A 1920 Craftsman in Ingleside Terrace and a 1939 fixer in the Inner Parkside both carried seven-figure list prices this summer and both closed at roughly twice the number. The double-the-asking sale is landing first at the entry level, not the top of the market.

The house at 627 Santiago St., in the Inner Parkside, is a 1939 three-bedroom with glass fuses still in the panel and plumbing closing in on 90 years old. A back bedroom looks out at the ocean. The family that owned it for 55 years put it on the market at an even $1 million, spent tens of thousands clearing and patching it, and figured on maybe $1.7 million, their agent Nick Honda told the San Francisco Standard's Emily Landes. Fourteen bidders later, it went for $2 million — all cash, an eight-day close.

That is not a luxury sale. That is a fixer near Taraval, and it is the shape of the summer in the city's western neighborhoods.

Across town in Ingleside Terrace, a two-bedroom Craftsman from 1920 — barely 1,000 square feet, a 1940s greenhouse and a tangled garden behind it — listed at $1.15 million and drew 21 offers. Public records show it closed at $2.305 million↗ (external source, opens in a new tab) on Aug. 3, about $2,200 a foot in a pocket where the old per-foot high was $1,300, the Standard reported. The listing agent, Sotheby's Roger Landry, said the number "just completely annihilated the neighborhood." A third Honda listing, near 40th and Taraval and priced under $1.1 million, cleared $1.9 million.

The record overbids so far have belonged to the top of the market; a Cow Hollow mansion this spring beat its ask by more than $5 million. What is new is that the doubling has reached the starter house. Landry blames supply: Compass counted 156 single-family homes for sale across the whole city in July, 40% fewer than a year ago, the Standard reported.

The lesson for anyone reading a For Sale sign out west this fall: the price is where the bidding starts.