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.

Price: $577,900

Last sale:

This listing first came up in May for $650k, and then it probably got foreclosed on, and now it’s back on the market as a REO for around 70k less than the May price.   That’s a decent discount of $10k per month, but it’s still $572 per square foot.

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.

71 BAYPARK Cir South San Francisco, CA 94080

Price: $949,888

Last sale: Nov 17, 2004 $985,000

Loss if sold for asking: $35112 or  3.6%

This home still has an assessment above $1 million but it is under its sale price in 2004.  Inflation adjusted it is under the 2003 price. It is fairly large and is only 11 years old.  You would think that they would post a few pictures of the property at this price point, but nope, all we have is the street view photo.

912 TOYON Dr Burlingame, CA 94010

Price: $650,000

Listing history:

Last sale: Jul 15, 2004 $682,000

Loss if sold for asking: $32,000 or  4.7%

Wow, this Burlingame home just got reduced to pre-2004.  It is staged and the pictures look great, but don’t be fooled, it’s about 3 houses from the 101.

2012 PULGAS Ave East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Price: $399,999

Last sale: Feb 14, 2006 $720,000

Loss if sold for asking: $320,001 or  44.4%

Most new listings coming out EPA are troubled properties now, and the average cuts are huge.

126 Rockwood Dr South San Francisco, CA 94080

Price: $629,000

Last sale: Mar 11, 2005 $788,000
Loss if sold for asking: $159000 or 20.2%

Comments: I’m not sure what this picture is of.  Is it an in-law unit?  Exercise room?  Bike shed? Outhouse?  Anyone want to shed some light on this?

1956 SAN CARLOS Ave San Carlos, CA 94070

Price: $759,900

Last sale: Aug 14, 2006 $800,000

Loss if sold for asking: $40,100 or  5%

This house seems to be another tiny old house.  There is no square footage information but I’m pretty sure it’s under 1000 square foot.

Price: $524,900

Last sales:

Loss if sold for asking: -$125100 or 19.2%

Comments:  I calculated the loss from the 2005 price because the second sale price in 2008 is what Indymac Bank took this property back for.  This house actually looks pretty darn clean from the pictures.

29 Fairway Dr Daly City, CA 94015

Price: $624,900

Last sale: Jul 03, 2006 $861,000

Loss if sold for asking: $236100  or 27.4%

Comments:  This is classified as a fixer and it’s a spanking new listing.    One of the room has magenta walls so I highlighted the loss in magenta…