At first glance, this doesn’t seem too horrible – after all, we have lower standards for housing here in the Bay Area. $575k and you still have metal bars on the front door? No biggie…  but then…

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 634633
711 MINNESOTA AV
San Jose, CA 95125

$575,000

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 634633 Approx Age: 66 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1094
Detached Single Family 1 Story Cottage/Bungalow

you look at the interior pictures…

Oh dear. Oh dear. I love how the range is about 2 feet from the wall. Was that the style in 1940?

Testify against the mob in Chicago or New York recently? If so, this house might be great for you!

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 602507
Call Your Real Estate Professional
For The Address
San Jose, CA 95111

$550,000

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 602507 Approx Age: 55 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1118

Where is it? What is it? Who knows? Who cares! Perfect for the turncoat who wants to disappear.

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 603772
TWIN FALLS RD
MORGAN HILL, CA 95037

$525,000

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 603772 Approx Age: 4 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1430
Detached Single Family 2 Stories Ranch

So when you get tired of the view, can you somehow drive this away?

Apparently, this is the cheapest house in Silicon Valley*

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 634105
23975 GLENWOOD DR
Los Gatos, CA 95033

$350,000
CONTRACTORS SPECIAL
Nice home with a view, bright and sunny 14 minutes to downtown Los Gatos, 17 minutes to Santa Cruz, (GoogleMap) Home appears to be intact and in good condition. Landslide on lower part of property. Large retaining walls needed. Good opportunity for contractor or investor that has experience with retaining walls and Santa Cruz county. The extent of the slide needs to be determined. Sellers want to move on with their lives and are willing to take a loss. Before landslide, home was valued at $750K. Lenders will not lend on this property now. Best cash offer gets it. No contingencies, close escrow in 10 days or less. Offers reviewed on June 26 at 5PM. Home is vacant. Come out and take a look but be careful. Enter property at your own risk. Realtor’s keysafe is at property to enter the home. Listing agent can show. DIRECTIONS TO THE PROPERTY From downtown Los Gatos take Hwy 17 south. Go approx 1.5 mile past Summit Rd and exit Hwy 17 at Glenwood Dr. home is abut 3/4 mile, the third h

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 634105 Approx Age: 31 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1661
Detached Single Family 2 Stories 3 Bedrooms

You can’t get a loan for this, you can’t go there without getting killed… but it is the cheapest house in Silicon Valley. Buy it today!

*My Silicon Valley = Santa Clara less Morgan Hill and Gilroy.

So back in February, this site broke the news of this fantastic offer.

$764,900 for a 827 sqft house in Cupertino

A lot of other blogs picked it up because it was just so… crazy!

Well guess what! It turns out that this house was sold in late March!

MercuryNews.com | 04/15/2006 | Home sales, published April 15
21820 Lomita Ave. $808,000, 827 SF, 2 BR, J. Song to C. Ng; 2004:$670,000

You’re reading this right. This 827 sqft house was sold in 2004 for $670,000. Just 2 years later, it was sold again for $808,000.

That’s a 21% gain.

And now it’s worth $1,025,565!

1997: $350 per square foot
1999: $483 per square foot
2001: $756 per square foot
2003: About the same
2005: $810 per square foot
2006 March: $970 per square foot
2006 June: $1116-$1339 per square foot
2007: $2000 per square foot. Your read it here first!

Congrats to all the parties involved on this amazing transaction! Goes to show… better than stock options!

So yesterday we looked at a 1009 sqft house in Sunnyvale with no garage for $619k. Let’s look at another one today:

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 628336
575 FIR AV
Sunnyvale, CA 94085

$679,999

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 628336 Approx Age: 54 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1009
Detached Single Family 1 Story Contemporary

Is it just me or is this house entirely garage? Are you supposed to live in the garage? What the heck?

This is the first of 2 1009 sqft homes in Sunnyvale…

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 624847
598 E ARBOR AV
Sunnyvale, CA 94085

$619,000
IMMACULATE AND WONDERFUL HOME!
READY TO MOVE IN!!! New interior paint, new water heater, new dish washer, title countertop. New Front Painted Fence & Right Fence. Brand New Maple Pergo Flooring In Living Room, Hall Way And Kitchen. New Bedrooms Carpet. Elegant Dual Pane Windows And Sliding Door With Beautiful White Wood Glides. Spacious Front, Back And Side Yards With Automatic Sprinklers. Easy Access To Freeway 101, 237. Loving House Of Corner Lot With Good Neighborhood. Across street from Fair Oak Park. Close To Elementary, Middle Schools & Shopping

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 624847 Approx Age: 54 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1009

I like how this one doesn’t even have a garage. Let’s see what a garage will cost you tomorrow…

So it looks like the Merc finally has a real estate blog – a little late, don’t you think?

Square Feet

Let’s see what’s in the news…

Santa20Clara20County20Real20Estate

Wow… who knew that it was a Buyers’ Market back in 2003. Well, times have changed … and Bay Area real estate is clearly better than stock options: it always goes up.

No need to worry: Millionaires thriving
The millionaires club keeps getting bigger and bigger.

In the Bay Area, nearly 111,600 out of 2.5 million households had a net worth of at least $1 million or more in 2005, excluding the value of their homes, according to a new study.

Over the next five years, that total is expected to jump by nearly 53 percent, while the population is expected to grow by only 20 percent.

“It’s like the Napa Valley, which is a great place to grow grapes because of the various environmental factors,” said Rich Hogan, a San Francisco senior vice president at Merrill Lynch, which released the data Tuesday, along with its annual “World Wealth Report.” “In the Bay Area, there is a well-educated, sophisticated population, unparalleled access to investment managers and an area that tends to be very aware of what the next big thing is.”

Further proof that Bay Area house prices will always go up!