Price: $425,000

Last sale: May 23, 2001 Sold $592,500 – Yup.. it’s down from 2001!!

Loss if sold for asking: $167500 or 28.3%

This property has been on the market for about 9 months now. It is a duplex and the smaller unit actually pulls in $1400 in rent.  This could be a good deal for someone with the downpayment.  Here are the calculations:

Downpayment: 20% = 85,000

Loan: $340,000

Terms: 5.25% fixed  – This is a duplex so you could qualify for primary residence rates if you live in half of it.

Monthly  mortgage: $1877.49

Income: $1400

Taxes: Approximately 1.1% so  it’s about $400 a month.

Insurance: $50 a month or $600 a year as an estimate.

So if you live in half of it and collect the rent, then you would be spending around $1027.49 a month to own this.  Additionally, you can deduct the mortgage interest on the portion you live in.  This could be a good deal provided that the house isn’t super trashed.  It is in the area near Redwood City downtown, and it can be a little sketchy at night I guess, but the neighborhood isn’t horrible.   I’m convinced that there is something else wrong with this place.  It is a short sale, and banks have been notoriously slow in responding to offers, and maybe that’s why it still hasn’t sold.

1103 ADAMS St Redwood City, CA 94061

Price: $500,000

Last sale: Nov 20, 2001 Sold $450,000

This is another Downey foreclosure.  It looks pretty ugly from the outside, but the inside looks okay.  This is another 100% financed home, but the loan was taken out in 2001.

639 ADAMS St Redwood City, CA 94061

Price: $338,800

From the pictures it actually looks like this is a decent looking home in a fairly convenient part of Redwood City. It’s currently owned by Emc Mortgage Corporation in Texas, and the previous owner seemed to have been living in Menlo Park for at least two years. So I’m guessing this is probably an investment property that’s been abandoned. If this were $275,000 to $300,000 I may consider submitting an offer, but I have a feeling people are going to bid this one up since the average price per square foot is still around $460 in the 94061 zip code.

2 ZACHARY Ct Menlo Park, CA 94025

Price: $2,570,000

Last sale price: Oct 31, 2001 $2,500,000

Original list price: May 12, 2008 $2,950,000

After 3 months on the market and almost $400k in price reductions, this house is now listed for less than 3% above its 2001 price.  This is in the prime area of west Menlo Park west of Alameda de Las Pulgas.

4102 ADMIRALTY Ln Foster City, CA 94404

Price: $315,000

Last sales:

Listing states that it is a REO.  It is a pretty small and old condo in Foster City with a high HOA, but the price is only 13k above its 2001 sale price.  If you consider inflation, $302k in 2001 is supposed to be worth $373k today.  (See inflation calculator from BLS)  This might be a good deal for a single person who really wants to live in Foster City.

Price: $6,950,000

Last Sale Date: 2/1/2001

Last Sale Price: $7,900,000

Loss if sold at asking: 12% or $950,000

Comment: This home was featured in one of the recent reports on The Baglady. It is a beautiful looking property, but usually extremely expensive homes like this take a long time to sell.