Delightful Home in West Atherton with Many Upgrades
Real estate has always been all about location, location, location, since some places are more Special than others. If you’re looking for property in Redwood City, then the right side of El Camino is south and west, as you head toward 280 and away from 101. Here’s a Right Side of 82 property that burbed reader sonarrat wished to share, noting that the price was closer to 2006 than 2010.
301 ENCINA Ave Redwood City, CA 94061
$599,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft.: 950
$/Sq. Ft.: $631
Lot Size: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Cottage/Bungalow
Stories: 1
View: Neighborhood
Year Built: 1915
Community: Horgan Ranch
County: San Mateo
MLS#: 81004537
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 218 daysTHIS PROPERTY HAS MANY UPGRADES INCLUDING NEW KITCHEN, BATHS AND LANDSCAPE. THERE IS A "RENTABLE" GUEST AREA, PLUS THE GARAGE HAS BEEN USED FOR HABITATION. MANY FEATURES INCLUDE BUILT-IN STEREO AND AIR CONDITIONING.
Quite a find, indeed! It’s not every Redwood City house that can boast it’s just one block from Atherton! Sure, the streets are built to keep 94027 and 94061 in their separate corners:
But that means those toffee-nosed nobs won’t be coming ‘round to sneer at your landscaping! I’m sure the current sellers did the best they could. 
Besides, you aren’t buying this home so you can water your own lawn, because there isn’t any. You’re buying it for the cash flow up front. As the agent tells us, “THERE IS A "RENTABLE" GUEST AREA, PLUS THE GARAGE HAS BEEN USED FOR HABITATION.”
Perfect! You can rent out the garage to the hired help who work for nouveaux riches in Atherton who didn’t build a servants’ wing.
Plus “THIS PROPERTY HAS MANY UPGRADES INCLUDING NEW KITCHEN, BATHS AND LANDSCAPE.” I bet those upgrades are spectacular! They’re so good the agent doesn’t want us to see any photos, except the landscape. Boy, can you imagine what the landscape looked like before the upgrade?
Maybe it was just dirt. Now that it’s all paved, good thing there’s air-conditioning inside, because you are going to roast if you host a garden party. But why did they pave paradise? Is this house near a Superfund site too? They weren’t kidding about the many features!
So, readers: is this a 2006 price on a Redwood City hovel or a 2010 price on a West Atherton cottage?
September 9th, 2010 at 7:27 am
Don’t you hate it when they say UPGRADE and you think Carerra marble and they mean ‘high end’ laminate. When I hear upgraded garage I think oh boy, a turntable for the Porsches – not wow, a place to put my brother and his seven kids.
September 9th, 2010 at 8:32 am
This house is proof that it’s still 2006 in Redwood City! Up up and away!
September 9th, 2010 at 8:46 am
THE GARAGE HAS BEEN USED FOR HABITATION.
Greatttttttt… That makes me think of an outdoor art exhibition I once visited in Chicago. It was a large installation that was clearly lived in by homeless people at night.
madhaus – good job on the aerial map. Amazing.
September 9th, 2010 at 8:47 am
I can just hear the owners telling their realtard, “We’ve owned this property for nine years. We have to make some money on it!”
September 9th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Good thing this house is in sunny Silicon Valley. That way you can upgrade the counters to top-of-the-line corian and the floors to the best pergo without worrying that your tar-and-gravel roof needs replacement.
Although, I guess the roof matches the landscaping–barren, ugly and in need of maintenance.
September 9th, 2010 at 9:06 am
This property is proof that the properties listed in **** **** are under-priced. I can hear the **** **** specialist now, “Let me show you what you get for $631 per square foot, $600k. Clearly a Real **** **** home is worth at least double.”
September 9th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Zestimate: $832,000. It could be the perfect candidate for some poor soul’s investment property.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Wonder if they are interested in a trade? I’d be willing to swap my mother-in-law for it even steven.
September 9th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
I can just hear the owners telling their realtard, “We’ve owned this property for nine years. We have to make some money on it!”
—–
2001 purchase price $510K.
Yes, home price doubles in every 10 years. Nine years is pretty close. I am surprised that they did not list it with $1M price tag.
September 9th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Is this house in the RBA?
September 9th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
God.. what garbage.
And to make things worse, the worthless “owners” think they should be paid for “owning.”
September 9th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I haven’t seen any comps for a while so I thought I might post one:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/61161-Larkspur-Loop-Bend-OR-97702/60586888_zpid/
Not bad for 105K. But then it is not in RBA.
September 9th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Seriously- WTF is up with paving your yard in bricks? As insanely overpriced as this thing is, the sellers would surely could make it about 200% more visually appealing by simply ripping out the bricks and laying down some grass- or if they want to keep it inline with brick- at least artificial grass.
I see we also have yet again another weird house with outdoor appliances.
September 9th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I see we also have yet again another weird house with outdoor appliances.
It kind of makes it feel like home for you, doesn’t it?
Sorry, cheap shot, but I couldn’t resist. BTW, did you know that the new artificial grass is as expensive to have installed as hardwood floors? More practical for outdoors but insanely pricey.
September 9th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Maybe the landscape upgrade was from non-artificial grass. Otherwise known as failure to water your own lawn.
#1, excellent comment. Still chuckling at that one.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
#1 made me think she and #15 were separated at birth.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Artificial grass hurts your knees more. Just ask Alex.
September 9th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
#17, isn’t that the chick’s problem?
September 10th, 2010 at 1:24 am
#16, Oh pish-tosh! I suppose to a hippie like you, one suburban housewife looks just like another. Tally-ho, what?
September 10th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
You guys are hilarious! I’ve never been on this web site before, and I love your comments (except the realtor slam). Some of us do “tell it like it is”! I can’t believe they got by with saying “West Atherton” like it’s part of Redwood City. That’s why people still need (honest, experienced) realtors even with the internet.
September 10th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
“That’s why people still need (honest, experienced) realtors even with the internet.”
honest, experienced REALTORS?
September 10th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
At one-third the asking price I’d consider it.
September 10th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
No wonder Diogenes needed that lamp. Too many Realtors telling him, “Now is the time to buy!”
September 10th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Lol honest and experienced realtors.
Because you really need experience to do nothing. And there is such thing as an honest realtor…
September 10th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
At one-third the asking price I’d consider it.
It would have to be a lot lower then that for me. I’d pay maybe $40k max for this POS.
September 10th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
WendyByTheBay – not all Realtors are realtards. Just the ones with atrocious pictures, no interior shots and descriptions IN ALL CAPS. Well, there are more, for similar reasons, but you get the idea.
September 10th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
The prevalence of clueless grammatical and punctuation errors on fliers and on MLS listings has convinced us all that Realtor™ is the favored career for middle-school dropouts. Just walked by a $799k this morning and the Realtor™ George could not even spell his own name properly on the flyer, let alone punctuate. Hard to project competence when one is hardly literate.
September 10th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
#27, you are just sooooooo demanding. Why should Realtors™ demonstrate literacy? Nobody expects them to understand math. What more is needed when all that has to be done is print up flyers and wait for customers to knock on doors and fly through windows? Everyone knows RBA houses sell themselves.
September 10th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
DreamT, are you sure it was George who couldn’t spell his name? It seems there are more and more people with misspelled first names these days as parents’ lose their ability to spell. The first example that comes to mind are the poor “Micheal’s” out there.
September 10th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
#29 – Absolutely – it was spelled properly at least twice
September 10th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
What seems to happen is that the threshold incentivizing paying attention to details and reviewing one’s copy has risen way above $799,000.
September 10th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
#20, I can’t believe “they” got away with calling it “West Atherton” either. Someone should yank “their” NAR membership immediately! Who’s with me?
September 10th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Atherton is a sacred word in the RBA. It shows a total lack of understanding at its most basic level to put any modifier anywhere near it. Either it IS or it ISN’T. It’s not east, west, north or south. It just IS! Kind of like Nirvana.
September 10th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
No matter what Atherton IS, it was still a funny headline. Not quite as good as Curbed’s one with batshit crazy neighbors, but a nice start.
September 11th, 2010 at 11:46 am
This is not Atherton or RBA. All around Woodside and El Camino the population is young and low in education and pay. This is the butt end of Redwood City. The strange Oakwood Boulevard oval just to the east used to be a race track.
September 11th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
#17, you’d have to ask your wife on that one. =ppppp
April 5th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
[...] price in West Atherton. And some wags thought I made up West Atherton. Nuh uh. A professional Real Estate professional type lady professional said “West [...]