The Find: Sizing up four SF home listings, from micro to mansion

This is “The Find,” an obsessive house hunter’s guide to four San Francisco real estate buys worthy of your consideration.

To buy a home in San Francisco, you’ll need to make compromises. 

Every good feature adds to the price, so tradeoffs must be made if you’re on a fixed budget. Do you need parking or a third bedroom? Another bathroom or an updated kitchen? A bigger house or a better address?

By definition, San Francisco buyers will be sacrificing size or layout for location; you might be willing to go small in order to be in your absolute favorite part of the city. Meanwhile, with some units, there are those pesky HOA fees to consider: A high fee could be offset by a low listing price, while a low one might make life on three floors more palatable.

This week, we’ve found some options where the tradeoffs may be worth it. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s one for the wish list: a dreamy Victorian with more space than you’ll know what to do with. 

Here’s what’s for sale this week — from the tiny to the palatial.

Talk about a tiny home: This one-bedroom is all of 309 square feet. Though the listing touts a surplus of storage space, you’ll need to Marie Kondo the hell out of your stuff. 

But remember that tradeoff between size and location? The unit is on the Divisadero Corridor, one of the most bustling and fun parts of the city. For exercise, you’ll be living above a yoga studio; for groceries, you’ll be right by Bi-Rite and Falletti Foods; and for entertainment, you’ll be across the street from the Independent and the Emporium. Not to mention the countless restaurants, bars, and cafes right on your street.

The unit does not have parking but does have access to a shared backyard. At $449,000, the price per square foot is off-the-charts high, but the location is off-the-charts ideal for an owner who cares more about time spent out on the town than at home. 

The San Francisco condo market has dropped off significantly from the pre-pandemic era. Here we have a two-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot unit that was listed for sale in January 2020 for $1.65 million and is now reduced by $555,000.

Located on the 14th floor, the unit has large windows and a balcony to take in the panoramic views, plus hardwood floors and a renovated kitchen with stylish blue cabinetry. The building, with garage parking, is near Lafayette Park and convenient to Whole Foods and the bustling scene on Polk Street.

It’s listed at a reasonable price given the location and view. However, the HOA fee is $1,950 per month, which gets you amenities that include a concierge and security. While pre-pandemic condos with higher HOA fees sold briskly, today’s buyers are more hesitant. For now, condos with HOA fees exceeding $1,000 are a much more difficult sell, resulting in lower prices — meaning opportunities to take ownership of stunning units like this one.

Townhouses, like this one in Parnassus Heights, are somewhat rare in San Francisco. Owners have what’s essentially a single-family home, but with HOA expenses and less control over the building’s external structure than they would with a condo. 

This property has an HOA fee of $500 a month, modest compared with those of some condo buildings, which can run into the thousands. You’re essentially getting a San Francisco house for less than you’d pay if it were a single-family home. 

The unit is modern, with high-end finishes, and if it were a conventional single-family property, it likely would have been listed for $300,000 to $500,000 more. 

At 1,757 square feet, it’s not tiny, but those square feet are spread over three floors — suboptimal for those who wish to avoid vertical living. You’re also confined to what you have, as it would be challenging to expand the footprint. But if those aren’t problems, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better-priced condo or single-family home in this location.

From the front, this looks like a modest Victorian with a compact garage. However, because it’s built into a hill, this house has additional levels that are hidden from view from the street, as well as a spectacular rooftop space, additional deck, and backyard. By San Francisco standards, this is a mansion, at 3,113 square feet.

Because of the hillside setting, nearly every room has a stunning view of downtown. While the kitchen and bathrooms don’t appear to be recently renovated, they have classic style. 

Of all the properties we’ve featured this week, this one seems most likely to capture hearts. Why not dream big?

Rohin Dhar is a licensed real estate agent who lives in the Richmond. He has an MBA from Stanford and a weird portfolio of properties that includes an Earthship. You can find him on X, where he has a popular real estate account.