The house on Vallejo Street seemed like it had it all: five spacious bedrooms, a roof deck with panoramic views of San Francisco’s Chinatown and the Financial District and a glossy kitchen that opened out onto an airy, bright living room.
To Katelin Holloway and Ben Ramirez, the place looked like the ultimate real estate find and their forever dream home. Their two young sons could have bedrooms of their own with space left over for the couple to work from home and host visiting relatives. The best part: purchasing the home meant they could stay in the North Beach neighborhood they adored and where they had lived for almost 20 years.
It seemed wise to snap the place up. Single-family homes in North Beach are exceedingly rare. They cashed out the financial stake Holloway, a tech investor, had in Reddit and tapped into their savings to buy the 3,700-square-foot house for $4.75 million. By the spring of 2021, the family had moved in…