A developer’s $1.97m cash offer for the 2,158 sq ft (200 sq metre) property in the Noe Valley neighborhood was finalized last week. On the social media page Zillow Gone Wild, some commenters marveled at the price while others questioned the value of a house with boarded-up windows, peeling paint and an unstable foundation.
Oh, you sweet summer children…the house isn’t the play. The developer just bought a lot in Noe Valley, not a house. The house can be torn down and something can be built there that will now be the newest and perhaps most expensive house on the block, raising the value of the other houses (and the wealth of their owners) and it will meet its asking price, have no fear.
The comments on Twitter are on point.
Henry George would marvel at the dollar values involved but the underlying ideas — With the growth of population, land grows in value, and the men who work it must pay more for the privilege — hold up.