$96,000 off a house in where??
MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 654913
2253 GLEN WY
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
$419,900
This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 654913 Approx Age: 52 Years Approx Sq Ft: 790
Attached Single Family 1 Story Cottage/Bungalow
2 Bedrooms 1 Bathroom 1 Shower over Tub
Seem familiar? It should! Here’s an October post to jog your memory:
What’s going on here? I thought East Palo Alto was supposed to be all special now. Are they making more land there? Better act now – the Realtors say the market is about to go back up!
(Thanks to Burbed reader Alex for this one too.)
January 25th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Here is an *ahem*, “equivalent” house in Austin, Texas:
http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1074366835
But hey, the Bay Area is special. How can one compare East Palo Alto to Austin Texas?? I bet there isn’t even a Fry’s nearby!
And before someone jumps in with their standard “I’d never live in Texas” cliche, how about another comparison?
Here’s an equivalent house in friggen Miami Beach!
http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1069225477
No bubble in the Bay Area? Tokers, please put the bongs away. Your vision is obscured.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:08 am
But Austin has a really high crime rate compared to… uh… oh… nevermind.
January 25th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
One of the condos in Sunnyvale you posted about in October has been sold. The condo at 757 N Fairoaks Ave APT 2, Sunnyvale, CA 94085 was being offered in October 2006 for $430,000. See the link below.
http://www.burbed.com/2006/10/16/fairoaks-war-gets-worse-now-its-a-3-way/
According to Zillow it sold for $349,999 on Nov 13, 2006. See below
Sale History from zillow.com
11/13/2006: $349,900
02/14/2005: $365,000
January 25th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I agree you could find a nice house in Austin for much less. But you need to consider taxes when buying. Tax in ca would be about 4,000/year, tax in Austin would be about 9,000 per year. But that same looking ca house put on an Austin lot would cost 80,000 max and Austin has much more to do than Palo Alto.
January 25th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Well there’s also general cost of living. I found that groceries in the Bay Area were on average 20% more than in Seattle.
I doubt groceries would be more in Austin than in the Bay Area.
January 25th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Now I may be mentioning something you all already know, but East Palo Alto used be *the* murder capital (per capita) of the US in the late 80s. It was crack and gangs and borrowing-cops-from Palo Alto…What justifies $750k for a crackhouse nowadays?
January 26th, 2007 at 10:01 am
“Tax in ca would be about 4,000/year, tax in Austin would be about 9,000 per year”
That is true assuming you buy the $400k house in Austin.
However, a quick perusing through the real estate listings shows numerous high quality houses in Austin going for 200k or less. So roughly 6k in property taxes.
Also to take into account is the lack of state tax in Texas. The difference will come close to completely offsetting the increased property tax. (Depending on salary)
The point is that Texas has more of a consumption based tax system which gives people more freedom and control over their lives by mitigating their purchases. California being more socialistic in nature does the Robin Hood method of taxing the rich to feed the poor. Unfortunately, California’s situation has been exacerbated to the point that now (thanks to legislation like prop 13), the tax system heavily penalizes the middle class as well. Which will have dire consequences for the state’s economy moving forward.
But hey, if you don’t want Texas, buy that place in Miami. Florida state taxes are still pretty cheap. And the beaches in Miami are topless.
January 30th, 2007 at 12:53 am
I’d rather live in this house (http://austin.craigslist.org/rfs/270510984.html) in Austin, than pay over 400k to live in East Palo Alto. Austin is a pretty city and has a lot to offer than East Palo Alto. There is absolutely no comparison.