This property was listed on the market by one of the top rated Barbagelata Real Estate teams- Anna Barbagelata and Sandra Gandolfo. Located in Midtown Terrace with adjacent neighborhoods like The Castro, UCSF Parnassus campus and Glen Park, as well as close to 280/101 made it ideal for a starter home of young professionals. Considering that the average size of a family is 4 people (2 adults + 2 kids) and families usually require additional space for hosting an au-pair or family and friends, the 3 Bd + 2 Ba set up of the existing house was not sufficient. Also, the existing building's condition was good, not allowing room for an investor to turn a profit though minimum improvement or a quick flip.

In other words, this property was too small for a typical size family or for a low budget investor.

Considering these facts, in order to increase the size of the target market, the listing agents had to come up with a marketing strategy that would cover requirements from both the typical family and investors. The only way to do that was to bring out the listing's development potential. But how?

1. Casually pointing out to the potential buyers that there might be some build potential. This would be too weak an argument for someone to place an offer, could trigger liability issues and creates distrust since realtors don't have the expertise to state this without a document to back it up.
2. Hire an architect to perform a zoning analysis for this property. This would be great because it takes care of the liability issue but it'd be cost prohibitive for the listing's marketing budget.
3. Order a CItyStructure report. This report gives an estimated size of the development, takes the liability off Realtor's side and it costs 10x less than a zoning analysis performed by an architectural studio.

Anna Barbagelata and Sandra Gandolfo decided to go for the obvious choice, the CityStructure Value Added report.

In order to make the analysis as accurate as possible without a survey, our team spent additional time to put together this report because the existing house had a very steep sloped backyard. This topography is great because it allows great views but it comes with a higher construction cost as well as challenging site analysis. In the end, Value Added report revealed the maximum size of the building by taking into consideration the topography of the lot, the roof line of the entire block and adjacent buildings' rear setbacks. Even with all these site challenges, the results of the report showed a possible addition of 1,025 sqft in the rear side of the existing building. This addition would have breathtaking views and it'd create room for an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) for this property if the new owner would have liked to have passive income or host an au-pair.

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The Final Result

Despite the challenges associated with this property, the opportunities revealed by Value Added report helped Anna and Sandra to sell the property above asking price - $1,362/sqft as opposed to $998/sqft median price for that area per Zillow's estimate.