Bonnie Spindler, The Victorian Specialist

04/14/2026

I like the peach. Or is it salmon?

A historic Pacific Heights mansion with deep San Francisco roots sold off-market for $56 million, becoming the city's most expensive home sale since 2024.

04/13/2026

You no longer have to have a compound in New Zealand to be risk averse. You can now buy a Type-1 compound fortress in San Francisco. Just in time for our new Boom-loop.

The property took more than five years to build

04/02/2026

It’s important to remember how much ground women are losing on a regular basis.

04/02/2026

I wonder if you get dizzy or a seasick drunken sailor stagger after a week or so.

03/25/2026

Give the gift of retirement in Sonoma to your (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, mentors, etc.) You get my drift. So affordable. So convenient. Such nice amenities. It would be the gift that keeps on giving.

I meet many people who have visited Sonoma as tourists and dream of retiring there. The press has convinced them that it isn’t possible.I am here to tell you...

03/20/2026

Wow!! I will take a rebound over a rut any day.
As our Mayor says “Let’s go San Francisco.”

While much of the U.S. housing market has been stuck in a rut, pockets of San Francisco are rebounding in a big way, thanks to the AI boom, a new mayor and other changes in municipal leadership.

Last month, 16 homes in San Francisco sold for $5 million or more, a 220% year-over-year bump, Compass reported.

“It’s just skyrocketed,” says Kelsea Carlson, 34 years old, an attorney who is expecting her first child in June and has been house hunting with her husband since April. “You’re way more likely to get outbid by an all-cash offer.”

Carlson was outside a packed open house for a three-bedroom, two-bath condo on Buchanan Street in Pacific Heights. The area, known for its breathtaking views and mix of mansions, Victorians and prewar apartment buildings, has long been sought after.

Carlson and her husband have been outbid on four properties so far—even a house in nearby Presidio Heights that needed hundreds of thousands of dollars of work.

The Buchanan Street property closed less than two weeks later for $3.4 million—a full million over the listed price. There were nine offers, four of them all cash.

Inventory is especially scarce right now as would-be sellers continue to hang onto their low-rate mortgages. Demand is up, too, in recent months, creating the perfect conditions for a frenzy in certain neighborhoods.

Many buyers have been up against tender offers and the anticipated IPOs of Anthropic and others, when things are likely to get even more competitive, according to David Cohen with City Real Estate.

“People are rushing in,” says Cohen. “You add increased demand because of all this AI money and the fear of competing against those AI buyers.”

🔗 Read more: https://on.wsj.com/4lAhLVd