Inside an Ultra-Rare 5-Unit Building in San Francisco's Most LUXURIOUS Neighborhood

I'm going to show you something incredibly rare in San Francisco. This is the most convenient investment property that you're going to find on the market in the city. An historic apartment building in the best neighborhood, completely rebuilt from head to toe, outfitted with some of the most absurd amenities, private elevator, private gym, a hidden media center, and a stunning outdoor entertainment space, all while carefully preserving historic 1900s details and generating a ton This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent in San Francisco and Marin County. And today I'm going to take you on a tour through a vacant 5-unit building for sale in the Pacific Heights neighborhood for $4,495,000, a block away from one of the city's most iconic parks, 2 blocks away from one of its most sought-after shopping and dining scenes. And normally buildings like these have rent-controlled tenants that have been in place from decades ago, paying below-market rents. The building needs hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars worth of seismic and other updates. Not this one. The building is being sold completely vacant, no eviction history. So whoever buys it can set new rents at market rates, which are premium given the amazing location and finishes of the building, which I'm going to take you through. And you don't need to spend a dime on updates. It was completely rebuilt head to toe in 2017 in painstaking detail, down to the stained glass windows, to the beautiful moldings throughout every single unit, the tall ceilings. I'm going to show you all of that. All the bells and whistles that were included in every single unit and why it makes the perfect property for an investor or an owner-user. I'm going to take you inside in a minute. First, I want to give you an overview of the building so you understand what you're looking at and give you a preview of the incredible location. So when my clients purchased the building in 2011, it was old, it was dingy. I mean, the building was built in 1900 and it had been quite some time since, like, truly meaningful updates were made. And so when they bought it, they had this grand vision to turn what's about a 3,700-square-foot, very, you know, derelict property into a top-of-the-line luxury rental property in San Francisco. And it wasn't a flip. They did it for themselves. So all the details that I'm going to show you, it was done with their living in mind. And they paid so much attention to detail. I'm really excited to show you guys all those different facets of each of the units. And before you all rush to the comments and jump down my throat, before how these owners completely stripped the historic character of the building when they were doing their renovations. Let me explain that there are 3 different historic designations for residential properties in San Francisco, A, B, and C, with A being the highest level of historic designation. This is a historic A property, and what that means is when you're renovating a building, you have to restore all front-facing details as they existed when it was first built, so in 1900. So when they were redoing the stairs and the windows and all these other elements, they did it exactly as it existed in 1900. And because of those restrictions, it took them years to get through the planning process, and it cost millions in construction to keep those classic San Francisco details that so many people want when they move here. They bought it in 2011, and they weren't done with it until 2017. So it took so long. They dealt with all the headache of SF planning so the next owner doesn't have to, and believe me, that's worth its weight in gold. Yeah., and I'm super excited to walk you through all of that today. I bet you're going to be surprised at some of the amenities that they put in this place. Incredibly rare for an apartment building and just highlights how much money they actually spent doing this buildout. And the reason they spent so much money on this buildout, obviously they wanted to live here, but two, the location really justified it. It is absolutely an A+ location in the city. Pacific Heights is one of the most desirable parts of the city, routinely tops the list of the most expensive neighborhoods to live in San Francisco because of the beautiful parks, the walkability, the architecture, the proximity to great food, great shopping. You're really close to the Golden Gate Bridge. So many amenities in and very close to Pacific Heights. And it really feels like a suburban haven in an otherwise very metropolitan area because of the historic homes lining the streets and how family-friendly and walkable it is. I'm going to show you all of those neighborhood amenities later in this video. But let's take you to the building and show you inside. As you walk up to the property, the first thing you notice are the stairs. Remember I told you about those front-facing details that you're required to keep for historic properties? It starts with these stairs at the front of the building. When they were redoing these stairs down to the railings, the balusters, these moldings on these posts, all of that had to be restored to how it was in 1900. But as you continue walking up the stairs, you start to see a lot of the modern touches that they've sprinkled in throughout the property to make it livable by modern standards. These modern touches are all things that renters moving to this part of the city really demand because of how expensive it is to live here. First thing notice as you come up to the door is a modern intercom system. So residents have, you know, friends, family coming over, packages getting delivered, you can buzz everybody up. Right. Right here. You don't need to, like, walk all the way down the stairs from your unit to come let people in. Really convenient and a nice little added layer of security and just a nice little touch that you don't always see in apartment buildings like this. The attention to detail and the modern touches continue as you enter the building. We're in the main entryway right now. You can see the beautifully restored grand staircase mixed with the fun tile that they chose.. So you've got that mix of history and modern elegance as well. So if you take those stairs up, you'll get to the 4 smaller units, which my clients have been renting out for the past many years since they've lived here after the renovation. The second floor is 2 one-bed, one-bath units, and the top floor has a third one-bedroom, one-bath unit as well as studio. They all have fairly similar finishes, but the owner's unit has some really distinct finishes and features, you know, even more elevated than some of these other units. So I'm going to take you through the owner's unit where my clients have been living in a lot more detail. And then I'm going to give you an overview of the other units later on. So up these stairs, those 4 smaller units, this door right here is the owner's unit, and it's really the crown jewel of the building. Let's go in. So this is the owner's unit. It's where the owners have lived since 2017 when they completed their renovation. It's a full floor, 2-bed, 2.5-bath living space. There's also a separate gym area, private for this unit, laundry area, wine storage area. You get that through a private elevator just for this unit. I'm going to show you all of that in a few minutes, but I want to talk about just the level of detail in this particular unit, starting with these historic Victorian details, classic features of Victorian architecture, the 11-foot ceilings. 11-foot ceilings. They really add a sense of scale and elegance to the space. You've got the shotgun hallway with the rooms off to the side leading all the way to the backyard. This is quintessential, the classic Victorian architecture. So we're in the main living room right now of the owner's unit. Immediately to your left when you walk in through that front door, this is the eastern exposure of the building. You can already see how much natural light this place gets because it's on the east side. You're going to get that sun sunrise in the mornings coming all through this window right here. So really great way to start your day. And in the evenings or colder days, you have this beautiful fireplace right here. Just a really intimate space for residents and, you know, friends or family that they're having over. It's a remote-operated gas fireplace. You don't even need to get off the couch to get it started. Really nice, elegant touch. Got gorgeous oak floors throughout the unit. And my favorite feature feature of this owner's unit sitting on top of these oak floors is this gorgeous built-in. The millwork, the moldings on this is gorgeous. The paint color they chose is beautiful. And my favorite feature about it is this secret compartment right here. As you can see, there isn't a TV in this place, but my clients, they do watch TV. They built a secret compartment in this millwork to house the television so that you're not just staring at like a blank black screen when your TV isn't on. I think that is ingenious, a great way to save space. It is definitely not cheap to do. Another thing that I think is really smart that I want to show you is you see they've got these moldings all throughout, and you'll see it throughout other parts of the house as well. It actually protrudes out from the wall just a little bit, enough space so that you can hang artwork just like they have here from those moldings. So you don't need to like bang nails into your beautiful walls and ruin all this great work that was done. Hang art and make the space your own, you can just hang it on top of that molding. And they've done that throughout. Just a couple details that really show you the level of thought that went into the years-long renovation that they did. By the way, if you like home tours like this, or you want to learn more about current events in San Francisco and other new developments, subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. Now back to the tour. And before I show you the kitchen and the bedrooms, I want to take you back into the hallway. And show you some of the other really smart things that they did in this house to utilize the space that they have. So this side of the building here is where that like main staircase is up to the other units. So there's not really a whole lot that you can do with, you know, this part of the building underneath the stairs. You can't go up any higher, otherwise, you know, you wouldn't be able to use the stairs. So what I think they've done with this space is really, really smart. They've turned it into a ton of extra storage. They have this giant pullout closet here. It fits a ton, perfectly tucked away under the stairs. So next owner, renter, or their guests come over, whoever it is, they just walk right in, can tuck their belongings away, and can go right into the main living space without like having a bunch of stuff left out. So everything's always nice and looking really neat. And since they've lived here, they've also got a full security system for their use here. Obviously, you know, if an owner decides to rent this unit out, then, you know, this probably wouldn't be here. But if an owner wants to live in this unit, just like my clients did, then makes sense to have a security system. Yeah. Like this. And then just after this coat closet is the powder room, and what I really like about the powder room is that it's in a really great spot so that they've utilized that space under the stairs well again, and it's not right next to like your kitchen or your dining area or your main living space. It's tucked away. People are going to have privacy when they're over and they have to use this space. A lot of these older houses have layouts that don't make sense where the powder room is like immediately right next to to a place where like people are eating or hanging out, but not in here, which is great. And just beyond the powder room, continuing down the hall, you've got these two additional like storage spaces. My clients have actually been using both of these as their in-home office areas. They made the depth large enough to fit a chair, a monitor, a computer, so you can actually have your home office here without interfering with someone else, you know, being able to walk around the space. You don't also have to have— Yeah. An office like in your bedroom or your living area, for example. And then down the hall beyond these two office spaces is the private elevator as well as the kitchen and the built-in dining area, which are all beautiful. I'm going to show you these in a minute, but first I want to take you through the two bedrooms. So two bedrooms in this unit, and both of them have their own ensuite, which is great to have. Everybody needs their own bathroom. And both of the bathrooms— actually all the bathrooms in this building not just the owner's unit, have radiant floor heating. So on those cold SF mornings, you can wake up, walk barefoot on your heated tile floors. Really nice touch and definitely adds a level of sophistication in a place like this and commands some premium rent. Not common to see radiant heat in apartment buildings. And the closet space in each of these bedrooms is incredible. Just more examples of how well they utilize the space. You've got pocket doors leading into these walk-in closets so you don't have doors swinging out, taking up you know, valuable real estate. They just hide away into the framing, and the amount of storage in these closets is massive. Now I'm going to take you down the hallway and show you the kitchen and the dining area, which are toward the back of this unit. Before you get there, on your right, you see this door right here? That's the private elevator just for this unit, and it'll take you downstairs to to a dedicated laundry area, wine storage area, and a private gym, all just for this unit. You can also get to the garage and to the other storage spaces through this as well. I don't know another rental unit in the city, especially in a building like this, where you have private space like that, let alone a private elevator just for your unit. It is super luxurious to have. So just beyond that private elevator space, you have your eat-in kitchen area, and this one is perfect for entertaining and for cooking. The other units are going to have a little bit different of a kitchen setup than this, and I'll show you those in a second, but this one is unique. All the other ones have induction ranges, new induction ranges, which is really nice. This one has gas, and it also has, you know, Viking professional appliances. So oven, stovetop, fridge, freezer, all of it super high-end. So much counter space here. All of it is quartz, so really durable, stays stain resistant, crack resistant. Whether you're living in it and using it a ton or you're renting it out, really nice to have something that's this strong. And this part right here is my favorite. It's the eat-in area. Like, it's really made to entertain so people can hang out with you while you're cooking. I personally love to cook and hate when people can't be with me in the kitchen while I'm cooking. So it's really nice to have a place like this. And this area is also immediately next to the outdoor kitchen and entertaining space as well. So it's the ideal spot to host a party when the weather is nice. And you get outside through this door right here at the back. It's the only unit in the building that has direct access from the unit into the backyard. And just like inside, they did not skimp on a thing outside. You've got the same Viking appliances on the outside, outdoor kitchen area, totally plumbed, ready to go. You also have this awesome outdoor fireplace. Great for relaxing on one of those colder San Francisco days, or if you're entertaining, having a party outside while you're cooking up amazing food. Just more examples of the elegant kind of luxury touches that they put into this building that make it one of the most unique buildings of this type in San Francisco. Now on the side here, kind of tucked away from that outdoor area is where all the mechanical is for the building. Super nice what they did here. They've got tankless water heaters, for each individual unit. Every unit is separately metered for electricity. They've got individual air compressors out here. Each unit has AC and heat. So, you know, on the rare occasion where you actually do need AC in San Francisco, and it does happen, these units are equipped with that. Now, I promised I would show you that elevator and where it leads to. So let's head back upstairs into the unit, and I'll take you there right now. This is wild. It's like— Living in a $20 million penthouse, having something like this actually in your unit just for you, take you right up from the garage after you park your car directly into your unit so you're not like lugging groceries up the stairs, stuff like that. Super, super elegant touch. So the elevator drops you off into your own private space just for that unit. So down here you've got a temperature-controlled wine cellar. It's huge, fits a ton of bottles. You've got like a folding station here for the laundry. You've got plumbing down here, so you know, you actually have a usable sink and like wash station. You've got your own laundry units separate from your unit. But this is just for Unit 1. And then on the other side of this wall right here, you've got your own private gym. Obviously, you don't have to use it as a gym if you don't want to, but the owners have used it as a gym. They've lived here. So that's how it is right now. Just like having a private elevator, I'm not aware of another rental unit in San Francisco where you have your own private gym. And the elevator is not the only way you can access that space. You can access it through the side yard into the garage or directly through the garage through a lockable door here. So it is really private just for that first unit. You also have a massive garage, enough parking for 3 cars, plus you have an additional driveway spot. It's essential to have parking in the city. Definitely if you want to command premium rents.— you have to have it. There's also a ton of storage throughout the garage in front underneath those entry stairs as well as in the back of the garage. And that's on top of all the storage that's in each of these units. And I'm going to take you through those other units now. So that's the owner's unit. Now I'm going to show you the other smaller units on the upper levels of the building. I would say these other units, they have some similarities from like a finish standpoint, but they're a completely different profile, not really ideal for an owner-user unless, you know, maybe you're a single person or maybe you're a couple with like no kids or pets and you just are okay with living in a smaller space. So on the middle floor of the building, you have two 1-bed, 1-bath units, one in the front, one in the back. And then on the top floor of the building, you've got another 1-bedroom unit in the front and then a studio in the back of the building. All of these units have brand new kitchens, new induction ranges, in-unit laundry, which is a must-have, gorgeous millwork around the doors and around the windows. You've got high ceilings that really add a sense of scale to these spaces. In each of these other 4 units, all of the ceiling heights are at least 9 feet. Incredible natural light from 3 sides from the detached exposures. Historic windows and stained glass have all been preserved exactly as they they looked over a century ago when the building was first built. Super expensive detail to do. The amount of storage here is absurd. They have these massive closets aligning the walls in these units, and they've already been outfitted with custom built-ins, so they are ready to go. Somebody moving in here does not have to do a thing to make this livable for them. And even though, unlike that owner's unit, they don't have direct access off their unit to the backyard, yard. Yard is still accessible outside through either the side of the house or through the garage. So maybe a resident wants to, you know, host a get-together, have some people over for dinner, or they want to bust out the grill. They can still access the beautiful yard space very easily. And all of these units, the upper units, the owner's unit, all of them come furnished with a lot of what you've seen so far. The couches, the TVs, the soundbars, the books, the desks, the lights, the pillows, the cushions, the flatware, the supplies, the vacuums, everything that you could possibly need to start living and renting day one. This is literally the most convenient investment property on the market in San Francisco. If maybe you want to get into San Francisco real estate, you want to invest in property here, but you're a little scared to dive in, whether, you know, dealing with preexisting tenants or dealing with SFPL, SF Planning. You don't have to do any of that here. It's completely vacant, no pre-existing tenants paying below market rents. It's already been completely redone head to toe, so you don't have to deal with SF Planning, and you don't have to spend a ton of money bringing it up to modern standards to the point where you can start commanding those really premium rents. It's already ready to go. You don't even have to spend money on supplies to furnish these places. It's already been done. And it's not just an— opportunity because of how nice the building itself is, but because of the incredible A+ location. The property's on the corner of Pierce Street and Sacramento Street in Pacific Heights, my favorite neighborhood in the city, and one of the most sought-after and routinely ranked as one of the most expensive neighborhoods to live in the city. And even more special is its specific location within Pacific Heights itself. It's a block away from one of my favorite parks in the city, Alta Plaza Park. The building is close to the south side of the park, which has a bunch of terraces with, like, landings and seating areas all leading up to a flat area with picnic tables, children's play areas, basketball court, tennis courts. There's a huge open green space for, like, lounging around when the weather is nice or playing with your dog or kids. People use those giant stairs on the south side for exercise throughout the day. And the views from here are incredible. As you come up those stairs, you start to really get a picture of it. The beautiful historic homes lining the park with A+ views out in the distance. I actually live in the neighborhood a block west of Alta Plaza Park, and I love having a space like this close by. And the great thing about living in Pacific Heights is that the weather is good enough where you can actually, like, take advantage of the space. It's pretty mild by San Francisco standards. You don't have you know, crazy cold and fog fronts from the Pacific Ocean like you would in like the Richmond or the Sunset making their way over to this part of the city. So weather tends to be a little bit more temperate and you can really take advantage of the views and the open park space, which is great. And just 2 blocks east of the house and right next to Alta Plaza Park is Fillmore Street, which is a great shopping, dining, and bar scene. I love Fillmore Street. I live 4 blocks away and walk there at least once a week. Sometimes I am buying new soap at Aesop, or I'm getting new jeans at Paige. Sometimes it's just to get an afternoon latte at Blue Bottle, sometimes to meet friends or other clients for lunch. They've got great Italian spots, Mexican spots, Vietnamese food, Mediterranean food, a ton of options literally 2 blocks away from the building. You're also close to Sacramento Street, which starting about 4 blocks west of the property has its own share of home goods stores, interior design spaces, antique shops, and Michelin-level and casual food. One of my all-time favorite SF restaurants, Spruce, is on Sacramento Street, only a few minutes drive away or about 10 to 15-minute walk. Incredible chocolate chip cookies and one of the best burgers in the city. And if you want to cook at home in one of those awesome kitchens instead of going out to eat, super convenient to do that. You are just a few blocks from Mollie Stone's Market and just a few minutes drive away from Cal Mart, Bryans, and Whole Foods. So you have a ton of different grocery stores available really close to the property. And this area is especially walkable because this part of Pacific Heights, at least on the streets running in the east to west direction, are almost completely flat. So really easy to walk to Fillmore Street, walk to those grocery stores. And even if you do have to go uphill to get the park, for example, it's only one block up the hill and it's not even that steep. So really easy to walk around. Great walkability living in this area. But if you do have a car, obviously really easy to get around. You're also only about 10 minutes from downtown SF. So if you're in the mood for some luxury shopping in Union Square or want to take advantage of the incredible restaurants in like Jackson Square, SoMa, or the Financial District, really easy to get to. And if you want to go north to Napa or Sonoma for wine tasting or to Marin for some hiking or biking, you're 5 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge. Just an all-around incredible central location. I've lived in Pacific Heights for about 5 years now. I absolutely love it. I have no intent on leaving anytime soon. I think it has the best blend of that historic architecture and charm with perfect walkability and amenities that, you know, modern living really commands. It's truly unmatched. And when you combine it with the incredible finishes and amenities at the property itself, you really have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to own a piece of San Francisco history. And to make a lot of money while doing it. At market rates today, if you were to rent out this entire building, you could earn well north of $300,000 a year, all without having to do any major renovation because it's already been done. Whether you're looking to rent out the entire building and maximize income or live in one unit and just supplement your income by renting out the others, this place needs to be on your radar. I've got more information about the investment opportunity. Let's go. Linked in the description below. Go check it out. And if you have any questions or you want a tour of the building, reach out to me. And remember, if you like videos like this, more property tours about current events in San Francisco, new developments, and just the general San Francisco lifestyle, subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. And if you want to learn more about the Pacific Heights neighborhood, I've got a ton of videos about it, a pros and cons video, a walking tour video, and a comparison of different parts of Pacific Heights. Pacific Heights. I'll link all of those in the description below. Go check them out. I hope you enjoyed the video, and I'll see you in the next one.