Total square footage of 2200 sq ft not formally recorded
Today’s luscious listing is a superb short sale in San Mateo, courtesy of Burbed reader Divasm! Thanks for this fantastic find, featuring fun photos, plenty of deferred maintenance, and the ever-popular “The dog ate my permits” excuse.
324 MIDVALE Ave, San Mateo, CA 94403
$550,000
BEDS: 4
BATHS: 4
SQ. FT.: 1,610
$/SQ. FT.: $342
LOT SIZE: 5,056 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1950
COMMUNITY: Westwood Knolls
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81119319
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 168 daysContractor Special! House has 4 bdrms 4 ba on record but total square footage of 2200 sq ft not formally recorded. Owner states that 2 bdrms, 2 ba & family rm addition were built w/ permit. Close to shopping & schools. Needs maintenance. Has a lot of potential. Swimming pool and spa in bkyard. Legality of 4th bath not warranted.
Here’s Divasm’s thoughts on today’s house:
This short sale has been around for over 150 days and been in and out of pending. It’s nothing new, same old story…but it’s a great example of when to just NOT include pictures of the house because they’re really not doing you any favors. The outside pic has so much glare and lens flare you think you’re in a JJ Abrams movie, and the inside pics look like somebody intentionally trashed their house…at Christmas time.
But hey, maybe in a couple months the season will come back around and it will appear festive! And I guess we should be happy there are no Dudes or Cats hanging around, there is that…
I think this shot of the kitchen is a 10. A 10 on the “I’m selling my house for more than half a million bucks and can’t be bothered to clean the kitchen before taking a few snaps.”
They couldn’t even bother to move the trash can out of the frame. This is so beautiful, it’s bringing tears to eyes. Or maybe that’s the onions in the trash can.
The permit issues are just the icing on this delectable cake of contractor concern! Good thing the owner states that most of the additions were built w/ permit! The extra square footage not appearing on the county records is just a quibble you can work out with the friendly folks at the Planning Department and the Assessor’s Office. You’re going to be spending a LOT of time with those folks getting approvals for all the maintenance this place needs, so you might as well ask them why there’s 600 square feet “not formally recorded.”
Maybe they’re hiding behind all the crap in this bedroom.
November 18th, 2011 at 9:45 am
All that crap is giving me hives.
Check out the satellite shot – there’s a very green pool in the back, and some strange “stuff” on the roof.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Some Solyndra solar panels, maybe?
November 18th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Yeah I had that thought too – especially with the pool (or shall we say, former pool), that it’s solar panels. That green pond should be flagged by the CDC, I’m pretty sure it’s responsible for a West Nile outbreak or something just as nasty. But hey, now that Halloween is over, this house’s decor is once again seasonal!
November 18th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
At least it comes with a piano for playing dirges for the RE market.
November 18th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
#3 – 90% of the mosquitos in San Mateo come from that pond. Luckily, 90% is right around the odds of something shady happening in this short sale!
November 18th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Mosquitoes, the Other 99%.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Someone did recent updates to the house.
Look at the double-pane, the floors, the granite, even the ceiling fans.
They just don’t want to move yet, is all.
PS: Gilroy Alex, are you there? I heard Drano really sucks for drains, ‘specially in this area.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
And if you pay property taxes in San Mateo County, this is part of them:
http://www.smcmad.org/
Mosquito habitat is definitely an issue.
November 19th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
PS: If they hadn’t HELOC’d their house multiple times, they’d be over-water now versus trying to short it while the bank is issuing them NOTS.
I don’t get it, people HELOCing their house multiple times unless the whole point was to rip off the banks before the banks could rip them off.
Few were that smart, and if they were, they don’t live in 94403, 94063. They live in RBA.
November 22nd, 2011 at 1:18 am
Further, is this involving:
1) Selling shortly
2)Renters who don’t wanna go (can’t blame ‘em).
In short sales, buyer is often the one stuck with evicting a “family,” or worse yet a “struggling family” and feeling like total shit while hoping the cfk keeps them from concreting the sewer
We’ll see, here, Big D. It’s a nice house minus messiness.