The High & the Low: SF’s most and least expensive homes this week

Fridays is time for the High & the Low, a Curbed column chronicling the most and least expensive homes sold in San Francisco in the last seven days. What surprises did the week hold?

Looking at the house over at 574 Valley, on the southwestern edge of Noe Valley, back when it last sold in 2014, you might draw the conclusion that it wasn’t trying to impress anybody.

Then it sold for $1.32 million. And it wasn’t long before the the R-word (renovation, of course) was heard inside the circa 1909 home’s walls.

The results speak for themselves, or at least the payday does: The new 574 Valley sold on Wednesday for more than $4.18 million, just barely less than its $4.29 million 30 days after it listed.

In two years, the house picked up three extra baths and more than doubled in size to 4,000 square feet.

Note in particular the transformation of the backyard from a slightly scrubby affair to a terraced affair with a drought-friendly minimal lawn.

Courtesy T. Okamoto & Co

And the least-expensive home to change hands in the city this week was in the Tenderloin, located at 631 O’Farrell inside the Hamilton (a 1930 building, which, if nothing else, is the clear winner of the Tenderloin’s Greatest Lobby award).

There, a little studio on the sixth floor with alcove bedroom and oddball trapezoidal arches managed to hold out at $460,000.

Which not only might be one of the single cheapest market-rate homes we’ve seen all year, but is even $19,000 less than the original list price from back in June. Next time you’re sweating the price of a home in San Francisco, quietly thank the Tenderloin for at least tugging the median a little bit in its direction.

Vanguard SF

• 574 Valley Street [Realtor]
• 574 Valley Street, 2014 [Trulia]
• 631 O’Farrell Street, #610 [Realtor]