When it’s a sunny day citywide on broker tour Tuesdays, I make sure to check out some houses in the usually fog-ridden western part of the city. In Realtor terms, that means District 4.
So I headed over to crystal clear Sherwood Forest earlier this week. This is a neighborhood located just west of Mt. Davidson, and adjacent to West Portal, St. Francis Wood and Westwood Highlands. There’s admittedly not a lot going on in Sherwood Forest—just streets lined with single-family houses and owners who enjoy being in a quiet, low-key area.
I saw two homes worth talking about:
550 Lansdale is a 1500-sq foot, 3BR/2BA home with a contemporary feel and a good use of space. It’s got a spiral staircase (not my favorite feature) leading downstairs to a media room that leads out to a concrete yard.
You’re kind of at the end of Lansdale here, and opposite a bus stop and a trail leading up Mt Davidson:
This bus route will be changing and the listing agent says it’ll take you to Glen Park BART. Not bad if you really need public transportation. List price for 550 Lansdale: $845,000. The house was last sold for $930,000 in May 2007.
Next up is the high-falutin’ 101 Robinhood, which somehow manages to incorporate a pool into its floor plan:
And fortunately for the owners, it’s an indoor pool. Because the days in the Forest are not typically warm. This 3BR/3BA home has a “huge, lobby-like foyer,” and a reverse floor plan. So there are bedrooms on the main level, the pool downstairs, and the third level involves the living space. The whole thing does come off feeling like a house that was previously a two-unit building, but I could see a large family getting into it. List price: $1,395,000. Robinhood was on the market last year for around $1.6M and then $1,525,000, and it’s been on the market for the past month.
These houses don’t seem outrageously priced. Unremodeled, smaller houses sold this year in the area in the $700,000s, and one 1900-sq foot 3BR/2BA with original kitchen & baths sold for $979,000. I think the obstacle is the lack of walkability (i.e., you have to go to other neighborhoods to get to anything). But if you’re looking for good space and a private location, I’d give Sherwood Forest a shot.