What does a burned out house look like?
This July 4th, please don’t use fireworks. They can be dangerous.
But if you do insist on using fireworks, please be careful. I’m not sure what the story behind this house is, and I certainly hope everyone is ok, but it’s pretty haunting…
395 LINKHORNE CT, San Jose 95133 (San Jose)
$249,900 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 2 bath(s) MLS: 80810500
Bed/Bath: 3 / 2
SqFt: 1,101
Lot: 3,484 sq ft
Yr Built / Age: 1979 / 29 years
List Price: $249,900
Assoc Fee:Remarks
REO property – NOT a short Sale. Fire damaged property. No interior access. Make offer subject to inspection. The fire damage inside this property extends to almost every room. Fire report available upon request. PLEASE DO NOT GO INSIDE !!IT IS NOT HEALTHY!
I doubt this was due to fireworks, but still remember that fire can be very dangerous:
The only thing I wanted to add was that this looks nothing like wreckage from movies/TV. In some ways, it’s more haunting because things are only partially destroyed.
Please be safe this July 4th.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Good Job!
What’s America without a good arson job? Too bad it was a little early to blame on fireworks – poor timing. Looks like the underpaid hero fireman saved another foundation – they deserve an immediate pay raise and maybe a few decorations and awards for their heroic job here… Let them all retire on 110% pay. That will help the budget.
Land of the Free – Home of the Brave
I don’t think so.
Enjoy the New Depression, Joe Six-Pack. How does $7.00 gas strike you and the misses. Good deals on monster trucks this weekend. Go with the 4wd = 9mpg. buy BUY bye BYE.
America is DEAD. Good Luck on the DIE OFF IDIOTS
July 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Can you even sell a house in this condition? Does the disclaimer “Don’t go inside, it’s not healthy!” really cover any potential liability??? It seems like a haz-mat site.
July 4th, 2008 at 9:39 am
This reminds me of this listing, featured on Burbed a short while ago!
http://www.burbed.com/2008/04/11/how-much-would-this-be-in-mountain-view/
Amazing… In Detroit, the house is worth $100. In San Jose, it’s $249,900.
July 4th, 2008 at 9:39 am
This thing is sold. This is what is puzzling me about this real estate market. Since I am very active looking at lower priced properties, I have definitely noticed an uptick in sales, on things that I don’t perceive as desirable. Earlier this year, this type of house was just sitting on MLS.
It started right about the time I bought my recent place when I posted that similar property to madhaus a few weeks ago. That was a campbell property on a large lot and it was there and gone on MLS in a day. Not even a PS and a delay for financing, just gone perhaps to a cash sale.
On this place, 95133 is Berryessa San Jose, bordering Milpitas. I don’t know much about it other than that Milpitas is starting to emerge as a premier school district (Berryessa is SJ schools though, still, there is probably some spillover). This house is non livable with a 3500 sq ft lot. The lowest priced houses in Berryessa seem to be on a street called Berrywood and they are only 330K, on a 5000+ lot with a perfectly functional house! This burned out thing is worth -literally- 120K or something, and from my dealings with banks there is no way it sold for that much less than the ask of 250K- banks will only reduce prices 20K at a time. Who bought this?
July 4th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Willowglenner says: Who bought this?
Only a fool. And fools get burned (just like this house).
July 4th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I don’t know about that WG, I saw a 2bd 1000sqft condo for sale in EPA west of 101 for 299k for a long time listed, I thought that was too much to ask for EPA, even west of 101.
Anyway, looking back at the sale records, I see that it eventually sold for 240k. The bank never lowered their asking price, but it still sold for 80% of asking.
July 4th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Man, I hope noone died in there. On the other hand, people did die in this house I listed on my blog:
http://sanmateore.dreamhosters.com/2008/06/3-men-dead-in-troubled-property-512-stanford-ave-redwood-city-ca-94063/
July 4th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I guess RE was right, Silicon Valley housing’s hot, hot, hot!
July 4th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
SM Houme Sellers, where do you get your data on homes selling below last selling price? Do you comb through MLS/redfin every day or do you subscribe to a service or is there some other way you look for this?
A similar listing of underwater (or at least under last sale) properties in Santa Clara county would be a cool addition to this site, so I’m wondering what’s involved in your creating it.
July 4th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Maybe an overseas investor would find this gem a good investment.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
This thing is sold. This is what is puzzling me about this real estate market.
Sounds to me like the bubble’s not done yet…
July 4th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Very sad when this happens. I had the horrible experience of coming home to a burning apartment a year ago – it’s much worse when a fire happens to those who are not required to have renter’s insurance, may not even know it exists, and lose everything they own because of someone else’s negligence. The entire first floor of the building was pitch black. It was a real tragedy that ruined dozens of lives.
July 5th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Renter’s insurance is really cheap, and I’m glad my landlord has my policy number with them, I keep my policy in a packet in a pile of important papers in my room. Anyway at only $15/month it is highly recommended, and I would find it hard for someone to find it a burden they can’t handle.
I remember when the house my family was renting burned in a fire in 1996. The roof looked similar to the one in the picture, but it was larger, the ceiling between the attic and 2nd floor was gone, everywhere, the entire 2nd floor was covered in black suit, and burned insulation. We got to stay in a small townhouse way north of there, the place was temporary so we dealt, but it was hardly a suitable replacement to renting a house.
I also remember the generosity of the Red Cross at the time, while it probably wasn’t that necessary it certainly helped, especially as the insurance company was doing all the work.
We moved back into the house 3 months later, with new roof and all.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hey Madhaus, I used to just download the redfin listings in a spreadsheet, but a MLS listing company gimped that functionality. Anyway, I don’t think i’ll be adding Santa Clara to my site, because my site is all about San Mateo Home Sellers in Trouble, not Santa Clara.
July 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hey SMHSIT, I know you weren’t going to add it, I was wondering what it would take for somebody to do it somewhere else. So now that you can’t get redfin numbers direct to the spreadsheet, what do you do? Type every one of them in? What about the places that sell so fast that redfin doesn’t list the info anymore?
July 5th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
No, I don’t type every one of them in. You can still download listings from Redfin, just not the listings listed by one MLS company. You can download those at that company’s site. If a house sells usually it’s in pending status for a while. If it’s a pocket listing that never goes on MLS then I don’t see it, but it doesn’t matter that much since there are tons of troubled sellers already. I probably don’t list all of them.