The Magic of the 2 Unit Building...

... particulary the one just a half-block off 24th St that has a beautiful top floor two bedroom unit with a huge backyard that can be had for under $600k. In other words, the purchase price for this sweet 2 bd soon-to-be-condo in an absolutely grade A location in Noe Valley begins with a 5. A FIVE. And it has parking.

It's one of those rare bargains that is just sitting there on the MLS for all to see but no one knows what to make of it because they don't know the story behind it. As my friend Gordon Friedman, master mortgage broker, says, "every TIC has a story." He's right. And this is an interesting one.

The listing agent (a legend in Noe) tells me it's just over 1,000 sq ft, but it feels bigger to me... maybe it's the nice double-parlor living/dining room with fireplace and Twin Peaks view that just feels big to me. Or maybe it's the vast acreage spreading out to the horizon in the backyard. I mean BIG. Like a field.

So that's the magic of this particular 2 unit. The general magic, as is widely known, of the 2 unit building in San Francisco is that you can condo convert without entering the lottery. You have to meet some requirements, but they are straightforward. My wife and I bought a 2 unit fixer in 2006. After renovating the entire building (another story... for a future post) we sold the upper unit to a lovely couple that are truly the TIC partners made in heaven, and now we are in the middle of condo converting. And I must say the process is pretty fast these days. The City has gotten its act together and I'm told that you can do the entire condo conversion process in under 6 months, after you meet the residency requirement. And then boom, refi into your own condo loan, or sell, and realize an instant increase in value of, in the case of the Noe unit, at least 10%. Not exactly magic... but maybe as close as you get in San Francisco real estate.