Updated: 3 level executive estate in midtown Palo Alto in a cul-de-sac
It’s been far too long since we’ve heard from Burbed reader dollarbin. Let’s check in with this palace in Palo Alto!
2783 RANDERS Ct
Palo Alto, CA 94303
$3,248,000
BEDS: 5
BATHS: 5
SQ. FT.: 5,255
$/SQ. FT.: $618
LOT SIZE: 8,712 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Contemporary
STORIES: 3
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 2010
COMMUNITY: Midtown
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81146955
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 147 daysElegant newly constructed (2010)3 level executive estate in midtown Palo Alto in a cul-de-sac * One of a kind quality & workmanship with mahogany paneling & hand carved custom doors * Gourmet kitchen with S/S appliances, granite counters, custom cherry cabinets & a breakfast bar * Brazilian teak flooring & imported marble floors throughout * Includes library, exercise & media rooms.
Here’s what dollarbin had to say, when passing this parcel along:
Anybody send you this one yet?
Who says Palo Alto is free of McMansions? I had given up the dream of spending less than $700/sq ft in Palo Alto, but this Spec House 
misadventure proves it saves to buy in bulk. Plus it has a totally classy fountain burbling in the front yard.
This listing caught my eye because I noticed they have a flyer sign out on Colorado Ave that actually lights up at night, so I looked up the Redfin knowing it would be full of win.
Wait… spec house misadventure? How can anyone have a misadventure when they’ve lit your way there? Although the price history may tell us a thing or two.
And here we thought the misadventure was the .60 FAR or the 11 HDR. So let’s help this poor spec house. What is keeping it from generating dozens of overbids?
Bunus: Mawbul kawlums are rectangular! Break out the red arrows!
Update 10:41 am: Two more kawlums lurking on the right of this picture, noted by Burbed reader SEA. Mawr red arrows, please!
April 5th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Looks like Burbed’s Kawlum Vision needs to be reprogrammed since it only recognized half of the kawlums.
April 5th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Twin terlets?
True friends shit together.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:09 am
The beauty of this house–and it is indeed beautiful–is that it is just one of three or four all nearly identical in fit and finish on Rander’s court. All have the same “Versailles in South Palo Alto” bidets, wood paneling and horrible kitchens. In terms of overdoneness, they are smoking cinders compared to usual burbed overdoneness faire.
These houses are on the wrong side of Middlefield and the wrong side of Oregon Expressway. You can’t walk to Steve Job’s house–at least not in reasonable time–and they are just 1 block from a crime-ridden 7-11.
If you’ve got over three-million to drop on a house in Palo Alto, you can do so much better than this monstrosity.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:30 am
I clicked through all the pics expecting to see that Russian guy with the miniature giraffes.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:45 am
Looks like Burbed’s Kawlum Vision needs to be reprogrammed since it only recognized half of the kawlums.
I agree, that was very poor KawlumVision in that photo, SEA. Thanks for alerting me to the Bunus Kawlums. More arrows placed.
In terms of overdoneness, they are smoking cinders compared to usual burbed overdoneness faire.
That’s good, right?
April 5th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
I love this house. I want there to be an open house so I can sneak into the bathroom and get a jet powered taint polishing. Now THAT’S refreshing!
April 5th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Oh this house is a beauty. My wife and I went to the open house because we had to check out the pure Trump-y glory of the whole thing. You think the pictures tell a story, actually going in to the home tells a much better story. Rooms scattered around with no apparent purpose. An apparent downstairs party area with a wet bar and all, except no room around the wet bar to – well – party. Over The Top everything. That fountain in the front yard looks deceivingly small in the picture. In reality, it’s a huge honking naked lady in the middle of a giant pool. And you can barely see it in the picture, but there’s an awning, an ugly fabric awning over the front door. So that when you’re tired of sitting outside and admiring your fountain you can roll up the awning before you go inside, lest all that shade get wasted. And the view from the master bedroom? The neighbor’s garage that seemed more like a trash can than anything normal.
But best of all, the agent doing duty at the open house was a riot. Anyone from this forum going to see the house would be lucky if they got to meet her as well.
P.S: yes I used the gold plated toilet, I had to!
April 5th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Has this house truly never been lived in? Did the builder come fresh off the boat, having never met an American? Just who is this hideous pile designed for?
April 5th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
>>Did the builder come fresh off the boat, having never met an American? Just who is this hideous pile designed for?
Wow, that’s some Bay Area spirit right there! But, to answer your question, of course this type of house isn’t designed for Americans. How many Americans would be able to afford it?
April 5th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Fact 1. Homes in Palo Alto are selling very, very quickly at the moment, due to low inventory and high demand.
Fact 2. This Palo Alto house has been on the market 147 days. It was also listed without success in 2010.
Please come up with a reasonable explanation to reconcile Fact 2 with Fact 1.
April 5th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
They came from YOUR country, Excretor!
April 5th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
My question is, how does Pralay reconcile with Fact #1? Is he going to jump off a building?
April 5th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Sunnyvale is selling like hot cakes right now. Just look at all the Pendings on mlslistings.com. When I said last year was a great time to buy, that recommendation was worth gold. Try buying now.
April 5th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
#12, please answer the question before asking your own.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
“When I said last year was a great time to buy, that recommendation was worth gold. ”
Fool’s gold, maybe.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Another over the top home with an over the top price in the wrong city:
http://www.movoto.com/real-estate/homes-for-sale/CA/Santa-Clara/96-Rodonovan-Dr-100_81212320.htm
April 5th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Another over the top home with an over the top price in the wrong city:
—
But at least it is not pending for 147 days.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Another over the top home with an over the top price in the wrong city.
Hey, that’s not very nice.
It’s also what I implied about this place (right city, wrong-ish neighborhood and school district), which sold.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
It’s not a matter of nice or not. It’s simple logic. Why would you pay $1.4M to buy in a city where most homes are selling for $500K?
I will say the same thing about the featured property. #3 already answered Madhaus’ question actually. For $3M you can be in 94301, where $3M properties are everywhere.
April 5th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Marketing concept: Pose a life size cardboard cutout of Tony Soprano picking up a New Jersey Star Ledger off the driveway during the next open house.
April 5th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
We all know the value is in the land, and that’s likely why this place has not sold.
April 5th, 2012 at 11:09 pm
Neighbor on my street who also got his house at the bottom ended up pending eight months because the previous owner up and died mid-contract without all the papers signed… Ouch.
April 5th, 2012 at 11:14 pm
So if this house is overpriced for South Palo Alto/Midtown, then what is the correct price? Or is this one of those “very unique” properties that can’t have something as pedestrian as a price attached, because that would be… vulgar.
April 6th, 2012 at 7:42 am
#6 sfbubblebuyer, that’s pretty funny. Of course now I have a horrible image in my head.
April 6th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Good luck getting a house over 5,000 sq ft in 94301 for $3M.
This house was meant for the agent and his wife I think. These are some bad-ass white teeth! And what a tan!
April 6th, 2012 at 10:23 am
I found an image repository of Palo Alto Weekly from back in June, 2010. The house was listed for $3,999,000 then. It’s just a one liner in the Open Houses section.
Wouldn’t even call this chasing the market down, because it’s not clear there is any market for this kind of house. Have a look at this Trulia discussion noting how little in the $3M+ category is found in 94306.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:27 am
Close:
2577 Ramona St
yes, it’s a little undersized, and yes, it’s a little overpriced, but within 10% on both sides. It’s a little to difficult to change the size, but price is always adjustable.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:30 am
I probably stepped outside of REAL 94301.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:34 am
You’re not exactly helping this house, #27. Did you check out the listing history of Ramona? Whoo-ee! That puppy’s been for sale on and off since they finished building it back during the bubblicious days of 2006! And per Zillow, there’s only been one price reduction since 2007 (no prices given for ’06).
Both these places failure to sell says that the price is too damned high.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:36 am
Oh wow, Ramona’s in the ’01 even though it’s southeast of Colorado. Still South PA, though.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:38 am
It’s far easier to help it than hurt it.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:44 am
2577 Ramona is not in Real 94301™ (wrong side of Oregon Expressway, too close to Caltrain). Not part of buyable inventory.
New agent, yet virtually identical listing. Julia Schloss, your 3% commission is totally deserved.
It’s about time we add the agent’s name to the list of tags… How about a Burbed Award every year? Or a Burbed Score for each agent? Redfin surely would show that as well on their listings.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:47 am
“And per Zillow, there’s only been one price reduction since 2007 (no prices given for ’06).”
Well, I suppose I will give you this one, although there are plenty of people, mainly REALTORs, who would suggest that there were two price reductions listed on Zillow. The most recent one is so small that it is not a REAL price reduction.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:50 am
#32- Is this 2783 RANDERS Ct property part of REAL 94303?
April 6th, 2012 at 11:27 am
RE’s correct: it’s senseless to price a house in south-west Santa Clara beyond $1M when the neighborhood generally goes between $700k and $900k.
April 6th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
For example, 1760 Market St
Oct 31, 2003 Sold (Public Records) $1,500,000
Jun 09, 2011 Sold (Public Records) $1,692,946 (Foreclosure Sale=REO/Bank Owned)
Feb 17, 2012 Listed (Active) $929,000
Mar 16, 2012 Price Changed $885,500
April 6th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Ahahahahaha! Remember when I did a field trip to the $2 million dollar house in Sunnyvale back in 2009? Long before I was a content editor here? I had to post it as a bunch of comments because I took pictures.
They just relisted it this week.
On April Fool’s Day.
For same price of $1,999,999.
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! Oh man, I am going to have to turn this into an article. AHAHAHAHAHA!
April 6th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
They just relisted it this week.
—-
Two theories:
1. Real Estater told him Sunnyvale market is hot now. Time to relist again.
2. Real Estater told him home price double in every 10 year, hence he should get $2M, which is not double but pretty close, this year.
April 6th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Yes, #23, it’s certainly vulgar.
LOL, can’t wait to see the $2M aspiration in 94087.
April 6th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Overbidding will bring the $2 million property right where it needs to be.
April 17th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
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April 24th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
The way I heard it describe, in the EYE OF THE STORM, that is at THE bottom of the property cycle That is last Christmas 2011 in Palo Alto, ALL IS QUIET. So people get over excited and out bid each other prices jump up 10 percent or more as they have BUT AS SOON AS YOU GET OUT OF THE EYE OF THE STORM THINGS GO ROCKY AGAIN. Suddenly buyers are scared off by these crazy comparables. They look around. See an economy thats uncertain about job growrh, China faltering, Europe in the doldrums, and so prices can fall again. Could be another year before the eye of the storm passes. So hold onto your hats, things will get choppy for the next 6 months.
May 2nd, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Reduced to $2,999,000.
The Valcartier house in Sunnyvale has been reduced to $1,749,999.
May 24th, 2012 at 10:03 am
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