Wow! I didn’t see this coming – Burbed was nominated for best regional blog!

If you like what you read here, please vote for Burbed.

The prize is $25, so this isn’t exactly about the money – rather, let’s help make Burbed even more well known… so that more people will find out about what makes Silicon Valley so very special!

Please visit http://www.housingwire.com/2007-rebas/ and click on the giant grey “Vote now” link at the top of the page. Burbed.com is in section 5.

Voting ends on 1/10 – so please don’t delay. OR THIS HOUSE IS GOING OFF THE MARKET.

Mountain View Voice: Scores not adding up (December 22, 2006)
Math scores among elementary students in the Mountain View Whisman School District have been slipping over the past five years, and administrators at Mountain View and Los Altos high schools have started to take notice as a segment of students consistently struggle in algebra and geometry.

Officials from the two districts held a joint meeting Monday night to look for ways to fix the problem. The collaboration was the first to take place in six years, and there should be more to come this school year.

This is probably a good thing. If math scores improve, the next generation might just realize that the 40 year ARM/NegAm loans that their parents got might not be a good idea.

Does this seem familiar to you?

Craftsman Bungalow
$2000 / 2br – Craftsman Bungalow (san mateo)
Reply to: amber@ellafinancial.com
Date: 2007-01-04, 1:06PM PST

2 Bedroom
1 Full Bathroom
Gourmet Eat-In-Kitchen with Stainless Steel Appliances
Living Room with Wood Burning Fire Place
Hardwood Floors Through Out
Fresh Paint, Picture Rails, Slip Shade Light Fixtures with Push Button Light Switches
Detached Garage with Workshop
Partial Basement for Extra Storage/ Wine Cellar
5 Min Walk to Downtown San Mateo
Sunnybrae School District
NON-SMOKING!
First and Last Months Rent
Pet Deposit Seperate Contact Amber at 650-269-6984

Well it should! It’s been on Burbed twice now. Like… yesterday!

And November too.
According to this web calculator, using the default settings and assuming you have $140,000 cash on hand, buying this house would require a $4630.23 per month payment. Remember that renting this is only $2000 a month.
That’s fine you say – after all, renting is throwing away money. Home ownership is good because it mean that you’re a real person and not a nobody – just like having a car in high school.

Except for this little statement by the website calculator:

Your home purchase does not breakeven after 30 years.

Oh. Well. In that case. Uh.

They’re not making any more land?

sacramento forums – craigslist

How do I find a good appraiser  <  - >  12/24 13:29:33

I need to refinance my home, but the appraiser I hired says he can only put that it is worth $525, but I need it to be worth $575 because I have to pay for my daughters wedding this summer and my son starts college next fall.

I am willing to pay and extra amount for the appraisal if you can get the full appraisal amount, it is just for a re-finance

Oh, so that’s how appraisals work!

(Thanks to a commenter on the Housing Bubble Blog)

So back on Feb 11, 2006, Burbed featured this house:

Nearly one year later, “you” posted this comment:

Name: you | E-mail: FU@yahoo.com | IP: 75.*.*.185

Hi
Keep your your house for yourself

Friend

Posted Jan 4, 9:24 AM

About 10 minutes later, Linda chimed in:

Name: linda | E-mail: Mityou@yahoo.com | IP: 75.*.*.185

Hi,
Nobody will pay you $540,000 to buy such old & ugly house. Keep it for yourself. otherwise, reducing the price to 0.25 cents.

Your neighbors.

Posted Jan 4, 9:32 AM

And finally, another 10 minutes later, Eboney said:

Name: Eboney | E-mail: likeyou@yahoo.com | IP: 75.*.*.185

How ugly your house is ! I sold my house in fremont and asked for $500, 000 with 3 bed and 2 bath, good location and good schools, and 6500 SF lot. I moved to Arizona two months ago and bought a brand new house in Chandler. the house is 2450 SF with 8000 SF lot and price is $220,000. I still save $250,000 in Bank.
So I suggest you reduce the price and move out of CA.
you will have a better life.

Eboney

Posted Jan 4, 9:42 AM

Ok, obviously they’re the same person. But why this house? And why now?

What’s your theory?

(BTW, it looks like this house never sold.)

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 637683
702 S DELAWARE ST
San Mateo, CA 94402

$699,000
LAST CHANCE TO OWN THIS CHARMING BUNGALOW!
LAST CHANCE TO OWN THIS CHARMING CRAFTSMAN BUNGALOW BEFORE IT GOES OFF THE MARKET AND UP FOR LEASE!LAST OPEN HOUSE SUN. 12/17 1:30-4:30. Charming 2bed/1bath in Sunnybrae School District. Gourmet Eat-in-Kitchen, stainless steel appliances, wood burning fireplace in living room, private backyard, fenced frontyard for added privacy, detached garage with workshop (can be permitted to turn into in-law-unit),partial basement for extra storage or/wine cellar.

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 637683 Approx Age: 82 Years Approx Sq Ft: 820
Detached Single Family 1 Story Cottage/Bungalow
2 Bedrooms Ground Floor Bedroom 1 Bathroom
1 Shower over Tub 1 Tub Eat in Kitchen

Look familiar? It should! It was on Burbed back in November after there was a “$70k price cut”

I don’t get it – how can you be both a motivated seller and threaten that if the house isn’t sold soon it will be come a rental?

BTW, you can rent a nicer 2br/2ba for $2000 just a few blocks away, instead of paying $2620 (with 10% down) for a Interest Only ARM.

Wow! I didn’t see this coming – Burbed was nominated for best regional blog!

If you like what you read here, please vote for Burbed.

The prize is $25, so this isn’t exactly about the money – rather, let’s help make Burbed even more well known… so that more people will find out about what makes Silicon Valley so very special!

Please visit http://www.housingwire.com/2007-rebas/ and click on the giant grey “Vote now” link at the top of the page. Burbed.com is in section 5.

Voting ends on 1/10 – so please don’t delay. OR THIS HOUSE IS GOING OFF THE MARKET.

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 667015
3415 WAVERLEY ST
Palo Alto, CA 94306
$925,000

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 667015 Approx Age: 50 Years Approx Sq Ft: 765
Detached Single Family 1 Story 2 Bedrooms
1 Bathroom 1 Stall Shower 1 Shower over Tub

Aww… that was too easy.

I wonder why there aren’t any internal photos of this 50 year old house…

Since October, Burbed has been following the story of these three condos at 274 Pamela Drive in Mountain View.

Here were the prices in October:

And then in December:

And here’s what they looked like today:

Wow… #5 is really leading this race to drive the prices down! That’s almost a 12% price reduction!

What’s interesting is that according to Zillow, this person paid $335,000 in 10/14/2005 to buy this condo. If that’s true, and this condo clears for $308,000 – well, that’d still be a 14%+ loss after comission and $268 HOA! This doesn’t even include any renovations/repairs.
That’s $2820 thrown away per month. $94 a day.

Remember though: renting is throwing a way money. So you wouldn’t have wanted to rent a comparable unit for $1000 a month anyway. Why? Because the $1820 a month you would’ve saved allows you to be a homeowner.

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN / Johnnie Pitts
Beaming with pride and talking a mile a minute, Johnnie Pitts stacked up piles of legal documents on his living room floor the Wednesday before Christmas. The San Francisco Muni driver had just returned from having his signature notarized on agreements that permanently modify his once-exorbitant mortgage to a reasonable interest rate, allowing him to keep the three-bedroom bungalow on Oakland’s MacArthur Boulevard.

[snip]

At the same time, he boosted his income by racking up overtime – an extra 10-hour day every week – to catch up on some missed mortgage payments and property taxes. “It’s not like I was trying to shirk my responsibility and run,” he said. “My family and co-workers said, ‘Why don’t you just do a short sale?’ but this is my house. This is the major purchase of my life.”

When Pitts bought the run-down house for $429,950 with 100 percent financing in 2005, his interest rate on the larger of his two loans from Chase was fixed at 7.2 percent for two years and then could reset to as high as 10.026 percent. New increases could come every six months. Now Chase has agreed to lock the rate at 6.75 percent for the 28 years remaining on the loan and has made similar modifications to the second mortgage.

[snip]

Pitts’ monthly mortgage will now be just shy of $2,800. Property taxes and insurance add another $700 a month. The $3,500 monthly total is still quite steep for a man whose base income is about $4,000 a month, although he can earn another $1,000 or so through overtime.

[snip]

“When it comes to renting, it’s just cash in the trash,” he said. “You can’t win no way when you’re renting, especially if you’re single and in the 35 percent tax bracket. Owning a house is the best thing you can do for yourself. It’s worth it to have some stability.”

Now that the word “modify” has entered his vocabulary, Pitts frequently invokes it. “I’m going to modify my lifestyle,” he said. “I shop at the dollar store; I buy in bulk and on sale. If push comes to shove, I may have to get a roommate.”

 

It’s true! Just imagine, your landlord raises your rent by 10% – can you negotiate it down?

NOPE

Can you do the same with a mortgage? Of course!

And that’s the lesson for today folks.