Easy access to Caltrain, 101, SFO, and power grid – what more could you want?
1116 Landing Ln, Millbrae, CA 94030 MLS# 80808571 – Property Details
$575,000
* Status: Active
* Bedroom: 3
* Bathroom: 2
* Year Built: 1953
* Lot Size: 7820
* Square Footage: 1120
* List Date: 5/13/2008
* Garage Spaces: 2SHORT SALE! HUGE PRICE REDUCTION! BANK APPROVAL REQUIRED! Prime corner Millbrae turnkey home!Sitting on a huge 7870 sq cul-de-sac lot. Features 3 bedroom 2 baths. Recently remodeled. Great R-2 potential! Close to BART & Downtown shops.SHOW & SELL
Wow, and I thought this house last month had it all! Nope, this house definitely takes the cake. Planes, trains, and automobiles and power lines.
Frankly, I’m not sure why this is selling for so little – it’s the ultimate convenience home. Again, this is the perfect house for foreigners. In just 2 years you’ll easily be able to say Ni Hao, Namaste, Zdravstvuite, or even Barka saato and BOOM you’ve instantly doubled your investment. Split it and quadruple your investment!
What are you waiting for? Caltrain, 101, SFO, and those Power Lines are getting rarer and rarer everyday!
September 10th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Yup,
Its sooo convenient not having any lawn at all, and instead having it paved entirely with neatly arranged bricks. Someone sure spent a lot of time designing that front ” yard” didn’t they? Just look at how neat the bricks surrounding the shrubs look. And I especially love the way that they made nice squares using traditional red bricks outlining the pea-gravel coated cement.
Seriously… WTF is up with crazy people who love making their yards out of cement, bricks, or even astro-turf around here? Oh… I get it… it saves water. But it also brings a whole new meaning to tell the kids to go out and play. Just make sure not to fall down and break your arm in the yard!
September 10th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I’ve been told the paved yards are an Asian thing.. I have a coworker who lives in Mission San Jose, and he says the first thing the Chinese tend to do when they buy a house is pave over the lawn. YMMV.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Yes, I’ve noticed that too. Not to sound like I’m stereotyping, but the honest truth is that if you go to the Asian/ Korean side of Alameda, you can always tell because the houses are all painted easter egg colors and the yards are made out of bricks, pavement, or whatever.
Oh well. I suppose people could drive by homes from my childhood hood and tell that rednecks must live there due to all the Chevys on blocks and large number of plastic pink flamingos out front.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:52 am
no kids play outside anymore anyway. what’s the point.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:28 am
This is rather surprising. Wouldn’t this be priced like it is 1999? Even with Caltrain, 101, SFO, power grid, they are not giving it away for free. Oh wait, they are being kicked out one way or the other.
Strongest survive man, strongest survive, I see Steve is still secure with his tons of equity.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:52 am
The paving question is easy! Extra cash by renting the front yard for airport parking.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:15 am
This is the kind of house that would suit someone like me. One income, one partner, no kids, need some privacy because of the piano but not a whole lot of space. I’m used to living in an airport flightpath, train noise is all right too; and I like being close to El Camino Real. The only problem is that I make $50,000 a year at best. /cry
September 10th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Sonarrat,
Are you buying a place for 2 people, I’m not sure why the other person can’t contribute to the purchase then, maybe not now, but in the future.
As for this entitlement issue, I feel that I should be able to buy at least what I rent. The 1960s apt condo-converted in a bad location I believe are actually a step down, that is in a normal market. Either way I don’t take religious conviction on economic situations, or almost anything for that matter, except for some political issues.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
counting on 2 incomes is a recipie for disaster. i did. now i only have 1. good thing i didn’t buy yet.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:59 am
sonarrat,
Out of curiosity, how old are you and what is your profession?
September 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am
“no kids play outside anymore anyway. what’s the point.”
My kids play outside almost every day that’s not rainy.. But I don’t live in California
September 10th, 2008 at 11:52 am
cardinal2007 – “I should be able to buy at least what I rent.” This is highly counterintuitive to me. I’d have assumed the opposite, due to the extra cost of homeownership and the simple fact that buying is a long-term investment. I fully expect to be able to rent in a nicer place than I could afford to buy.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I don’t spend anywhere near as much on rent as I would be willing to spend on something to buy. Renting is cheap essentially.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I’ve been told the paved yards are an Asian thing.. I have a coworker who lives in Mission San Jose, and he says the first thing the Chinese tend to do when they buy a house is pave over the lawn.
——-
I have seen couple of houses like that and they certainly look ugly. I curious why they do that. Two possible reasons of course – no maintenance for lawn and more parking space.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
“My kids play outside almost every day that’s not rainy.. But I don’t live in California ”
2 words: skin cancer
September 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
A hardscaped yard can be nice, if it’s done with an eye for design and has enough potted/tub plants to look good. Or if you put up a solid barrier around it and make it look more like a courtyard than a front lawn.
The problem is that most hardscaped yards might as well have a big sign saying “I CAN’T BE ARSED TO MAINTAIN MY OWN PROPERTY”.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
sonarrat,
Out of curiosity, how old are you and what is your profession?
25, I’m a music teacher. Good money on an hourly basis but hard to keep up, like any business, so I keep a dead-end day job just to keep the cash flowing. Because of my profession it’s also important that I live in a family friendly area, because no one will want to bring their kid to Hunter’s Point.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Sonarrat, I think you’d better off renting from a music friendly family. You need good location, single family, but cheap housing, that is almost impossible in the bay area even before the bubble.
This house would fetch at least 800k in Cupertino, heck there are worse absolutely dumps with 5k lot selling for 750k. This is a big lot, decent house, in a nice city (I’d have thought Millbrae is as classy as Cupertino, except school is worst but that below 800 even for this neighborhood).
September 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Just check PropertyShark, this house is selling 10% above 1999’s medium sqf and 10% below 2000’s. The previous owner that cashed in 775k from the current sucker is probably Chinese.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Well, if Millbrae is like Cupertino, then the area east of El Camino Real is Rancho Rinconada. Dumpy, ugly old houses and a lot of low-end businesses, but pretty good schools. West of El Camino, it turns into a hilly Palo Alto, except with fog and wind. For sure, the premium for this house is the schools, as a similar house in eastern San Bruno is not $575,000.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
sonarrat, if you want to teach out of your home then that is going to limit you. I don’t know if you want to go the rental studio route, most music stores have places they rent to music teachers but of course that will cost you off your income. At least it is a deductible cost of doing business. Advantage is not having strangers in your house and when they need to buy music books it’s all right there. I say this as a mom whose Wednesdays mean four music lessons from three different teachers so I have a bit of experience from the consumer side.
As to today’s house, you should be able to park at least 6 cars on what used to be the front lawn. That isn’t too bad a price for a 3/2 with a decent-sized lot, either. Maybe it’s discounted because only the hard-of-hearing would care for the location. I can’t imagine trying to enjoy or teach music in an airport flight path.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I see a few low end neighborhoods are already at 99 prices, with the current rent price I think that is about right. So if San Bruno is OK for you then probably it will fall into your range next year or so.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
sonarrat, if you want to teach out of your home then that is going to limit you. I don’t know if you want to go the rental studio route, most music stores have places they rent to music teachers but of course that will cost you off your income. At least it is a deductible cost of doing business. Advantage is not having strangers in your house and when they need to buy music books it’s all right there. I say this as a mom whose Wednesdays mean four music lessons from three different teachers so I have a bit of experience from the consumer side.
I currently teach out of a studio, but the money is double if you teach out of your home, and I am not exaggerating. It’s frustrating to know that I could afford a house if I could only get my hands on it first.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I have heard some comments from our music teachers about studio rent. The place my older kid’s teachers are, they charge by the hour rather than the month, and they used to have an upper maximum you’d pay which they also got rid of. Our guitar teacher set up his own place (in an office building) rather than continue the store studio thing when Haight-Ashbury in Sunnyvale closed.
When I was a kid, all the piano teachers my mom found for me were older moms teaching out of their houses. Most of the ones I am finding now are in studios, don’t know why that is, I still go by word of mouth in locating them.
So what do you need, a 2/1 house in a safe neighborhood? Condos and townhouse complexes mean no parking available, and that’s always a turnoff to the moms who want to come in with the kids. Although we have that situation now anyway with my younger kid’s lesson, trying to find a parking space on Castro Street. At least he’s old enough to drop off but I wouldn’t have done that at age 6.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Sonarrat, I found this house:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/19785787_zpid
3248 Moreno Ave, San Jose
3BR 2BA 1209 sq ft, built 1965
asking price $270K
From the photos, it seems in pretty good shape. Front yard at least part grass, though what’s up with the fence and brickwork. Sure, it’s not the penninsula, but it’s not Hunter’s Point or EPA either. No nearby powerlines, freeways, train tracks, and far enough from RHV to be outside the traffic pattern.
My question to Sonarrat and all you other renters and potential buyers: is this house enough of a bargain to overcome the stigma of East SJ?
September 10th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Yeah, a 2/1 in a safe neighborhood would be marvelous. That’s why I was shopping around in Oakland, but now that I’m making good connections in Daly City and the northern peninsula it would be kinda silly to move that far away. SSF’s prices are coming down precipitously – I’m seeing SFR’s selling at prices that wouldn’t get you a condo 6 months ago. So I’m keeping my eye out.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Wow Ross, they are dropping faster than I think, is that in a gang rotten neighborhood? I think burbed should post some of the houses falling back to reality as well, that does help to grasp the condition of the market.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
“Sonarrat, I found this house:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/19785787_zpid
3248 Moreno Ave, San Jose
3BR 2BA 1209 sq ft, built 1965
asking price $270K”
Dude! check out the value chart on that thing! From 400+k to 270k. wow.
Anyhow, if you plan on buying this with a 50k salary, then I’d hope you have at least a 50k down payment. Even at 270k, the payments minus taxes would be pushing $1,500 per month.Probably looking at a little over $2,000 per month total after all is said and done. That would pretty much max out a 50k income with little wiggle room. I know. I used to make exactly 50k.
But… if you realllllly want a house, well it is doable.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
http://sanmateore.dreamhosters.com/
look at the condo one in Daly City, that one has gone back to 1994 level. So that is pretty much in your range Sonarrat.
It even looks decent.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
It may be doable, but you’re right, it’s not doable right now. The only way I’ll get into a house is through a city program, which fortunately SSF has. So does San Francisco, so I could also land in Excelsior or Ingleside. (SF’s program is an equity share program, but I don’t mind.. I’ll gladly let them shoulder some of the risk.)
September 10th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
test
September 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Well Sonnaret,
As you pointed out, prices are falling pretty quick. they are doing so by a good chunk. I’d put money on it that this time next year, you will be able to get something like this in a nicer neighborhood for the same price. Then you’ll be all set. Hope it works out for you.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
that house on Moreno is one of the worst san jose zipcodes, 95127 which is Alum Rock has the most REOs. For this area the closer you can get up on the hill the better off you are. If it were me I’d scrimp and save until I could get a 400K place higher on the hill. Until the property bubble, these east side residences had almost NO value at all. Houses over there were selling for 90K in the 90s.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
if you want to teach out of your home then that is going to limit you. I don’t know if you want to go the rental studio route, most music stores have places they rent to music teachers but of course that will cost you off your income.
———
Or how about teaching in student’s own home? I know a family who gets teacher at home for piano lesson for their daughter. Of course I am assuming family has required instrument(s) and they can afford a teacher at home.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
WillowGlenner, what specifically is so bad about the East SJ ZIP codes? Not having 888 in them? How is East SJ any worse than parts of Mountain View (i.e. California Street) or Sunnyvale (i.e. around Duane Ave) where the same house would sell for at least double? “Good schools” can’t be the entire reason, because the difference in price would be more than enough to pay for 12 years of private school plus a BA at Stanford.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Or how about teaching in student’s own home? I know a family who gets teacher at home for piano lesson for their daughter. Of course I am assuming family has required instrument(s) and they can afford a teacher at home.
Don’t like that. Makes me part pizza delivery guy, part teacher, and even when if pays better, it means you have to have a gap between lessons.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Ross – Crime mostly along with a lot of sketchy going-ons. The public schools also happen to be the worst (my wife used to be a substitute teacher in various school districts of the south bay). Traffic is horrendous (we have family living there) and people’s attitude in public or in cars has worsened over the past ten years. No matter how you spin it, it’s just not the kind of area you’ll want to buy into if you care about your family.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I thought the worst is Story and King?
The worst Mountain View schools have ratings of 3 and 6, and the best 95127 schools have ratings of 6 and 7. So it is not completely uncomparable. Also Berryessa (mountain side 95133) schools are 6-9, mountain view has 8 out of 11 schools in that range (1 at 3, 2 at 10). Mountain View schools are not that stand out.
Violent crime in MV is worst than the whole of SJ!
September 10th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
SonarRat,
From the chatter around here, you may not realize it but $50K at the age of 25 is good income. For example, in the 2000 census, the median *household* income for a householder under 25 in the SF Bay Area was $32K and the median for age 25-34 was $61K. This can be verified using: http://factfinder.census.gov
There is a big difference between San Mateo and Santa Clara county incomes at your age. If you consult the 2007 American Community Survey (accessible through the same site, or go here directly: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTGeoSearchByListServlet), you’ll find that median household income for those under 25 in San Mateo is $50K +/- $10K but in Santa Clara it is $37K +/- $6K. However, the difference is no longer present in the age group of 25-44, with median household income being about $92K +/- $3-4K in both counties.
Also, keep in mind that prices are dropping dramatically in the periphery. For example, the home mentioned for $275K in post #25 above was bought for $550K in 2006 and $370K in 2002 (according to PropertyShark records). Also, it was previously assessed at $43K. WillowGlenner mentioned that it would have sold for $90K before the bubble. It remains to be seen what the impact will be on the fortress towns, though it is perfectly conceivable that the drops in price will gradually move inward over time.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Here is another example of a house that sold in 1988:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Atherton/111-Almendral-Ave-94027/home/1904923
$1,435,000 to $3,250,000 this year, failed to go up 4 times (which would make it a around 5.8M).
Palo Alto gets it better especially the cheap end of ‘88/’89
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/1121-Parkinson-Ave-94301/home/1492974
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/1050-Fife-Ave-94301/home/1556224
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/316-Waverley-St-94301/home/878885
September 10th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Cardinal, thank you for finding those properties. To think that real estate actually doubles every 10 years is simply outrageous.
Name, keep in mind that sonorrat is also working two jobs in order to make that income. While he is doing alright for his age, there’s no doubt that he’s working hard for it.
With respect to your last statement, I think similarly. I believe that the collapse in value will slowly work its way inward (upward in the price range) as home owners no longer have ’stored’ equity to ‘unlock’ and trade up to another home as many are taking substantial hits. In the past 10 years, myriads of people had large amounts of stored equity which they could couple with easy money loans to trade up. Now, many will be faced with tougher lending restrictions and large losses sustained on their entry level property. My best wild guess is that it will take years for this to occur. It will be 3-5 years before it starts hitting the bulk of the homes that are currently “valued” at greater than 1 million.
The moral of the story? If your home is in the 700,000-1.4M range, sell while there is still money left in the system.
What do you think?
September 10th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
anon. lol. my house went into contract today. I’m going to lose a bit, but considering how much I made when I sold my last place in 2005, I’ll get over it. I just hope we make it to COE. I don’t HAVE to sell but I’m too nervous not to. house is selling at just under $1.6M.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
From the chatter around here, you may not realize it but $50K at the age of 25 is good income.
I know it’s good income. I live quite comfortably and I have a lot of nice things including a brand-new piano. But it’s a long way from buying a house. If the downturn isn’t severe enough to put me in the ballpark, I might wind up buying a townhouse so I can pay it down and then trade up later.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
anon,
My best wild guess is that it will take years for this to occur. It will be 3-5 years before it starts hitting the bulk of the homes that are currently “valued” at greater than 1 million.
I believe the above timeline is consistent with past retraces of real estate values.
The moral of the story? If your home is in the 700,000-1.4M range, sell while there is still money left in the system.
What do you think?
It’s hard to tell.
ACS 2007 data says that about 85% of the households have incomes under $200K. So one can infer where support for a floor will occur in the “worst” case.
However, the distribution of incomes is not uniform, so the support may be higher in towns with higher incomes.
But even the above is not clear since a town with lower incomes but residents who bought further back in time (at lower prices) may have fewer price-drop causing foreclosures (assuming the residents didn’t tap HELOCs) than one with higher incomes but heavier leverage.
Information about income distributions of towns is readily accessible but leverage levels are only available per home. I have not found aggregate statistics for the latter (and don’t care to aggregate the individual homes’ data myself).
Consequently, it’s conceivable that areas which currently have high home prices may not have many people who can’t afford their mortgages even though the amounts may vary dramatically from one home to the next.
In the last case outline, it would take other factors such as the loss of jobs in the area, drop in prices in a neighboring area, etc. to cause the price of such a locality’s homes to drop.
High priced towns in the Bay Area are close to tech companies, many of which have substantial markets overseas which generate increased revenues when the dollar drops in response to economic malaise inside the U.S. (as de-leveraging in the financial system continues).
At the end of the day, the direction will depend on the exact mix of each of the above (and other unspecified) factors. I haven’t seen any analysis that accounts for enough of the variables for me to believe its conclusions so far.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:48 am
At least the city planners had a sense of humour about this neighborhood’s best selling point. The house is on Landing Lane. Ha! Ha??
If I bought that house I’d start an airport shuttle service and change people $20/day to park on my front “lawn”.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
By the way, I took a detour and drove through this area yesterday on my way back from work. WOW. They got HOSED paying almost $800K for a house in this neighborhood.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Status: Pending Show
Looks like advertising on burbed is working after all!
September 13th, 2008 at 4:44 am
>>My best wild guess is that it will take years for this to occur. It will be 3-5 years before it starts hitting the bulk of the homes that are currently “valued” at greater than 1 million.
Wild guess sounds about right. Is 3-5 years based on anything other than wild guess, or shall we say, wild wish? If you can predict what will happen in 3-5 years, you can be a very rich man.
>>The moral of the story? If your home is in the 700,000-1.4M range, sell while there is still money left in the system.
This is the range 90% of the people are looking to buy in. This is where most of the dmand comes from.