One-bedroom houses may have their limitations, but they represent opportunity to many San Francisco buyers. We’ve seen eight single-family homes sell for well north of $1,000,000 in 2017, and the buyers for these properties seem to fall into two camps: contractors looking for development projects, and owner occupiers who’d rather spend their money on a house than a condo—and can do their own remodel in the future.
Take 830 Rhode Island (photo, above), for example. The one-bedroom, 936-square foot Potrero Hill Victorian hit the market for $1,149,000 and was purchased by a developer for all cash. The sale closed for $1,475,000 last week. At least three other contractor buyers also made offers on Rhode Island, as well.
I sold 4163 26th Street in Noe Valley earlier this year, an Edwardian with a quirky floor plan that was snapped up by a contractor for $1,560,000. And a few blocks away at 282 Clipper, an LLC ponied up $1,525,000 in cash for a 900-square foot, deteriorated house listed for $1,100,000.
But not all one-bedroom houses are suitable for flips, and also have their resale limitations. Many have no expansion potential, and are purchased as condo alternatives. For example, Bernal Height’s 409 Nevada was a small one-bedroom with no obvious expansion potential. A single guy purchased that one in February for $850,0000—only $51,000 over the list price.