Smart living in Mountain View–unbelievable deal
Listed at: $460,0001780 WAGNER Ave Mountain View, CA 94043
Beds: 3 Baths: 1 Sq. Ft.: 877 $/Sq. Ft.: $525 Lot Size: 5,100 Sq. Ft. Property Type: Detached Single Family Style: Ranch Stories: 1 Year Built: 1950 Community: North Shoreline County: Santa Clara MLS#: 81036627 Source: MLSListings Status: Pending With Release On Redfin: 23 days 3 BEDROOMS & 1 BATH PER TAX RECORD * CURRENTLY NO GARAGE OR IT HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO ROOMS WITHOUT PERMIT! REMODELING, ADDED ROOMS & BATHS (PERMIT NOT WARRANTED * )
Thanks to Burbed reader Herve for sending this in.
Is it any wonder that this is already pending? $525 per square foot in Real Bay Area Mountain View? Sheesh – they’re practically giving this house away for free!
What deal! I mean, just look at al the rooms this house has – permits or not. This is efficiency living at its best!
Just look at how efficient this is:
That’s right! There’s a treadmill in the living room next to the sofa-ish things. Now this is green living my friends. Inconspicuous consumption at its best.
If you buy this house, you’ll really need a Smart car to go with it! (In part because there’s no garage!)
September 1st, 2010 at 8:07 am
I guessed that the year of no RBA sales was 2005 (here), but maybe it needs to be expanded to include 2004. It’s not easy finding RBA price gains on properties that sold in 2004 or 2005, and this is yet another example.
Using the data on Redfin:
Sold in 1995 for $211k.
Sold in 2004 for $580k.
Now normally one might make the argument that this clearly is in the RBA. Fewer than 10 years, yet the price more than doubled. On quick inspection I don’t see any other reason to knock it out of the RBA.
It’s now six years later. If this is an RBA home, the final selling price should be at least 50% more than the 2004 price. Of course if it were a Real RBA home, then the price would be up substantially more than the minimum requisite 50%.
I know we have at least one person who is math challenged, so I’ll make this clear:
The 2010 selling price needs to be at least $870k, otherwise this place it out. Out of the RBA. And I suspect once a place leaves the RBA, it never returns, but I could be wrong. In any event, the asking price is not as important as the final selling price, as we all know about the so-called “over-bidding.”
By lowering the asking price from $500k to $460k, clearly the over-bidding just went up by at least $40k. The over-bidding only need by $410k, and that does not count all the college education expenses.
If this place stays in the RBA, I’m guessing it’ll close for $1M; otherwise, sorry former RBA home, but “you’re out.”
Priced out forever!
September 1st, 2010 at 8:46 am
Check out the bird’s eye view. There is virtually no backyard.
I think the original listing mentioned something like a total of 8 bedrooms.
September 1st, 2010 at 8:48 am
http://www.neighborcity.com/property/1780-WAGNER-Ave-Mountain-View-CA-94043-81036627-5419116
# 3/1 PER TAX RECORD; ADDED 5 BEDROOMS & 2 FULL BATHS (PERMIT NOT WARRANTED)OR TOTAL OF 8 BEDROOMS & 3 FULL BATHS * WELL-MAINTAINED & REMODELED-double paned windows, tile floors, laminated floors, insulated walls, kitchen maple cabinets (PERMIT IN ALL WORK NOT WARRANTED) * GREAT LOCATION * WALKING DISTANCE TO SCHOOLS * LOTS OF FRUIT TREES & MORE. ..
September 1st, 2010 at 9:10 am
Mountain View has never been in the RBA–just a pretender, inching into in the shadow of 94306.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:30 am
Nice find, Petsmart Groomer. Eight freakin’ bedrooms and three baths? No wonder there’s no yard to speak of.
I wonder if the 2005 “sale” was an arms-length transaction because the tax assessment didn’t keep up with the price… aha, an intra-family transfer. Gotta love when (presumably) the kid can get a huge loan (yep, 100% financing!), keep paying a pittance in property tax, and then arrange a short sale to leave the bank holding the bag. BTW, mom & dad had did least two refis before transferring the property. The last one resulted in two loans for a total of $470k in 2002.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:31 am
“had did” – lol. Me write good.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:42 am
SEA -
When I moved to California about 25 years ago I was shown around by someone who spent way too much time obsessing about where to live. She was the one who made me visit yesterday’s house. It was her third visit (but not her last) at at that point she was on a first name basis with several of the docents and had ferreted out all the little gossipy stories about the family and the trials of the decorators.
Anyway, she drove me around the Bay Area and schooled me in what was and what wasn’t the RBA. Basically, if you have to take 101 to work you didn’t live in it. 280 was the side you needed to be on. When we got to Palo Alto she told me that, although it was ‘nice’, it was for ‘up and comers’ who hadn’t made it yet. “These people still have to work” is how I believe she put it. Mountain View wasn’t even on her radar. “I think it’s a military base or something.” LOL
September 1st, 2010 at 12:50 pm
When we got to Palo Alto she told me that, although it was ‘nice’, it was for ‘up and comers’ who hadn’t made it yet. “These people still have to work” is how I believe she put it.
—-
I thought we decided not to talk about Palo Alto.
September 1st, 2010 at 3:04 pm
maryjane- The ever elusive RBA.
Mountain View? Out.
San Jose? Out.
Wrong zip code in right city? Out.
Right zip code in wrong city? Out.
Homes sold in 2004 or 2005? Out.
Wrong side of right street? Out.
Right side of wrong street? Out.
Too small lot? Out.
Moving parts? Out.
Questionable construction? Out.
Busy street? Out.
Too small? Out.
Airport related noise? Out.
Military base or something? Out.
Wrong school? Out.
No Real Power Lines (RPL)? Out.
Wrong demographic? Out. (Such as a lack of redheaded Asians)
Price not doubling every 10 years or sooner? Out.
Not updated? Out.
Too new? Out. (Real RBA homes are not new construction!)
Really this reminds me a little of the thoughts of some girls: Dairy Queen seems to be a favorite of many, but what size to order? Like their boobs, large is always too large, and small is always too small.
I bet the seller in 2004 didn’t care if this place was technically (who sets these technical standards again?) in or out of the RBA; $211k to $580k in less than 10 years? That’s very RBA like, even if it need be excluded for one or more or the above reason, or other RBA exclusions.
September 1st, 2010 at 3:50 pm
SEA-
You have such a deep understanding of what really makes up the RBA!
Somewhere in the middle of my RBA tour I started to think that this person was a little bit nuts but you really nailed the way she thinks. At the time I couldn’t believe other people thought that way but her rigid criteria seems to have spread like some insanity causing virus. I don’t know why she never became a Realtor but she knows the pedigree of virtually every house in SF and most of the ‘important’ houses all the way down to that town whose name shall not ever be spoken.
And she did it all without using the internet!
September 1st, 2010 at 5:26 pm
When there are 8 bedrooms you know how many cars to expect. And that’s only at daytime.