The beauty of America continues in Sunnyvale
04 America Ave, Sunnyvale
$569,900
* Status: Active
* Bedroom: 2
* Bathroom: 1
* Year Built: 1940
* Lot Size: 3049
* Square Footage: 754
* List Date: 2/16/2008
* Garage Spaces: 1Very clean, nice and cozy home. Easy access to freeways close to school and parks, move in condition you must see it to appreciate. Please bring all buyers and present offers.
Burbed as always been a fan of houses on America in Sunnyvale. Nothing says welcome to America quite like this house its friends.
Let’s face it, in these troubled economic times, you don’t know what might happen. Sunnyvale is one of America’s safest big cities, but this house just makes it that much safer with its steel mesh doors. Furthermore, at just 784 square feet, defending your castle will be extremely easy.
Again, you can never invest enough to protect the safety of your children. Good schools, great crime protection! You deserve a home in Sunnyvale. You deserve a home in America.
In this case, if you don’t buy the house soon, the dog gets it! Just kidding!
May 20th, 2008 at 6:24 am
The dog is making the screen door rusty.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:42 am
570K for 754 sq ft seems resonable, if your insane.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I love the dog! I always wonder about photos that only show the outside of a house (or vice versa) What is wrong with the inside that they could not take photos? Hey at least we know the protective doors work?????
May 20th, 2008 at 8:12 am
ahh… another house that was formerly built for shipworkers, shoe cobblers, and factory workers, now being sold as a ‘luxury’ home.
Speaking of the door, I’d put money on it that as soon as anyone sees that, they automatically assume that the crime must be bad in the area. I actually read a report a few years ago that mentioned that by removing bars and other forms of crime deterrents,neighborhood crime actually goes down. The reason: If an area ‘looks’ like it aught to have crime problems, that’s where the crime causers tend to congregate. Kind of like how the cars that get broken into tend to be POS cars versus something newer and well taken care of.
So if I were to sell it, I’d be removing the cages.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:16 am
A glimpse into your future, RBAers —
“Median sale prices fell by 13% in Beverly Hills in April, compared with the same month last year. Rancho Palos Verdes dropped 18% over the same period, while Newport Beach’s 92660 ZIP Code took a 34% hit, according to DataQuick Information Systems.”
More: “Experts say these areas and others are catching up with price declines that struck first in outlying suburbs such as the Antelope Valley and the Inland Empire, where many first-time home buyers purchased their properties with sub-prime loans. ‘You can’t have one market hugely cheaper than another forever,’ said UC Berkeley professor Thomas Davidoff, who specializes in real estate.”
May 20th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I totally agree. The collapse is exactly like the model/cliche’ for years: Once the outer core crumbles, the inner will follow… ” like a a set of dominos”
A lot of folks in my East Bay town are still fairly all up in arms and in denial, even though right next door is West Oakland, which is in itself suffering monumental declines. Eventually, if prices in Oakland, Hayward, or wherever else become ridiculously lower priced compared the the ’safe’ and predominantly whitewashed areas, people will jump and avoid buying in those areas… hence the prices will fall there as well.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:04 am
$569k or $4k a month (tax+mortgage,etc.) to live like trailer park trash. Uh.. No Thanks.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I always wonder about photos that only show the outside of a house (or vice versa) What is wrong with the inside that they could not take photos?
———-
Probably this is a short sale where owner is not very cooperative.
There are two funny indoor pictures available in listing. I think the agent somehow managed to take them.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:46 am
The moment agent arrived, all the camera shy people went inside and locked the door. Poor dog left outside. “Woof, woof, woof! Please let me in. I hate real estate agents. Although I am a dog, they don’t spare me from their sales-pitch. They say that I can buy home with zero down and get as rich as Leona Helmsley’s dog.“
May 20th, 2008 at 9:57 am
: “Experts say these areas and others are catching up with price declines that struck first in outlying suburbs such as the Antelope Valley and the Inland Empire, where many first-time home buyers purchased their properties with sub-prime loans. ‘You can’t have one market hugely cheaper than another forever,’ said UC Berkeley professor Thomas Davidoff, who specializes in real estate.”
____
Lionel, that UC Berkeley professor is obviously an idiot, because we know from RE that what happens to places like the East Bay, Milpitas, San Jose, etc. have no bearing on the “RBA” market, don’t we?
May 20th, 2008 at 10:32 am
There is none so blind as he who will not see. How much more evidence of insanity do folks need to realize this? The market will collapse everywhere within a year. We will return to 1993 and normalcy. Then, I borrowed $118K for a $135K condo at a shameful (?????) 8.75% fixed rate with a mere 32% down and had a horrible (HORRIBLE!!!!!!) payment of $934 a month. Of course, the taxes and homeowner dues increases quickly made me realize that homeloanership is vastly overrated, but by 2002, the insanity was in full swing, and I sold for nearly four times what I paid and laughed all the way to the bank. I’ve rented since then, and now that prices are plunging, I’m LAUGHING EVEN HARDER! Today’s buyers are suckers.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:44 am
R, you are right, those places only affect the Bevelly Hills people, they are not very smart or management class, they waited tables or even acts in porn movies in earlier parts of their career for Christ’ sake.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:58 am
A lot of folks in my East Bay town are still fairly all up in arms and in denial, even though right next door is West Oakland, which is in itself suffering monumental declines. Eventually, if prices in Oakland, Hayward, or wherever else become ridiculously lower priced compared the the ’safe’ and predominantly whitewashed areas, people will jump and avoid buying in those areas… hence the prices will fall there as well.
That’s not the only reason, bob. If outlying areas lose value, then people who own there can’t trade up to the better areas. It’s sawing the first 2 or 3 rungs off the home ownership ladder. I mentioned the dudette who couldn’t sell her 4/2 in Newark last fall, and had to cut the price $140K or so to finally get a buyer. The place she wanted to buy in SanFran is now unreachable (and sold to someone else) because she has $140K less in equity than she thought she had. Maybe places in SF are coming down too but not that fast.
If you’re in some nice East Bay digs near Hayward, those starter home folks now can’t trade up to your neighborhood. I dunno how many people would consider West Oakland starter territory, though.
Hey, the dog made an appearance in another picture, too!
Sales History
Date Price Appreciation
Mar 10, 1993 $174,000 –
Oct 31, 2002 $355,000 7.7%/yr
Mar 19, 2004 $420,000 12.9%/yr
Hmmm, so we’re at about what, early 2006 pricing?
The house was listed for $569K on February 16th and cut to $545K on May 13th. But it’s NOT A SHORT SALE. Then why are the price cuts so short?
Ooooh, looky here! The owner purchased the house with a $336K first mortgage, and an $86K 2nd mortgage (that means she paid nothing down), and refinanced it in May 2006 for $457K. That’s gotta hurt, doing a cash out refi at the peak of the market. Betcha her loan reset.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:37 am
buckborden Says:
I borrowed $118K for a $135K condo at a shameful (?????) 8.75% fixed rate with a mere 32% down and had a horrible (HORRIBLE!!!!!!) payment of $934 a month. Of course, the taxes and homeowner dues increases quickly made me realize that homeloanership is vastly overrated, but by 2002, the insanity was in full swing, and I sold for nearly four times what I paid and laughed all the way to the bank. I’ve rented since then, and now that prices are plunging, I’m LAUGHING EVEN HARDER! Today’s buyers are suckers.
buckborden, the best thing you did was buying that place. The worst thing you did was selling that place. If you had held on to it, you’d still be up at least 30% since 2002, which means even with the correction, you’ve missed out on 150K. The market may continue to fall a bit, but it’s a long way to 2002 prices.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:40 am
The market may continue to fall a bit, but it’s a long way to 2002 prices.
I’d give it about 15 months.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Ahh, just a block away from the Kit Kat Club and Fry’s. Location, location, location.
Just don’t tell the buyer what just happened at the Kit Kat Club’s competitor this past weekend.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
OK so it’s around Fair Oaks, in “the barrio”?
As usual there’s an extra zero on the price of this POS.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Why is this seller so motivated? I checked the property taxes, too. They were paid, but they were late this April, first time this owner’s been late. I still say the it’s a mortgage reset. By the time this place is sold, the owner’s not going to have any equity left, and the poor little dog will be living cold in winter.
Also take a lot at the lot map. Somebody divided the standard lot into 3 properties. How’d they sneak that one by the Planning Commission?
Oh one more thing about this cute little cottage. It’s sitting amidst something like 50 hazardous waste sites. Drink up!
May 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Dear Island Boy,
No, the best thing I did was SELL. I could no longer stand the unending homeowner dues increases (I was dunned $4000 for new windows two days before my escrow closed, and it had to come off escrow because I still owned until I signed off on the sale). When I bought, the dues were $24 a month; at sale, they had ballooned to $195 and were due to rise again. Mind you, homeowner dues are purely a loss. They are not tax deductible and we had absolutely zero amenties except for some nice flowers. I wanted OUT, OUT, OUT. I made a HUGE profit, and it is falling to where it was when I sold it, and falling fast. Here is the link to the exact place (and keep in mind that the zillow estimate is WAY TOO HIGH).
http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=19709115
See for yourself. I have absolutely zero regrets at selling. I will never own again in the Bay Area or anywhere else until prices are sane again, and never ever would I conceive of returning to condo life. It is nothing more than glorified and horrifically expensive apartment living. Only fools buy now. Losers and fools.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
buckborden, I owned a condo in Walnut Creek. I sold out right before the crazy increases due to the ninja loans. For laffs, I checked the complex, there weren’t any similar to my unit for sale, but I’d guess it’s worth triple now what I paid. But the homeowner dues have also tripled, they’re a crushing $450 a month now! I have no idea how the rents keep up with that and a there’s a lot of investor-owned units in the complex. Those HO dues never stop, and if you end up in a place with a lot of foreclosures, those still in the game have to pay for everybody. There was a depressing article about this in the NY Times recently. This is part of why Freddie & Fannie don’t want to write loans on condos anymore.
I agree you were right to sell.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
What’s the deal with the competitor to the Kit Kat Club? Is there even such a thing?
They stopped writing loans for condos? At the same time that they are requiring a lower downpay? That makes no sense.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
What’s the deal with the competitor to the Kit Kat Club? Is there even such a thing?
Crossroads, there was a shooting in the parking lot of the Brass Rail (101 & Mathilda). 1 fatality. Mercury News has some details.
They stopped writing loans for condos? At the same time that they are requiring a lower downpay? That makes no sense.
They either stopped or are limiting loans for condos in some areas because they are particularly hard hit in a declining market. I don’t know if Santa Clara County is one of them… yet. But the private mortgage insurers won’t write for them anywhere declining, which includes every zip in California — and the FHA is limiting the number of loans they’ll write in one condo complex.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
The dirty secret of condominium complexes is that… reserve requirements are shooting up, through the roof, and they are often way too conservative (underestimating the lifespan of common areas such as roofs, plumbery, paint, etc), and the reserves are often underfunded (if someone hasn’t run with the piggy bank fifteen years ago). At the same time condos want to get fancy and erect fences, set up security cameras and new lighting, repave the pond… Yes i speak from experience, I was on the board of one of these (extra points if you guess which). Condos are great as an intermediary step to SFR, but you really got to time it well.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Ahh, just a block away from the Kit Kat Club and Fry’s. Location, location, location.
——–
Don’t forget new Lowe’s store in Arques-Wolfe. Great location if you planning for home improvement. Also there is a fire station in same intersection. Your house is protected from fire too. What a great location!
May 20th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
They either stopped or are limiting loans for condos in some areas because they are particularly hard hit in a declining market.
———
Recently I talked to one guy who is trying to buy home in Sacramento suburb. No loan. Lender would just ask the zipcode first and then say YES or NO.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:52 am
Actually, there’s a reason for the heavy-bar screen doors. The idea is that you can leave the house doors open all night to get air flow through the house, and keep the place cool without resorting to air-conditioning. The heavy-bar screen door lets you do this and stay secure.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm
The fire station down in that area is a training station, so you will have sirens whether their is a fire or not. We lived between that one and the other one on Wolfe and it was very noisy all the time. Plus, you have the planes that fly into moffet field and shake the house.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:19 am
[...] Let’s look at the last time this house was featured on Burbed: [...]