It’s Median Home Price Week on Burbed! As you know, the Median Home Price in Silicon Valley tends to be in the $68x,000 range, so each day we’ll be featuring a fine house of that price. Welcome to Day 1!

San Jose, CA Homes for Sale – 2194 Bikini Ave, San Jose, 95122
2194 Bikini Ave, San Jose 95122

Bedroom: 4 Bathroom: 2&1/2 MLS#: 702933 Square Footage: 1350 $680,000
Status:
Active
Year Built: N/A Parking Spaces: 1 List Date: 1/18/2007 Lot Size: 5227

DESCRIPTION -
2194 Bikini Ave, San Jose
FULL HOUSE COPPER PIPING! * * 2YR. ROOF! * * ALL DOUBLE PANE WINDOWS! EXTERIOR STUCCO WALLS! * * ALL HOUSE FLOORS GRANITE OR TILE! HUGE RIGHTYARD PATIO FOR PARKING!! * * 101/280 EASY ACCESS

I especially love the 2 tone pick up truck that’s parked in front of the house. This staging work really does a great job in showing off the HUGE RIGHTYARD PATIO FOR PARKING! Also, Stucco Walls are so hard to find here in California.

With a house like this, I can easily start up my taxi/limo service to enable me to afford this median priced house. Sweet!

San Jose Mercury News – S.J. condo `buyer’ faces ruined credit in questionable deal
In a written complaint to the San Jose Police Department on Jan. 29, Singh reported that he agreed with two Su Casa agents, Natrian Maxwell and Felipe Neri, to accept $2,500 for “signing

a house under my name” last May while working at Century 21 Su Casa’s Fremont branch office. He told police he was promised that his name would be removed from the property a month or two later, that the home would be transferred to the real estate company and that they would be “responsible for everything.”

[snip]

Public records show that Singh bought a condo on Saddle Rack Street in San Jose in May 2006, borrowing the full purchase amount of $579,000 from a subprime lender, Fremont Investment & Loan. His initial payments were to be $4,780 a month.

He paid $30,000 over the asking price, according to the listing agent’s Web site and real estate records.

The deal generated $28,950 in commissions for Century 21 Su Casa, according to Singh’s settlement statement. The statement also listed a $20,000 payment from the seller for repairs to the 2-year-old condo.

Singh said in an interview that he only dealt directly with his boss, Maxwell, throughout the transaction. Real estate documents indicate that Maxwell was the agent on the deal.

Singh’s loan application, prepared by Mariposa Mortgage, claims he is 20 years older than he is, earns $12,500 a month as “co-owner/manager” of Neri’s Transportation Services in Newark, a job he supposedly held for 2 1/2 years, has $24,000 in a savings account, $8,500 worth of jewelry and $19,000 in other assets and drives a Toyota Tundra truck worth $37,000.

Singh said that after asking Fremont Investment & Loan for the documents, he was surprised to see those claims on the loan application, though he signed it at the time.

“I’m like, God, I don’t have any of this. And $24,000 in my account? That’s completely insane,” Singh said in an interview. He said he had never heard of Neri’s Transportation. State records show the president of Neri’s Transportation Inc. of Newark is Felipe Neri.

[snip]

Foreclosed on in March, Singh’s condo is for sale again for $509,500 – nearly $70,000 less than he paid.

Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up.

Although technically Redwood City week at Burbed ended on Friday, here’s a bonus post:

Redwood City, CA Foreclosures on Yahoo! Real Estate: 1-10 of 80 listings

When I checked last week, there were only 6x foreclosures. Now there are 80.

That’s a good thing because foreclosures are kind of special.

Welcome to Day 5, the last day of Redwood City Week! What a fun week it has been! I hope you enjoyed it!

Redwood City, CA Homes for Sale – Redwood City, 94063
Redwood City 94063

Bedroom: 3 Bathroom: 1 MLS#: 712530 Square Footage: 1130 $730,000
Status:
Active
Year Built: N/A Parking Spaces: 1 List Date: 3/13/2007 Lot Size: N/A

DESCRIPTION -
Redwood City
Seller is motivated. Beautiful great home for a big family. 3 bedrooms 1 bath, updated kitchen about 3 yrs ago, fireplace, 1 car garage, and full studio with no permit. Must see open house on sundays 1-4pm.

Alright… it’s $730,000 for a 1130 sqft house. That’s fine. But why say there’s an open house on Sunday but then not list the address? Fortunately Movoto shows the address on the map, but still it’s sort of a guess since there’s no house number.

What’s up with this? Why the tease?

Welcome to Day 4 of Redwood City Week!

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 701407
1349 Gordon ST
Redwood City, CA 94061
$880,000

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 701407 Approx Age: 91 Years Approx Sq Ft: 1350
Detached Single Family 1 Story Ranch
3 Bedrooms Ground Floor Bedroom 2 Bathrooms
1 Stall Shower Dining Area in Family Room Separate Dining Room
Laundry Area – Inside Hardwood Floors Gas Heat
Domestic Well 2 Car Garage Lot: 8,000 Sq Ft to .25 Acre

Ok ok, I get it. This property is a huge lot – almost 1/4 of an acre. That’s huge around here. But seriously – what’s the point in listing the number of bedrooms and bathrooms? Or that there’s a separate dining room?

I know it’s separate – it’s probably in a landfill by now.

Welcome to Day 3 of Redwood City Week!

A year ago, Burbed featured this house:

$599,000 for… well… house in Redwood City? — Burbed.com: Your Silicon Valley Home and Mortgage Insanity Blog
MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 608961
517 SPRUCE ST
Redwood City, CA 94063

Back then, Burbed joked that the house should have a sign that says “Beware of House” instead.

Well, beware of house indeed! Since Burbed featured this property, it was bought … TWICE!

According to Zillow:

• 08/18/2006: $665,000
• 5/12/2006: $562,500
• 05/25/1978: $30,000

Wowsers! Everyone knows that Redwood City is going to be the next Greenwich Village, CT… but seriously! Who would’ve thought this place would appreciate 18% in just 3 months?

Too bad it’s off the market now – otherwise, this would clearly be a million dollar house by the end of this year. You snooze, you lose!

Welcome to Day 2 of Redwood City Week!

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 711837
2812 HUNTINGTON AV
Redwood City, CA 94063
$549,950This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 711837 Approx Age: 51 Years Approx Sq Ft: 830
Detached Single Family 1 Story 2 Bedrooms
1 Bathroom 1 Shower over Tub 1 Tub

Shh… be werry werry quiet. It’s a shy house. It’ll be there. Just buy it first, then you’ll see it. Shhh….

I hear that if you see this house’s shadow, it means 5 more years of 10% appreciation…

Welcome to Day 1 of Redwood City Week, here at Burbed!

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 713435
650 HURLINGAME AV
Redwood City, CA 94063
$659,000

This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 713435 Approx Age: Unavailable Approx Sq Ft: 810
Detached Single Family 1 Story Traditional
2 Bedrooms 1&1/2 Bathrooms 1 Shower over Tub

That’s a pretty sweet photo if you ask me. Sure, it’s $659k for a 810 sqft house – but look at that awesome photo!

It’s even more awesome when you see this photo:

Told you so. Now aren’t you damned impressed with the perspective in the first one?

Now that’s money!

PICKING UP STEAM / After tagging along on Zephyr’s tour of homes, it appears that reports of the S.F. market’s demise have been greatly exaggerated
She introduced herself and made her announcement in a very businesslike way: She represented a buyer in the joint purchase of a tenancy-in-common on Casselli Avenue in San Francisco’s Castro district. “It received eight offers,” she rattled off. “It went five ways over.”

A “way” is $50,000. The property sold for $250,000 over asking.

[snip]

Founded in 1978 by Drypolcher and three partners, Zephyr has grown to include six offices with a total of more than 250 agents. This month, Zephyr is opening an office on California Street in Pacific Heights. Zephyr sells lofts, single-family homes and other properties in the city’s midrange, with an average sale price of $875,000.

The Castro is one of the most desirable neighborhoods in San Francisco. It’s full of renovated homes, like the upper unit of the Casselli Avenue property, with chef’s kitchens and skylights to show off all that stone and stainless steel. It’s located within walking distance of three gyms, two grocery stores, a hardware store, and a boutique that sells only exotic door knobs and cabinet pulls. These are homes that sell for a pretty penny no matter the real estate climate.

[snip]

But what Goss really sees is a shift in the market. From where he stood, the market cooled in the summer and into the fall of 2006 but rebounded in December. Goss says he remembers clearly the moment the market came back:

“The event that caught my attention was that I presented an offer for a three-bedroom, three-bath condo in the Corona Heights neighborhood,” he recalled. “It was due the 15th of the month. The house was listed for $1.19 million. On the day the seller was going to take offers, ours was one of 14. This was 10 days before Christmas. It was at that moment that I knew something had happened. The sheer number of offers at that price point was very impressive. From that moment on, almost every situation has been a multiple offer, whether I’m representing the buyer or the seller.” The condo sold for $1.429 million and Goss’ client got the property.

Of course, the Castro isn’t the only place where the market has defied news of the death of real estate and the collapse of the subprime lending market. Much of San Francisco has been immune to the subprime bomb, Drypolcher said.

That was evident when, after the meeting, the agents took their weekly tour of Zephyr listings. A well-appointed home was open for sale in the Sunset, with a sliver of the Golden Gate Bridge visible out the window of a back sunroom. In the Mission, a staged living room mixed with monkey paintings and the owners’ bright red DJ mixing booth.

Noe Valley is the ultimate bubble-proof neighborhood. Realtor Cece Blase of Paragon Real Estate refers to it as the “mythic Noe Valley home” — a single-family home in that family-oriented neighborhood will always sell, and often with multiple offers, regardless of the market.

Take that rest of the nation! SF is unstoppable!

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Or, if you don’t need hosting services, you can also help out Burbed like Jason did this week by making a contribution:

Jason also had this to say:

You’ve had me laughing out loud for several months now, I figured it was the least I could do.   And although I’ve managed to avoid the Bay Area thus far in my career travels, your commentary on the real estate market there is widely applicable.   The home prices in the [non-special place where they're making more land] area are almost as retarded, and it isn’t nearly as special as the Bay Area! 

Thanks Jason!