19 Responses to “Good fences make good neighbors, but the military make great ones”

1. SEA Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 7:51 am

   “ATTENTION INVESTORS – Estimated Rent ~$5000/mo. + (Main House ~$3600/mo. + & Cottage ~$1400/mo. +)”

   Asking price to annual rent ratio of 15. Real RBA properties have a higher ratio, and in the RBA the housing price appreciation takes care of everything, so the rent doesn’t even matter.

2. AstroWallaby Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 9:53 am

   You seriously have to love how “hardwood floors” describes the entire backyard. Install some granite countertops flanking that barbecue and you could call it a third rental unit. Heck, there’s already some framed pictures hanging on the storage shed!(?)

   (Actually… the entire second page of photos, numbers 16-25, on the Redfin listing raise all sorts of questions. What is with that brick wall that seems to extend in an “L” shape a couple feet out from the red building? Is it the privacy screen for a freeway rest stop-style bathroom? What is that strange elevated platform in the front room of the “cottage”? Is that sticking out into the space shielded by the brick? Was it once a bay window that was subsequently walled-in and hardwood-floored to create a miniature wall-mounted dungeon? Did whatever was living in the dungeon have a physical disability that required its cell to be surrounded by a miniature railing on all sides? There’s some strange tale of gothic horror just waiting to be told here.)

3. Crissa Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 10:06 am

   How would you get $5K rent there? From who?

4. Crissa Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 10:10 am

   Oh, http://www.redfin.com/CA/Mountain-View/330-Moffett-Blvd-94043/home/1392174 is still on the market… And only wants a couple K less.

5. madhaus Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 11:41 am

   Crissa, that place around the corner on Moffett has the “seller has requested no public comment” feature. That means the house is so awesome, they’re terrified the open house will be swarmed. Swarmed, I tell you!

6. SEA Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 12:36 pm

   Swarmed?

7. mabeldu Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 12:58 pm

   being located next to a military fortress may be a good thing (ok, so it’s only a nat’l guard recruiting office – picky picky). built in protection from attacks.

   pic #9 – reminds me of the landing scene in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’; another professional photography job by a crackerjack realtor. the kitchen fixture look like its landing thrusters are trying to lessen the impact. only little green men visiting earth would pay $5k/month for that place.

   for $900k they couldn’t match appliance colors?

8. nomadic Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 2:16 pm

   $3600/month doesn’t seem so ridiculous for a 3/2 house in Mountain View – at least if the lot wasn’t so tiny and on the wrong side of Central.

9. madhaus Says:
   June 12th, 2012 at 2:30 pm

   Here’s a good argument not to buy this (or any) house.

   Guest Post: By Incentivizing Debt, We’ve Guaranteed Debt-Serfdom and Stagnation
   By Charles Hugh Smith (Of Two Minds)

   The incentives to take on debt are so ubiquitous that we underestimate their pernicious power to trigger self-destructive behavior. Want to go to college? Just borrow the money now, with no payments until you graduate. Need some consumerist-retail therapy to lift your sagging spirits? Just use plastic, and pay for the splurge later. Want to buy a house? Hey, the interest on that 30-year mortgage is all tax deductible. It’s crazy to pay taxes when there’s a big fat deduction for mortgage interest.

   …

   The wheels fall off the “growing our way out of debt” strategy if the borrowed money was spent on consumption or invested in low-productivity purposes. After it’s all said and done, the money’s gone but the debt remains and the interest is still due.

   This is where the housing bubble enters the picture. Given that mortgage interest (even the interest on home equity lines of credit, HELOCs) is deductible, then it was incredibly attractive for those with equity to borrow that equity for consumption, an addition/remodel or to fund another home purchase as an investment or vacation get-away.

   Since the additional debt did not create any additional income, more of the household’s income is now diverted to paying interest. Even if the additional debt was used to purchase a rental property, if that property’s expenses (property taxes, maintenance, etc.) have outpaced rental income increases, or the equity in the rental was extracted in the bubble, then the actual rise in net income might be negligible or even negative.

10. nomadic Says:
    June 12th, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    You should change your name to Debbie Downer.

    Also, HELOC interest is not tax deductible if it is spent on consumption, other investments besides property that serves as collateral or a vacation.

    Have some Kool-Aid – it’s hot outside!

11. SEA Says:
    June 12th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    Interest on a HELOC other than home improvement/building under $100k often can be deducted.

    The easiest case is when a $100k HELOC is taken out on a place that had no other mortgage. For many people, the interest is deductible, no matter how the cash is used. In other words, in some cases an owner need not sell his current place and buy another similar unit.

12. Debbie Downer Says:
    June 12th, 2012 at 10:10 pm

    What do you mean HELOC interest is not tax-deductible if you spend it on crapgoodies to impress the neighbors? If that were the case the entire Orange County economy would have collapsed in 2004.

13. nomadic Says:
    June 12th, 2012 at 10:29 pm

    I was once delusional enough to not believe real estate could be purchased with no money down, Ms. Downer, so never mind me. I’ll assume SEA’s correction is accurate because I don’t care enough to look it up to verify.

    Time to wax the Boxster to try to impress the neighbors. Six cylinders are the new eight in the land of electric cars.

14. SEA Says:
    June 12th, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    Here you go: up to $100k deductible beyond purchase/construction costs.

15. Tom Stone Says:
    June 13th, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    Nomadic, 100% financing is available again. You need to prove income and have a good credit score. I’se a relitter and I getsta lissen to some FINE looken wimmen make indecent propositions. This one was from a citi rep.

16. nomadic Says:
    June 13th, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    LOL, Tom, you fit right in here.

    I feel so old-fashioned. Didn’t the banks/lenders learn anything about requiring a “buyer” to have some skin in the game?

17. Petsmart groomer Says:
    June 22nd, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    Jun 22, 2012 - Delisted (Cancelled)

18. Petsmart groomer Says:
    June 29th, 2012 at 7:27 am

    Back on the market with a new agent for $799k.

19. Terry Baker Says:
    July 21st, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    That is a beautiful house. Is it still available?

    Why are you asking us? Follow the link to the listing. Oh wait, you can’t, because you’re a spambot. We removed your URL about using a boom lift, because it was taking up 25 extra bytes we couldn’t spare. Hope that’s okay. –ed.

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