Last Week's Open Houses

We walked around the neighborhood again last Sunday with a small list of up to half a dozen listing but ended up walking into about double that. Granted, many of those were outside the price range I was searching for but there are definitely lots of new places on the market. And their realtors are putting their little foldy sidewalk signs farther and farther away in an effort to woo more people into a treasure-hunt like journey to the home.

The 2-level Hayes home is STILL on sale. That's the 3-bd plus gigantic attic. We went in again for fun and chatted a bit with the agent. I was on good behavior because honestly, I like the place. It seemed like it had received no offers though and that the seller was motivated. Shocking when I'm seeing 2 bedrooms in butt-ugly buildings for the same price.

But this strange uncorrelation seems to be the growing norm in the market. I mean, we also saw these two places below. The place on top is a 1 bedroom for 599k and the place below is a 2 bedroom for 589k. They are barely 2 blocks from each other around Alamo Square. They look like they have had the same generic "modern" work done on them. Neither come with parking. Which one would you choose? Mind you, the 1bd is listed as being about 100 sq. ft more than the 2bd but I think they are full of shit.

This week we did go into more shitholes. Places that have NOT been remodeled, one place (see photo at top with lovely air vent in the middle of the floor) even had some pest control problems according to the lister. It is a disgusting, badly laid-out duplex going for something between 800-900k in a neighborhood (near the ghetto at Hayes and Webster) with an elevated risk of getting shot before your ARM expires.