Comments on: Housing now beyond affordable in Redwood City

By: rick

rick — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:41:03 +0000

Burb, why you look down on firefighters? They certainly make more than half of the 219k, more like 90% of 219k.

By: nomadic

nomadic — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:31:10 +0000

lol – I wasn’t disparaging your take on it! Just trying to clarify for Pralay.

The “debt slaves” for today’s house walked away while the master wasn’t looking.

By: sfbubblebuyer

sfbubblebuyer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:19:36 +0000

I know what it is. But that isn’t as funny!

By: nomadic

nomadic — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:20:14 +0000

If you follow that “carved out” space to the west on the map far enough, you’ll see it marked Hetch Hetchy – just as sonarrat’s link says.

By: sfbubblebuyer

sfbubblebuyer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:55:27 +0000

Is the Dunbarton Railroad like the Underground Railroad except that this one will let Debt Slave escape the chains?

If so, somebody should let them know that Canada has mortgages and credit cards, too.

By: Pralay

Pralay — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:18:25 +0000

Are you talking about the belt parallel to Northside Ave? Isn’t that the land for proposed Dumberton Railroad?

By: sonarrat

sonarrat — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:08:07 +0000

CB, exactly right. http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/6516/

By: CB

CB — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:52:25 +0000

Look at the satellite image. What’s with that imaginary belt of vacant land that runs east-west? I dont see power lines. Underground aqueduct?

By: sfbubblebuyer

sfbubblebuyer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:30:04 +0000

If you build 3 extra stories onto that house, you’ll have 3560 sq feet of bay area MANSION! SCORE!

By: BuyersAreIdiots

BuyersAreIdiots — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:23:16 +0000

Bwaaaa ha ha ha!!!!

The lot size for that property is smaller than the square footage of my parent’s house MINUS the lot!

LMAO! That is a gem burbed!

By: UnrealAlex

UnrealAlex — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:17:02 +0000

This house is Sunnyvale-slum apartment awful.

A friend of mine was mugged at the KFC in Redwood City.

By: nomadic

nomadic — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:38:14 +0000

Some neighbors on my block are in their late-60s/early-70s. 12-18 months ago they got a “deal” (~$1M) on a burned out house near a local golf course. They are building their dream house (bigger than the current house) over there. It will be interesting to see what happens when it’s done. I think they were supposed to finish it at the end of the summer.

Maybe they’ll decide to try to sell it instead of the house in my neighborhood. My next door neighbor (who also has lived in his current house 30+ years) just doesn’t get it either – why they’d want a bigger house and a new mortgage at their age. Hey, if it makes them happy, fine, but I still don’t understand.

By: Lionel

Lionel — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:26:23 +0000

From Dr. Housingbubble, why the RBA is doomed…

http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/county-vs-income.png

By: sfbubblebuyer

sfbubblebuyer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:08:19 +0000

Steve,

I have never understood the ‘buying a bigger house after the kids leave’ idea. Don’t you need LESS space after they’re out? Nor have I understood the buying a more expensive house for retirement. You should be downsizing (no mortgage) or living in your paid off house.

I’ve seen it burn a few people. Now they have NO retirement and soon to have no house.

By: Pralay

Pralay — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:42:54 +0000

Now let me quote a few things, a la Real Estater: ----- Exercept, to be precise.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:27:51 +0000

one more thing — inspired by the move up / move down discussion in the other thread. a new dynamic I have observed is the switch for folks in their 50s from buyer to seller. this is all anecdotal, of course, but the two types of sellers in the RBA market now are old/dead (tradtional sellers) and those with high school / college age kids.

now, the latter category isn’t too unusual nationally, but RBA houses aren’t big enough to form empty nests. what used to happen is that parents held on to these in destination cities (PA, LA, etc) and eventually became traditional sellers 20 or 30 years later. now, increasingly I would argue, they are cashing out.

also, in the good old days, folks in their 50s who couldn’t afford large enough distination houses when their kids lived at home would look for the “house of their dreams” when the kids left. I’ve seen 0 buyers fitting that profile at open houses. no one close to retirement age is putting $2M down to buy unless the have another 3 or 4 in the bank (which some certainly do).

By: steve

steve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:47:27 +0000

btw, here is a great example of what you can buy for $1.45M in los altos. quiet street, solid floor plan for a 3/2, nicely improved, complete move-in condition, perfect yard:

638 CAMELLIA WY (listing with pics)
Interior: 1916
Lot Size: 9750
Listed: $1,598,000
Closed: $1,450,000
DOM: 73

By: Herve Estater

Herve Estater — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:46:43 +0000

467K jobs cut in June; jobless rate at 9.5 percent

Now let me quote a few things, a la Real Estater:

“the recession flashes signs of easing”

“the rise in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent in May wasn’t as sharp as the expected 9.6 percent”

“the recession will end later this year. We’re probably two months away”

By: steve

steve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:38:08 +0000

ok, I give up, previewed correctly, but, maybe bad HTML cascades. as I doubt burbed will take mercy on me and clean this mess up, here is the url plain text:

http://www.thegableteam.com/default.aspx?pp=-1&pg=0&l=19%24915048%24RES

By: steve

steve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:36:06 +0000

oops, photos”>photos link (tag closed this time)