Homes for Sale in Cole Valley

Updated Cole Valley Real Estate 

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Homes for Sale in Cole Valley March 19, 2024
11
Listed
44
Avg. DOM
$1,091.87
Avg. $ / Sq.Ft.
$1,395,000
Med. List Price
11 Properties

How Cole Valley Got Its Name

Cole Valley is located in the geographic center of San Francisco. It is bordered by Stanyan Street to the west, Clayton to the east, Carmel Street on the south, Tank Hill on the southeast, and Golden Gate Park and Waller on the northwest and north side.
Famous as the former home to Craig Newmark, what is historically interesting about Cole Valley is that it was more or less founded by a notorious physician turned politician named R. Beverly Cole. “...[I]n in 1858 [Cole] read a committee report before the California State Medical Society. He was chairman of the "Committee on Obstetrics and Diseases of Women." The remarks of the young man of twenty-nine about the chastity of the ladies of California to which so many took exception were:

"…they yield to the solicitations of the opposite sex and seductive allurements of dissipation, and find themselves in a short time the prey of disease. This applies equally to the married and unmarried--and so general is it that I believe I am correct when I estimate two in every three females, who have reached the age of fifteen, to be victims of this dissipation and fashionable life."

He was exonerated, but a lot of people were pissed off for a long time about his sexist remarks denigrating women. Cole was instrumental in founding Golden Gate Park as he proposed that San Francisco develop 1000 acres west of the downtown area into what eventually became Golden Gate Park. He also helped found and laid the cornerstone for what became UCSF Mt. Parnassus.

Nowadays Cole Valley is mostly home to a younger crowd and medical professionals who work at UCSF.

Top 5 Reasons to Live in Cole Valley--and Top 3 Reasons not to Live in Cole Valley

Craig Newmark of Craigslist infamy could live anywhere. Do you know where he chose to live? Stay tuned to find out as I share my top 5 reasons why it would be fun to live in the same neighborhood as Craig once did.

San Francisco is a City of nearly 100 neighborhoods on hills, in valleys, and near beaches, that is mostly surrounded by water. My favorite “valley” is Cole Valley.

Cole Valley is located in the geographic center of San Francisco. It is bordered by Stanyan Street to the west, Clayton to the east, Carmel Street on the south, Tank Hill on the southeast, and Golden Gate Park and Waller on the northwest and north side.
Famous as the former home to Craig Newmark, what is historically interesting about Cole Valley is that it was more or less founded by a notorious physician turned politician named R. Beverly Cole. “...[I]n in 1858 [Cole] read a committee report before the California State Medical Society. He was chairman of the "Committee on Obstetrics and Diseases of Women." The remarks of the young man of twenty-nine about the chastity of the ladies of California to which so many took exception were:

"…they yield to the solicitations of the opposite sex and seductive allurements of dissipation, and find themselves in a short time the prey of disease. This applies equally to the married and unmarried--and so general is it that I believe I am correct when I estimate two in every three females, who have reached the age of fifteen, to be victims of this dissipation and fashionable life."

He was exonerated, but a lot of people were pissed off for a long time about his sexist remarks denigrating women. Cole was instrumental in founding Golden Gate Park as he proposed that San Francisco develop 1000 acres west of the downtown area into what eventually became Golden Gate Park. He also helped found and laid the cornerstone for what became UCSF Mt. Parnassus.

Nowadays Cole Valley is mostly home to a younger crowd and medical professionals who work at UCSF.

Every neighborhood has good reasons to live there or not. Here is my opinion on the “cons” or reasons why not to live in Cole Valley. To be honest, Cole Valley is so awesome that I couldn’t think of many major reasons not to live there. I can only come up with one real reason why someone would not want to live there. Well not so much as not want to--but would be unable to--live there. I can think of a few minor reasons not to live in Cole Valley. These are similar to some of the reasons not to live in San Francisco in general.

So, here are my 3 “cons” or reasons not to live in Cole Valley:

#3 Noise from the N-Judah streetcar line. MUNI is noisy pretty much wherever you find the train tracks. Being right on them can be deafening at times and entire buildings can rattle--just like being in an earthquake!

#2 Parking--I remember several years ago, when I was holding open houses at a condo on Belvedere Street. I would circle 10-15 minutes searching for parking to no avail. I would have to park half a mile away at the UCSF Mt. Parnassus garage. Parking is perennially a pain in San Francisco and Cole Valley is NO exception!

#1 Expensive. Because of its desirability, Cole Valley tends to be on the pricey side of homes for sale in San Francisco. Whereas the overall median price for single-family homes sold in the last 3 months in San Francisco is $1,825,000 and average sold price is just under $2.27 million ($2,268,892); in Cole Valley, the average home sells for a whopping $3,382,178 with a median price of $3,125,000.

The median sold price for San Francisco condos is $1,250,000 and the average sold price is $1,397,000. Condos in Cole Valley sell for an average price of $1,795,000 and have a median sales price slightly lower at $1,792,500--or about 40% more than the median price for San Francisco as a whole.

If the higher-than-average prices to buy a home in Cole Valley don’t scare you off, here are my 5 reasons to live in Cole Valley

#5 Good Transportation--that same noisy N-Judah line runs right through Cole Valley through a tunnel that gets locals downtown or as far as the Giants Stadium--or even out to Ocean Beach--quickly and easily.
As far as East/West streets crossing San Francisco, it is hard to beat Oak and Fell for getting to or from the 101, going over 17th to Market and the Castro or taking Lincoln all the way to the ocean. Personally, given a choice, I prefer Lincoln to Fulton (my nearest major east/west street) or Geary. Lincoln has fewer traffic lights than either of these and a higher speed limit than Geary Blvd.

#4 Family-friendly with good neighborhood public and private schools There is a Chinese immersion school started by some of the residents, a French school, Grattan Elementary, Montessori, other pre-schools and language schools and the Urban School in adjacent Haight-Ashbury.

#3 Close to shops and restaurants on Haight Street such as Gus’s and Whole Foods, Magnolia Brewing, lots of 2nd-hand stores and local crafts--without the craziness of living in and dealing with the hippies and tourists of Haight-Ashbury.

#2 Wonderful restaurants, eateries and coffee shops on Cole Street such as Zazie, Kamekyo, Peet’s, The Ice Cream Bar, Padrecito, e La Boulangerie, Wooden Coffeehouse and Crepes on Cole Street. Plus The Kezar Pub, CreoLa and others on Stanyan and Adel’s Wine Cellar on 17th Street. Plus the original Cole Valley Hardware. Pretty much everything you want or need is within a few blocks of Cole and Carl Streets.

#1 Right next to Golden Gate Park! Living next to the northwest corner of Golden Gate Park now, I would love to live next to the opposite corner or southeast side of the park. Living in Cole Valley puts you within a few blocks of Kezar Stadium, Kezar Pavilion, soccer fields, Goldman Tennis Center, the Robin Williams Meadow, and the National AIDS Memorial Grove. Just a tad further into the park are a baseball field, handball courts, a planetarium and the California Academy of Sciences. I have only been there once with my nephew and we both enjoyed it. I highly recommend the Academy for ALL ages!

To be in a delightful neighborhood and next to San Francisco’s largest park, Cole Valley is truly a wonderful place to call home. All of these things combine to make Cole Valley very special in my opinion. Other than the high price of real estate, Cole Valley is a quintessential San Francisco neighborhood with everything a big city and a small neighborhood adjacent to a magnificent park have to offer!

With good schools, great transit, many shopping and eating options, and being next to Golden Gate Park, I hope that you will agree with me as to why Cole Valley is a great San Francisco neighborhood for people with children and/or dogs thanks to schools and being next to Golden Gate Park, and medical professionals due to proximity to UCSF. I hope that you found a few reasons why you might want to make this wonderful neighborhood your new home in San Francisco!

Add to resources in bio:
https://history.library.ucsf.edu/cole.html (about R. Beverly Cole)
Schools: http://www.colevalleysf.com/family-resources.html
http://www.colevalleysf.com/history.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole_Valley,_San_Francisco https://tonyaaronandrade.com/cole-valley-neigh%60borhood-and-history/

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