Uphill battle: challenging hillside property in SF asking $150,000

Even for San Francisco’s bonkers real estate market, some properties may still be a stretch.

A 1,470-square-foot Telegraph Hill parcel at 202 Union Street is described in its listing as a “fun way to buy a prime piece of San Francisco” for just $150,000, SFist reported. The catch: It’s a steep hillside that’s completely boxed in, lacks street access and doesn’t have sewage or utility lines.

The site’s been on and off the market many times in the past five years. At one point, in 2019, it was listed for $500,000. Three years earlier, it was asking $200,000.

“By itself, I don’t think it has a chance of being developed,” a realtor familiar with the listing told SFist. “You’d have to run sewage and utility lines up off of Sansome to this lot as well as perform all the necessary excavation.”

On top of the logistical challenges, a buyer would also have to deal with pushback from the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, a vocal neighborhood association.

One optimistic note: Three adjoining parcels, dubbed 1235 Sansome, are also on the market as a package deal. Yet a buyer would still have to remove a good portion of the hill to be able to build anything accessible, another reason to expect grumbling from neighbors.

The adjacent parcels had a pending sale of $998,000 in 2018, but that fell through, the outlet said. It landed back on the market in November for $1.498 million and the asking price was lowered to $998,000 last week.

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[SFist] — Victoria Pruitt