Welcome to The Wishlist, our column chronicling the roller-coaster ride that is buying a house in the Bay Area. In each edition, we go deep into one party’s home hunt, capturing their hopes, the problems they are trying to solve, and the harsh realities they need to face.  

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Laura Cole, 64, educator, and David Cole, 64, executive coach

The empty-nester couple lived in the Bay Area and New York when their children were young before settling down in Dallas, near Laura’s family. When one daughter moved to San Francisco, they began to consider whether a move to a smaller, lower-maintenance condo in the Bay would make sense. 

In 2022, the Coles were at a crossroads. Laura was nearing the end of her career as a school administrator, and David was transitioning from a full-time job in advertising to a part-time role as an executive coach. Their 32-year-old daughter lived nearby in Dallas, a 35-year-old son was in New York, and a 28-year-old daughter had moved to San Francisco. 

When the kids were young, the family lived in Marin, and they still had friends and fond memories from their time there. Plus, David’s brother lives on the Peninsula. But they worried about feeling isolated and car-dependent in the suburbs. The city called to them.

Their Dallas agent suggested they reach out to her colleague, Pete Rodway at Compass, to discuss options in San Francisco. Over several years of visits, Rodway took them to see condos and apartments across the city, with a focus on northern neighborhoods like Pacific and Presidio Heights. But the couple weren’t quite prepared to cut ties to the Lone Star State or give up their renovated single-family home of 13 years.

“Emotionally, we weren’t ready,” said Laura. “As more years went by, I said, ‘Pete, are you so proud of me? I’m looking at two-bedroom apartments. I’m getting my head around San Francisco living.’” 

In the spring of 2024, they rented an apartment at 2200 Sacramento St. in Pacific Heights and began splitting their time between Texas and the West Coast, periodically searching for something more permanent. 

Having spent years looking, Rodway figured their condo hunting was more pastime than serious pursuit. At a Christmas party, he was taken aback when he was referred to as their agent, figuring he was firmly in the friend zone rather than their broker. 

“I’d known them for years and seen lots of properties,” he said. “I was like, wait, they’re actually wanting to buy something.” 

The couple were, in fact, serious about committing to San Francisco, both emotionally and financially. At first it seemed like Texas might hold ’em, but as the first year on their San Francisco lease came to a close, and they had the opportunity to walk away, they realized they didn’t want to. 

In fact, they were so enthusiastic about the city, Rodway sometimes had to pull them back to reality when charming period features like high ceilings and intricate woodwork blinded them to a lack of practical amenities like a washer-dryer or closet space.

“We were swept up in the romance of these beautiful buildings,” Laura said. 

“Pete was going, ‘OK, you guys are behaving like teenagers. You need to pay attention,’” David added.

However, they didn’t make an offer until they saw Unit 501 at 2090 Pacific Ave., a 1928 high-rise right around the corner from their apartment. The dramatic Moorish-style lobby hit them hard. Then they went up to the unit and fell further. 

It had larger bedrooms and grander social rooms than other places they had seen, including a formal dining room large enough to fit the family’s 1930s-era dining table and sideboard. The south-facing living room was sunny and bright, with beautiful views and a wood-burning fireplace. The building allows pets and is around the corner from Lafayette Park — essential for their cat, Bibble, and dog, Oscar. 

That’s not to say there weren’t drawbacks. Their kitchen island back in Texas was nearly as big as the unit’s entire galley kitchen; the original 1928 bathrooms required major updates; and there was no washer-dryer or outdoor space for grill-master David. The unit was also missing a third bedroom, meaning it wasn’t big enough to host both out-of-town kids at once.

After a contractor talked through the price of kitchen and bathroom renovations, the couple decided nothing was a deal-breaker and moved forward. They sent along an offer and penned a note to the owner about how they had first moved to San Francisco just after their wedding and were returning on the eve of their 40th anniversary.

Whether it was the letter or the all-cash offer, just $50,000 under the asking price of $1.775 million, they got the condo. And just in the nick of time, as the market began heating up shortly thereafter. 

The HOA fees of $1,400 a month are not insignificant, but the couple feels they’re saving at least that much by giving up their yard maintenance costs and trading their Texas air conditioning bills for the natural coolant of Karl the fog.

“Our friends who live here, who’ve seen the place, are impressed,” Laura said. “We didn’t get a crazy fire sale, but it was a good price.”

Anything that pulled too hard on their heartstrings was packed up for the move or sent to storage, but they spent the summer purging and preparing their Texas home for sale. It sold in September after about a month on the market.

“My wife became really good at Facebook Marketplace,” David said. 

They briefly panicked and considered getting a pied-à-terre in Dallas. But after their belongings arrived in SF, the condo quickly started to feel like home.

Their kids initially had similar concerns, wondering how they would continue to spend holidays together.

“Now that our stuff’s here, they’re excited,” Laura said. “But before that, they weren’t sure that we weren’t doing something crazy.”

Even though they downsized from about 2,500 square feet to 1,600, the couple found that the items they most wanted to keep, including heirlooms from Laura’s mother and grandmother, miraculously jigsawed into the new space. In fact, because they moved from an open-concept home, they have more wall space to hang their extensive art collection and family pictures. Art movers were able to safely transport and reassemble, piece by piece, their intricate glass chandelier.

They converted a hall closet into an efficient laundry room, but Rodway suggested they live in the space for a year before deciding on major renovations. The kitchen and the two bathrooms are on the to-do list, and David is relearning how to make his favorite grilled dishes in the oven. Over the next year, they hope to become friendly with neighbors and get a look at their units to see what the possibilities might be. 

While they were initially concerned about how they would fit the whole family into just two bedrooms, their kids may be following them west. Their son in New York works for a company based in San Francisco, and their daughter in Dallas plans to move if she can find a teaching job and an affordable place to live in the city. 

“Theoretically, they’ll all end up back here,” David said. “That’s the hope.” 

In the meantime, their son gets the spare bedroom for Thanksgiving, and their daughter has dibs in December. The odd man out will stay at a hotel. 

The couple have loved the diversity and vitality of San Francisco. Recently, Laura looked out the living room window and saw an older gentleman in tweed jacket and tie, walking his small dog, in a long conversation with a woman with purple hair wearing shorts. These are two people she would never have seen interact in suburban Dallas, she said. 

Laura noted that they’ve served as a bit of an inspiration to friends back in Texas with grown children who are also at a pivot point in their lives. “I think we have put questions in people’s minds that are looking at this chapter of their lives going, ‘Well, they did that. What do we want to do?’”