Sea Cliff home trades at $26M asking price, all for charity

A Sea Cliff home has traded at its $26 million asking price — a rarity at the uppermost tier of the market, where sales millions below the asking price are common, and a sign of regained strength for the San Francisco luxury market. 

The sale is the second-biggest in the city so far this year, after Laurene Powell Jobs’ $70-million Pacific Heights purchase, the most expensive deal in San Francisco history. Before both these sales, the market over $20 million had been fairly quiet this summer, with two trades at about $24 million each in April and May. 

With four bedrooms and five bathrooms over nearly 7,900 square feet overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Sea Cliff property’s sale works out to about $3,300 per square foot. Owner and early tech VC George Sarlo had previously stated that all proceeds of 290 Sea Cliff Avenue would benefit his family’s foundation, which writes grants for mostly Bay Area nonprofits that concentrate on youth mental health, youth political organizing and breaking the cycle of trauma, according to its website. The property, which Sorlo bought in 1993 for $2.2 million, was transferred into the foundation’s name just before it came to market, according to public records.

Tania Toubba and Debi DiCello of Sotheby’s International Realty listed 290 Sea Cliff at the end of May and it was in contract about one month later. Toubba and DiCello declined to comment on the sale. 

Compass agents Yulia Mitchell and Michael Plotkowski represented the buyer, 290 Water LLC. They did not reply to a request for comment.

The luxury market is on an upswing this year, according to agents, and recently released Compass data backs that up. San Francisco trails only San Mateo County for sales above $10 million so far this year. San Mateo saw 32 sales above that price point by July 15, while San Francisco had 12 and Santa Clara County 11. The “Stanford Circle,” which includes upscale communities Atherton, Woodside and Palo Alto, nearly doubled its second-quarter number of $10 million-plus sales compared to last year.

In $5 million-plus home sales, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties saw year-over-year increases of 54 percent and 63 percent, respectively, in the second quarter. In the Bay Area region, June 2024 was the highest single month for $5 million-plus home sales since May 2022, which marked the end of the pandemic boom.

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