$249,000 for a house in Redwood City
2829 Curtis Ave, Redwood City, CA 94063 – Property Details.
$249,000
* Status: Active
* Bedroom: 2
* Bathroom: 1
* Year Built: N/A
* Lot Size: 1500
* Square Footage: 830
* List Date: 6/21/2007
* Garage Spaces: 1* MLS#: 734574
Perfect home for a first time buyer. Recently remodeled flooring, bathroom, dining area in family room,kitchen,new windows,paint exterior and interior. Priced reduced/Do not miss this opportunity!! (LENDERS APPROVE,QUICKLY TO SALE.)
Dear Redwood City,
You are now officially no longer in the The Real Bay Area, or the Bay Area itself.
Auf Wiedersehen, kiss kiss.
(Thanks to Burbed readers Jeff and Madhaus for this find.)
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:58 am
interesting, I might even buy this at 100k.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 am
The driveway looks like it’s worth more than the house.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Yeah, $100k maybe. That’d be $1000 a month, the same as the rent on an apartment of that size, equal value for equal value.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
BTW this is proof you don’t have to live in an upscale Stepford Wives type town to brag to your friends that you live in a “snout house”.
Let’s recap the features of that uniquely American contribution to culture, the “snout house”
Ideally, it’s only features presented to the hostile, unknown outside neighborhood are the opening to the garage, with a driveway leading up to it. The classic “snout”. Check.
This garage must be enclosed, so that once the car goes in, it’s not even visible. Must have a “trapdoor” in front to swallow the car up when it goes home. Check.
The house must fail the “trick or treat” test: It should be utterly impossible for troublesome salesmen, kids trick-or-treating, friends, or any pesky human to find a front entrance. It has to look like only a car (or cars) live there. Check.
Landscaping must be sparse, to nonexistent. There must be no sign of any actual human spending any time puttering among the flowers. Landscaping should be done in concrete or other durable substances, with perhaps durable, non-native plants that can take a lot of neglect. Any human contact with the plants shall be by an illegal-immigrant yard service that shall be paid anonymously via a check tucked somewhere, say under a door mat, or by mail. I’ll give this place a check, because it does indeed present the proper hostile look, little greenery, and lots of cement and concrete. Your place should look like it’s social-class equivalent as seen in drive-through-neighborhood footage taken in Iraq.
This fine property shows you don’t need to pop a mil or even the larger part of it, to live like a proper upwardly-mobile American, cowering behind your spiky cactuses and glaring concrete, only going in and out via your large, for all intents armored, SUV.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Why pay a quarter of a million when you can go to Home Depot and pick one up for $3K? It’s usually on display in the parking lot.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 am
i’d buy it if it comes with a stepford wife hottie.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 am
This was put on the market in June 2007. Is this just an old listing, or has this really been on the market for 10 months (gradually inching its asking price down from $2M)? Anyone care to pull up a history on it?
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Listing Price History
Date Price
Jun 21, 2007 $550,000
Jul 10, 2007 $525,000
Jul 23, 2007 $499,000
Sep 23, 2007 $449,000
Oct 15, 2007 $399,000
Dec 29, 2007 $329,000
Jan 04, 2008 $339,000
Mar 20, 2008 $299,000
Apr 01, 2008 $249,000
Sales History
Date Price
Sep 12, 2005 $525,000
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April 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
Please, 250K for a garage, how much they want for a house?
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
somebody paid 525K for this in 2005? Thats amazing. I guess you can draw parallels to the tech stock market bubble pretty easily. Some great companies like Apple rose to new highs after the bubble crashed. Others like furniture.com became worthless. Palo Alto, Saratoga are the apples of housing and this is the furniture.com.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
“Why pay a quarter of a million when you can go to Home Depot and pick one up for $3K? It’s usually on display in the parking lot.”
I was gonna say, where I come from we call that a tool shed.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
you guys are crazy. this is a great steal at $249K. seriously, you can buy this house and get tax deductible at year end. it’s like you’re staying in this house for FREE. At least youre paying about $1000 a month on a $249K loan, and get the money back. You get nothing if you rent.
I dont think any of you guys on here owns a home. if you do, you would agree what a great deal it is.
Come on, you guys are pathetic. You have no idea what a great steal this is at $249K. Spend $50K for remodeling and wait out for a few years and you could sell for $350-$400K. Look at the lot size, it’s gigantic.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
^^ I take that as sarcasm.
I believe you could rent that place out for about $850 in Redwood City. Based on today’s 30 year mortgage rates, that place should be priced near 150k. I’d buy it for 150k, haha. It’s either that or a trailer park home in East Redwood City.
Has anyone ever considered this? Someone told me about this, but i’m having a hard time believing him. He claims that you could build parts of your home out in the desert for cheap, and then ship it on a rig overnight and plop it on a foundation. He says that’s what they do in San Francisco. Sounds like a good idea.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Live in it for free after tax deductions? Have you been to the REstater school of accounting?
Last I checked, the interest deduction was against your income, of which you still must pay tax on the difference.
Not saying this isn’t still a good deal if you don’t mind living in this part of RC…
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:48 am
^^ MSG/Shocked.
1. No it’s not sarcasm.
2. if you take a $249K loan, monthly payment+property taxes would be $1500/month = $18K a year.
Depending on your income, you could get about $10K tax back on a $18K a year mortgage. So you pay around $8K/yr to live in this house and you own it, its yours. You would pay around $10K a year to rent anyway and you get nothing back from renting. Come on, have you been to Real Estate 101 school?
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 am
“you could get about $10K tax back on a $18K a year mortgage. So you pay around $8K/yr to live in this house and you own it, its yours.”
If you deduct 18k from your income, and if you are in the 35% federal and 9% state tax bracket, you get about 8k back.
But if you are in that tax bracket, (making 300k or more per year) would you really live in an 850 sq ft house in Redwood City?
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
^^ No, 100K/yr salary a year would do it, providing that you contribute to your 401K, IRA to lower your income. then you can take that tax break.
so if you make $100K/yr and your adjusted gross income after 401K/IRA is about $75K/yr, you can deduct $18K mortgage = 55K/yr, then you deduct your federal/state taxes = $15K/yr which gives you about $10K tax refunds.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Hmmm, one more bunker entrance! But this is better than the earlier one because it is drive-in bunker. See the garage door? That’s not garage. It goes underground. You don’t need to leave your favorite Mercedes/BMW behind for annihilation by bombing. You can take it into your safe bunker.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
You know what? You’re right. This is a pretty ok deal. I’m looking at the rent vs. buy calculator from NYT, and compared to 875/month rent, with 3% annual rent increases, lowballed 6% appreciation rates on that crappy place, 38% tax bracket, 4% inflation, and 8% return on investments earned by money saved not paying for the place, you come out ahead by 200k in 30 years.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
One thing, though, I know that area, and that place is GHETTO. It’s definitely not a nice area.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
since im not familiar with that area, yeah the downside is if its in a ghetto, then $249K is not worth it. but whoever paid $550K for that place in 2005 is stupid if i may say.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
but whoever paid $550K for that place in 2005 is stupid if i may say.
———-
How so? “Home prices always go up”, right?
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Whoa. RE’s right — it does look like one of those OSH or Home Creepo tool sheds. I’ve got a similar one in my side yard.
The lot size is (cough) 1500 sf! That’s a whopping, um, .03 of an acre! I thought those sub-6000 sf lots in south Palo Alto were puny, but OMG… what did they do, put this house and that other cheapie RC house I found plus two more tool sheds on ONE lot and somehow bribe somebody in the planning department to subdivide it?
x-svl – the “snout house” essay was terrific.
burbed, come on, put up the new RBA map I made, before I have to redo it when the April sales stats come out. There will be so much more NRBA red.
Roxboy there is no way I’d buy that house. I’d find somewhere well past its last bubble and buy there instead. I suspect the prediction of $100K for that house may well be realized. Anyone notice that Costco (just down the street from this place) is now rationing rice?
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Rationing rice??
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Rationing rice??
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I think there is a global shortage of rice now. I was reading some web news that India also stopped exporting rice due to same reason.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Dear Redwood City,
You are now officially no longer in the The Real Bay Area, or the Bay Area itself.
———
Considering the fact that RWC is getting in and out from RBA too often and too many times, I think it should be banned from RBA permanently. Cities like this are disgrace for RBA. Make it RBA blacklisted cities and put it there.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Yes, Costco is indeed rationing rice. One bag per customer, please.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
burbed, come on, put up the new RBA map I made, before I have to redo it when the April sales stats come out. There will be so much more NRBA red.
———–
As cities are getting knocked out from RBA map slowly and gradually, I think the map should contain duration of RBA-hood, which would tell how long it was part of RBA in past.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Yes, Costco is indeed rationing rice. One bag per customer, please.
————
Wah! $15.99? The last time I bought, about two months back, it was $6.99.
I think pretty soon real estate agents in bay area will start selling rice. That’s an asset that doubles in two months.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Instead of adding on, you could just park your RV in the drivay.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
MSG, that is an interesting site.
You probably did not notice that the rate of investment return is only 5% (CD rate), if you change it to 10% (below historical equity return) you will never get it paid off.
And we are talking about 0.5% maintenance on this crap, no HOA fee, and 1.35% renter insurance.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Emerald Hills is still Real Bay Area. You still can’t find anything under $700K there, not even a condo.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Speaking as someone who has actually spent six of the most miserable years of her life in the 94063 zip code where this hovel is located – even if you GAVE me the house with a $249k check I would be hard pressed to live there. Not only is it a very high-crime area (rivaling EPA) but the roach and rat population is alive and flourishing…while the Emerald Hills region of RWC is very nice indeed this particular area is SO not nice. Especially surprising since it is so close to Atherton!
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
speaking of rationing rice, restaurants now charge you for breads that they normally give you for FREE while waiting for your foods. how sad. pretty soon we’re going to have a rice bubble economy…
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
The Zestimate is $461K but it shows 2,500 sq ft for the lot. To be fair, the driveway looks pretty good.
To think that someone paid 525K for that, that’s pretty sad.