Thank god I only had my paper-route funds to pull from. If I'd had the solvency to afford such a place, I'd surely be regretting the choice. Sure, it would have made some money, but having since dragged numerous out-of-towners down the same stretch over the last 10 years, I'm always amazed at how many cars are lined up to go down this street. Can you imagine living here? You'd have to line up for 20 minutes most times of the day just to get into your own driveway.
Insanity.
I wondered if these homeowners pay a price for association with such tourist cachet. Some poking around Zillow seems to indicate that this is the case, but not in the manner you might expect: A quick check revealed that properties on Lombard seem to be about 25% lower per square foot than surrounding homes. Some of this gap might stem from the fact that the views a little higher up towards Filbert and Hyde are much better, and drive the comp prices up. But all things being equal, it looks like these Lombard properties suffer for their fame-iness.
Oh, and if the cars weren't enough, check this out...
Bring Your Own Big Wheel event
April 8th (Easter Sunday) 2007
4pm at the top of Lombard in SF.
Oh yeah, screw the egg-hunt. I am so there! :-)