A REALLY NICE HOME IN A REALLY CHALLENGING LOCATION
Listed at: $299,888
Beds: 3 Baths: 2 Sq. Ft.: 1,248 $/Sq. Ft.: $240 Lot Size: 5,754 Sq. Ft. Property Type: Detached Single Family Style: Craftsman Stories: 1 View: Neighborhood Year Built: 1920 Community: Central San Jose County: Santa Clara MLS#: 81011874 Source: MLSListings Status: Pending With Release On Redfin: 71 days A REALLY NICE HOME IN A REALLY CHALLENGING LOCATION * * Current owners have invested a lot of time and money in making this home a very special place to live * * You’ll appreciate the combination of old style hardwood floors and contemporary recessed lighting * Beautiful tile and updated kitchen * * a Patio built for entertaining * * and even a detached studio apartment for guests * * This home is worth the wait * *
Thanks to Burbed reader sonarrat for this find!
Here’s what he had to say:
This house, I must say, is a triumph of the Bay Area spirit. The intrepid owners bought a house in the absolute worst place possible – on the busiest street in downtown San Jose, next to a lane that doubles as a freeway onramp and offramp, with a 7/11 right behind, self storage across (underneath the freeway), and student apartments next door, with a view of a spider’s web of power lines. Yet, instead of conceding that they had bought possibly the worst house in the entire city, they took the equity and made it the nicest house on the block. They landscaped, completely modernized the interior, gave it a charming look on the outside, and even added a detached studio.
And now, they’re short selling it and letting the bank eat the cost of the remodeling.
Isn’t the Bay Area great?
Can anyone say: spirit award?
June 3rd, 2010 at 6:47 am
Complete with lucky listing price.
All those satellite dishes look so charming. This place must be nominated for the worst possible location contest. What could make this location worse?
It’s difficult to believe this place is a short sale at $300k. WTF was the lender thinking?
This listing should say, “Current owner did not realize that although the lender has no brain, other buyers have and use brains.”
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:02 am
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it’s about 8 blocks from the flightpath!
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:07 am
Not a challenge at all, it’s pending!
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:15 am
Nice contribution, sonar rat!
What could make this location worse?
It could be closer to the airport, and have high speed rail on the side opposite the freeway. And while we’re at it, a halfway house within a block. Oh, and how about plans for a toxic incinerator to be built in the city and let’s toss in a lack of cellular service like we have in LG.
See? It’s not so bad after all!
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:21 am
It’s true, it could always be worse.. you could be stuck next door to the Sunnydale, Potrero Hill or Alemany housing projects, like these unfortunates..
http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/494-Sunrise-Way-94134/home/788594 http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/493-Sunrise-Way-94134/home/1929245 http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/779-Gates-St-94110/home/1598588 http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/1818-23rd-St-94107/home/1518994
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Where’s our Yahoo finance link today? I’ll provide one myself – bob should appreciate this one.
‘Pickup Truck Indicator’ Says Economy Improving
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Pickup-Truck-Indicator-Says-cnbc-1971061885.html;_ylt=AqdTQsr5DI70N7wNpKXfiJa7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1dDRmdWZoBHBvcwM4BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNwaWNrdXB0cnVja2k-?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=
Don’t get too excited though – another article over there is predicting another 6-8 years of a “meat grinder” stock market with high volatility and a trend line that stagnant at best.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Nice find, sonarrat. The aerial view should have been included in today’s article, because it must be seen to be believed. The freeway on/off/whatever ramp practically nicks the lot line.
Hey, if you want to talk about today’s Yahoo Finance article or something, here’s a rap about economics and the boom and bust cycle. Pretty enjoyable. I’m sure our favorite amateurs will contribute their learned commentary.
Or maybe we’ll all just play Tu quoque instead.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:48 pm
So you were asking what could make this listing worse? I don’t know how bad the student apartments next door are, but I’d say any multiunit highrise looking into your yard would be bad.
Here’s a particularly egregious example, plus the house is so overpriced I wonder if it was some kind of “Let’s see if we can really torture our listing agent” sort of bet. I also recommend this blog to you if you haven’t discovered it yet. It’s the burbed of Long Beach, if burbed were run by a committee of Alex, A Lewis and anon.
As in snark, sneer, snarl, and really looooooong posts. (Wait, that kind of describes my articles…)
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Love the rap, madhaus!
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:15 pm
It’s the burbed of Long Beach, if burbed were run by a committee of Alex, A Lewis and anon.
As in snark, sneer, snarl, and really looooooong posts.
Hmmm that’s 4 descriptors for 3 of us. I know I don’t do loooooooooooong posts. So that leaves 3. Which one would be me? *snicker*
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm
From http://longbeachhousingblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/dumbass-of-decade.html
“This has to be the dumbest son of a bitch I’ve ever featured on this blog. Just utterly stupid and delusional beyond comprehension.”
AHAHAHHAHA I think I’m gonna ditch burbed for this other blog.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Then again, it’s too fcking long-winded. I coulda conveyed the same disgust in a few sentences.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:29 pm
I read a couple of other posts on that Long Beach blog and am stumped by one thing – why do people like that get so angry when they see listings with stupid-high asking prices? Who cares? Laugh at them and move on.
It’s kind of like a job posting I ran across recently that made a huge deal about having good writing skills, particularly grammar. Even the sentence with that requirement had grammatical errors. It was pathetic (and funny), but I know some job seekers would be offended and angry about it.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Admit it, it DOES read like it was written by Alex, A Lewis, and anon. I’m sure there were fistfights while it was in rewrite.
Ahahahahahaha!
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Burbed is funny because it’s like The Onion of housing blogs. It wasn’t always like that, though. During the bubble, he was just posting properties that were particularly ridiculous. After things started to go haywire, instead of saying “I told you so,” he just kept using the realtor buzzwords from the boom and it started to become hilariously ironic.
The “Real Bay Area” thing has been an interesting offshoot but I think ultimately pointless.
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Burbed is funny because it’s like The Onion of housing blogs.
What does that make the Long Beach blog, the National Lampoon? Oh, wait, didn’t they stop printing in like… Wikipedia says 1998. Wow.
June 4th, 2010 at 8:26 am
“Burbed is funny because it’s like The Onion of housing blogs.”
It would be The Onion, if it were not true. In the case of BA housing (we all know that RBA housing is much different), one does not have to make this stuff up.
June 4th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
“Wall Street moves to RBA-It’s a sure bet we will see DOW 20,000 in 10 years.”
June 7th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Theres one area in San Jose somewhere called Rosemary Gardens, I am not sure if this house is in that area but it looks like it could be… the problem is the flightpath is DIRECTLY overhead, the houses shake multiple times per day causing stucco damage etc. The city of SJ offered some incentives for soundproofing improvements for Rosemary garden but what can you really do?