Welcome San Carlos to the Real Bay Area!
79 WINDING Way San Carlos, CA 94070
Price: $719,000
Beds: 1
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft.: 670
$/Sq. Ft.: $1,073
Lot Size: 6,930 Sq. Ft.
Age (Years): 49
Year Built: 1959
Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Cabin
Stories: Bi/Split Level
View(s): Bay, Mountains
Neighborhood: Beverly Terrace Etc.
County: San Mateo
MLS#: 782686
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 73 days
Idyllic country setting nestled quietly between million dollar homes in sought after San Carlos Hills. Magnificent views; 7,000 sq ft lot w/ endless development potential. Country Style living, conveniently located to downtown San Carlos. Open House this Sunday 05/04 1:30-4:30
Wow… it looks like Hurley, Ben, and John could’ve simply come to San Carlos to find Jacob’s Cabin. Heh.
But seriously, I’ve always wondered about San Carlos. It’s tiny, there’s not much to be known about this city, so I’ve always had reservations about whether San Carlos, The City of Good Living, is Real Bay Area or not.
Well, this house simply seals the deal. $1073 a square foot? Wowzers. This is Palo Alto territory. And look at the giant plot of land you’re getting – nearly 7000 sqft.
Congratulations San Carlos. Welcome to the club.
BTW, to the next owner: might I suggest building a zip line? That’d be kind of neat!
June 16th, 2008 at 8:44 am
You have to admit, though, that the description is far better written than in most of the listings featured on Burbed. Too bad the author’s hyphen key doesn’t work, though.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:44 am
You have to admit, though, that the description is far better written than in most of the listings featured on Burbed. Too bad the author’s hyphen key doesn’t work.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Sorry to burst your bubble (ha ha – lame pun), but it’s below $1,000 per square foot now:
Mar 06, 2008 $719,000
Jun 04, 2008 $690,000
Jun 13, 2008 $660,000
June 16th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I think we should take bets on how much 7000 square feet will go for in San Carlos hills. So if Palo Alto is worth $900,000 for a 6000 sf lot with scraper, this place ought to come in at… $525,000.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Sales History:
Dec 09, 1998 $230,000
That’s what it will be worth in 2 years.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Oh yeah, this house was on my list about the most expensive houses in San Mateo by square foot a couple months ago. I guess it dropped its price huh. Here was my original post. Scroll down to San Carlos for this house:
http://sanmateore.dreamhosters.com/2008/04/most-expensive-listings-by-price-per-square-foot-in-san-mateo-cities/
June 16th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I’m going to go on a limb to make some un-RealEstater-like comments.
I think San Carlos is an over-priced city. For its price range, the school isn’t that great, the lot is usually on the small side, and the town doesn’t have much “cachet” if you ask me.
By comparison, Sunnyvale 94087 is a “fully priced” (as opposed to over-priced) zip. Using a car analogy, 94087 is sort like buying a Toyota Prius. It’s not cheap, and you won’t get a discount, but functionally speaking it’s a good car.
Where can you find deals at a moment? I would suggest San Ramon and Dublin. You can find very nice, newish homes there in the 700K to low $1M range. The schools are good (more so in San Ramon than Dublin), the air is clean, and there’s plenty of tech companies in the area. In my opinion these places offer the best quality of living on the in the East Bay. By contrast, the worst places on that side is the entire stretch from Fremont to Oakland. It’s basically one big slum after another.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
RE, do you see any deals in Santa Clara or San Mateo counties or do you believe all are fully or overpriced?
One thing San Carlos West has that Sunnyvale does not is terrain. Sunnyvale is entirely flat. One reason Cupertino has a higher median price than Sunnyvale CUSD (I’m not even comparing 94087 here) is the westside areas: elevation, terrain, views of the people below whose houses cost less than yours. I’d say the dividing line varies between Stelling and Bubb.
Can’t argue about the school system in San Carlos, though. And I would ask if you think Palo Alto is overpriced yet.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
San Carlos has pretty nice areas, of course have to be much west of El Camino. Blue colar people live near west of El Camino, and east of El Camino are mostly commercial areas.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
>>RE, do you see any deals in Santa Clara or San Mateo counties or do you believe all are fully or overpriced?
There are deals, but only in places you wouldn’t want to live in, typically east of 101.
>>One thing San Carlos West has that Sunnyvale does not is terrain. Sunnyvale is entirely flat.
I think flat is good. Even in hilly areas, lots that are flat have a premium over lots that are sloped. Unless a hilly area is very beautiful (like lower Hillsborough), a hill is just an inconvenience. A property built on a hill is also potentially at risk of land slide and other problems.
>>And I would ask if you think Palo Alto is overpriced yet.
I think Palo Alto is fairly priced (different than fully priced). You get what you pay for.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I do not think Palo Alto is fairly priced. If you compare the differential between Palo Alto prices and other cities, it has gone up in the last year. That’s because most prices have gone down but Palo Alto has not. The same thing is happening in San Diego as the premium places at least hold their value while inland towns are collapsing. What began as a 30% premium is now 150%.
It would be interesting to graph housing prices for a few zips, 94301 (prime PA), 94087 (prime Sunnyvale), 95051 (south Santa Clara), 95123 (boring part of San Jose), and see how the ratios between each have changed. I have been informally keeping a ratio of my house’s value versus entry Los Altos for as long as I’ve lived here. When we were house-hunting there was nothing in Los Altos under $450K at all, and we were looking in the range of $300+. So there was a 50% premium between top end Sunnyvale and entry level Los Altos.
I think it’s more than that now. Is there anything there for $1.5m that isn’t falling down?
We could afford South Palo Alto (94306) back then, but chose not to because we didn’t like Eichlers. They are no longer at parity with our house, they’ve moved up toward the range we’d be trading to.
So was Palo Alto a deal in 1993, or is it overpriced now? I say it’s overpriced.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
>>We could afford South Palo Alto (94306) back then, but chose not to because we didn’t like Eichlers. They are no longer at parity with our house, they’ve moved up toward the range we’d be trading to.
>>So was Palo Alto a deal in 1993, or is it overpriced now? I say it’s overpriced.
You’re assuming that these communities stay stagnent, and the only thing changing is the price. That’s not the case. If you look around South Palo Alto, you’ll find quite a number of homes being remodeled or rebuilt. You find less of that in Sunnyvale. What happened in the past 20 years or so is that Palo Alto has improved at a faster rate than Sunnyvale, and became a super star city. It built up a momentum that attracted wealth and cream of the crop people. Majority of the homes in Palo Alto trade at $1.5 – $2.5 M. That’s actually not so bad. By comparison, the Rolls Royce cities (Atherton/Hillsborough/Woodside/Los Altos Hills) have much higher barrier of entry. This is why I say Palo Alto is still fairly priced.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:25 am
RE – was reading this morning an article about the impact of Rivermark and Santana Row on Santa Clara house prices in the future (cannot find it now). But you only mentioned north of 101 in your answer to madhaus’ query. Do you think south and east Santa Clara house prices already absorbed Santana Row’s impact? The Murky News claims they’ve planning to build office space in Santana Row and dense housing on Lincoln Ave., so if that drives house prices up it would mean present prices are deals as well.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Scrap the Lincoln Ave. part it’s Willow Glen material.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:45 am
The flat part of San Carlos seems to be the most desirable area. I know many families who live there and love it. They are able to walk to the down town from their houses. There is a small town feeling and highly involved community. I prefer this type of town rather then Sunnyvale/Cupertino which seems so large and anonymous. I live on the peninsula though and am not really familiar with the South Bay so maybe that is just how those cities appear to someone who doesn’t live there. The SC downtown is in the process of revitalization and there are a lot of great restaurants I’ve tried as well as “boutique” stores. There is also very low “spill over” crime from surrounding cities unlike PA and MP. Maybe that is why they are able to maintain their prices for small lots. The only down side to San Carlos is that they are not very ethnically diverse.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:23 am
>>Do you think south and east Santa Clara house prices already absorbed Santana Row’s impact? The Murky News claims they’ve planning to build office space in Santana Row and dense housing on Lincoln Ave., so if that drives house prices up it would mean present prices are deals as well.
I think the opportunity is good for developers, but I don’t expect the old shacks around there to turn into gold. For the individual homeowner, a better bet is to buy near the Sunnyvale Town Center, which may become another hip shopping district. It’s a better location in itself, and has better surrounding environment.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am
RE – agreed with more central location, but less sure about environment particularly around Central. However I heard that exact same rationale three years ago, when that area was booming as they initiated that project. Also PA and MV are already hip areas, and MV is a major Caltrain stop. Won’t Sunnyvale have difficulty catching up? Oh well, Sunnyvale may yet get their act together.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
DreamT,
That location has a few different things going for it:
1. Sunnyvale Library
2. Borders/PF Chang Shopping Center
3. Banks
4. Cal-Train
5. Newly developed Sunnyvale Town Center
6. Civic Center / police presence
It’s the type of walkable environment home buyers these days look for.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
One more:
7. Washington Park
June 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Sunnyvale hasn’t gotten their act together on that downtown project the entire time I’ve been living here. How many developers have dropped the ball on that deal? Thanks to that mess, I lost my favorite music/instrument store (Haight-Ashbury), the owner just pulled the plug on it after the owners tripled the rent. The place is sitting empty now. I heard the drum teacher is still giving lessons in that otherwise empty building.
Town & Country is just abandoned, lots of places moved out or closed and the buildings are still standing. Kind of amazed that Macy’s is still doing business, the connecting mall has been empty or torn down for years.
So if you buy there, you’re taking a big chance. It’s too bad, there are lots of older Craftsman-style homes with nice architectural touches.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Thanks madhaus, my thoughts exactly. There’s potential and so possibility of rewards but what’s the chance it happens? What if Santa Clara finishes its downtown before Sunnyvale?
But most of all it seemed to me that central Sunnyvale prices took a hike up 3-4 years ago already with the expectation of that downtown getting completed. I was shopping around there and got blindsided within a few months. Now that it’s in a limbo, I’d be hesitant to call it a deal until they readjust back to 2004 levels or so. But then downtown MV prices have been skyrocketing since the downtown was completed, so RE may well be correct anyway.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
madhaus,
Isn’t the downtown project currently under construction? Are you saying the project is being halted? If so, do you have any links on this news or is it just your speculation?
June 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
DreamT, yes, if they do a nice job on the place it will raise property values. But what if they do a bad job? Thing about Sunnyvale’s downtown is that it’s far from any of the freeways. At least it has the train station (but no light rail).
RE, I used to take my kid to Haight-Ashbury every week for guitar lessons. I watched the progress, or lack thereof, every week for more than four years.
The Sunnyvale Town Center mall was torn down, leaving just Macy’s and Target. The parking structure was razed. The Town and Country portion, which runs along Washington St on the south and takes up 6-8 blocks, is just sitting there, some buildings still have their tenants, some empty. The music store building was declared historic so they couldn’t tear it down anyway, but the building owners had hoped to land a national tenant and tripled the rent. So they have an empty building now instead of a tenant willing to sign a new five year lease (I know this because I talked to the business owner and the store managers).
I stopped going downtown every week when the store closed, the last time I checked the place out was last month. If you don’t believe me I suggest you head over there and check it out for yourself.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Madhaus,
In other words, it’s your speculation. I agree that there’s an element of risk here, but there’s another way to look at it:
- They can’t leave the site the way it is forever
- Buying there now already saves you 4 years of waiting time
- The location has many things going for it besides the completion of the project
June 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
RE, while madhaus may be speculating, that project (and its predecessors) have been languishing more than 7 years so far. I remember hearing about the Town Center redevelopment when I moved from out-of-state to Sunnyvale back in 2001. One or two of the early developers went out of business. I keep hoping the area will be revived but it’s been a LONG time coming and the outcome is not assured yet.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
It is not my speculation, it is a fact. Multiple dates for the razing of Town and Country have been given and passed without incident. This project is years behind schedule.
Here are the problems with Sunnyvale Town Center Mall, which seems to be a different project (also years behind schedule). I can’t even find any mention of the Town & Country component in this history, and note it’s more than a year out of date.
Here’s an article from a Town & Country store owner complaining his business dropped off during construction. In 2001.
There is nothing stopping you from going to the site and verifying it yourself. Since you cannot be bothered to do so, I suggest you stop criticizing those who have actually gone there.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
madhaus,
I pass by that site fairly regularly, and have certainly seen it within the past month. From the appearance it looks like any regular construction site. I cannot judge whether there’s a stoppage to the project without checking with the city, and neither can you. If there’s a major issue, shouldn’t you have seen it in the Sunnyvale Sun newspaper, which is delivered to every household?
June 17th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
The Sunnyvale Sun is also available online. Since you are so determined to prove I’m wrong, I suggest you peruse it and cite your references. Good luck.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
The project was halted since 2006 for various reasons, including difficulty to attract businesses. The last time I had been to the downtown area more than six months back when Thai Basil was in its original location. I heard from colleague that since then they teared down all the buildings near the post office, including Thai Basil, and the project restarted again. But I don’t know if it really started or not. Even if it restarted, still there are lots of questions remain, which were raised two-three years back – especially the viability.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
OK, guys, let’s put it this way. Do you think that site will be “Ground Zero” on a perpetual basis? If you keep a house there for at least 10 years, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance you’d see movement there. If the place is already built, the opportunity would be consumed already, and there’d be nothing to gain.
Madhaus is having the same short-sightedness as he had back in 91 when he passed up Palo Alto for Sunnyvale.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
If Madhaus was happy with his Sunnyvale home, what is wrong in passing Palo Alto? Is it something people HAVE TO get it?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Pralay,
I didn’t say he has to get it. All I’m saying is he can do better. The same goes for you too, just greater magnitude
June 18th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Your basic (and wrong) assumption is that everybody thinks same way as you do. Not a very bright assumption from a person from “management class” neighborhood.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:38 am
RE – sometimes I wonder if you realize that when you adopt a paternalist tone, you come out sounding arrogant and this destroys any credence you had just built. Yet you keep trying and post legible entries, with original and arguable counterpoints. If you humbled your tone a bit, I believe your posts would be met with much less antagonism.
As for “you can do better,” yes they can but with greater risk. You should know better than most, as an active investor, that acceptable risk varies depending on each person’s circumstances and advocating greater risk taking is not necessarily an adequate advice. So I think your recommendation to madhaus (and Pralay) was out of line.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:53 am
DreamT,
This “paternalist tone” is part of the constant effort to prove that he is smarter than anybody else here – especially people who disagree with him most of the time.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Pralay – does not make sense to me though since it would be self-defeating (a smart person knows how to be listened to). So I venture he just does not realize. But maybe I’m wrong.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Madhaus is having the same short-sightedness as he had back in 91 when he passed up Palo Alto for Sunnyvale.
Oh Christ Real Estater, maybe you aren’t a real estate agent but sometimes you sure act like one. Do you know what is wrong with Real Estate agents? In my opinion a lot of them have self esteem problems because there are too many unqualified people in what can be a high paying profession and they have to grovel to make it.
I don’t know what Madhaus’ situation was with Sunnyvale years ago. But I CAN TELL YOU that Palo Alto was not even close to the best investment in RE at that time. If I had to guess the absolute BEST investment then, it would probably have been Fremont or Milpitas where subdividable land with a small house on it could be had for 50K or something. Next comes the northern peninsula like Burlingame- believe it or not, in 91 Burlingame and Hillsborough WERE NOT the recipients of Silicon Valley money and you could get a Burlingame address for cheaper than PA- sometimes even one on the Hillsborough side! In fact if I had to put money on it I would say buying in PA now is stupid- it is a saturated town, of course there are **some** people like you who are so hung up on the cachet of the town they will sell their mother to get in, but that is not how money is made.
I am interested in this topic of Sunnyvale because there are some houses there in 94086 zip for less than 500K. Those aren’t near town center though. The school district is Fremont high apparently.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/754-MANZANITA-Ave-94085/home/656812
Milpitas is the investable area with a great school district that is improving. Yes it is a garbage dump, I know.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
….it would be self-defeating (a smart person knows how to be listened to).
———-
If one knew that, he/she would be REAL smart already. He/she would not need to PROVE it.
Or may be I am wrong too. Probably he is an old person who has a habit of making comments with “paternalist tone”.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Wow, so I could “do better” in 1991? That’s amazing. In 1991 I wasn’t married, or even engaged. I couldn’t have bought the Sunnyvale house without that second income. Who knew that I could have bought in Palo Alto, at even higher prices, on half the earnings! I wonder who that loan broker was, and if negative amortization was part of the magic?
June 19th, 2008 at 1:10 am
madhaus – RealEstater knew. You should have asked him at the time. It’s your loss for not following his free advice given in hindsight. Hopefully you know better now, or expect to be reprimanded in 2025.
June 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
>>But I CAN TELL YOU that Palo Alto was not even close to the best investment in RE at that time.
OK, some of you have trouble following the context here, and starts making dumb smearing remarks.
The reason Palo Alto is mentioned here is because Madhaus considered Palo Alto at the time. He told us that he could afford Palo Alto at that time, but chose not to, because he didn’t like a particular style of house. Post #39 is completely bogus.
Madhaus also acknowledged that even though he could’ve bought Palo Alto before, it’s barely within reach now. In other words, he himself acknowledged that he could’ve done better. It is a fact, not a “paternal” opinion.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I don’t know what they did or didn’t do, but Thai Basil is still there, and in much the same place as I remember (although they’ve renovated it.)
RealEstater:
“- They can’t leave the site the way it is forever”
ho, ho, ho. Silicon Valley is the KING of leaving things untenanted “forever” in hopes of that dream tenant showing up. I give you Vallco Fashion Park as a prime example.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
“They can’t leave the site the way it is forever”
ho, ho, ho. Silicon Valley is the KING of leaving things untenanted “forever” in hopes of that dream tenant showing up. I give you Vallco Fashion Park as a prime example.
cough cough, you mean Cupertino Square! What’s square is how many square feet of storefront are empty. I love going there, the movies theaters are quiet, I always get my own personal shopping assistant at Macy’s, the only crowds are at Dynasty for dim sum.
I think that crackhouse affected RE, too. I didn’t buy in Palo Alto in 1991 because, and this is the second time I said this, I didn’t have a second income in 1991 because I wasn’t married. I was not looking for a house in 1991. And I didn’t pick Sunnyvale over PA because I “didn’t like a particular style of house.” We picked Sunnyvale over PA because all we could afford in PA were Eichlers, and we didn’t want to live in one, even for free. There is absolutely no point in spending all your savings plus go deep into debt, in order to buy a house you hate. I don’t care if the house you hate is in Palo Alto, it is not worth it.
I think everyone on this board, save for one induhvidual, understands that.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Madhaus,
I still believe you could do better, because YOU ACKNOWLEDGED that you could’ve bought Palo Alto before. Do I need to quote specific comment to show that YOU ACKNOWLEDGED? Of course not, because I feel that you could do better.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Better than what? Huge sheets of single pane glass surrounding a 980 sf pit on 5250 sf near 101? You’re right, my house that actually looks like a house and not a mock-up by Frank Lloyd Wright is so much worse because it isn’t in South Palo Alto, very South, South of Eastmeadow for heaven’s sake, I mean so south it might as well be Mountain View because you could trip over San Antonio if you sleepwalked.
You’re right, a Palo Alto address is everything. I probably would have strangled both kids by now, (since those Eichlers have no insulation anywhere) but I’d have a Palo Alto address, by golly, if I ever get out of prison.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
is vallco fashion park still in existance? The Valley Fair mall is now 3x the size of the old valley fair and Vallco combined (this was the old, original OUTDOOR valley fair)- Vallco was built when it could compete for mall rats but honestly, the current valley fair plus Santana Row is all malls we need. I remember when Vallco was new, and it was really nice once. It had the best furniture section -the emporium furniture in the basement, plus an I Magnin.
These malls need to prepare to be assymilated. First Sunnyvale town center died- the mall was still OPEN but all the good stores left- Macys hung around for a long time but all the other stores were below grade. Now Vallco looks like Sunnyvale Town Center.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
BTW Vallco and other properties sitting empty waiting for that dream tenant are direct results of prop 13. Anywhere else, those would have closed years ago.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
WG, I told you, Vallco renamed itself to Cupertino Square, as in how many square feet would you like to lease, we have many choice sites available! The entire basement level is empty except the department stores and Dynasty. Emporium is gone, Sears, JC Penney, and Macy’s are still there. They built an AMC 16 theater there, it’s the only reason the mall gets any traffic, that and the Dynasty restaurant, very busy for weekend dim sum lunches.
The Macy’s in Sunnyvale is still open too, what a depressing place to shop. The Target, at the other side of the now nonexistent mall, gets brisk traffic. I live right between that Target and the one in Cupertino and tend to go to Cupertino, fewer traffic lights to get there. When my kid had guitar lessons at Haight-Ashbury, I shopped the Svl Target since I was there anyway.
All the high and even mid-level stores moved to Valley Fair 4 years ago.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Better than what?
——-
Come on! Living in “management class” neighborhood, having Porsche in driveway and working hard 9-5 to earn frequent flyer mileage – that’s called doing better.