure, down a long and very SF secret-space walkway.

Pros:

-it has a dedicated outdoor space (pictured) soley for unit B's owner.


-you might be able to knock out the bedroom wall, annex the storage on the other side, and make a larger room.
-it's going to be a vacant structure, with no Ellis Act/OMI issues. Thus the TIC
situation is new, and you can help set the rules instead of joining an already established group with set rules you have to abide by. The no eviction status also means you can more easily convert to condo later, though since these TICs are offered via fractional loan, you don't really have to convert for individual ownership.
-lots of ways you could improve and charmify the place. Previous occupants were renters, with no monetary incentive to improve anything. Result: a true (if scuffed) tabula rasa.
-very walkable neighborhood. Post office, markets, shopping, entertainment, parks, and public transport very close.
-location: plenty going on in the Haight, and easy access to most anywhere else you'd want to go.

Detractions:
-true basement apartment. Really felt the ceiling looming too close over my head.
-kitchen is a box with a stove- hardly any counter space and no where to sit and eat. (Of course, camera battery gave up right at the moment I tried to capture
this space, probably depressed by the contrast to the kitchen at 513 Clayton.)
-one closet, pictured. There is some extra storage space, but it's "negotiable," which to this girl, means "more money."


-yech bathroom with poor light and ventilation. Kind of prison-like.
-mucho rehab called for to make this place sparkle. Can be done, but the cost of such work should for sure be figured in to the "low" price of $299K.
-not the kind of 1Br you could comfortably share with someone else.
-low ceilings
-no parking. Street parking here ranges from challenging to abysmal.

I guess you know which place I prefer; yet that's not the one I can have. And thus, a tale of two cities is born.
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Wanna see more pics/info? Go to the SF MLS site. I could also link you to the listing agents, but I kind of feel like I've already given enough free advertisement.