A San Francisco Real Estate Game

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Let's play a fun guessing game. I'll tell you a few definitions, and then you, loyal blog readers can do some guessing.

First definition:
Single family home.

A dwelling that is neither a condo, nor divided up into multiple apartments. A house.

Second definition:
Average price.

If you add up the total dollar amount of all sales, and then divide that number by the number of sales, you've got the average price. (Average price is not the same as median price.)

Okay, then....is everyone ready to play?


What would you guess the average price is,
right now, for a single family home in San Francisco?


If you try to find this out by Googling, you are CHEATING. I want people to make a random guess.

We'll give you a little hint:

We are not considering buying a house in San Francisco.





Jello model of San Francisco by artist Liz Hickok.

Comments

Mel said…
Oh dear. I'm going to go with $500K. Because... um. Because. If I walk around the block where my boyfriend lives in Falls Church Va (norginia, near DC), I count 5 or 6 foreclosures or short sales just in that one block walk with the dog. And those teeny old houses with little yards are going for $300K to $600K. And I'm just guessing that San Fran is at least as nuts.
Gina said…
850K
Kaaren said…
Huh. I know California is one of the higest in the nation. Here in Orlando, the price is down to $144k from $310k at the bubble's peak. Florida in general is $147k.

I did not cheat, btw, so I am going to guess $400k
Baqash said…
I guess 4-5 hundred K
Unknown said…
I am waiting with baited breath. I'm going to say 500k also, even in this economy.
Lisa said…
I realize that hearing *where* you're guessing from is pretty interesting, too.

Tell uys where you're writing from, please.
The Gillespie Tribe said…
I suppose I should be disqualified to guess seeing as how I live so close to SF... I'm over here in Sacramento. But I have a suspicion that the guesses so far are much too low (except Gina who guessed 850), but in SF I would say it is closer to $1 million, on average if not higher just because I know how much houses there normally cost =o)

Cheers!
Rhea
Kristen said…
I guess $750k. If the rent on my teeny, no-frills apt in the shiftiest, most ramshackle neighborhood in Brooklyn is $1200 a month, a reflective value for a single-family home in a place people Want to live would nudge toward a million. Are you only looking at freestanding homes, or does this include townhouses?
Anonymous said…
Well, we live in Santa Barbara -- my guess is $1.2 million.
- Spencer
knitica said…
Live in Buffalo, where a few years ago the median price was $70,000. My guess there is about $500,000.
Anonymous said…
Are you kidding me? Lobbing a math question at a bunch of artists? I myself introduced my junior high algebra teacher to the meaning of dispair when he tried to teach me anything more complicated than add and subtract! I give up already...

But I suppose the answer is "More money than you think you can afford".

Don't worry about it. I suggest you take what money you got and put it in this energy company I heard about called Enron. Or wait, this guy named Bernie Made-off sounds like a reliable investment!

In all honesty, your best bet is to put any $ in an account and let it grow until you need it. California is pretty expensive for a place about to drop off into the ocean, eh?

By the way, I almost bought a CITY BLOCK in Detroit last month for $1,000. NO SHIT. Also, you can get a fallen down house in Hamtramac- Detroit, Michigan for $50 if you want to be raped in your sleep.

Annalisa
Anonymous said…
Well being as that I live here.. I will guess around $729K. Trying to take into consideration all those foreclosures in Antioch, Vallejo Brentwood etc.
So?? Am I close??
Lisa said…
I'm just asking about the City of San Francisco...not the surrounding region.
Gina said…
I'm tempted to bump my estimate to 1K or above...
Fluffy Cow said…
I'm in west NC. My guess is $925K. Now I am going to go Google!!
I'm going with 1.6m. Just a guess, but really, I think I'm lowballing just for the sake of amusement.

Off to Google.....
Lisa said…
Funny how the numbers are creeping up....

We're talking single family homes, but I don't think that necessarily means detached houses. I'm pretty sure that this would include townhomes or rowhouses.
Anonymous said…
Average? Let's say $795.

Old Blue and I haven't moved very much in our lives. I have always been the one to initiate moving (Old Blue believing that in his personal 'hell', he'll be loading a huge van and schlepping boxes), insisted on it in fact. EVERY time, he has thought we couldn't afford the house. EVERY time, we easily afforded it--OK, after a few months of tightening our belts just a little. EVERY time, we increased our 'net worth'- even in this economy we're WAY ahead.

Don't be afraid. Do your homework and be smart about the one you choose, then, get the one that speaks to you.

~~Doublesaj~~
MommaWriter said…
I'm gonna guess $1.3M...because we're not too far South of there and single family homes are crazy ridiculous in our little suburb. I'm think there might be smaller, more "reasonably" priced homes in SF, but it's still such a more worldly location!

And for Doublesaj...we've had the exact same experience with both of our home purchases to date. No more planned for the future either!

Stacey
WyndRyders
Anonymous said…
I'm guessing $ 1.1 million. Now I'll google.
~speedsquare
LunaSea said…
Oooh... can't wait to hear the answer. But, I'm going to put my guess at $875,000.
I'm in the Santa Cruz mtns. We just re-financed, so the bank did a walk through to reassess the value of our 2 bd 1 ba, 875 sq ft single family home. We came in at $450,000.
MW said…
I'm going to say $850,000 to $1 million. Our new house in CT, with land, will be coming in at almost $700,000. Housing prices here have lowered, but not nearly as much as I figured they would. Glastonbury is still ridiculous.
ArtGekko said…
I'm going to go with $550,000. I know the market tanked last year, and SF was particularly hard-hit. Here in the Twin Cities (MN), the Q4 2008 median price was $188,600.
ajt said…
i'm late to the game, but, just to make you feel better, the average price of a 1-bedroom apartment in manhattan in about 2007 was 1 million dollars.
that is not a single-family home. not even close.
also, that's the AVERAGE price. yikes.
good luck in oakland!
mamakin said…
I'm even later to the game. In Dix Hills, NY, 4/5BR,3.5baths about acre & 1/3....$1.3mil. I'm guessing prime RE doesn't get hit as hard so I'm guessing it'll be about the same cost there for a smaller home. Off to google.

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