Giant Price Cut at 304 America Ave in Sunnyvale
304 America Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94085
\$545,000
* Status: Active
* Bedroom: 2
* Bathroom: 1
* Year Built: 1940
* Lot Size: 3350
* Square Footage: 754
* List Date: 2/16/2008
* Garage Spaces: 1
NEW PRICE REDUCTION.!!!! NOT A SHORT SALE !!!!. MOTIVATED SELLER. Very 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.
How much of a price reduction is this? A huge one!
Let’s look at the last time this house was featured on Burbed:
Wowsers! That’s over 4% off! It’s not clear if the dog is still included though.
I’m telling you, sellers are bending over backwards to meet you greedy buyers. What are you waiting for? This house could be yours, earning you instant equity already!
July 25th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Yes, but the lot also grew by 300 sqft since then, so it really is a bargain..
July 25th, 2008 at 6:37 am
You need to return to chronicling East Palo Alto. It’s
more your style.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Nothing conveys the sincerity of the agent or the urgency of acting now like shouting in ALL CAPS. Why not just add:
THIS PROPERTY PRICED TO SELL AND WON’T LAST LONG!!!THIS IS AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY. PRICES MAY NEVER BE THIS LOW AGAIN!!!! HURRY!!!!!!!!
(Adding lots of exclamation points means it just has to be the most undervalued piece of property ever, doesn’t it?)
July 25th, 2008 at 8:00 am
“(Adding lots of exclamation points means it just has to be the most undervalued piece of property ever, doesn’t it?)”
Terry Pratchett contends 5 exclamation points (or more) is a sign of insanity.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:11 am
THIS PROPERTY PRICED TO SELL AND WON’T LAST LONG!!!THIS IS AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY. PRICES MAY NEVER BE THIS LOW AGAIN!!!! HURRY!!!!!!!!
-Anyone notice that in the ad, there are periods after each of those sentences followed by explanation points? Fantastic grammar.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:27 am
“WON’T LAST LONG” is a classic con. Back in 2005 when Cupertino listings were showing to a dozen people at any given time and receiving fifteen offers on opening day, agents never said “WON’T LAST LONG.” Who needs BS when you know it really won’t last long?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I’ve also noticed that real estate is also slowing up here in the East Bay. Houses that I would mark as being “overbid city” are languishing on the market now. My guess is that the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacle is really spooking everyone out.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Is this house still on MLS? I can’t find it. Anyway it looks like this guy is someone who tries to do what I try to do- buy cheap properties and fix them up. The problem is you really couldn’t do it in the last few years unless you were *really* nimble because the entry point was too high. This place sold for 420K in 2004 and its on a 3350 lot- half the lot size of a worthwhile property. I’m sure the condition wasn’t the same in 2004 as now- looks like some remodelling so assume 20-30K put into the place, he will lose on this gem if he is finally able to sell it.
Buying stuff like this, which is what I am trying to do, NOW- works.
You just can’t throw a dart at any property and make a mint. The timing has to be right and property has to be right, and even in todays market, desirable properties priced well are getting multiple offers.
I have felt for some time that many of the bay area properties going to foreclose are actually “investment” properties. This house is probably worth about 375K.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Either that or people-even those making “good” money aren’t able to qualify. I’ve been watching a number of large Victorians near where I live go up for sale, pend, then go back up for sale all summer long. That cycle has sort of slowed and now they’re simply in an eternal for sale cycle. The most desireable, wealthiest part of Alameda is the Gold Coast. Lots of old money, and old, large houses that are all well over a million. Up until the start of this Spring, even if nothing else sold in town, homes here did. Now even here, the homes are sitting and sitting.
As far as fannie and Freddie, well the Gobermint is about to pass a 300 BILLION dollar bailout bill Saturday. Essentially, that will put money into the hands of lenders like Fannie and Freddie. Plus, the conforming loan limit will be raised to over 600k. All in attempts to keep pumping away at the bubble until the dollar it totally worthless. I know of one couple who is all too aware of the bailout and are thinking of buying if it passes. Wash, rinse, and repeat.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:34 am
REO has been flooding East Bay for quite a while. Is Mission San Jose languishing?
I THINK NOT!!!!!!!!!!
As for this cute (not lowest priced?) house, I think being cheap is the wrong strategy, the reason it is not sold is exactly the opposite. Noticing that a lot of buyers must have been avoiding it because it is priced like a short sale. It should say:
PRICE INCREASED!!!!!GET YOUR HOUSE NOW FOR YOUR TAX SAVINGS, PROP 13 RIGHTS (some already benefitting the 3rd generation), OR SIMPLY FOR YOUR KIDS, OTHERWISE BE PREPARED TO BE PRICED OUT FOREVERRRR!!!!!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:49 am
BTW I am almost sure the reason this place didn’t sell for the original 569K is due to the tacky dog statue in the first MLS ad.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:48 am
strange that the market is not reacting favorably to the $300B bailout news, too much selling pressure I suppose, alot of people are really scared, and I think the FNM/FRE debacle is just the catalyst to plunge us into a deep recession or something much worse. The $300B bailout only puts families into fixed rate loans at a “great loss” to lenders. Problem is lenders can’t bleed any more cash, and alot of families don’t want to pay even fixed rates fortheir underwater homes, they’d much rather just walk away. Plus, the $300B only covers 400k homeowners right? There are still hundreds of thousands if not over a million American homes that may go into foreclosure with or without the bailout.
I think we’re still falling deeper into the abyss, the government is just trying to soften the fall on taxpayers’ backs.
BUT then again, the RBA is immune. They should just build a wall around the RBA to keep all these poor worthless cockroaches out.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Yes, but the lot also grew by 300 sqft since then, so it really is a bargain.
Oho! So the are making more land! This is conclusive proof that the RBA is a sham.
Nice spotting, jay!
July 25th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Oops—that should be “So they are making more land!”.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I think we’re still falling deeper into the abyss, the government is just trying to soften the fall on taxpayers’ backs.
——-
Why not? We bailed out airlines. Now we are bailing out banks just because they can’t handle massive foreclosures. Capitalism my foot. It’s a socialist country where taxpayers constantly need to pay for
state-runcorporate-run establishments.July 25th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
$569 in February and a token price reduction now. What is the owner thinking? Market improved?
July 25th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I really don’t think the government needs to bail out anyone. The market has already spoken - Everywhere in the country is not worth the price except RBA zip codes.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
“Everywhere in the country is not worth the price except RBA zip codes.”
LOL this is quite possibly the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.
I suppose it all comes back to the fact that the RBA is special! Unlike any other place…
July 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Anon,
Don’t argue with the market. You’ll lose every time.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
It’s also important to note that the higher end homes did not “appreciate” the way that the lower end homes. There was massive price compression in the past couple years. As entry level homes skyrocketed, the high end homes (1.5 million+ in the 90’s) saw more moderate gains.
This is one of the factors contributing to the stickiness of the prices in the higher end areas.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
“Don’t argue with the market. You’ll lose every time.”
I’m not even sure what this means. I am arguing with your incorrect assessment of the market, sir.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
There is no point arguing with RBAryans because they are always right, and rightfully so… As I said before they should build a wall around the RBA, sort of an Inverse-Escape from New York type wall with checkpoints at all the freeway exits, el camino real, middlefield road, etc. Only fine gold-digger trophy wives, high class escorts, Google/Facebook heads, Porsche Drivers, and Movie Stars can enter. All others have to produce their “indentured servant express” cards to enter.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
mrbogue,
As WG so aptly described, RBA is comparable to Manhatten. Manhatten RE prices is significantly higher than other parts of NY state that does not offer similar lifestyle. If you look at it that way, everything makes a lot of sense.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Actually, we bailed out the airlines because they are the USAF’s Reserve Pilots program.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
“As WG so aptly described, RBA is comparable to Manhatten. Manhatten RE prices is significantly higher than other parts of NY state that does not offer similar lifestyle. If you look at it that way, everything makes a lot of sense.”
It only makes sense to you because you 1) have a vested interest in property values increasing and 2) are attempting to equate an anomaly with something that has proven performance. (this is not to say that Manhattan has not had ‘bubbles’)
You would be smarter to analogize the RBA to Detroit. They too saw an exponential boom in housing prices. Unfortunately, that doesn’t fit with your view on things so you choose to ignore it.
Let it be said that I am neither bull nor bear. Indeed there are good and bad deals.
However, to say that real estate anywhere never goes down is an absolutely ignorant statement. It fluctuates like anything else.
The reason that I choose your points to attack is because it is your method of thinking that has caused this whole bubble which is damaging the entire country’s economic stability.
Nobody else on here makes such ignorant blanket statements.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
WG and RE,
I provided straightforward statistics earlier today. If you want to look them up yourselves, feel free. I gather that both of you are still only looking at the inflated and excessive gains of the previous bubble and subsequently, seeking to make the exact same future gains. But we are in fact in a recessionary housing cycle. So the best tool at hand to determine appreciation is via historical performance, which suggests that you could very well see marked gains in the next 5-10 years if history repeats itself again. Otherwise, we’re all simply guessing. Even using a historical chart is making an educated guess, but better than simply assuming appreciation of the kind experienced from 2003-2006 is right around the corner.
In regards to the bailout, not sure if anyone caught this, but there is also a new installment to the bill where every credit card transaction you make will now be monitored closely. Lastly, the only thing the bailout is going to do is cheapen the dollar even further. The US economy needs to get away from the bubble form of growing economies. You cannot make an economy simply based on selling homes and debt back and forth to each other.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
the problem with the RBA is that it IS that “special place” where prices will never come down. you have a whole bunch of people there (Trophy Wives, Porsche Drivers, etc.) holding each others’ hands in a circle religiously yelling “we will not sell for less than seven figures!” and there are alot more cockroaches out there (bears, druggies, software engineers, etc.) that wish to be part of that community the prices can only go higher and higher.
the real problem is that there are uber wealthy people being made everyday even in this lousy economy, and most of them for some odd reason want to live in the RBA, Manhattan, etc.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I suppose it all comes back to the fact that the RBA is special! Unlike any other place…
——–
Call up any homeowner living at other parts of America. They would tell the same thing - “our place is special”. Talk to any real estate agent. Same story - the local area where they are doing business is special. Not long ago sg posted a youtube video where a Jacksonville realtor is telling how his place is special with new port and booming economy. Therefore, ignore any “national news”. Any place is special.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
and there are alot more cockroaches out there (bears, druggies, software engineers, etc.) that wish to be part of that community the prices can only go higher and higher.
——
How could you forget foreigners!
July 25th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
How could you forget foreigners!
Oh yes, how can I forget! Those pesky bastards bringing in suitcases of swiss francs, RMB, rupees, and Euros are still stuck in customs! Better buy now before the RBA property values double by year’s end!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Holy shit. I stayed a lurker until now. But for you to compare Cupertino to Manhattan? And you can’t even spell Manhattan correctly? You guys are fuckin’ out of your mind.
I used to live in Queens (do you guys even know where that is?) and work in Manhattan and now I live amongst you.
To even compare the two is laughable.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Holy shit…
You guys are fuckin’ out of your mind.
Hey you’re among happy daisy sniffing Californians now, please leave that east coast foul mouth at the door!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
But for you to compare Cupertino to Manhattan?
——
And why would you think that someone is talking about Manhattan? Manhatten is lot better place than Manhattan, except it does not have Broadway, Greenwich Village and Wall St.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Whoa there. Easy on the language Knicksfan.
Though if I were a knicks fan, I’d probably have a language issue too:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/isiah_thomas_my_time_with_the
July 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Someone living in Queens in NY should probably be living in EPA, not amongst us (just kidding but the price comparison per sqf is not that far off).
http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/New_York/Queens-heat_map/
July 25th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
WillowGlenner, it seems like we’ve had a steady stream of flips here in Willow Glen, notably “The Colonial of Willow Glen” where a white elephant was transformed into a gray elephant. When it was sold in November, 2006 for $900,000 it was a hopelessly pretentious bread box with four narrow pillars in front. The flipper added a second floor porch across the front to break those lines, but actually played up to the pretentiousness with absurd floor coverings and finishes and labels like “King’s retreat” for the master bedroom. It was like a parody of the nouveaux riche. It sat on the market at $1.8 for months, but finally found a buyer at $1.65. I figure the flipper put in $500K, tops, so he still walked away with a profit.
Several smaller flips come to mind, basically taking something from 750K up, tricking it out with garish fake rock outside and granite countertops inside, then plopping it back on the market. One example of that would be 1504 Koch Lane, which sold in June 2007 for $850K and resold in November 2007 for $1.3M.
Flipping the cheaper stuff didn’t make much sense because at that level you’re probably looking at a house that isn’t worth the cost of the lot it’s sitting on. Flipping a 3/1 or a bungalow is tough because people with enough money to provide a profit on that project probably want more house, particularly in a buyer’s market.
Flippers are still very active in Willow Glen.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
It’s a fair comparison. If you look at how much of the GDP is generated out of the tech industry in the BA, and compare that to the financial industry that is falling apart, is there any wonder BA’s valuation is where it is?
July 25th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
In summary, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Manhattan may have glitzy tall buildings, but what product does that place produce? Mostly Wall Street bankers are just there to take a cut out of the value generated by the BA.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
OK, leaving aside the comments on NYC vs. SCC, has anyone actually looked at this wonder of pricing on a map?
Wonder why they didn’t say “corner lot”? Or “dual pane windows”? Or better still, “extensive noiseproofing since you’ll need it”?
This wondrous house with it’s delightful price cut is on the CORNER of Arques at the entrance and exit ramp to CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY.
The real use for this house would be as a teardown to put up a new Jack’s with a drive thru! I smell equity!
July 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Knicksfan, for you to laugh when comparing Cupertino to Manhattan is just evidence that you are echoing the groupthink that gets bantered about here. Manhattan is the financial capital of the world (at least until Dubai overtakes it)- and the bay area is the VC capital of the world. There are plenty of similarities. When you look at the largest wealth generating events on Wall Street- these are mostly IPOs- and a substantial percentage of them are based HERE! Not in Manhattan or any other major city- they are all here! You just pulled Cupertino out of the sky to make a comparison to Manhattan seem ridiculous- what you should have said- and what nobody would have thought twice about- was the PALO ALTO or San Francisco were equivalent to Manhattan. Cupertino is nothing more than a burb off of SF- if you want to compare Cupertino to Tribeca or something that would make more sense.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
>>if you want to compare Cupertino to Tribeca or something that would make more sense.
or to Queens.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
“Call up any homeowner living at other parts of America. They would tell the same thing - “our place is special”. Talk to any real estate agent. Same story - the local area where they are doing business is special. Not long ago sg posted a youtube video where a Jacksonville realtor is telling how his place is special with new port and booming economy. Therefore, ignore any “national news”. Any place is special.”
Indeed. Sarcasm on teh intrawebz is always hard to detect. I couldn’t agree with you more.
If you look at real estate values nationwide over the past 15 years, they have all gone up. Why is this you may ask? Because the locations are special, duh!
I propose the mantra be changed to: “It’s special here. Just like everywhere else.”
I agree with your statement “To even compare the two is laughable,” knicksfan.
Why is it laughable? Because the weather is better here!
Oh god I crack myself up.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Oh don’t be so humble WG, SV is comparable to Manhattan EXCEPT weather is much nicer!!!!!
July 25th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Cupertino isn’t Manhattan. It isn’t even Tribeca. It’s effing FORT LEE, NJ, which is where I am now. With a Mr. Richard Feder. Who writes in and says, “My apartment has gone down by 40%. What agency is responsible for giving me back my missing equity?”
One way Palo Alto is like Manhattan: parking police who enter city parking lots and ticket you for crap like missing front license plates.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
“In summary, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Manhattan may have glitzy tall buildings, but what product does that place produce? Mostly Wall Street bankers are just there to take a cut out of the value generated by the BA.”
You tell ‘em, RE ! I mean, Google and Facebook, they produce… well, I know they produce something, I just can’t put my finger on exactly what it is at the moment. But I know for a fact that a stock can’t be worth $500/share if the company isn’t producing anything.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Madhaus, that crap is not too bad. I got ticketed in Santa Monica parking (that is several levels) my car with the “Month” sticker missing on the license plate. When I protested they responded “to dismiss the ticket, you need to show that it is fixed at a police station, for a $10 fee). The DMV was amused when they gave me the free sticker.
Made me feel like those guys on the street after the beating of Rodney King.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Can someone pls explain what’s RBA? Thanks.
This kind of listings make me wanna go slap the home owner on the head. What the heck is he/she thinking? It’s the same kind of phenomenon that I see on Craigslist. People want to sell their used shit at full retail price.
Anyway, similar houses in the area have recently been sold in the mid-400K. This seller needs to drop a least another 100 large.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
RBA = Real Bay Area
A mythical place where men have trophy wives and drive Porsches. And home values rise 15% per year, EVERY year, forever without any plateaus. Oh, and no one ever loses their house to foreclosure because they’re rich and have job security.
(How’d I do guys?)
July 25th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I was told no one loses their house to foreclosure in Willow Glen. I’ve spoken with several agents and that simply isn’t true. Fact of the matter is that during the boom, even people who could afford down payments and conventional loans took no money down, neg ams because the terms were so generous. Now that the house is worth less than the loan and the payments are set to jump, they are walking away.
Even the RBA isn’t immune to owners with no skin in the game taking a hike. We’ll see a lot more of it this fall, moving from Willow Glen toward Cupertino and the peninsula.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Thanks, nomadic for the explanation.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I’m sure after Madhaus returns from NJ, he’ll appreciate his shack a lot more. NJ is the definition of boredom. The weather is too humid in the summer, and freezing cold in the winter. Living there is like being sentenced to some sort of punishment. When he gets back to BA, it’ll feel like waking up from a bad dream.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
>>“My apartment has gone down by 40%. What agency is responsible for giving me back my missing equity?”
You tell’em: If you had chosen to live in the RBA, you wouldn’t have this problem. Every one of my neighbors lives in a million dollar house, and none of them lost any equity.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
A mythical place where men have trophy wives and drive Porsches.
————-
You forgot some more points
- where people work 9-3 to earn frequent flyer miles.
- where colleagues don’t respect non-RBA zipcoders.
- where foreigners are coming without visa and snapping up homes from the market.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:34 am
It will make sense to compare the SF bay area to Manhattan when:
1. You will find miles of 1-story detached houses in Manhattan, some with horses in their backyard
2. You will find a reasonable amount of world-class restaurants in the bay area
Ping me when either one happens…
July 26th, 2008 at 12:47 am
DreamT,
That’s French Quarter of New Orleans (pre-Katrina) - detached homes and world class restaurant.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Frank Jewitt, why would we see more RBA foreclosures this fall? This is a serious question. From what I see the foreclosure inventory has peaked and is on the decline. Its obvious the low end properties that are foreclosures (or priced like them) are selling like hotcakes NOW (this was not true 2 mos ago).
These 2 articles below illustrate 2 things. 1) Foreclosures have plateau’d (in fact the loan origination of the recent foreclosures was very late in the game- mid 2006) and 2) sales are increasing.
I’m not trying to say the housing market is going to resume the boom next year or anything. I just don’t see any evidence that the foreclosure situation is getting worse in the RBA or not in the RBA- and I actually think this whole “shadow inventory around the corner” thing is inspired by erroneous data put forth by these foreclosure websites like foreclosure.com that Trulia picks up. Those sites scrape the county records for foreclosures and are woefully inaccurate. My recent foreclosure buy is listed as available on Zillow and Trulia for example, sourced from foreclosure.com. I’ll bet EVERY REO sale is cross listed by these services and never removed.
However, from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2008, there was only slight increase in default notices sent out in the East Bay and in San Joaquin County while San Mateo County saw a sharp drop.
“The small increase in defaults from the first to second quarter may indicate that we’re nearing a plateau. We won’t know until the end the year, but it may be that some lenders are starting to prioritize workouts with homeowners instead of grinding things through the foreclosure process. Of course, they may just be swamped and can’t handle processing any more paperwork,” John Walsh, DataQuick president, said in a statement.
The majority of loans that went into default in the second quarter of 2008 were taken out between September 2005 and November 2006.
http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_9960499
this article has a chart that shows Santa Clara county sales up 6.4% over last month
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/car-reports-sales-increased-175/story.aspx?guid=%7B0414F84B-EDAE-48B2-8034-EE816D356683%7D&dist=hppr
– Statewide, the 10 cities with the greatest median home price increases in June 2008 compared with the same period a year ago were: Manhattan Beach, 49.4 percent; Cupertino, 33.3 percent; San Luis Obispo, 11.4 percent; Los Gatos, 3 percent; San Carlos, 1.5 percent; Sunnyvale, 1.4 percent; Ridgecrest, 1.4 percent; Campbell, 1.3 percent; Temple City, 0.9 percent; San Rafael, 0.8 percent.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Frank Jewitt, from your post #36-
Several smaller flips come to mind, basically taking something from 750K up, tricking it out with garish fake rock outside and granite countertops inside, then plopping it back on the market. One example of that would be 1504 Koch Lane, which sold in June 2007 for $850K and resold in November 2007 for $1.3M.
Do you still see this happening in 2008 though? I know it was ongoing through last year. I have thought for some time that the 800K “sweet spot” price was a good one for investment in WG, because in prime WG you can easily get a 1.3mm pricepoint so there is plenty appreciation potential. But these days I see a lot of “new construction” (which were basically builder flips) sitting on the mkt- although some have sold.
Flipping the cheaper stuff didn’t make much sense because at that level you’re probably looking at a house that isn’t worth the cost of the lot it’s sitting on. Flipping a 3/1 or a bungalow is tough because people with enough money to provide a profit on that project probably want more house, particularly in a buyer’s market.
Yeah- agree completely. I am not really a flipper though- I am more of a RE investor. I try to get around this bungalow problem by buying large lots. Then I make a few repairs ($20K or so, usually, max) to bring the place up to a quality rental and wait. By buying the large lots I am set up to either build the new place when I sell it, or sell to somebody who is mostly buying the lot. Although I have great contacts for remodelling and can get things like new bathrooms etc done cheaply, I am not a builder per se so I probably would not embark on a huge add on to sell one of my properties but you never know. With an 8K sq ft lot, I could do it if I wanted to.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Was Dallas the RBA of the 80’s?
From Dallasnews.com —
“The entire country was looking at Dallas in awe,” recalls Jeff Chapman, a lawyer in Dallas with Vinson & Elkins LLP who started his career here in 1983. “There was no city like it.”
The state’s banks competed to finance energy and real-estate projects. Hundreds of new banks were chartered in Texas in the first half of the ’80s.
It all came crashing down amid a sustained decline in oil prices, a real-estate glut, and changes to U.S. tax law that made investing in real estate less attractive.
“The state lost its swagger,” Mr. Chapman says. “You didn’t see many mansions being put up. The few-hundred-dollar bottles of wine remained in the restaurant inventories. I saw fewer brand new Porsches on the streets. And that’s just at the wealth level.”
Last year, Richard W. Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, reflected on some of the lessons from 1980s Texas in a speech to mortgage bankers in Austin.
“The assumption of permanently high – or permanently rising – prices in an asset class, in this case oil, invariably leads to regrettable decisions,” he said.
Today, the asset class that people once assumed to be “permanently rising” is residential real estate.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:47 am
hey burbed, where’s the Saturday article? Did you forget to hit PUBLISH?
sorry, no SJMN chart today, I can’t do it on this craptop. Also I had another 64 oz of stupid this morning with my coffee, and all the apartments in this tower lost another 2% of equity.
In today’s NY Times, big article about all the investment bankers who aren’t getting huge bonuses anymore. Waaaaaah.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:51 am
The best humor contains great truth, and underlying the RBA parody is, in fact, a real RBA defines as areas that have been sought after for at least the last 20 or 30 years. There are places in Marin, the East Bay and the 408 that qualify, but my knowledge is limited to the original 415, so I’ll lay it out. They are: Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park (west of el camino), Atherton, Woodside, Hillsborough, Burlingame (west of El Camino) and select neighborhoods in SF like Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Presidio Heights and Seacliff. Separately, there are areas like Mountain View, San Carlos, Menlo Park east of el cam, Noe Valley and Potrero Hill that have acquired RBA characteristics, but like non-RBA places RWC, Belmont, San Mateo, etc, they are not historically desirable.
What do we know about the RBA in today’s housing depression? Oddly, the RBA keeps setting price records, with good properties selling immediately with multiple offers. Unlike 2005-2006, bad properties (very busy streets, on top of the train, falling down) that are overpriced are sitting. Joke all you want about its mythical nature, but in the neighborhoods mentioned above inventories are still low and prices are still climbing (just slower than 2-4 years ago).
Can prices fall deramtically in the RBA? Absolutely, but the first there need to be more RBA sellers than RBA buyers, and after looking at houses all Spring I have seen no signs that this is coming. Buyers are pickier than in 2005, but it is still very much a seller’s market.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Steve,
I’ll make this quote of the day, in a good way:
“The best humor contains great truth, and underlying the RBA parody is, in fact, a real RBA defines as areas that have been sought after for at least the last 20 or 30 years.”
July 26th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
just fix the typo (defined instead of defines)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Steve,
The disconnect is with those people here who have not gone out to shop any house in the RBA neighborhoods.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
You can clearly tell they have not shopped by the way they’re talking.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I am starting to think that RBA life style includes visiting open houses every weekend. How many posts RE has done for the last 24 hours alone? I picture a hi-tech guy goes to 94301 open houses with burbed people in mind “wish you were here, see all these traffic, see all the bidding excitement, see how nice and rich the neighborhood is, don’t listen to the media and read the statistics, none of that is true”, while he wanders around those several houses and checking his watch to get on his laptop in time to continue the pissing contest with Pralay.
Oh brother.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
WG, whether I think the market is still right for flipping, flipping is still going on. Drive down Plummer between Curtner and Foxworthy and you’ll spot at least one flip where the house is fenced off, plus a few others that may just be owner upgrades.
By rights, that flip on Koch shouldn’t have worked, at least in terms of making a profit. It was a dump at $850K, certainly the right target (comparable plan with superficial improvements sold for $930K on Pine), but I have a hard time believing the flip on Koch was worth the $1.3M paid. Then again, I hate faux rock exteriors with a passion. They remind me of dated fifties and sixties buildings.
One way or another, flips will continue in Willow Glen. The majority of the houses haven’t been updated since the eighties. They simply aren’t worth having in the $600K to $900K range unless you can afford to fix them up, so we’ll see someone buying them and trying to flip them. Willow Glen isn’t Cupertino, but it is a magnet for buyers and renters.
The bad flips will be in Cambrian, which despite its proximity to Willow Glen is not a close substitute. You can fix the house, but you can’t fix the neighbors, especially if they are renters. Way too many trashed out yards and derelict vehicles in Cambrian.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Speaking of sitting on the market, have you checked out the faux castle on Nevada? I believe that’s headed for its two year anniversary. It’s roughly two million over half the homes on the street and it’s overpriced by $750,000 according to Zillow.
July 26th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Frank, you’ll like this one too then:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/14949-HEATHER-Dr-95124/home/802529
It’s been on the market off and on for at least 3-4 months. The price started about $2.6M and is down to $2M this go-round. Curiosity got me to go see it during an open house; I dubbed it the Disney house. Some parts are well done but the “theme” is, um, overblown.
July 26th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I think our fearless leader (burbed) has abandoned us. No Saturday article and no comments why it’s missing. Maybe he’s miffed at me for skipping the Dataquick stats since I don’t wanna do it on a craptop.
Okay, I just came back from a party at a huge, I mean f—ing HUGE house in Norwood. I think this house was over 3500 sf and probably on an acre and a half. I think it would run about $1.5m. I don’t even know what the dude who owned it does for a living, I’ll find out tmw when I talk to some of these people again, but I swear he looks like he’s half my age. What makes me sick is that I was looking in that price range out here and what do I get for that? Another 800 sf in Sunnyvale. Or a shack in Paly that’s even smaller than the place I’m in.
No, I’m not moving back to NJ, but every time I visit I get a serious case of housing lust.
July 26th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Did you ask your NJ friends about the schools there?
Do they have sewage self destruction problems?
July 26th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Nomadic (and Frank Jewell),
Those “tuscan themed” monsters are showing up everywhere. I have one right around the corner from me, 2174 Newport Ave, San Jose 95125
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2174+newport+ave,+san+jose+ca&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=com.google:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title
The street view seems to have been taken during the landscaping construction phase but still, you get the idea. At least the Cambrian house is on a huge lot. This thing is right in the middle of urban WG.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Actually, aside from the humidity, how was the air in that part of New Jersey?
The last few weeks of wildfires has really really done my allergies some real horrors.
The air quality has been abysmal.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
nomadic, if it wasn’t for the garages, I’d think you used Photoshop to remove the La Quinta Inn sign.
WG, I’ve got that beat. They’re building something on Lupton just South of Minnesota that is 8-10K SF.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/activerain-image-store/image_store/region_images/ar11993206989351.jpg
My first thought was a Howard Johnson’s, but the roof is the wrong color.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:50 am
This is to remind renters that every month they are literally giving away a flat screen TV.
RealEstater, that’s absolutely false. We rent a 1,800sf 3/1 flat on the Northside in Berkeley for $2100/month. Now, no one is able to move condos in this neighborhood at all right now, but there is a comparable around the corner listed at $620K.
With 20% down and a 30yr fixed at 6.39%, that’s $3,099/month for your mortgage. Figure taxes and insurance will run you about $775/month, for a PITI of $3,874/month. Even after my mortgage interest deduction, how am I supposed to buy a flat screen while simultaneously handing over $1,000/month to some Chinese institutional investor?
July 27th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Thom,
Go check Best Buy/Circuit City/Costco. For $2100 you can buy a good flat screen TV. Rent money does not build any equity. It’s 100% after-tax throwaway money.
July 27th, 2008 at 10:34 am
WG, it would be a mistake to fall for month over month numbers in a seasonal marketplace. Year over year, June sales in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties were down 25% despite a more than 10% drop in median price.
http://www.dqnews.com/News/California/Bay-Area/RRBay080717.aspx
25% below a bad market is a worse market, IMO.
July 27th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Of course, as people in LA are learning, sometimes equity isn’t so easy to maintain.
From http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/ —
“Listing prices are now $155K below peak levels; inventory is flat
Two headlines duel in this week’s analysis of MLS listings from Housing Tracker: Median listing prices dropped another $1,000 over the week and are now $155,000 below their bubble peak, while inventory dipped again and is now even with year-ago levels.
At $424,000, median listing prices are down 20.7% from year-ago levels — the steepest decline yet measured in this slump — and are 26.9% below their peak level of $579,666.”
WIth $1000 drop in the last week, that means that renting has saved someone a widescreen TV every two weeks.
July 27th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Lionel, check out irvinehousingblog.com. The author, IrvineRenter, introduced the concept of equity burn, the idea that if the featured property declines by 10% a year, that’s how much equity you will lose per month.
Most properties showcased on IHB lose a 50 inch plasma TV’s worth of equity a month.
Now I suppose we’ll hear a lecture about how the RBA is special, is different, they’re not making any more land, bla bla bla. I got news for you, that’s what the kool-aide drinkers in Irvine said in 2006 too. At this point even RE admits that only 20% of RBA cities’ properties are actually in the RBA, the rest are excluded for being too small, too old, on busy streets, in crappy parts of town, etc. RBA is a meaningless concept, since he defines it as the place where houses never devalue. If a house sells for less than it did last time, no problem! It’s NO LONGER in the RBA.
Monthly equity burn. Remember that term, and remember if you buy now, you’ll be throwing away giant plasma TVs every month.
July 27th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
burbed, the air quality isn’t that bad now (for NJ) especially compared to the haze from the fires that we’ve been dealing with. Air gets worth as you approach the refineries in Elizabeth (exit 13?), past Newark Airport. Are you considering moving to Tenafly? I did some more price shopping, looks like my price estimates were a little low. But a lot of builders put up palaces and can’t sell ‘em, all over the place here. Who was going on about Tuscan estates? Seen them here too.
July 27th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
“Lionel, check out irvinehousingblog.com. The author, IrvineRenter, introduced the concept of equity burn”
Thanks, madhaus, I’ll check it out. I like that the concept is described as a “burn”, as that is the exact way I envisioned these buyers destroying their equity — waking up in the morning and smoking a few hundred dollar bills on the stoop.
July 27th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
that equity burn concept doesn’t work nearly as well as equity gain though- because you still have to pay to rent somewhere+the tax writeoff.
Equity burn reminds me of trying to make money shorting stocks vs going long. Yes you can get rich shorting stocks, but it is much more difficult than being long.
July 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
>>At this point even RE admits that only 20% of RBA cities’ properties are actually in the RBA, the rest are excluded for being too small, too old, on busy streets, in crappy parts of town, etc.
Madhaus,
What do you get out of spreading something that is blatantly untrue? Don’t make another stupid mistake that you later need to acknowledge.
July 27th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
San Jose Mercury News ran an article on a luxury merchandise event in San Jose, and I can’t help but notice several comments similar to what I’ve been saying here all along (and getting attacked by the bubble guys):
“High-tech is doing fine overall,” said Richard Carlson, chairman of Spectrum Economics in Palo Alto.
“There is a tremendous amount of wealth in the Bay Area,” he said. “Those sub-prime loans were made almost entirely to low-end families. You aren’t going to get a sub-prime loan for a million-dollar house.”
July 27th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
@madhaus, my brother in prop 13 rage, a question out of curiousity. what is the current value of your house that you so charminly describe in relation to historic pricing?
from what many commenters here suggest it should be 20% or more off the 2006 peak, right? As I mentioned in another comment, I don’t know 408, but I am not seeing these declines in PA, LA, MP. In fact, I remain shocked that these cities are setting per sq ft records. Parts of RWC are going to hell, but I also remember when they installed microphones to detect gunshots, so no reasonable RBA definition ever would have included it.
July 27th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
You don’t get many sub-prime million dollar loans, but you get tons of Alt-A loans, which a just as bad and haven’t begun to reset. There are numerous people in the “RBA” with Alt-a loans, which were the almost the norm for a year or two, that they will not be able to afford in a year or two. Lots.
July 27th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
“Those sub-prime loans were made almost entirely to low-end families.”
Low-end families? Are you sure this Carlson guy isn’t related to you, RE, you elitist, blockhead twit? Maybe you two can build your 4000 sf RBA dream house together and drive around in your matching Porsches.
July 27th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
RealEstater - When I was shopping around, late 2005, I was offered with great insistance an interest-only / neg Am, NO-DOC loan for $1M, which I refused to opt for. Screwy loans at $1M were definitely within the reach of plenty of people. A couple of two software engineers would have qualified for about $1.5M under the same conditions I was offered. This is from personal experience. What actual facts can you offer to support your quote “You aren’t going to get a sub-prime loan for a million-dollar house?”
July 27th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
>>This is from personal experience. What actual facts can you offer to support your quote “You aren’t going to get a sub-prime loan for a million-dollar house?”
Just ask yourself the question: Did you take the bait? Of course not, because you are an educated person and you wouldn’t make such a dumb decision.
Whenever I hear people get a 5 year conventional loan, or even any kind of car loan, I think they’re nuts.
July 27th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
RealEstater - if this had been my first real estate purchase, I might well have taken the bait. As it happens, it was my fourth loan origination. That, rather than not being nuts or being educated, is what guided my decision. Any impressionable and naive person could have fallen for the bait, and still qualify for well above $1M with the program. I think you’ve got way too much faith in college-educated folks and should check some hard data on this.
The key is: what are the incentives guiding the decisions of the guy in front of you, do they align with your goals or not. You don’t learn to see through this by going to college. You learn by experience, getting burned or benefiting from a mentor’s advice. So I honestly think being educated does not make anybody fool-proof in this regard.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:39 am
DreamT,
This is a case where we simply disagree. We get “incentives’ via junk mail all the time. Do you find yourself falling for those?
July 28th, 2008 at 1:44 am
>>Any impressionable and naive person could have fallen for the bait, and still qualify for well above $1M with the program.
Exactly. Are you such kind of person? I hope not.
>>I think you’ve got way too much faith in college-educated folks and should check some hard data on this.
Hard data shows that most foreclosures are in low income areas like Stockton. RBA to this day does not have a foreclosure problem.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:19 am
RealEstater - I don’t mean to carry this much further, but #1 as explained I’d think it a mistake to extrapolate from my very own experience for the reasons I laid out, so your questions re. my personal experience are irrelevant, and #2 current foreclosures are as you describe indeed but again insufficient ground to extrapolate for the state of BA real estater after further alt-a etc. resets. I know you disagree, stating the concerned ‘educated’ folks would have walked by now. I call this speculation or wishful thinking until the facts agree, and in the meantime am of the same opinion as another poster (Pralay?) who stated that many people become wedded to their house, staying until they get kicked out. I also think facts aren’t here yet to help us agree, so we might just leave it at that for now. In the meantime, the RBA’s not foreclosing… just shrinking.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:36 am
RealEstater - I’ll add this though: junk mail is unsollicited. Loan originations are sought. Any recipient behavior observed with the former is irrelevant with regards to the latter for that very reason.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:52 am
Looks like the hardcore guy’s gone to bed (wink)
July 28th, 2008 at 10:34 am
>>Looks like the hardcore guy’s gone to bed (wink)
Actually, I was up til 5AM attending to my kid who’s not feeling well.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:37 am
>>the RBA’s not foreclosing… just shrinking.
Actually, I strongly disagree with this statement as well. RBA is the same as it ever was. Refer to Steve’s post in another thread.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:55 am
RealEstater - Not if you define the RBA as the land where property values do not decrease, as was initially the intention. Your personal definition is more static (as you point out) because you added prestige of location to the equation and disregarded madhaus’ weekly reports on the RBA zips decreasing in value YOY.
Hope your kid’s feeling better. Beats doing the laundry.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
>>Not if you define the RBA as the land where property values do not decrease, as was initially the intention.
That was never the intention. It was the distortion by Madhaus and Pralay.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
That was never the intention. It was the distortion by Madhaus and Pralay.
—–
Distortion? I just quoted your posts, RealEstater. And provided the link to your original posts. Then you came back and said that when you said “Santa Clara County” you never meant those areas in SCC where professionals don’t want to live. If that is the case, that’s your problem - for being vague.
How about you define the lists of zipcodes where “professional want to live”? I bet you would not do it, because it’s very important for you to remain vague just so that you can always claim “I am always right”.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
What actual facts can you offer to support your quote “You aren’t going to get a sub-prime loan for a million-dollar house?”
—————
RealEstater,
DreamT asked above question earlier which you never addressed. I ask you the same question again.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Awfully easy to continue to spew garbage when you selectively respond to people’s points, eh RE?
July 28th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
San Jose Mercury News ran an article on a luxury merchandise event in San Jose,
——–
I get it, I get it. It was an event for
used carsalesmen. They wanted to sell Lamborghini and vacation package at Time Square.For rest of the people, this is the article he was referring.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
You don’t get many sub-prime million dollar loans, but you get tons of Alt-A loans, which a just as bad and haven’t begun to reset. There are numerous people in the “RBA” with Alt-a loans, which were the almost the norm for a year or two, that they will not be able to afford in a year or two. Lots.
R, I have to disagree with you completely on this. First of all I almost exclusively use Alt-A loans, and they are not the same as subprime. Most of the Alt-A loan people I know (including myself) have FIXED loans- the only reason people use alt-a is because it is friendlier to self employed people. Secondly, people who were likely to default probably already have, once they saw their houses drop in value. There isn’t some tidal wave of new foreclosures around the corner.. come on.
And there are very few subprime loans for properties over about 700K. I saw one on Cambrian once. Its pretty rare. Most of those are in San Jose east side.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I especially liked this quote from the article:
“There is a tremendous amount of wealth in the Bay Area,” he said. “Those sub-prime loans were made almost entirely to low-end families. You aren’t going to get a sub-prime loan for a million-dollar house.”
More proof that the overall description of the populace and financial capabilities of the Bay Area is completely mis-characterized and overstated by those who think the area is a never-ending flood of wealthy people unfettered by the economy and the cost of living. The person above is trying to basically suggest that we have nothing to fear: there are only large quantities of rich people and the squabbling masses of the poor who really don’t count anyway. If this were true, then those ‘poor’ people who bought those 800k houses in the last two years wouldn’t be worried about selling now even be bothered with a loan since they surely must’ve paid for the whole house with cash.
Sort of another piece of merely incidental but interesting observation was when I was talking with a cousin who runs a high end restaurant in SF.He mentioned that of all the new upscale joints around, 65% of them fail. His opinion and observations are that people are spending less and eating out less as a result. Surely if everyone here was rich, they’d eat out every single night, and at the best places to boot, right?
This whole portrayal of the BA as a strictly wealthy enclave is damaging and false. The fact remains that the median income is woefully small in comparison to the cost of living.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Secondly, people who were likely to default probably already have, once they saw their houses drop in value. There isn’t some tidal wave of new foreclosures around the corner.. come on.
Highly unlikely since at the peak of the boom in 2006, over 70% of all loans made in the BA were of the ALt-A variety. These will be resetting over the next several years. It also shows that these types of loans were made on all levels of house pricing. I personally know 5 people who used them, and they are by no means low income…
July 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Highly unlikely since at the peak of the boom in 2006, over 70% of all loans made in the BA were of the ALt-A variety. These will be resetting over the next several years.
Did you read what I said bob? You appear to be replying to me, which is why I ask.
I have alt-A loans and they are FIXED. Everyone I know has alt-A loans that are fixed. Alt-A’s, as a class, DO NOT RESET. And even if they did, who cares? Houses can be refi’d in the bay area easily since they have not lost value. Its not like Stockton.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
What we really need to know is how many of these Alt-A loans (and there were LOTS of them made in this area) are fixed vs variable, how many are Option-ARM, etc. That will tell us if we are in for a wave for resetting with no chance of re-financing.
The only place I know which has done this sort of analysis did it for the Federal Reserve, and then asked them to remove the hard data from the maps. So all we can see are percentages.
I know an awful lot of engineers who don’t seem to understand how loan products work and why you have to calculate your own amortization every time you refi so you don’t keep restarting the clock to a new 30 year term. Some of them REALLY do not get simple concepts like this.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
WG,
Homes in the BA, including the area in which you bought have lost value. I assume that you must ignore all of the DQ posts we place here. So I wouldn’t be counting on the magic Re-fi faerie to save the day.
Oh well. Its obvious that you and RE as well as a myriad of other “investors” invest with little to zero thoughts in regards to the very real potential for downside risk, and as such, do not ever consider the ramifications of such. That’s foolhardy in my book.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
To clarify, I meant to refer to Option ARMs, which will be resetting, as opposed to fixed Alt-A’s. Yes, Alt-A’s aren’t necesarily bad as you point out, and in fact not inherently bad at all. However, I personally know a lot of well-do-to young professionals thought bought homes in the 800 - 1.1 million range using Option ARMs. Most all these people bought in the RBA. None of them will be able to afford their reset unless they get a huge raise. Most are trying to decide their best course of action - sell now (assuming they are at least slightly above water), wait and sell in 6 months or so (praying prices will go back up soon before the reset), or wait unti the day of reckoning to see where they stand.
There are certainly many more established people that will be able to ride out the current situation, however, there are a lot of younger folks with good jobs that won’t. It’ll certainly be curious to see how things play out. The only thing I feel condident in saying is that there is only a certain premium people will pay to be in the “RBA.” Once that premium becomes to great, people will move to outlying areas and prices will naturally come down. We aren’t there yet but I have a feeling we will get there.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Sort of another piece of merely incidental but interesting observation was when I was talking with a cousin who runs a high end restaurant in SF.He mentioned that of all the new upscale joints around, 65% of them fail.
Interesting, but I wouldn’t tie it to the health of the economy. New restaurants have a pretty high failure rate anyway. A few facts from a study, just FYI in case you’re curious:
“Several years ago, researchers at Cornell University and Michigan State University conducted a study of restaurants in three local markets over a 10-year period. They concluded the following: After the first year 27% of restaurant startups failed; after three years, 50% of those restaurants were no longer in business; and after five years 60% had gone south. At the end of 10 years, 70% of the restaurants that had opened for business a decade before had failed. Those are far different numbers than a 90% failure rate after the first year quoted by our television star chef. Another academic research study concluded that 81.4% of all small business failures result from forces within the control of the owners/managers.”
The chef they are referring to is Chef Rocco on “The Restaurant” in 2003. And I would bet SF is more competitive than most cities.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Bob,
Did you realize the risk of not being the market when it ran you over?
Pralay,
The RBA issue has been discussed to death. If it’s still vague for you, maybe you need to have your head checked?
July 28th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Quote of the day: “Did you realize the risk of not being the market when it ran you over?”
Nice alliteration for real estate capitalism. You’re either on the bus or left on the sidelines. You ride blissfully or get killed impassionately.
RealEstater - maybe bob just didn’t want to be aboard as the market braked too late and ran over the cliff.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Metaphor nor alliteration. Duh. Since when does RealEstater write poetry.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I suppose imitation is a form of flattery…
July 28th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Goes to show how EGO can easily supersede IQ. Yes RealEstater, you are everybody’s fav’ and the site wouldn’t survive in your absence.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Pralay,
What zip codes do you like to live in? What’s wrong with San Jose as a starting point, which fits your budget?
July 29th, 2008 at 12:58 am
RealEstater,
I am quite happy where I live.
And one needs not to be rocket scientist to understand that you are not really addressing to me but the silent renters. I repeat my question: Do you get paid for posting messages here?
July 29th, 2008 at 1:06 am
The RBA issue has been discussed to death. If it’s still vague for you, maybe you need to have your head checked?
——-
SCC to “core cities” to “South Sunnyvale” - that’s not my understanding problem. It’s your vagueness.
And guess what, if you were straight-forward, you would provide list of RBA zipcodes. Instead as usual your vague twisted answer “RBA issue has been discussed to death”. Well, if it was discussed to death, how come you cannot come up with list of RBA zipcodes?
July 29th, 2008 at 7:42 am
“And guess what, if you were straight-forward, you would provide list of RBA zipcodes. Instead as usual your vague twisted answer “RBA issue has been discussed to death”. Well, if it was discussed to death, how come you cannot come up with list of RBA zipcodes?”
Because what is now the RBA won’t be next month. Just like most of Sunnyvale is now out.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:57 am
>>I repeat my question: Do you get paid for posting messages here?
If I get paid a dollar for reading every meaningless message you post, I’d get a free TV every month.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:00 am
July 29th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Did you realize the risk of not being the market when it ran you over?
What? I’m not sure what you mean. Are you saying that I was at risk by not being in the housing market? If so, doesn’t that sound stupid given that prices are now falling and I saved an awful lot of cash while tons of idiots bought homes they couldn’t even afford?
In any regards, It’s clear that you and others have a huge vested interest in RE. By the sound of it, perhaps the ONLY investment you have. Thus it is completely unspeakable that your house, or any of the others that RE investors on this site have bought could possibly ever go down in value, for if it did, your investments would be bad investments.
You need to rationalize the realistic possibility that you will lose money on your interests. I freely admit that as of now, I am losing money on my stock investments. But that’s a given and fully expected to occur and as I see it, a healthy cleansing cycle. The exact same is true with housing, as as I mentioned, the economy and housing are tied together. In fact, the stock market tends to recover a full 6-9 months before housing starts to recover.
I think people here might take you more seriously if you admitted the existence of downward markets and the negative fluctuations in prices. Your continual statements that indicate that RE never goes down are incorrect.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Bob,
Most of my friends who own in the RBA on sitting on equities from 500K to $1M+, and none of that has gone away. People like you are hopelessly behind the financial curve, and have a vested interest in a market downturn.
For me, it doesn’t really matter. Around 50% of my overall portfolio is sitting in cash. Cash is king right now. I hardly have any loss in the stock market. In the unlikely event that RE in the RBA goes down, I am well positioned to pick up another home.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:38 am
“I think people here might take you more seriously if you admitted the existence of downward markets and the negative fluctuations in prices. Your continual statements that indicate that RE never goes down are incorrect.”
But but but… flat screen tv, italian architecture, priced out forever, real bay area…
I don’t think that he realizes that he appears to have absolutely no credibility because he’s so ignorant.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:41 am
bob, you can lead a donkey to water, but don’t teach him to sing. All you get is tuneless braying. No poetry either, DreamT.
Oh, and it even annoys the donkey.
Everyone who noticed that once again RE didn’t answer what zips the RBA is in, or whether he is being paid to post here gets 100 burbed points. I am going to turn this into a drinking game when I escape NJ. I’ll come up with a few rules and you can add some more:
- every time the phrase “instant equity” is used, take a shot
- every time the phrase “RBA” is used without a definition, town, zip, etc take a shot
- every time someone (RE) says RBA prices double every 10 years, take a shot
- every time RE ducks a questions, take a shot and quack like a duck
- every time someone starts talking about how much better it is in some other non-special place, sing the appropriate song for the place and take a shot. Example: when bob goes on about real, real, rural America, you can sing “Country Roads” or “All my Exes live in Texas,” etc.
- every time Pralay gets into it with RE, shout “he yanked your chain again!” and take a shot
- for every mention of a flat-screen TV, take a shot and change the channel
Okay, add some more rules!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I agree that the low end in Santa Clara valley is bouncing off the bottom. It could take another leg down certainly (Nov/Dec is usually a good time for that to happen)- but right now we have hit bottom. The cheap foreclosures are being bought by investors quickly at usually slightly more than offer price.