Your Weekend Open Thread
It’s time to get out there and look at Open Houses! Spring Bounce is just around the corner, so you don’t want to miss out on your dream house.
Speaking of fantasies, here’s a find that’s way out of Burbed territory. Some of you could pick up for couch cushion change. I know, it’s SoCal, but hear me out. Many thanks to Burbed reader BookingIt for this terrific tenement in Twentynine Palms!
3281 Blower Rd
TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA 92277
$14,500
Super cute cabin on 2.5 acres. Has had some work done. Owner may consider terms.Brokered And Advertised By: INSPIRE REAL ESTATEListing Agent: JULIANNE BEGGS
If you’ve been thinking about simplifying your life, this could be it! Things couldn’t be much simpler than outfitting this 192 square foot desert domicile. And if you don’t have enough spare change on your dresser to pick this up, “Owner may consider terms.” “Bunus”: the ZEstimate is way above the asking price. Win-win-win!
Redfin also has this property listed, only they give an address in the heretofore never discovered community of WOND, CA.
This is an Open Thread.
February 25th, 2012 at 9:14 am
I’d hate to see what it looked like before it had some work done. I wonder if it has air conditioning? (Or electricity, for that matter)
Also, I had to zoom out about 10 levels before I found a highway, talk about the middle of nowhere. (Not that that is always a bad thing though)
February 25th, 2012 at 9:23 am
Also since it is an open thread, the Palo Alto Daily newspaper had a front page article about a house sold with 38 offers. They’re probably talking about this burbed-worthy place: http://www.petergrealty.com/showlisting/8/663-Georgia-Avenue-Barron-Park-Palo-Alto-silicon-valley-real-estate . Is the bubble re-inflating?
I guess the reason for the bidding is that there is very little inventory right now. Part of that is probably seasonal. Also I wonder how many sellers are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the Facebook IPO to make another 1000 people into $1M+ homebuyers to the point that 38 offers looks just plain average? And at the same time, maybe buyers now are trying to get in ahead of the tidal wave of IPO’ers?
February 25th, 2012 at 9:49 am
> a house sold with 38 offers
Walking distance to Gunn high school. More time for homework. Quod erat demonstrandum.
I like the road leading to the cabin.
February 25th, 2012 at 10:42 am
Also since it is an open thread, the Palo Alto Daily newspaper had a front page article about a house sold with 38 offers.
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Nearly most of the listing and recent sales are above $1.4M. Don’t you think listing it underpriced and then starting a bidding war is the strategy here?
February 25th, 2012 at 10:43 am
So there is all this talk about what AAPL should do with all its cash, about $100B. My recommendation to APPL: Buy RBA real estate.
How little cash would it take to buy all the RBA real estate? Does APPL have enough to buy it all?
February 25th, 2012 at 10:44 am
Walking distance to Gunn high school. More time for homework.
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In addition, quite far from train track. Another plus point.
February 25th, 2012 at 11:00 am
This looks like what used to be in the atrium of an Eichler. Sort of like a donut hole is to a donut.
February 25th, 2012 at 11:43 am
Zillow says the property tax on this place is over $10k. Looks like another glitch in their database.
A neighbor has a “make me move” price of $170k. How cute.
February 25th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
The listing in Twentynine Palms fails to mention the drought resistant/native/low maintenance landscaping.
February 25th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
>>Nearly most of the listing and recent sales are above $1.4M. Don’t you think listing it underpriced and then starting a bidding war is the strategy here?
Pralay,
Don’t you think you are the King of denial? How many $400K+ overbids do you need to see before you will recognize the PA market is indeed very hot?
I told you about $400K+ overbids several weeks ago.
I told you (and everyone) to buy AAPL several weeks ago.
I told you inventory is scarce several weeks ago.
You keep denying and looking for excuses. The results are you buddy. You lose again.
February 25th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
The results are “in” buddy.
February 25th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Buyer got a great deal on this 94301 home for only $350K over asking. Seller got a great deal too at $1834/sf.
February 25th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Isn’t this a 38% increase over the last sale price in 2008? Seems like it could be in Palo Alto.
February 25th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Not surprising. Palo Alto’s current price level is at all time high.
February 25th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Anybody knows how many the average number of sex offenders per capita in the US? Does Twentynine Palms have more than the average city? (Cavuto mark)
February 25th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
That “shelter” looks like something they would build when testing nukes in the 1950s.
February 25th, 2012 at 8:34 pm
I agree that there is some gamesmanship here in listing the “38 offer” house far under market in order to start a bidding war; this is what happened with one of the first homes we looked at that we actually liked. (http://www.redfin.com/CA/Mountain-View/1533-Miramonte-Ave-94040/home/646516 – listed at 699k, sold at 870k)
I liked the “Eichler donut hole” idea, so I measured my atrium (I don’t have a real Eichler, I have an Eich-alike). It is about 300 sqft. Maybe the desert shack has an unpermitted area that is not in the official records.
February 25th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
#17- Uh, you left out the fact that Mountain View home was a foreclosure in 2009 for $1,050,358, so $870k is still over 15% down. Now I am not suggesting that it was ever worth over a million, but some lender must have thought so.
February 25th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
You say 15% down from peak, I say 15% instant equity! (Also note that the flipper who bought it, listed it in March for 30K _LESS_ than the 730K they paid for it in January – let’s start that overbidding auction!)
February 25th, 2012 at 11:56 pm
#19- I’ve got some ‘bunus’ equity for you! You get more instant equity in percent than the percent the price is down from peak.
So 15% down is roughly 18% instant equity.
My favorite is 100% instant equity.
February 26th, 2012 at 10:14 am
How many $400K+ overbids do you need to see before you will recognize the PA market is indeed very hot?
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“How many”? You mean that “many” – when you showed four – one with less than $400K and one with fictitious address? That made “many” = TWO, right?
Let put it this way, if you list your own home for $1M, if you are lucky you will get 38 offers and will be sold for $400K above asking (provided you did enough maintenance and improvements in your 1923 structure; Drano and changing lightbulbs do not count). If you listed for $2M, if you are lucky it will be sold $600K less than listed price.
If this is the example of PA market is being HOT, I can’t figure out who is more hot – Palo Alto market or your Trophy Wife.
February 26th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Anybody knows how many the average number of sex offenders per capita in the US? Does Twentynine Palms have more than the average city? (Cavuto mark)
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Quite possible. It’s desert after all. Probably it has become dumping ground for all the CA sex offenders. Reminds me Kill Bill 2 movie – the trailer home in desert where Bill’s younger brother used to live.
February 26th, 2012 at 10:30 am
“Let put it this way, if you list your own home for $1M, if you are lucky you will get 38 offers and will be sold for $400K above asking (provided you did enough maintenance and improvements in your 1923 structure; Drano and changing lightbulbs do not count). If you listed for $2M, if you are lucky it will be sold $600K less than listed price.”
How dare you suggest that the property only had $1.4M in value. The value added is in the so-called overbidding. I’m sure in PA if you list that $1.4M place for $10M it will sell for $10.4M, not the lowly $1.4M when listed for $1M. Why didn’t the seller list for $10M? Because RBA sellers play nice in the true Bay Area spirit!
February 26th, 2012 at 11:36 am
“Sometimes even Warren Buffett gets it wrong”
…
“HOUSING HOROSCOPE
The blunder: Buffett predicted in last year’s letter that the U.S. housing recovery would begin within the next year and help fuel economic growth.
The explanation: Buffett doesn’t mince words and says he was “dead wrong” about this one. But he says basic biology makes it unavoidable that the country will need more houses.
The quip: “People may postpone hitching up during uncertain times, but eventually hormones take over. And while ‘doubling up’ may be the initial reaction of some during a recession, living with in-laws can quickly lose its allure.””
February 26th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Buffett’s shareholder letters are here.
February 26th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Since this post is the open thread, who saw the articles in SF Gate on the large naked woman destroying cars in Noe Valley? And yes, there is a picture (not in that link). Google around if you really want to see!
February 26th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Pralay,
Sounds like we struck a nerve in you. Why take it so personally? Its not like the uptick in Palo Alto market will affect your life. After all, the overbid is already more than what you can scape up for down payment. Don’t forget, living in the hood means you still need to save up for private school.
February 26th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Sounds like we struck a nerve in you. Why take it so personally? Its not like the uptick in Palo Alto market will affect your life.
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Old trick. Keep it up, RE.
February 26th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
I’m yet to figure out why RE’s avatar is yet to get a pending sign. Too many days on the market for my liking.
February 26th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
He put a pending sign last Friday. Then it was stolen, probably by the same guy who stole jewelry from his neighbor at 1100 Middlefield.
February 26th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Wrong side of busy street: Unfortunate for him that he didn’t live on the other side of the street.
February 26th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Nice find, PKamp3! How come nothing exciting like that ever happens in Silicon Valley? The best we could find this weekend was a house hidden behind a medium sized pile of garbage.
February 26th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
I saw an open house today. The flyer said it was in a neighborhood I never heard of. The map they showed me (a “Microsoft map” according to the agent in residence not-the-listing-agent) had a number of neighborhoods in the wrong place.
Anyway, the house had been listed for many months, obviously not at a price that invited overbidding. By cutting it 10%, they finally generated an offer. Don’t know what it ended up selling for. The house isn’t interesting enough for Burbed treatment; weird mix of nicely-done, adequate, and why-the-heck-didn’t-they-spend-$50-and-get-some-outlet-plates? I suspected some of the “wood” floors were laminate too, but I’m not an expert in detecting those. But hardwood floors shouldn’t creak when you walk on them.
February 26th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Not even worthy of an open thread link?
February 26th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Nah, this wasn’t a “point and laugh at this house,” more of a “pulse of the market” post.
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:17 am
Shit, for that amount, I should just buy it up as a vacation get-away. I usually spend 1-3 weeks per year climbing in Joshua Tree. This shack would be totally bitching to have as a post-climbing beer drinking hang-out! Mr. Ranger can’t hassle us over there, and it looks like a ~20 minute drive to the upper park and Indian Cove!
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:28 am
Rather late to comment I guess, but… I actually can’t stand the picture of this shack. Not because I really find that much wrong with it in theory; I have *no idea* what the fair going rate for 2.5 acres of wasteland is but at that price I suppose you can’t go too far wrong. The problem is that the structure looks so much like a Park Service outhouse I can actually *taste* that “outhouse smell” in my nose when I look at it. My subconscious is absolutely 100% positive that the reason there are no interior shots is simply because there’s nothing to see: once you’ve seen one stainless steel outhouse can bolted to a concrete slab you’ve seen them all.