SF Housing Madness. Tired of Screaming into the Void
2 Compzilla 16 6/10/2025, 10:51:44 PM
I've been casually monitoring the SF market, hoping logic might eventually return. Then I saw this:
579 Belvedere St., a top-floor condo (2BR/1BA, 930 sqft), just sold for $1.5M ($200k over asking). Meanwhile, better units with more space or an extra bath sit for weeks unsold.
Am I missing something? I know this area is desirable, but $1.5M for a 1-bath condo with no garage feels like 2021 energy. I need to vent!
Genuinely asking… are people still panic-buying? Is this just wealth inertia? Tech optimism? Delusion?
And yeah, I’m considering starting a “Wall of Shame” documenting these types of sales. Exhibit 1: this one.
The area where that property is located is really good, I live nearby. I think the property is worth that amount, since someone paid for it in a competitive market, that terrace with views of Sutro tower is spectacular. It’s also a good deal compared to its previous 2019 sale price ($1.4M), so it’s likely it was intentionally priced below market, the owner never meant to sell it at the asking price.
The city just has so, so many wealthy people, it’s difficult to comprehend. I, a complete nobody, know a lot of people in their 20s with $10M+ net worth. I’m in my 30s with a $6M liquid net worth and I’m the least successful in my peer group. It’s not unreasonable to drop that much in a beautiful city with such a scarce inventory. I don’t think that property value will significantly drop any time soon, if ever.
You are entitled to your own opinions and venting, but it might be more productive to just vote with your feet and leave, if this is too frustrating to deal with.
That said - relatively few participants are needed to price the market. This is the case for housing, stocks (where ETF-holder do not perform pricing), etc.
You are also likely not a nobody, not even in SF terms, with $6M liquid (assuming that there are quite a bit of investments on top of that). This would either require some successful speculative investments, top-level position in a successful company, inheritance, or successful exits. only inheritance with a long frugal lineage would yield a wealthy nobody.
It's not just SF, it's California. Even going back 40 years, almost any place between Bay Area and San Diego that's within 50 miles of the ocean and is not rural[0] has been significantly more expensive than national average.
[0]unless it has an ocean view
I'm not about to move to Texas, but it is amazing how easily you can save a huge amount of money just by opening up to other locations that would make you happy.
Housing prices don't go down unless terrible thing happen; even then, sometimes they go up.
I didn't list the address of the person that outbid me on my last house purchase, though. Maybe you should consider not posting the addresses unless you have a good reason.
All the addresses I mention are public and already on Zillow/Redfin, along with all the other details. I’m not listing out bidder names or license plates... just citing public sales. It’s less about the buyer (who is not mentioned) and more about how far from fundamentals pricing has drifted.
Perhaps your wording wasn't well considered if you're not trying to shame buyers by listing addresses.
There's something deeply wrong with that city, and everyone is a kind of in a trance trying to look away because they're all in the same political team or something like that. People suffer willingly as a form of weird self-sacrifice, so there is no accountability for the leadership that makes bad decision after bad decision (although of course they are making good decisions for the people who have the status and money).
So yes, pointing it out and exposing them is probably part of the solution but it would only be a small part. I think people need to break out of their unwavering loyalty in order to hold the system accountable for any change to happen.
Go ask the buyers why they paid what they paid. Knock on doors, talk to realtors. All real estate is local.