$276,000 in instant equity in San Mateo – free energy as well!
414 CAVANAGH St, San Mateo, CA 94403 | MLS# 80916757
414 CAVANAGH St San Mateo, CA 94403
Price: $399,000
Beds: 2
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft.: 870
$/Sq. Ft.: $459
Lot Size: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Ranch
Stories: 1
Year Built: 1949
Community: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
County: San Mateo
MLS#: 80916757
Source: MLSListings
Status: Pending With Release
On Redfin: 49 days
Great home in move-in condition. Bath with tile floors and shower, updated kitchen with new tile counter tops and cabinets, great back yard with mature fruit tree and detached new bonus room(no permit)used as office/workshop.
Thanks to Burbed reader Wendy for this find. Wow… what a great deal for a cute little house. Let’s check out the bonus in the back:
Aw. This house comes with its own little Mini-Me!
But wait… Wendy has something important to say:
This cute, 2/1 move-in ready house is in San Mateo. And for only $399k it seemed way too good to be true. The best part of it is that the backyard backs up into a giant power station. You would never know from the photos since they are all taken from the opposite direction. But the moment you step into the kitchen or out the backyard, it is all you can see. You can see the power lines from the satellite photo view. The scariest thing is that the current owners apparently purchased it for $675k back in 2005 and now have to short sale it. But alas, time is running out, someone has already put an offer in on this unique jewel.
Hm. Maybe it’s time we looked past mini-me to see the whole picture. Here’s a Bird’s Eye View:
Um. Uh. Wow.
Well is it any wonder this house used to be priced at $675,000? It comes with unlimited energry. Just get a whole bunch of hangers, move them back and forth repeatedly, boom! You’re not just inducing current, you’re inducing free cash flow and profits!
Awesome find. No wonder it has been snatched up already!
June 8th, 2009 at 7:49 am
If the house sells for asking price it will have fallen 40% from the sale four years ago. The price has fallen $276,000.
According to the loan documents (see below) the owner put down 10% so he has lost $67,000 while the lender has taken most of the loss.
Lender # 1 First Horizon Home Loan Corp
Loan amount # 1 $540,000
Rate type # 1 Variable
Lender # 2 First Horizon Home Loan Corp
Loan amount # 2 $67,400
Rate type # 2 Fixed
June 8th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Check out this house.
Bring all offers by Mon. June 8th by 12 noon.
Hurry up, less than 4 hours left! Call your agents!
June 8th, 2009 at 8:14 am
> Hurry up, less than 4 hours left! Call your agents!
And by the way, the house has been on the market for almost 2 months. Setting a deadline is sure going to motivate buyers!
burbed, the bathroom is pink.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:58 am
herve, what is wrong with those people?! They bought it three years ago for $902k. At 7% per year, it ought to be worth $1.1M by now. Must be the fault of the agent who can’t spell “separate.”
June 8th, 2009 at 9:01 am
dang – forgot to fix my name.
June 8th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Wow, where is everyone?
I’m surprised no one posted this yet because I heard ads on the radio for it all weekend. It’s our very own (as in local) FORECLOSURE BUS TOUR! Hurry up and get pre-approved so you can hop on the June 27 bus to Palo Alto, Mountain View and environs, including Real-Gray-Area Santa Clara:
http://bayareaforeclosurebus.com/RealtorWebPage?custompage_id=1292755972
Apparently these are Fannie Mae’s stock of broken dreams and financial devastation.
Bay Area Foreclosure Bus is a unique, fun and educational bus tour of Bay Area foreclosed properties. The focus of our tour is to educate our riders on the positives and negatives of purchasing REO (Real Estate Owned) foreclosed properties. Foreclosures are at a historic high! Our riders are shown NOT YET LISTED and currently listed foreclosed Condo/Townhomes, Single Family Homes, Multi-Unit, and Commercial properties throughout the Bay Area with price points ranging from $150,000 to $1,000,000+. Access to pre-listed foreclosures gives our riders the opportunity to make offers on properties before they hit the market.
Fun? Fun?
June 8th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Be sure to click on the “radio ads” link on the website above. Interesting. (You don’t have to listen to them.)
June 8th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Holy cow, we should organize a Burbed tour! Imagine how much fun heckling we could have if we had half a dozen or more people on the foreclosure tour!
June 8th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Foreclosure Tour Bus? That’s two year old concept. When it started in Sacramento or Orange County, local real estate experts said it would never arrive in bay area. Because bay area is special! In bay area foreclosure is as rare as car accident here.
June 8th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
“Holy cow, we should organize a Burbed tour! Imagine how much fun heckling we could have if we had half a dozen or more people on the foreclosure tour!”
That was my first thought as well. I’d put the over/under on minutes before someone would be asked to leave the tour at 10 minutes.
June 8th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
hey… it says “UP COMING” tours. Who else do we know who writes like that?
June 8th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
lol
that is, assuming you call what excreter excretes “writing”
June 8th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
LOL. Here’s my foreclosure tour:
Antioch, Stockton, Palo Alto, Atherton, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, San Jose !!
June 8th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I am fine with long tours, but will there be stops at Star Bucks?
June 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Oooh I’m in for a burbed tour if someone is willing to drive. I’m in the mood for some schadenfreude.
Everyday I wake up to news about bailouts, national deficit & debt and massive, wasteful Obamanomics and I get pissed.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
>>I am fine with long tours, but will there be stops at Star Bucks?
That’s what the Palo Alto stop is for.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Good to know that Palo Alto does not allow those chains like Starbucks. Instead they support local independent “Star Bucks”.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Last time I was in PA the Starbucks had moved like 1 block or so on University. No apparent reason, they just moved. I’m guessing the location near the burned out Walgreens decided to raise the rent, the bagel place left too.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
not sure where to post this, but this is large price cut:
The price for the following listing(s) has changed since the last search was done.
mls#:80910740
new:$1,300,000
original:$1,675,000
status:Active
addr:990 AURA WY, Los Altos, CA 94024
business as usual in los altos?
June 8th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
>>I’m guessing the location near the burned out Walgreens decided to raise the rent, the bagel place left too.
I believe they’re remodeling that building. That corner is going to be better than ever once the new Walgreens building is completed. Looks like the structure is 3 stories tall with underground parking.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
19,
990 Aura is a classic realtor error in my opinion. Out of town realtor priced on 06 comps without even taking a drive around the neighborhood. The house is a tired old rancher with a small (for Los Altos) lot and sits right on busy Miramonte. It’s approximately 100 yards from the liquor/deli/burritos/lottery tix store and the USPS. A real gem. Marginal properties in Los Altos are not moving at all right now and if someone is really dying for a corner lot or a busy street they can do a lot better than this one for $1.2- $1.3 (Campbell and Harrington Court, for example, have had sales recently in the $1.2 and $1.3M range and are much nicer locations). I think this guy would have been better off listing for $1.1 and getting a couple of bids quickly as opposed to starting at $1.67 and dropping the price every few weeks as the DOM stacks up along with the rest of the crappy inventory out there.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
That’s right, you can’t do “pulse of the market” analysis on such houses, as no professional would want to live there. A common mistake by amateurs. Says Real Estater.
Sorry, RE. Had to beat you to it.
I guess the real question is what made the place worth so much more in 2006? The house must have just been brought in from, much better, a new location. Only thing I can think of.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
oops, jumbled words in 22. Should read: the house must have just been brought in from a new, much better, location.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Just to be clear, #20 was in response to #18.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I guess the real question is what made the place worth so much more in 2006?
—–
You know those were the days when “having something
iswas better than having nothing at all“.June 8th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
“Just to be clear, #20 was in response to #18.”
I know RE, just couldn’t resist.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I went to see Trinity Park in Sunnyvale. Here are my impressions:
These homes are attractively designed, nicely laid out, and well located with good schools (Cherry Chase Elementary, Sunnyvale Middle, Homstead High). The sales staff was very professional and courteous. The grand opening was only 3 weeks ago, and they sold about half the homes already, even though many of the homes will not be completed until next March. The smallest model is all sold out. The remaining models are priced between $1M and $1.25M. Majority of the homes are right around $1M, and sized between 1890 to 2131 square feet. In addition, there are four larger homes at 2531 sq. ft. with a full basement. I like those the best. The downside with these homes is the small lot size, even though you don’t really feel it. I think these are the right products for the market, and buyer response reflect that.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
#27
If the lot isn’t twice, and preferably 3 times, the sq footage of the house, (and a minimum of 5k sq ft) you’ll feel it. If a 2400 sq foot house doesn’t have at least 6000 sq feet of lot, it’s going to look like a townhouse.
Also, they are poorly designed. Garages go next to kitchens. Large open spaces go on first floors. Master bedrooms do not go next to garages and living rooms.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
>>Also, they are poorly designed. Garages go next to kitchens. Large open spaces go on first floors.
Not sure what you’re talking about. It is not uncommon at all to have garage next to the kitchen. Large open spaces on the first floor is a good thing also.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I went to see Trinity Park in Sunnyvale.
….
….
I think these are the right products for the market, and buyer response reflect that.
——
Hmmm, those Classic Communities homes. The school will surely be crowded.
I think it is the right product to bring down the price for that school district – like Loma Verde at PA.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
>>If the lot isn’t twice, and preferably 3 times, the sq footage of the house, (and a minimum of 5k sq ft) you’ll feel it.
Good luck finding that in Silicon Valley. You need to build your own home.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Pralay,
I think you’re confused. I’m not talking about Classic Communities in Palo Alto. This is in Sunnyvale.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Real Estater, what are you smoking really? Your point about RE market in general is laughable but understood. But saying that these homes are nicely designed is way over the top. Probably in the country where you were born this is indeed called “good design”, in my country it’s called “first grader drew a home”. Carton crap boxes for 1M? Huh?
June 8th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I think you’re confused. I’m not talking about Classic Communities in Palo Alto. This is in Sunnyvale.
—
Not a bit. That’s why I mentioned “at PA”.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Post #28, meet post #29. You are in agreement. Congratulations!
June 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
(RE, maybe some tutoring at Sylvan Learning Centers will help with that reading comprehension problem.)
June 8th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
A lot of the houses I have lived in here in the US have a design where the plumbing is on one particular side of the house. Of the three houses my parents rented before they bought their own house 2 had that design, 1 had the kitchen of to another side of the house. My parents house has all the plumbing on the south-west side of the house. Those designs certainly are not constrained by such notions. I thought they did that in this country to save money, maybe it is to finish the house quicker?
June 8th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Unrelated to this thread –
I asked if there was a website where I can download past home sales info in a given zipcode (or city). Somebody suggested redfin -> past sales, but when I actually download it, it doesn’t show me price.
Does anyone know another palce where I can get past sales info?
i can use this info to track $/ft etc in an any arbitrary neighborhood. but finding this past sales data is turning out to be hard (I would have thought it’s all public data but…)
June 8th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
sv_newbie: Just find a house in your chosen zip code using redfin.com. Then register for propertyshark.com and look up that house. At the bottom of the page for that house you will see the median price per square foot in that zip code since 1988.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
As RE would tell us, zipcode is too coarse to be meaningful. Also, I want to narrow houses sold in a particular price range. e.g. 1M have different characteristics.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
As RE would tell us, zipcode is too coarse to be meaningful.
——-
To find his way of getting meaningful data, you just need to find out those home(s) which is/are sold over asking. Rest of the things are meaningless. For example, let’s assume in a certain zipcode 100 homes sold from the inventory of 1000 and only 2 of them are sold over asking. Then “pulse of the market” will tell you that only 2 homes are meaningful. Rest is meaningless.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
> Then “pulse of the market” will tell you that only 2 homes are meaningful.
And only these 2 homes should be used to compute the velocity of the buyable inventory. The other 98 are statistical aberrations.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Alex,
You need to align your expectations with your pocketbook. $1M is entry level RBA.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
RE is right. $1M is entry level RBA (which is now just some parts of 94301)
June 9th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Real Excreter, you must be responding to Real Alex.
But I’m sure your comment applies to me as well. Sorry, based on a price to income multiple of 3, I can’t afford a $1M crapbox. I’ll just have to poop on the streets and continue renting.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Even if the $1M crapbox were 1/3 of your income, it wouldn’t be worth it.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Sorry, based on a price to income multiple of 3, I can’t afford a $1M crapbox.
—-
But you definitely can buy something beyond your means – as pros would recommend.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
CNBC runs a program interviewing people in America’s highest income bracket. I caught the show briefly yesterday. One guy was a mortgage broker living in a palacial home; another guy lives in Upper East Side of NYC, and “made his fortunes in real estate”. Basically if you do some investigation, you’d find that most of the rich people made their money from real estate in one form or another.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
RE: It is now the year 2009.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Basically if you do some investigation, you’d find that most of the rich people made their money from real estate in one form or another.
——–
If you watch too much TV (as a replacement of real investigation) you will figure out that most of the world renowned musicians comes from American Idol. And intelligent women come from Miss America contest.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
You know as usual, when RE can’t convince us with any of his cherry-picked data points, he resorts to stunningly weak arguments for buying real estate like #48, which translates as “I saw this rich guy on TV, and he made his money off RE, so we ALL should!”.
RE, I saw some cool thing on TV, where they said that if you do some investigation you’ll find that most of the bankruptcies in 2008 and 2009 were because people lost too much money on their home purchases from prior years.
So sometimes, some years, people get rich off real estate. That’s true, and that’s what you like to repeat ad nauseum, while implying it’s ALWAYS true.
And sometimes, some years, people are bankrupted and have their lives ruined by real estate. That’s true, and it’s especially a danger to people considering buying high-priced housing, for anything above conservative ratios of their income and above conservative ratios of price/rent or price/income for their location.
So stupid people who like get rich quick schemes should listen to RE, ’cause he’ll tell them what they want to hear.
People who don’t want to put their family in jeopardy should listen to most of the rest of us, who advise making SURE your real estate purchase is good for them, and not playing in a Ponzi scheme.
It’s pretty simple.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Secondly, as RealEstater mentioned about people getting rich in real estate, it reminded me his one and half year old comment:
Although he never could name one of those “richest people in the world” who made his/her money in real estate.
In addition, why is not following his own advice? He is procrastinating it more than a years and losing all the opportunities to get rich. At the same time he is saying “right time to buy” all the times.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
A. lewis says,
>>So sometimes, some years, people get rich off real estate. That’s true, and that’s what you like to repeat ad nauseum, while implying it’s ALWAYS true.
Please stop distorting. I never said (or implied) you’ll ALWAYS make money regardless of what you do. My message has consistently been that, if you know what you’re doing, there’s a good chance you can be successful in building personal wealth with real estate. The success factors include buying for the long term, choosing the right locations (real estate is always local), and don’t play games with financing — use 30 year fixed. Personally, I have never seen a single person lose his shirt using the approach I just outlined.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Burbed,
Please remove Pralay’s nonsense posts. I’m tired of clearing up his distortions over and over.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
…I certainly don’t want to be dragged by him into another fight.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Fight? I am just quoting your past comments.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
The success factors include buying for the long term, choosing the right locations (real estate is always local), and don’t play games with financing — use 30 year fixed.
—-
That sounds fair. So, let’s go back to #48. What did RealEstater’s “investigation” produce? Mortgage broker lives in palacial home followed those practices in last five years? Sold ONLY 30 year fix? Only in good locations?
What about the guy in upper east side of NYC? He bought everything for long term? With 30 year fix? Buying only in good locations?
June 9th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Pralay,
Have you found out the answer to your famous question yet? I am just quoting your past comments!
June 9th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Don’t obfuscate the issue, excreter.
Pralay is doing everyone a service by helping to show that you are the one distorting reality.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I’m not obfuscating anything, anon. All I’m doing is quoting his past comments.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Have you found out the answer to your famous question yet? I am just quoting your past comments!
——-
That was a not a question mark, RealEstater. It was cavuto mark.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
#51 – next you’ll be saying the key to weight loss is eating less and moving more! Sheesh, some help you are!
June 9th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
BTW, RealEstater, thanks for the revisiting the comment linked to Jon Stewart’s Cavuto Mark piece. After two years it is still fresh and funny.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
excreter,
You are attempting to obfuscate the fact that you are wrong.
In addition, you are attempting to obfuscate the fact that most wealthy people did not become that way because of real estate.
You are obfuscating the fact that you can’t find anyone who actaully did create wealth from real estate.
Lastly, and most importantly, you are obfuscating the fact that right now is an awful time to buy real estate.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
anon,
Now is an awesome time to buy a home. Given low interest rates, improved affordability, and increased availability, the stars are aligned according to one recent article. I disagree with those who believe the best time to buy is after the economy has already recovered, because by then prices would have adjusted accordingly.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Right time to buy – always and ALWAYS.
Right/best/perfect time to buy – ALWAYS.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Oh, goody!
I don’t know about anyone else, but when I woke up today I said to myself: “Ya know what I really want to do today? Get into an argument with an idiot.”
Please continue, excreter. We’re all listening.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Pralay,
In your case, it’s always the right time to troll!
anon,
If you’re looking for a stupid argument, just look one post above yours.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
After lots of research, investigation, analysis and thoughts I concluded that it is awesome time to buy home. I also figured out that it will ALWAYS be this way in future. My forecasts in nutshell:
July 2009: It will be awesome time to buy home, because #@!@!$$$^%&%&&&%*&%%$#$
September 2009: It will be great time to buy home, because ***********
December 2009: It will be right to buy home, because %$%^%%%$#@$$FSDT+%^&&&
February 2010: It will be perfect time to buy home, because ~$$%*)HT*()#######@#@*
May 2010: It will be awesome time to buy home, because V^**&PI(()&%#~++==*&>>>>
June 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Pralay,
I thought we concluded you’re a proven liar?
June 9th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
As RealEstater raised the topic, I decided to provide the link for one more time. His lies are all documented here.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Ok let’s focus on the positive. Can’t you two say something nice about each other for once?
June 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Well, I thanked him in #63.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Burbed,
I started posting with #48 today, and never bothered him in any way. He immediately proceeded to throw sh** at me one after another, what do you expect me to do? I already appealed to you earlier, but he just kept on dumping. I had no option but to respond.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I already appealed to you earlier, but he just kept on dumping. I had no option but to respond.
It’s all Emperor Burbed’s fault.
—–
June 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
what’s with the whining again?
June 9th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
a prime 94301 property priced for a bidding war:
List Date: 06/09/09
Price: $1,995,000
Location: 361 ADDISON AV, Palo Alto, CA 94301 (map)
Area: 242 – Palo Alto – Downtown
Bedrooms: 4
Approx. Sq. Ft.: 1596
Approx. Lot Size: 5,000.sf
Approx age: 107
Certainly one to watch. If this isn’t in contract by the end of next week it is a major sign of weakness.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
my whine: steve, why don’t you ever just post us a link and save us some keystrokes???
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/361-Addison-Ave-94301/home/1784222
Love it – WAY BHLOW MARKET, PRICED FOR QUICK SALE
June 9th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
$1250/sf on a 5,000 sf lot?
hahahahahahahahahohohohohohohohhaaaa………
June 9th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Zillow says this was worth $1.4M only 1 year ago and since then gone up by 0.8M..
Is zestimate any good?
June 9th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
>>$1250/sf on a 5,000 sf lot?
Well, it is right next door to the world famous “HP Garage”.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
no, the zestimate is crap. this was a $2.3-$2.5M house. what it’s value is now is anyone’s guess.
maybe it sells for 2.05 — maybe it get’s pulled from the market. we’ll see.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
hmmm, looking at the zestimate courtesy of nomadic’s redfin link:
$1,790,060 $2,183,000 $2,444,960
seems spot on to me…
June 9th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
> a prime 94301 property priced for a bidding war
You almost got me, steve. I read your post and thought “what the f**k did he smoke? A bidding war?!?”
Zillow shows it for sale for $2,395,000. $400K instant equity! Even better, the owner’s estimate is over $2.9M. Ever heard of a homeowner overestimating his house’s value? Neither have I.
The neighbor’s house on Scott St isn’t bad either: 840 sq ft on a 1,500 sq ft lot. Zestimate is only $968K.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
herve, I think steve is serious. But take heart, Zillow says it’s 2600sf – apparently including the converted garage. (Don’t want to waste valuable real estate on enclosed parking! Much better to leave the car in the driveway where all the neighbors can admire it.) The owner’s estimate also claims they spent $600k (!) on the renovations.
It’s open Sunday… tempting!
June 9th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
forgot – here’s a link – check the backyard shot with the dining room table under the tree; you can see into the “garage.”
http://www.361addisonavenue.com/default.aspx?pp=838496
June 9th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Yes, note the HP garage is also a one car garage. Real Palo Alto homes have one car garages.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
This must be a real real PA house then. A no-car garage. Converted to living space, like they do in East San Jose.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Unless you own a P-car, there’s really no need for a garage.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
> forgot – here’s a link [...]
This is hilarious! One can wake up every morning admiring the ‘famous’ HP garage! Congrats to the agent for leaving this picture
Looks like most houses have been rebuilt. The whole place looks like Rivermark now.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
>>Looks like most houses have been rebuilt. The whole place looks like Rivermark now.
That’s literally true. Some blocks of “Old Palo Alto” are practically all new.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:44 am
The whole place looks like Rivermark now.
Great! I love that uniform, soulless sameness.