2330 University Ave #110 East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Last sale: Feb 22, 2006 Sold $445,000
Loss if sold for asking: $246,000 or 55%

I don’t know about you but these listing photos just make me somewhat dizzy.  You can sort of make out some chairs in the first one, but the second one seems like the realtor took it while he/she was drunk and fumbled around. Anyway, I suspect the cut down price is to elicit more bids, or the realtor was really drunk?

Last sale: Feb 14, 2006 Sold $708,000

This one makes me have a sinking feeling. It’s about $24k below the latest median, but it’s reduced quite a bit from its last sale price.

This house seems to have a good facade, and it’s the same size of the condo I rent, but to buy it would cost twice as much as renting. Awesome huh?

Last sale: May 26, 2005 Sold $780,000

This one is more than $200k below its last sale price and it’s a short sale, which means the deal probably won’t complete.  It’s priced right at the county median now.  It’s an okay neighborhood, but it’s on a busy street.

The general pattern to the median priced home seems to be the following:

1) The house is less than 1200 square feet

2) The house is more than 50 years old

3) The house isn’t exactly affordable to those with a median income.

Oh well, maybe one day this madness will end.

226 Crocker Ave Daly City, CA 94014

Price: $399,000

Last sale: Bank repo for $454,750
Peak sale: 5/24/2006 for $740,000
Loss if sold for asking: $341,000 from peak price

Remember this horror show of a house? Well, this one isn’t that bad, but the bank must have hired someone who just really couldn’t care less about selling this house to take the pictures.   It looks like it’s been squatted in.  Here are some piles of trash:

Finally the requisite scary backyard:

2614 READ Ave Belmont, CA 94002

Price: $899,000

Last sale: 7/24/2006 $1,233,000
Loss if sold for asking: $334,000 or 27%

This is actually a nice looking larger home in Belmont.  The owners that sold the home for 1.2 million definitely made out like bandits.  It seems that they bought the place in 1999 for $241k, and then refied and took out a loan worth $663.5k in 2003 and then sold the home to the latest seller in trouble in 2006.  It’s amazing that this home was only $241k in 1999, though.  Adjusted for inflation $241k should be only worth $309k now.  I highly doubt that the home would drop another 600k, but another $100 to $200k might be possible.

1115 DAVIS St Redwood City, CA 94061

Price: $399,900

Last sale: Sep 27, 2006 Sold $585,000

It looks like this home first went on sale in 2007 and was listed for a total of five times. Now it is a REO. The price has been cut by at least 100k since its first listing and it is down a bit more than 170k from the last sale price. Good luck moving this one.

1825 MIDDLEFIELD Rd Redwood City, CA 94063

Price: $259,900

Last sale:
Sep 11, 2006 $630,000
4/18/2000 $297,500

Yup, this little rancher has rolled back to below its 2000 sale price. What a difference 9 years make. This is currently owned by U.S. Bank and it is definitely the cheapest single family home in Redwood City now based on price per square foot. It looks like it needs some fixing, and it is not in the best neighborhood, but at least it is priced to be affordable to median income families now.

4238 GEORGE Ave #00001 San Mateo, CA 94403

Price: $365,000

I first put this one up over a year ago.  Looks like the price has been cut another $75,000 since then.  This is still a short sale which means that the troubled sellers are still holding onto the property.  Hopefully it will sell soon?

1160 WALNUT St San Carlos, CA 94070

Price: $839,000

Last sale:

Loss if sold for asking: $26,000

This is probably a good example of a delusional seller.  The median price per square foot in San Carlos has dropped to $511 and the owners of this tiny “classic Tudor” is still going for $792 per square foot.  This home isn’t on the hills but it is close to downtown.  Anyway, there is an open house this weekend on Feb 22, from 1 to 4pm.

911 9TH Ave San Mateo, CA 94402

Price: $575,000

Last sale: 1/5/2006 for $999k

Loss if sold for asking: $424k or 42.4%

I first mentioned this home in the post about multifamily properties. Now it is down another $300k. This is another short sale. It is in a decent neighborhood near Central Park and you could rent out half of it so it might almost be worth it if you can secure financing.

Here is the math.  Suppose you put 20% down and finance 460k, which is still a conforming loan in San Mateo, then at 5% the mortgage is $2469 a month.  Then you need to add around $600 a month in property tax and another $70 to $100 in insurance.  If you have a tenant on one half of the property then you could collect rent of $1500.  Add in some tax deductions and this place is almost cheaper than renting.  Of course, there are utilities and maintenance costs, too.

1344 BERNAL Ave Burlingame, CA 94010

Price: $1,385,000

Last sale: Aug 17, 2006 Sold $1,425,000
Loss if sold for asking: $40000 or 2.8%

I’m not quite sure what the realtor means when he says “Absolutely Done!!!”  He seems very fond of exclamation marks and I hope he does not talk like that in real life.  Anyway, this property has showings for the next 3 Sundays from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.  I would wait for the owners to reduce the price on this puppy since it is about $130 or about 20%  more per square foot than the median in Burlingame, and Redfin stated that Burlingame is one of the cities   with the most price reductions.     Chances are the owners of this lovely property will realize that they priced their home too high.