An Out-of-this-World Success Story on Germania Street Near Duboce park

Sometimes, the stars align in unexpected ways as we recently worked with a pair of new clients who seemed destined to be a perfect fit for our unique style and approach to properties. Everything unfolded at precisely the right time, leaving everyone involved happy.

Our clients, a dynamic couple with backgrounds in public health and graphic design, had achieved success in the tech sector. Having moved away for grad school a couple of years ago, the couple asked us about two properties that had caught their attention, one of them being the amazing home at 61 Germania. Through a Zoom conversation, we quickly discovered a shared passion for sci-fi series such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Expanse (and if you’re familiar with these, you earn bonus points in my book).

The stars seemed to align even further during a deep-dive video walkthrough tour we prepared for them. The owner of the property just happened to visit during the recording whereupon I spoke with them for a while about our clients and about what property the owner had bought. To our delight, it turned out that the owner was also a graphic designer and artist who had purchased one of our favorite houses we’ve seen this year at 72 Dawnview (you can watch the video of our walk-through here). That unexpected yet amazing home was also remodeled by graphic designers, just like 61 Germania. It was a reassuring connection, solidifying our belief that this was meant to be. And as you know, meeting the seller and talking with them almost never happens here.

Recognizing the rarity of homes like 61 Germania in this sought-after neighborhood, just two blocks away from Duboce Park, with a configuration where your neighbor is beside you (not above or below), where there’s been a custom artist-driven renovation that’s smart, stylish and clever, where there is a 16+ ft soaring ceiling that anchors 3 stories of living with an exclusive and private back garden all on a quiet tree-lined lane of cute houses was very rare and would be snapped up fast. Did we mention that the building itself dates from the 90s — the 1990s, not the 1890s — meaning there’s best of both worlds here (modern home in an otherwise Victorian-era area), oh, and there’s garage parking too. We decided to make a preemptive offer after the first weekend of bustling open houses, which was just a few days after our clients sent a message to us. Listed at $1.65 million, we went in with an all-cash, non-contingent offer at $1.8 million that closed in just 7 days.  

We anticipate many sci-fi binge nights in the future or seeing our clients at Duboce Park.  

Overall the seamless acquisition of 61 Germania, exemplifies how everything can fall into place when the stars align. We are thrilled to have played a part in this transformation event for our clients look forward to witnessing their sequel: The Voyage Home (only without the whales).

Boldly Bought on Bradford

A bespoke home in Bernal Heights came on the market one day. We videoed it the second day. The third day was the twilight tour and the long debrief and planning session. Decision made: this was it.

We waited through the first weekend of open houses and came in Monday with a preemptive offer that won the day with our offer strategy.  

The home was the market in 2017 (we saw it then) and is the great combination of strong outdoor space, a bespoke, custom downstairs suite remodel, and updated details upstairs like big windows, yard access and other features like radiant heat, an EV charger  

A Bit of Paris in the Excelsior

Our client April, a senior director who works with a leading global retailer, comes from a family of contractors in Arkansas. After contacting us last fall, we helped her find her next home here in the City. Given her contractor background, experience with renovating homes in Atlanta and a cabin near Yosemite, and a good budget, we thought the search would be exacting but one where logic and reason would win the day. Indeed, for two other homes we bid on, April’s offer was the highest offer, but in each case the sellers went with all-cash offers that closed a week faster than what April’s lender could do. (Side note: be sure to monitor your credit as we had to overcome a completely unexpected and erroneous entry in her profile that added time to the home search).
 
Anyway, when 446 Paris came out, we thought this would be a great match for her despite her not knowing the area well. After a two-hour private tour we arranged the day before the first open house, we were hooked on the house itself, a 3-4 bed, 2-bath, sprawling, 1930s home that is much larger than advertised with two workshops (perfect for those home projects), a finished living area, room for 2 cars, a great yard (complete with large smoker bbq and color-matched, life-size dollhouse) and, did we mention, a 300-sqft subbasement that’s perfect for storing all those retail and home improvement items. We made a long Buyer Preview video of the property (which proved helpful to show friends and family) that you can see here.
 
The wild card was the neighborhood, which we know to be one that’s been changing over the past few years where the pockets of updated homes are changing the area’s character. The good thing is that the area’s diversity and friendly neighbors have stayed consistent, which we found out as we stood outside the home after our tour where at least 10 people came by to introduce themselves. Ultimately, despite preparing an early offer, we waited until the offer date came whereupon two other offers came in apart from April’s. During this time, April explored the neighborhood, quickly coming across the soft opening of her soon-to-be favorite neighborhood wine bar while also discovering the Excelsior is sunnier than the Sunset and Richmond districts. We took up the chance from the listing agents to revise April’s offer to avoid a multiple-counter offer situation, where we prevailed at $1.535 million. The only condition the listing agent insisted upon was that Mr. Raffi, our fearless real estate super dog, attend the appraisal, which he gladly did. Close of escrow had to be extended as the underwriter’s strange documentation requests were resolved, which meant that April ended up signing closing documents during a pre-planned wine tasting trip to Paso Robles. Since closing, April has been trying to find the right wallpaper for her new bathroom, planning numerous family visits and getting her very own slice of Paris setup.