Funny street view for an affordable San Jose house
671 W VIRGINIA St, San Jose, CA 95125 | MLS# 80924704
671 W VIRGINIA St San Jose, CA 95125
Price: $429,900
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft.: 1,677
$/Sq. Ft.: $256
Lot Size: 9,960 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
Year Built: 1936
Community: Willow Glen
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80924704
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 33 days
This large 3/2 has many updates and a bonus room that could be used as a fourth bedroom or a den. There is a two car detached garage and side yard parking!
Burbed reader Derek sent this in.
Frankly, there’s nothing wrong with this house. I mean, it’s actually an amazing deal.
But as a cheap joke, here’s the Street View:
Well… if you ever wanted a view of 280, this house is for you. And at this price, you might as well buy it as a spare house for your in-laws or something!
July 9th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Corner lot with busy train tracks and a freeway? West Virginia Street? I’m sold. Where do I sign?
July 9th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Ridiculous BA buyers. This place sold for $740k in 2006! Our ever so accurate Zillow prices this place at $286k back in 1999-2000, which seems more realistic for all the exhaust you’ll breathe every day. Still years away from a bottom…
July 9th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Another example of shadow inventory where bank is hoping that just holding it for awhile will help them to sell it for 2006 price $740K.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am
My nominee for worst location.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:36 am
The only way to make this location less desirable is to relocate a fire station right next door. Or discover that Dumbo built a nest in the tree above your driveway.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I take this exit almost every day (going home to my rental townhouse) and every day I wonder who on EARTH would be willing to live practically on an off ramp. The other day there was a homeless encampment on what would have been the other side of the fence of this house.
So if the buyers of this place ever lose their dog, see if there’s a barbeque going on just over the back fence.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:40 am
That’s the nearest overpass you’ll end up living under when you’re foreclosed. Some are not as homeless-friendly, they’re built differently than this one; this one appears built so you can “dig in” and have a reasonable tent/sod shelter.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:57 am
One way it could be worse: in the airport flight path.
Oh wait, it’s pretty close:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=671+W+Virginia+St,+san+jose,+ca&ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=37.348053,-121.918716&spn=0.061,0.175781&t=h&z=13
July 9th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Could also be a level crossing.. oh wait.. it is.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:35 am
a busy day for the price choppers in Los Altos.
1575 WISTARIA Ln
Jul 08, 2009 Price Changed $1,350,000
May 27, 2009 Price Changed $1,475,000
Mar 03, 2009 Listed $1,600,000
870 BERRY Ave
Jul 08, 2009 Price Changed $1,685,000
Jun 05, 2009 Price Changed $1,795,000
May 26, 2009 Price Changed $1,898,000
May 22, 2009 Price Changed $1,798,000
May 21, 2009 Price Changed $1,898,000
Apr 22, 2009 Price Changed $1,998,000
Mar 19, 2009 Listed $2,198,000
I’d love to see a transcipt of those seller/agent conversations; however, it looks like by June they concluded the ending 8 was as lucky for them as others claim.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Oh come on guys! You aren’t thinking of the big picture. This has potential! Just consider the following sequence:
1. You purchase the house as is for the price listed.
2. During the next election cycle, you start a proposition to have an entrance and exit ramp to 280 built to funnel directly into your driveway.
3. You call the proposition “Prop 8b” so the religious fundies will think its another anti gay marriage ammendment and vote for it.
4. The prop passes with flying colors after the Church of Latterday Saints provides funding.
5. The entrance and exit ramps are built via bond issue with no tax incursion on folks like Real Excreter.
And viola! You have yourself your own private easy highway access and the pride of home ownership all in one! It’s a win-win!
July 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
If you’re after stupid easy access to freeways, you could buy this guy, which has a seller open to a joint venture apparently. Just a few seconds to 87 and a few more to 280. Only (choke) a million dollars!
July 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hey, check it out. California is # 1 yet again!
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/not_your_fathers_recession.html
Key excerpts:
“Today ABC managed to get my attention by adding a tiny but significant piece of context to the story. By simply reporting the size of the budget and the budget deficits they have managed to convey the magnitude of the crisis in practical terms.
California: $53.7 billion shortfall or 58 percent of its budget
Arizona: $4 billion shortfall or 41 percent of its budget
Nevada: $1.2 billion or 38 percent of its budget
Illinois: $9.2 billion or 33 percent of its budget
New York: $17.9 billion or 32 percent of its budget
Alaska: $1.35 billion shortfall or 30 percent of its budget
New Jersey: $8.8 billion or 30 percent of its budget
Oregon: $4.2 billion or 29 percent of its budget
Vermont: $278 million or 25 percent of its budget
Washington: $3.6 billion or 23 percent of its budget
Connecticut: $4.1 billion or 23 percent of its budget”
Our deficit is friggen 58% of our entire state budget?? So we are in the whole by more than HALF of what we bring in?
Nice….
July 9th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
#12. Another example where a zero needs to be removed from the asking price to make any sense.
July 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
sonarrat (#12), isn’t there a tattoo shop and maybe a dive bar on that corner?
BAI (#13), those stats are staggering. Truly mind-boggling. WTF? So property taxes, sales tax and employment taxes could have cut revenue (theoretically) by 58%?
July 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Ultimate in convenience.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
nomadic (#15),
What that demonstrates is just how completely broken the system is here. Which is why I mentioned in previous discussions with DreamT that I do not believe in the future viability of California of Silicon Valley.
In order to make up that shortfall, they literally would have to more than DOUBLE that amount of tax revenue currently being brought in. Or conversely, they would have to cut services by more than half. In either scenario, just how likely will it be that the current system could absorb either extreme?
But going back to my previous discussions about Prop 13 and the current legislature, the reason this problem is so out of hand now is because the system fostered this perpetual paralysis for so many years by merely covering the discrepancy through continued and repeated bond issues. Now that mechanism has stalled and we are totally hosed. Throughout the years, Repubs in California refused to raise taxes and Dems refused to cut programs. And with that wonderful 2/3 majority requirement for a state budget, it was perpetual gridlock. And here we are. Oh joy…
July 9th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
#16, nailed it. I can either throw myself in front of a speeding train or a big-rig! So many options!
July 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
a busy day for the price choppers in Los Altos.
—-
You got to be talking about “selective properties”. Only a few selective properties are having haircuts. Others are just fine. Remember RBA market bottomed in January? Except those selective properties, rest of the market is going through double digit appreciation and overbidding.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
58 percent?!?!?!?!?!?!!? Are you joking? We really are “in a mess” to put in mildly. Prop 13 was before my time, but I have a feeling its impact is only going to become greater.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Did you see steve’s post from yesterday?
http://www.burbed.com/2009/07/08/feeling-trapped-by-a-home-bella-vista-in-los-gatos-will-set-you-free/#comment-48280
I looked it up this morning and prop tax receipts for 07-08 were 3x inflation adjusted and 2x per capita, inflation adjusted the 77-78 levels. on a nominal basis they were up 10x.
Looks like Prop 13 is a convenient scapegoat and not a big contributor to the problem. As steve, BAI and others here have said, the state has a HUGE spending issue.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
nomadic – I agree with that line of thought as well (hence my disagreement with A. Lewis on increasing taxes as an initial approach to fix the budget).
But it could be argued that an ongoing justification for the high cost of proximity service (police, fire, hospital, schools, etc.) has been the high prices to live at proximity. So, while IMO there’s room for cost slashing, it’s possible to indirectly trace back some of these high costs to prop 13’s effects.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Time.com: The Legacy of Proposition 13
July 9th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
yes, the budget rules contained in prop 13 have led to stalemates, but let’s not forget the roles of:
-ballot initiatives (prop 17645 – build 50000 new prisons)
-Federal unfunded mandates and block grants (Medicaid — states, you deal with it)
-health care costs in general (enough said)
-the inflexibility of the unions (not my favorite bloggyhorse, but we are in a recession / depression; they have to give something)
and the crappy politicians and the dumbasses (us) who keep voting for them and passing mandatory spending propositions.
still, a long-term answer can’t be more state taxes (property, income, corporate, payroll). I’m ok with sin taxes; maybe we should legalize some stuff so we can tax it?
July 9th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Does this qualify as a sin tax?
July 9th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
hmmm, just discovered this tidbit from last summer that can help explain our current mess:
California state government spent $145 billion last fiscal year, $41 billion more than four years ago when Gov. Gray Davis got recalled by voters. (soure: LAT)
wow. and a flashback to 1984:
Gov. George Deukmejian said today that government in California, which was on the brink of bankruptcy a year ago, will have enough money in its next fiscal year to set aside an emergency fund of almost $1 billion while sharply increasing spending for schools, universities, state employee salaries and … (source: NYT)
so, solutions are possible. finally, this:
Over the past ten years, controlling for inflation, California’s per capita spending has risen by 41 percent, increasing from $3,244 in 1997‐98 to $4,565 in 2007‐08
July 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
DT, I was thinking gambling, prostitution and the maui wowie, but I’m not the real (lower-case) steve, a libertarian imposter.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
steve – not sure who’s real or fake, but keep posting. I was only jesting at large (not at you). Yours are good posts.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
thanks. there is only one (lower case) steve, but I do alternate between liberal and libertarian moods. thinking about how screwed up sacremento is pushes the needle (can we tax those too, btw?) toward my libertarian side.
btw, we shouldn’t ignore the role of gerrymandering, and the complete (for the US) polarization of the parties. are there any moderate Repulicans left?
July 9th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Re. your last question… considering the popularity gap between Obama and his fellow democrats, I always wondered what if Obama was a moderate republican, he still might have won the presidency.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I think moderates are the great silent majority. The two extremes are busy trying to discredit each other as an excuse to not accomplish anything.
Is a social liberal who is fiscally conservative a democrat or republican? And does it really matter?
July 9th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Hey look! Even more reason to buy in the Bay Area:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_san_andreas_fault
Oh JOY!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
From the article:
But some think the deep tremors suggest underground stress may be building up faster than expected and may indicate an increased risk of a major temblor.
“The fact that the tremors haven’t gone down means the time to the next earthquake may come sooner”
“We don’t have enough data to know what the fault is doing in the long term”
Yeah, I’m scared now… Did you know that giant locusts may invade the Bay Area next year? We don’t have enough data to know how big they will be or when they are going to invade. But man if it happens…
July 9th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
…if it happens, more hope for renters to scoop up a house practically for free!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Herve, that is terrifying. I am literally in a panicked state right now. The neighbors are yelling at me to calm down…
July 9th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
if it happens, that barbecue smell in the backyard is going to get quickly annoying
July 9th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/BudgetSummary/FullBudgetSummary.pdf
In 1998‑99, the state’s budget was balanced and projected to remain in balance.
Figure INT‑01 displays General Fund revenue and spending growth since 1998‑99.
As the figure shows, one year later, revenues increased by 23 percent, due to a stock
market and dot‑com boom that drove unprecedented increases in stock option and capital
gains income. These were magnified from a state revenue perspective, because the
state’s income tax system relies disproportionately on the very high‑end earners most
likely to receive such gains.
The surge in revenues resulted in massive – and unsustainable – new spending
commitments. When revenues declined, the state relied mostly on one‑time
measures, such as borrowing, to temporarily reduce spending without cutting
back underlying program commitments. Thus, the structural deficit was born.
When revenue growth again surged in
2005‑06, much of the growth was used
to repay loans and backfill for the loss of
temporary cost‑saving steps.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Have you seen the documentary Maxed Out? Our state is as over-extended as an 18-year-old (with no common sense) getting his first three credit cards!
July 9th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Herve Estater, thank you!
July 9th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
> Herve Estater, thank you!
But, steve, you are very welcome!
Are you as outraged as I am about what’s on page 5 of the budget summary (“Consolidation of the Board of Geologists and Geophysicists into a related entity”)?
July 10th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Don’t you guys worry. CA will file for bankruptcy soon enough. People will riot if taxes keep going up. And no one wants to give up their entitlements either.
Bankruptcy. Then hopefully start back at square 1.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I don’t think CA will file for bankruptcy. If it is allowed to accept it’s IOUs as (state) tax payments it can issue them indefinitely. I can’t see the Obama administration not helping CA on one hand, and not letting it help itself on the other.
There will be some compromise, taxes will go up, no one will riot, and the CA economy will continue to split between small areas of incredible productivity, and huge expanses of badly run zero.
Question: Does anyone know where you can get property taxes collected for Palo Alto by year? In some areas of California, even under Prop 13, property taxes are going down because there are enough new buyers that falling appraised valued are actually reducing taxes.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:03 am
to all those earthquake naysayers, karma is a bitch.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Zanon, the SJ Merc had an article about assessments. either this week or last. It may have some more sources for data. Gilroy was down about 10% from 08 to 09. Most Santa Clara cities were slightly up. Not meaning that the actual value is up of course, meaning that the prop 13 assessment has not caught up with the actual value.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Try the SC County assessor’s report I posted sometime over the last week:
http://www.sccgov.org/SCC/docs%2FAssessor%2C%20Office%20of%20the%20(ELO)%2Fattachments%2FAR%202008%20final.pdf
The county was up overall.