It’s Labor Day! Everyone’s favorite holiday!

This is the day where we celebrate our privilege to work in Silicon Valley!

It’s where we celebrate the fact that we can spend all year, working in cubes (if you’re lucky), on the next game changing disruptive social sharing music video coupon synergy open graph mobile app! And BECOME RICH from it!

That’s why you’re reading this at work. Because you want to!

So… what do you do for a living? And how many hundreds of thousands of dollars do you get paid?

(Do you agree with the assessments on glassdoor.com?)

Los Altos area residents won’t drop call to arms over cell tower

By Diana Samuels, Daily News Staff Writer

Posted: 09/03/2010 10:13:58 PM PDT
Updated: 09/04/2010 07:37:40 AM PDT

A group of Los Altos area residents who lost their bid this week to keep a 55-foot-tall cell phone tower out of their neighborhood said they plan to take their fight to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

The county’s planning commission voted 4-2 Thursday to reject an appeal from residents of the San Antonio Hills neighborhood in an unincorporated part of the county. The residents say neighbors Marshall and Nadja Jackson are operating a commercial “cell tower farm” on their Whitham Avenue property, in violation of county zoning regulation.

The Jacksons already have three cell towers on their property and won approval from the planning commission in June to build a fourth for Verizon Wireless. Marshall Jackson declined to comment Friday, but said earlier this week he believes the 55-foot-tall “monopine” — a tower disguised as a pine tree — will make the community safer thanks to the better coverage it will provide.

Tower opponent Chris Hyrne [in photo at right] said he and other residents plan to appeal the commission’s decision to the board of supervisors.

This site has long discussed one of the true pleasures of homeownership: the joy of watering one’s own lawn.  How come nobody ever brought up the delight of collecting fees for hosting a “cell tower farm” on your own property?  You don’t even have to water the monopine!  Just sit back, relax, and watch those checks start rolling in.  Sure, you’ll earn the enmity of your neighbors and your kids won’t be able to show their faces at recess, but so what?  If you’re tough enough to have become a Real Bay Area homeowner, you (and your kids) can handle a little ostracism.

We are not talking about beer money.  The Jacksons are currently hosting towers for AT&T, Sprint, Metro PCS, and T-Mobile. They earn between $500 and $3500 a month per tower for having them on their property.  The new Verizon tower would be 15 feet taller than the existing structures, and by law that means the other carriers can raise their towers to the same height as the new one.

Meanwhile, the neighbors against the towers have their petition against the “antenna farm” online, complete with address of the “butt-ugly” towers.  They have a website as well.  But we’ll save you the trouble of driving over to Whitham Avenue, as the Stoptheantennafarm.org website has this lovely view of the towers:

Can’t imagine why the neighbors are complaining.  They must get cell reception like no tomorrow.  Heck, Marshall Jackson, who just happens to be a Realtor, said the house across the street from him sold in two days, over asking price, because of the awesome bar count.  ”I’m concerned for the greater good,” Jackson said. “I certainly want to make profits myself; I’m a capitalist and I’m profit-motivated. … but I also don’t do things I think will hurt people.”

Here is the house in question, sold for $1,000 over asking.  (Something very funny is going on with that house, take a look at the sale records.)

Now that the cellular antenna farm idea has been featured on burbed (an award-winning site, you know!), everyone will want to be the first on their block to plant an antenna farm!  So hurry!  Unless you’re a renter, in which case you can spend Labor Day Weekend watering your landlord’s lawn.

Low mortgage rates go lower. Better days ahead for housing market?

Low mortgage rates fell still more this week – to the lowest level ever in four decades of tracking. Also, the number of pending home sales posted a rise for the month of July.

A home for sale is posted at a reduced price in Palo Alto, California, in this June 24 file photo. Low mortgage rates fell still lower this week, and the number of pending home sales posted a rise for the month of July.

Paul Sakuma/AP/File

Now, granted, this photo was from June 24 – which is like 2 years ago in Palo Alto/Silicon Valley time.

But seriously? Aren’t “Price Reduced” signs banned within the city limits of Palo Alto? Did this really ever exist?

OR is this the work on the clueless “Main Street Media” (MSM), based out of NY, that is intent on destroying the famed Real Bay Area?

You have this long weekend to figure it out.

Yesterday’s featured listing got a warm burbed welcome, especially from Ted O’Malley. So let’s spend another day in central Sunnyvale!

801 Birch Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
$369,900

Beds: 2
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft.: 770
$/Sq. Ft.: $480
Lot Size: 5,000 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
Year Built: 1944
Community: Sunnyvale
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81043450
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 1 day
New Listing (24 hours)

Bank Owned!!! Rehabbed!!! Maintained 2 Bedroom, 1 Bath with spacious driveway and plenty street parking space. New Interior paint and New Carpet. Updated Kitchen and bath with granite counter tops and tile flooring. Hardwood floors, dual pane windows and a good size deck to entertain guest!!! A Must See!!!

So much to say about this New Listing.  A good size deck to entertain one guest.  Would that be a double pinochle deck?  Those have 98 cards.  Double pinochle, what does this mean?

I especially like the exclamation points in the copy after the terms “bank-owned” and rehabbed,” two terms not usually associated with realty gushing.  Does it have stainless steel appliances to go with the hardwood floors and “granite counter tops”?  That’s gotta cause an REO trifecta.

Also, you can’t beat the location, location, location of this place!  Not only is there a street sign right in front of your house so you won’t get lost, it’s in a great neighborhood!  Just take a look!

Convenient to so many places, like Central Expressway, Fair Oaks Avenue, and a really expensive place right across the street!  Wow, not every house gets a view like this one!  This is an historic property that you’ll get to admire every time you leave your house.  Formerly the Joshua Hendy Ironworks (built right after the 1906 SF Earthquake, thus even older than yesterday’s house!), it was acquired by Westinghouse in 1946. 

And it is a super view, because all 75 acres qualify as a Superfund site.  A few thousand gallons of PCB-laced oil in the aquifer won’t hurt anybody.  Plus it’s now an operating Northrop-Grumman Marine Systems plant, so you could nip across the street and see if they need any spare crane operators.  Alternatively you could sneak a few of their Trident II Launch subsystems under your sweater and sell them to any Russian spies you meet at the nearby Home Depot.

Be sure to admire the low-maintenance back yard!  The agent’s pictures truly don’t do it justice.  You have to see the whole place at once to appreciate the benefits of paving every square foot.  For one, the PCBs will stay in the ground where they belong!

It’s been a while since we featured a property in Sunnyvale.  Sunnyvale isn’t considered a “prestige” address such as Portola Valley or Woodside.  But there are plenty of advantages to living in Sunnyvale.  How about a two-for-one special?

297 CHARLES St Sunnyvale, CA 94086
$1,100,000

Beds: 7
Baths: 3
Sq. Ft.: 2,516
$/Sq. Ft.: $437
Lot Size: 6,500 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Colonial
Stories: 2
View: Neighborhood
Year Built: 1908
Community: Sunnyvale
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81025224
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 104 days

Open house July 24th today 1-4. AMAZING!!!2 homes on one parcel!First time on market ever!2 car detached garage. 297 Charles St. 1908 Colonial Revival Historical 5bd/2ba, 2,516+-sqft, newer kitchen, carpet, beautiful floors-545W. McKinley 2bd/1ba-700+-sqft. Both have large basements. Gabel dormer, original hardware, Full kitchen upstairs can be used as a rental-separate address 295 Charles.

See, not only do you get two houses for the price of one (if that one were in the Cupertino school district), you also get an agent who doesn’t believe in using both spaces and punctuation at the same time.  Plus you can use the full kitchen upstairs as a rental!  Seriously, talk about prestige!  Two basements! 

And talk about convenience!  These houses are walking distance to both Sunnyvale Town Center and Town & Country Village.  That means they’re  smack-dab in Downtown, but for some reason the agent doesn’t want you to know that.  Maybe it’s because “Downtown” reminds people of the endless reconstruction of both shopping malls.

Alert burbed reader Pralay sent in this news update on the problems.  Poor Town & Country Village!  Not only did it get a mall in Palo Alto named after it, but it’s now serving as a wildlife refuge.  What a boon to property values!

New developer buys Town & Country parcel in Sunnyvale for $19 million

By John Dugan

Posted: 08/31/2010 06:02:44 PM PDT
Updated: 08/31/2010 07:19:26 PM PDT

A San Francisco development company has bought part of the former Town and Country shopping center in downtown Sunnyvale for $19 million, with plans to put 280 housing units and possible street-level retail on the site.

BRE Properties Inc. announced the purchase of 2.4 acres of land in downtown Sunnyvale in a press release Tuesday. The release said the "transit-oriented" site was one block from the Caltrain station and adjacent to the Sunnyvale Town Center.

Santa Clara County property records show that BRE purchased parcels at 101, 201, 301 and 401 Town and Country Village Way, or roughly half of the 4.6-acre Town and Country site, from Capella Holdings, LLC, on Aug. 20.

A BRE spokesman said there is no timetable to begin construction on the site, which has been vacant since the old shopping center was demolished in April. Previous to the demolition, the buildings sat empty for more than a year, and the site drew complaints from citizens and Sunnyvale City Council members alike for its decrepit appearance and rat infestation.

Yes, The Excitement Is Building in Sunnyvale!  The property is definitely easy walking distance to shops… if any of them were open.  Or standing.

Sunnyvale isn’t a prestige address?  Get real.  Not only is this a hundred-year-old million dollar property, the houses are on the corner of Charles Street and McKinley Avenue.  That’s a Prince and a President!  How much more prestige do you need?  And if Elizabeth II ever keels over, then it’s a King and a President!  The only thing that could make it any more prestigious would be a nearby Starbucks.  If only someone would open a shopping mall.

Listed at: $460,000

1780 WAGNER Ave Mountain View, CA 94043

Beds:	3
Baths:	1
Sq. Ft.:	877
$/Sq. Ft.:	$525
Lot Size:	5,100 Sq. Ft.
Property Type:	Detached Single Family
Style:	Ranch
Stories:	1
Year Built:	1950
Community:	North Shoreline
County:	Santa Clara
MLS#:	81036627
Source:	MLSListings
Status:	Pending With ReleaseThis listing is in escrow and all contingencies have been fulfilled. "With Release" means that there’s a release clause with the offer stating that the buyer is trying to sell his current home before closing. A release clause lets the seller back out of the deal if the buyers can’t sell their home within a set time frame.
On Redfin:	23 days

3 BEDROOMS & 1 BATH PER TAX RECORD * CURRENTLY NO GARAGE OR IT HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO ROOMS WITHOUT PERMIT! REMODELING, ADDED ROOMS & BATHS (PERMIT NOT WARRANTED * )

Thanks to Burbed reader Herve for sending this in.

Is it any wonder that this is already pending? $525 per square foot in Real Bay Area Mountain View? Sheesh – they’re practically giving this house away for free!

What deal! I mean, just look at al the rooms this house has – permits or not. This is efficiency living at its best!

Just look at how efficient this is:

That’s right! There’s a treadmill in the living room next to the sofa-ish things. Now this is green living my friends. Inconspicuous consumption at its best.

If you buy this house, you’ll really need a Smart car to go with it! (In part because there’s no garage!)

If you’ve managed to miss reading this site the last few weeks, you might have not have noticed that burbed was nominated for, and won, this award from Zillow:

There’s one problem.  It turns out there was also an award for Best Blog in San Jose Real Estate, and burbed wasn’t even nominated.  So that means we can’t discuss Palo Alto anymore. 

Good thing burbed reader AJT sent in this San Francisco property, along with a comment about walking by the place and then finding out it was for sale.  And even better, look what was listed two years ago, thanks to Herve:

Burbed reader Herve thought it would be good to point this unique property out. Apparently it’s been on the market 2 years ago for $75 million (really?).

In any case, it is now just at $48 million – another sure sign the real estate market has bottomed out and that it is now a great time to jump back in.

Just think, if you got a smart enough mortgage, you could easily buy this and get at least $22 million in instant equity. Wowsers!

What are you waiting for?

Wowsers!  If the price was cut from $75 million in 2006 to $48 million in 2008, then it should be down to $31 million in 2010, right?

2901 Broadway St, San Francisco, CA 94115
$45,000,000

BEDS: 7
BATHS: 7.5
SQ. FT.: –
LOT SIZE: –
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached, Single-Family Home
STYLE: Custom
VIEW: Panoramic, City Lights, Water, Bay, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Downtown, Marina, Ocean, Park, Garden/Greenbelt, Hills, Mt. Tamalpais, Twin Peaks
YEAR BUILT: 1927
COMMUNITY: Pacific Heights
COUNTY: San Francisco
MLS#: 322933
SOURCE: San Francisco MLS
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 1226 days

Italian Renaissance hilltop mansion on the Gold Coast, near Presidio. Expansive Golden Gate & north Bay views from almost every room. Grand reception hall. Elegant formal rooms. Graceful marble stair leads to family level. 7 bedrooms, 7.5 baths. Master suites. Library. Music room. Office. Rec room. Elevator. Period details. Private winding drive. Garden. Private tennis court. 2007 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. Property history & floor plans on property and agent’s website.

$45 million?  Someone doesn’t understand that if the house won’t sale, your price is FAIL!

I want to look at that “Days on Redfin” number again while my eyes pop out.  1226!  You’d almost think they don’t care if they sell the house or not!  Perhaps the tenants are paying almost enough rent to cover the heating bill.

For the garage.

I’m sure the Assessor’s Office is keeping an eye on this one, as it only paid $7,000 in taxes last year.  To give you an idea how little that is, if you were to buy this house and put $9 million down, your 15 year fixed loan of $36 million would cost you $261,000.  A month.  And that’s assuming you could get the 3.75% mortgage rate Redfin helpfully put in for you.  Do you think you’d have to apply for a jumbo?

One last thing about this expensive, er, expansive, listing.  Here’s what Redfin has to say about the 2008 observation:

The seller has requested that all public comments be removed from this listing. Per MLS rules, we are not allowed to link to blog posts about this home.

Fortunately, we are.  Otherwise we’d have to keep following up on 13 Lucky Street.

91 CONEJO Dr Millbrae, CA 94030

$979,999

Beds:	3
Baths:	2
Sq. Ft.:	2,640
$/Sq. Ft.:	$371
Lot Size:	0.48 Acres
Property Type:	Detached Single Family
Style:	Contemporary
Stories:	1
View:	Bay, Neighborhood
Year Built:	1964
Community:	Mills Estate
County:	San Mateo
MLS#:	81035900
Source:	MLSListings
Status:	Active This listing is for sale and the sellers are accepting offers.
On Redfin:	12 days

Great Fantastic House Pool , Huge Back Yard.

Thanks to Burbed reader SW for this find!

Here’s what SW had to say:

I’m not sure if Millbrae is RBA or not, but there’s something special about a short sale on a place asking 2X its last selling price.

Combine that with the epic realtor description- "Great Fantastic House Pool , Huge Back Yard.", and you’ve got yourself a winner.  That great fantastic house pool happens to be green.  Not like environmentally aware green.  Like teeming with polywogs, malarial vectors and clumps of blooming algae green.

Let’s take a look!

I think the listing forgot to say that this is an “organic” pool.