UPDATED: All of the structures are in deplorable condition
We appreciate listing copy that tells it like it is. Don’t let frank talk like this scare you: this is an opportunity! And you can’t beat the price. Thanks to Michael Boltonestater for this palace of possibilities in Palo Alto!
Update 3/7/2012: Added additional comments from Gallileo, who also sent this house in.
3370 PARK Blvd
Palo Alto, CA 94306
$508,888
BEDS: 1
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 928
$/SQ. FT.: $548
LOT SIZE: 5,684 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Cottage/Bungalow
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1928
COMMUNITY: Ventura
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81203012
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 33 daysPerfect for the client looking for an opportunity to get into the Palo Alto market at the low end – to use their own talents to develop. This property has been abandoned for years and all of the structures are in deplorable condition. Located in a very convenient neighborhood of nice homes.
Whoa, that is one friendly looking house. I bet all the neighborhood kids play here, or at least dare each other to step on the lawn. Here’s what Gallileo had to say about the place:
A house in Palo Alto for Not a Lot of Money
Palo Alto finally goes affordable! Yes, you too can buy a house for not a lot of money. You only need 100K down and your Facebook salary will cover that without even waiting for the IPO.
Sure, the house has been abandoned for years and all the structures are in deplorable condition, but with a little draino and a couple of light-bulbs (total cost: $47.98), you’ll be right back enjoying that 7% annual appreciation that everyone in this most real of the real bay area gets. 94306 never left the RBA! Its even close to public transportation–very public transportation.
Oh come on, everyone loves trains! Now let’s have a good look at that very convenient neighborhood.
Convenient all right! Walk to the Mercedes dealer… and Fry’s! Plus “bunus” PG&E substation across the street.
March 1st, 2012 at 7:20 am
what was the owner thinking, not selling in 2007?
I saw a house kind of like this in Los Altos. Not quite so bad but not good either. Nobody was living in it from 2001, when the owners died. The adult children were fighting about what to do with it and didn’t act on several opportunities to sell from 2005 through 2008. finally sold in 2010, but about $250k off peak.
March 1st, 2012 at 7:36 am
Abandoned for years. Thank you Prop. 13!
March 1st, 2012 at 9:16 am
“Court Confirmation Is Required”
March 1st, 2012 at 10:07 am
For the right person, it’s indeed worth half a mil. It’s right down the street from Gryphon Strings.
March 1st, 2012 at 10:07 am
“all of the structures are in deplorable condition.”
In PA: nothing a few light bulbs and a bottle or two of Drano cannot fix.
March 1st, 2012 at 10:31 am
I’ve walked by the place. My wife used to work at a company just near Fry’s, and we’d occasionally go to lunch. It was truly a giant housing turd dropped on the fair city of Palo Alto. Notice the lazy flippers don’t scoop up THIS property. Serious rehab work is not in their tool box. (All they have in there is lipstick.)
March 1st, 2012 at 11:01 am
It’s a really weird little neighborhood too, the only way I’ve ever been able to figure out to get to Gryphon Strings is to go through Fry’s parking lot. I guess everyone who lives there gets in and out of their neighborhood through Fry’s parking lot? Maybe that’s why it’s always so busy.
March 1st, 2012 at 11:03 am
So, is “All of the structures are in deplorable condition” a description of this property in particular or of Palo Alto in general? With how detached from reality the place is I keep expecting to witness Patrick McGoohan snatched up into a poorly animated weather balloon every time I find myself there.
March 1st, 2012 at 11:15 am
It never occurred to me to get to Gryphon via the Fry’s parking lot. There are a number of streets that don’t connect there.
You can get to Park through the mid-town commercial district but it doesn’t appear to go through to the residential neighborhood. That’s why I said walk to Fry’s, because it’s a lot more difficult to drive there.
Check out the Streetview, the garage looks even worse than the house.
March 1st, 2012 at 11:22 am
“to use their own talents to develop”
Talents like absorbing lawsuits filed by “I got mine” NIMBY neighbors?
March 1st, 2012 at 2:58 pm
The most interesting thing here is that you can finally buy in Palo Alto for “Not a lot of money”.
How much draino and how many lightbulbs would it need to be livable? Surely not much more than not a lot of money.
March 1st, 2012 at 3:08 pm
#10- There is more than one way to get an education.
March 1st, 2012 at 4:13 pm
AstroWallaby, you should write a guest post. You’ve come up with some interesting stuff lately.
March 1st, 2012 at 9:33 pm
>>the only way I’ve ever been able to figure out to get to Gryphon Strings is to go through Fry’s parking lot.
With your intelligence, maybe that’s why you live in Gilroy.
March 1st, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Why does everyone diss the house? No one is going to restore it. Whoever buys it will build new. At this price the structure has zero value. One thing this lot has going for it is that it does not back up to the train tracks.
March 1st, 2012 at 10:02 pm
> It was truly a giant housing turd dropped on the fair city of Palo Alto.
<cavuto>And Real Estater is the blowfly?</cavuto>
March 1st, 2012 at 10:43 pm
“At this price the structure has zero value.”
The over-bidding will bring the price right where it needs to be.
March 1st, 2012 at 11:03 pm
** Why does everyone diss the house? **
We were hoping you’d show up to defend its virtue. #winning
March 1st, 2012 at 11:34 pm
One thing this lot has going for it is that it does not back up to the train tracks.
—-
Definitely plus point, to avoid Gunncide.
March 2nd, 2012 at 7:23 am
RE is pretty reasonable here. Buy this lot for $508k, spend $500k on 2000 sq ft house, you’re in PA for $1m in a brand new house. 285 Wilton Ave is 1814 sq ft and sold one year ago for $963k, but it’s not new either.
There are a lot of surprisingly cheap (by PA standards) places here. But, 1000 sq ft house, 3000 sq ft lots, that’s pretty small.
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:09 am
> There are a lot of surprisingly cheap (by PA standards) places here.
I worked near this neighborhood back in 2001. At the time the company was warning female employees to be extra careful walking to their cars after dark because of a reported rash of “surprise sex-ings” in the area. I know it’s been a decade but I still can’t help but wonder if that has anything to do with the “surprisingly cheap” pricing.
March 2nd, 2012 at 5:47 pm
It’s really tough out there right now. Totally no inventory in the low one million range, so everyone is looking to buy the same houses. Can’t compete with the Facebookers and Applers!
March 2nd, 2012 at 5:49 pm
SV Shopper, after all these years, haven’t you saved up more money to increase the price range you’re looking at?
March 2nd, 2012 at 6:55 pm
nomadic,
The problem is, savers can’t keep up with home appreciation. Another house just sold for way over asking in Palo Alto. How is he going to save up quickly enough to pay for just the overbid?
March 2nd, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Looks like he needs to put the trophy wife to work or get a better job. After all, the RBA isn’t for working stiffs, right?
March 2nd, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Poor SV Shopper. How long has he been looking for a house? I feel so bad for him. Maybe we could organize a fundraiser for the little dears.
March 2nd, 2012 at 9:15 pm
“The problem is, savers can’t keep up with home appreciation.”
Priced out forever.
“Another house just sold for way over asking in Palo Alto. How is he going to save up quickly enough to pay for just the overbid?”
Why isn’t the house, featured above, being overbid?
“It’s really tough out there right now. Totally no inventory in the low one million range, so everyone is looking to buy the same houses. Can’t compete with the Facebookers and Applers!”
Translation: What I want is a $2M house for about a million, and I have discovered that’s very tough.
March 26th, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Haha the most funny redfin posting i ever saw … anyways the point is , will there be an open house
If they put an open house for this house in deplorable conditions, see how many people come .. maybe there will be a stampede.