Real EstateSan Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Sunday, June 24, 2012G

Mortgages:30-year ratesdrop to record low J2

One Day is Now.

Livermore Townhomesfrom the low $300’s,Homes from the $400’s866-Own-Shea

ONE DAYI’LL SAY,“honey I’M HOME” & MEAN IT

Olga Soboleva / Vanguard Properties

The Noe Valley property’s island kitchen features elegant highlights, including custom ebony cabinets with under-cabinetlighting, a decorative backsplash, hardwood flooring and state-of-the-art appliances

TransformationDiamond Street home goes from eyesore to sparkling gem

Advent Properties Inc.

What You Can RentFor around $1,535 a month, athree-bedroom apartment inOakland or a remodeled studioapartment in San Francisco J5

Zephyr Real Estate

What You Can BuyA top-floor, two-bedroom SanFrancisco condominium or aTraditional three-bedroom homein Oakland, both priced at$749,000 J4

J6 Real Estate | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Sunday, June 24, 2012 G

COVER STORY

story home that was acomplete eyesore,” saidWilliams, co-listing agentwith Vanguard Proper-ties. “It was less than1,000 square feet andreally dilapidated.”

Now the Noe Valleyhome is a three-level,four-bedroom, 4.5-bath

By Terry ShawBLOCKSHOPPER.COM

Technically, it’s a re-model.

But Omari Williamssaid the home at 1501Diamond St. is really atransformation.

“Before it was a single-

showcase with a 500-bottle wine cellar, anatrium with a waterfeature, and separategame and media rooms.

The home also has anopen floor plan with highceilings, oak flooring andan upper level withviews of downtown and

Twin Peaks.It’s listed for $3.2 mil-

lion.“We more than qua-

drupled its size,” saidJohn Chow, managingpartner of PathmarkGroup, the project’s de-veloper. “We extendedthe ground level andmain level, and we addedan additional level on topof that.”

He said the home nowoffers 4,092 square feet

Photos by Olga Soboleva / Vanguard Properties

Off the kitchen, the family room features large windows, hardwood floors and recessed lighting and offers access to the garden. The four-bedroom homereplaced one that was one-quarter its size on a corner lot on Diamond Street. Project managers extended the ground level and main level and added a third storyatop those. The stucco exterior, below, complements the cedar around the house, the fence and garage.

A gem onDiamond Street

Noe Valley ‘eyesore’ is transformedinto a sparkling 4-bedroom home

G Sunday, June 24, 2012 | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Real Estate J7

in an area where homesare typically between2,000 and 2,500 squarefeet.

“It’s definitely a prop-erty that’s very conspic-uous to neighbors,”Chow said. “It’s situatedon a corner. The stuccoexterior complementsthe cedar around thehouse, the fence andgarage.”

The entrance opens tothe atrium and leads to aformal living room anddining room that share agas fireplace.

“It’s a really large sin-gle-family home,” Wil-liams said. “It’s very rareto find something that’svirtually new construc-tion of that size andscale. The home has avery modern, contempo-rary look, but it’s alsoclassic and timeless. Thevery spacious commonareas are perfect forentertaining.”

The kitchen has anisland with counter seat-ing, custom ebony cabi-nets with under-cabinetlighting and a six-burnerWolf range, along with aSub-Zero refrigeratorand an integrated dish-

washer.Off the kitchen, a fam-

ily room with a secondgas fireplace offers ac-cess to the garden.

The lower level hastwo separate wings: thewest side houses thegame room and winecellar, while the east sidefeatures two bedrooms,two full baths and amedia room with a wetbar and a refrigerator.

It opens out onto alarge terrace and a reargarden with an outdoorfire pit.

“We wanted to makesure it’s very practical aswell as functional forfamilies,” Chow said.“Everything was done tomaximize its space andutility and to provide ahomey feel.”

The upper-level mas-ter suite has a largewalk-in closet and a bathwith a dual-spray rainshower and a separatesoaking tub.

Next to the mastersuite, an office spacecould become a nurseryor a fifth bedroom.

Another bedroomwith a walk-in closet anda full bath complete the

level.“There’s a lot of activ-

ity in the neighborhood,”Williams said. “NoeValley is becoming veryhot. It’s just a specialplace. It provides a vil-lage atmosphere with alot of restaurants andstores. It’s stroller-friendly and dog-friend-ly. But the weather isreally what sets it apart.It’s the sunniest part ofthe city.”

The design takes ad-vantage of that.

“Three and a half sidesare detached, whichprovides much betterlight than you typicallyget in San Francisco,”said Frank Nolan, leadagent on the listing.

The home also has anattached two-car garagewith side-by-side park-ing.

Nolan said there’s alack of inventory in thecity, especially for newmodern homes.

“The fact that this isclose to the interstate forthe Silicon Valley folks ishuge,” he said, notingthat 600 people havetoured the home in thepast two weeks.

The dining room shares a fireplace with the formal living room on the mainlevel, which features an open floor plan. Combined with the large windowsand the fact that 3½ sides of the home are detached, it receives much betterlight than one typically gets in San Francisco.