Definitely the Best Value in Sunnyvale. Definitely.
When a property has been listed for a year and hasn’t sold, there’s a problem somewhere. Your mission today is to find out why the house with the lowest price per square foot in 94087 can’t get a closing date.
1058 Lois Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
$950,000
Beds: 6
Baths: 4
Sq. Ft.: 2,930
$/Sq. Ft.: $324
Lot Size: 6,000 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Contemporary
Stories: 2
Year Built: 1953
Community: Sunnyvale
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80948844
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 379 daysGreat home for a large family or for a family that needs inlaw quarters. Lowest price per sf ($324) in 94087 area code. 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and bathroom downstairs can easily be inlaw quarters. Bonus room, office, family room, living room, large kitchen, large dining room, large backyard, large utility room. Homestead High School, Cherry Chase Elem. Definitely the best value in Sunnyvale.
94087 used to be in the RBA, but this house ensured that zip will never be invited back. This traitor to doubling every ten years sold on 10/31/2001 for $680,000. It was listed in April 2009 for an unknown amount, and taken off the market in October. October 2009. Then it was listed again for $998,888, with the price reduced to $950K in March. Taking away all those eights didn’t improve its luck.
Maybe the problem is the vanishing second floor. When you look straight at it, it disappears. It even fooled the GoogleCam. You can see daylight through the trees. That’s just like not seeing a vampire in a mirror, only it’s a Halloween house and a camera, and you can see the bottom floor fine. Plus all the trash cans!
Meanwhile, the poor lonely house is still waiting for a suitor. Can you give it some dating advice before another Halloween passes by?
October 27th, 2010 at 7:30 am
This home is priced close to $1 Mil and there’s no granite.
October 27th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Perhaps because it’s been undercut. http://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/745-S-Mary-Ave-94087/home/1210372
$272 psf in 94087 is jaw-dropping.
October 27th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Possibly no permits for at least two of the rooms either which could mean having to remodel and pay fines. Having only four of six bedrooms in the public record shouldn’t happen in a town that built its value on information and networking.
October 27th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I heard they filmed Paranormal Activity there. Not many people want to live in a haunted house.
October 27th, 2010 at 11:17 am
“It was listed in April 2009 for an unknown amount”
It was listed for $1.1M in 4/2009.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1058-Lois-Ave-Sunnyvale-CA-94087/19537840_zpid/
04/09/2009 Listed for sale * $1,099,000 61.6% $375 NRT California
October 27th, 2010 at 11:26 am
This place is missing those special REALTOR phrases…
Buy now or be priced out forever.
Cheaper than renting.
Instant Equity.
October 27th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Maybe it’s over priced by $300k?????
October 27th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Nothing says “no permits” and “hack job” like a garage that has been converted to living space. Sunnyvale doesn’t allow a garage conversion without creating new covered parking to replace it.
October 27th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I was initially going to say that the price did not have any 8s. Then I saw that the initial list price was:
998,888
It still did not sell!!! That shows what a tough market we are in. Maybe some 7s would help. Or maybe 13s as it is Halloween. How about pricing it at:
1,377,888
I am sure that is the right price. At $470 psf it should be close to a RBA home.
October 27th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
It isn’t just not having permits for 2 extra rooms.
Max FAR (floor area ratio) in Sunnyvale for 2 story houses on R-1 lots is 40%. So 6000 sq.ft. lot * .4 = 2400 sq.ft. So this home is likely 500 sq.ft. over what is allowed.
October 27th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
If there is one piece of information I feel compelled to mention on anything like this, is that if you even suspect *any sort* of possible do it yourself, unpermitted (or even permitted if it is a do it yourself job) construction work on a property you are considering, unless it is an absolute firesale, avoid it like the plague.
I am dealing with a somewhat similar situation right now in one of my houses. A do it yourself back bedroom and bath addition. Turns out the plumbing to that back bathroom had a kludgey pipe area (galvanized pipes for outflow, this would be the SEWAGE line) and of course after a few years this section of pipe *breaks* because it was never up to code anyway, now I have a $20K crawl space cleanup MESS on my hands, plus a plumbing repipe. You are literally guaranteed that something like this will happen on any do it yourself addition, the problem areas are electrical and plumbing, where *no* do it yourselfer does it right, and in the case of electrical if its a garage with old knob and tube electrical, you have a major fire hazard on your hands.
The problem is SV is littered with these herky jerky add-ons and upgrades so you really can’t exclude buying any of them. Just make sure to pay extra for a superinspection at escrow- I did that in my houses case, but of course missed something.
October 27th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Hate to break it to you WG, but old houses (1950s, 1960s) have galvanized waste pipes.
Should’ve bought in the RBA where the only maintenance required is Drano and light bulbs.
October 27th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Hmmm… why hasn’t it sold yet? Could it that it looks like its slapped together out of scrap plywood? Could it be the unremarkable brownish color chosen to paint it? Or could it be that maybe by some miracle RBA’ers have realized that paying almost a million dollars for a POS that would sell for $75,000 anywhere else in the country is stupid? Dunno…
October 27th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
This pig needs more lipstick: granite counters and stainless steel appliances.
October 27th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
WillowGlenner-”now I have a $20K crawl space cleanup MESS on my hands, plus a plumbing repipe.”
You should have purchased in the RBA, as nomadic correctly points out in #12.
“You are literally guaranteed that something like this will happen on any do it yourself addition, the problem areas are electrical and plumbing, where *no* do it yourselfer does it right, and in the case of electrical if its a garage with old knob and tube electrical, you have a major fire hazard on your hands.”
knob and tube? That’s basically 1920s and 1930s technology. While basically an alright system, the biggest problem is overloading. Most of those old knob and tubing systems are overloaded. The fire hazard is significantly increased if the fuses are Edison base and a higher amperage is used–or, worse yet, shorted.
Onward to that “*no* do it yourselfer does it right” claim:
I know a guy who did his own electrical wiring. Nope, he’s not the master electrician, he’s just a journeyman electrician, and he’s a homeowner. What does he do all day? Residential electrical work. It’s my understanding that he is not qualified to pull a permit other than a homeowner permit. He’d need to be licensed differently, probably different insurance, and, if I understand it correctly, be a Master Electrician.
I certainly hope you are not suggesting that he is not qualified to wire his own home. Actually, I’m not suggesting that he does good work, but rather, that the risk of the fire or other failure is the same if he hired the contractor he works for to pay him to do the work. As far as the actual work, the only essential difference is in the permitting–if the contractor pulls the permit, it’s not DIY, but the same person is actually pulling the wire.
Beyond that, do you really think all contractors do work that’s always up to code?
October 27th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Beyond that, do you really think all contractors do work that’s always up to code?
hahahahahahahaha! Let’s follow that up with another good one: do you suppose city inspectors always identify code violations when signing off permits? (Like the genius who signed off on my roof that didn’t have any vents? And allowed them to skip replacing the flashing?)
Even so, it’s as good a system as can be devised by fallible humans.
October 27th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
“now I have a $20K crawl space cleanup MESS on my hands, plus a plumbing repipe”
Pride of ownership!
October 27th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
bob, that’s crazy talk!
As long as the house has a roof, four walls and is located anywhere in the RBA, it should be worth $1 million easy, and that’s considered a bargain.
They aren’t making any more land, you know…
October 27th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
now I have a $20K crawl space cleanup MESS on my hands, plus a plumbing repipe
Doesn’t matter. As we all know, real estate is the best investment you can ever make. Much better than doing like Warren Buffet and wasting it all on stocks. Mr. Buffet should’ve bought 12,000 RBA homes instead of blow it all on those useless other investments. I bet he’d be worth 100 billion versus the measly 50 billion he currently owns.
October 27th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
hey bob, I’m in your favorite city next week (yes, that one in Nebraska) – any place you recommend I check out?
October 27th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
“Mr. Buffet should’ve bought 12,000 RBA homes instead of blow it all on those useless other investments.”
12,000 RBA homes?
Today I’m happy I don’t have to find 12,000 RBA homes.
October 27th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I know nothing about Nebraska. That said- I’ve “heard” that Omaha is actually pretty nice. Maybe a few Buffalo? I really don’t know…
October 27th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
thanks anyway. You’re in good company – not a single person I asked had any suggestion either
October 27th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Looks like you’re asking the wrong people. Once you get there, you should be fine. I’m sure all local the property owners can tell you exactly what makes it special there.
October 28th, 2010 at 2:20 am
did anyone else notice that *61* houses were newly listed on Yahoo realty today (well, yesterday now; the 27th) for Redwood City? that is a HUGE number for one day.
they’re still all way overpriced, of course.
October 28th, 2010 at 8:44 am
#25, ooh, a bonanza!
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Redwood-City/802-Edgewood-Rd-94062/home/1926199 – trophy house in RWC?
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Redwood-City/1434-Oak-Ave-94061/home/1341881 – interesting sense of design.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Redwood-City/1915-Woodside-Rd-94061/home/880414 – what the FRACK. At least the realtor risked life and limb to take a picture from the street – surely that’s worth the commission.
October 28th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
#26 – ah, the pie slice lot is served again!! (802 edgewood)
it’s so weird; yahoo has done this for a lot of towns. I know that some of the listings are old, but there are huge numbers that have this new date.
October 28th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
#25, I just figured that B of A had restarted foreclosures again so we were all clear for takeoff. As in takeoff another 30% from housing prices.
October 28th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Foreclosures in the RBA? Thanks for the laugh. Too bad for all those suckers that their homes weren’t in the RBA. So sad.
October 29th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
madhaus #28 – yes, that would be the beginnings of a good deal – if one were to actually acquire clear title.
November 10th, 2011 at 10:25 am
759 days on the market with no price cut in over a year. Does that make it an even “better” value now?