Coals to Newcastle in Los Altos: Opportunity Abounds
We’ve featured a lot of flips on Burbed. Today’s front-paged fortress is a flip, but that isn’t what brought it to our attention. Thanks very much to Burbed reader Swan for this luscious LOLapalooza in Los Altos!
1998 NEWCASTLE Dr
Los Altos, CA 94024
$1,498,0003 Beds
2 Baths
1,700 Sq. Ft.
$881 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1956
Lot Size: 10,450 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 21 days
Status: Active
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Community: South of El Monte
MLS#: 81236495
Stories: 1
County: Santa ClaraStunning one-of-a-kind home with custom details and top of the line finishes. Sits on huge corner lot, with room to expand in the future. Mahogany doors, windows and cabinets, travertine patios and flooring, hardwood planked flooring, marble bathroom surrounds, luscious backyard with fountain and room for entertaining. Great schools, close to freeways. This will be your dream estate!
“Dream estate” may be overstating things a little, especially when you get a look at the outside of the house. Okay, overstating it a lot. The inside of the redone house looks nice, but the outside is kind of meh.
But as far as the before pictures, go, this is a dream Burbed property. Voilà!
1998 NEWCASTLE Dr
Los Altos, CA 94024
$1,025,000
Sold 6/22/12 for $1,015,0003 Beds
2 Baths
1,698 Sq. Ft.
$598 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1956
Lot Size: 10,450 Sq. Ft.
Sold On: Jun 22, 2012
Status: Sold
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
County: Santa Clara
Style: Ranch
Community: South of El Monte
MLS#: 81217356Fixer in beautiful neighborhood. Good bones within this 3 bedroom, 2 bath home that sits on a 10,000 + sq ft lot. Built in the ’50′s it has some charming features that just aren’t found in new construction today. Opportunity abounds.
Let’s listen in as Swan explains further:
Here’s a link to a house in Los Altos which sold last spring. I meant to send it in as it deserves the Burbed Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Love the wheelchair. Love the basketballs on the floor. Love the peeling paint on the outside of the house.
Of course someone bought the house, flipped it, and wants $1.5 million for it.
Definitely cleaned up and better looking than before. However, if you look at street view of the old house, and the realtard’s pictures of the new house, don’t you think they re-used the garage door? Really? For all that effort, they couldn’t buy a new garage door?
The (old) Streetview peek is on the left. Here’s an extreme close-up of the garage doors… after the break. Plus more photos!
No new garage doors, but look what isn’t there anymore:
Now that’s character, not to mention the charming features that just aren’t found in new construction today.
October 25th, 2012 at 8:53 am
Regarding the basketballs, it is my guess that the kids to the northwest delivered those. Take a look at the satellite photo.
October 25th, 2012 at 9:14 am
not to pick nits… oh shite, that’s what this site is all about-
the kitchen faucet was installed w/ the handle behind the faucet neck. not a big deal you say? that’s exactly the kind of detail that slips by flippers who are throwing mascara & lipstick on a pig. details are what make or break a house, especially for 3x not a lot of money. that’s the kind of detail-fail that made me walk away from several houses that were obvious flips with little attention paid to doing it right.
other than that, it’s still meh. the flipper spent money on paint and the kitchen looks better than before, but not $500k better. and living next to foothill expressway isn’t my idea of peace & quiet.
October 25th, 2012 at 10:19 am
First of all, I sometimes have to step back and think that people who don’t live here would never believe that fixer in the before photos sold for over $1mil. Welcome to the RBA!
I don’t understand the landscaping decisions – why put in a random fountain/birdbath smack in the middle of a usable patio? It just requires more upkeep.
And why get rid of half of the front lawn (which didn’t look too bad to begin with) and replace it with tanbark that’s just asking for random weeds to sprout through?
October 25th, 2012 at 10:59 am
re #2: I agree that lazy flippers burn my hide, although that sink could be one of those fancy ones that you touch anywhere to turn on.
October 25th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Well that’s really great and I appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic.
Well that’s really great and I appreciate your determination in posting three different comments trying to advertise your garage door service. I also feel strongly about it, only in this case “it” means not having links to unrelated sites on this topic. –ed.
October 25th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
mabeldu, you dropped a couple nits. It’s Grant Road, not Foothill – but that’s only marginally better in terms of traffic. And loosening a fitting under the sink will allow that faucet to rotate to the proper position easily. The flippers really ought to have caught that mistake. The poor installer probably never saw such a “new-fangled” faucet. I hope he wasn’t doing any plumbing or electrical work.
October 25th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
#3
“You gotta get yourself some porcelain fountains!”
-From the same people that brought you mawbul cawlums!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phgh-MUlBGE
October 25th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
The backyard is a like a beach spit of patio fringed by a coral reef of grass, surrounded by a great and tranquil sea of decorative wood mulch. There’s more shredded tree bark in that backyard than there is in the mile-wide cloverleaf interchange near my office!
October 25th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Except for all that mulch, I think these flippers spent about $100 at Home Depot for “landscaping.” What a sad smattering of tiny plants.
October 25th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
One more pet peeve in this house: there is an open arch from the master bedroom to the bathroom, and then another open arch to the toilet area. All couples need a little privacy from one another. Or at least quiet in the bedroom when one person is on a different schedule from the other.
October 25th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Since this is a flip all the furniture is stagestuff. The beds look like they’re 54 inches long to make the rooms look bigger. Lame!
October 25th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
#6, that is brilliant, I’d never seen that before! It explains everything! Is that Scarlet Johannsen?
October 25th, 2012 at 5:10 pm
ZOMG I’ve never seen that before either! Here’s a better resolution of it. My friend teh Google says it ran in October, 2009, when Scarlett’s husband Mike Reynolds was hosting.
Yes indeed, that is Scarlett Johanssen, and she’s also in the Chandeliers and the Mawbul Kawlums sketches.
October 25th, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Mike Reynolds? Ryan. Now married to another young(er) hot blonde.
October 26th, 2012 at 8:58 am
“And loosening a fitting under the sink will allow that faucet to rotate to the proper position easily. The flippers really ought to have caught that mistake.”
It would take too much effort to list all the “easily fixed mistakes” the “flippers” made, and that does not include listing all the mistakes that are far more difficult to fix.
October 26th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I really appreciate for your work. Please update this regulaly.
We really appreciate for your work as well. We updated your comment by taking out your link. You’re welcome! –ed.
November 17th, 2012 at 1:39 am
Hiya! Awesome blog! I happen to be a daily visitor to your site (somewhat more like addict ) of this website. Just wanted to say I appreciate your blogs and am looking forward for more to come!
What a coincidence! We’re a daily visitor to your site (somewhat more like addict ) as well. Why we’d be so appreciative of a garage door sales site is almost as much of a mystery as why you posted here. Ooops, we seems to have dropped your URL in the trash. Clumsy of us! –ed.