163 Willow Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025 Menlo Oaks Area MLS# 80824474 - Property Details
Willow Rd, Menlo Park, CA
94025

$2,200,000

* Status: Active
* Bedroom: 4
* Bathroom: 3
* Year Built: 1951
* Lot Size: 19900
* Square Footage: N/A
* List Date: 7/28/2008
* Garage Spaces: 2
* MLS#: 80824474

Great opportunity! Two homes on one lot, 161 and 163 Willow Road: 3 bed, 2 bath and 2 bed, 1 bath. Larger home currently rented for $2,500 per month on month to month basis. 19,900 square foot lot. Please check with City of Menlo Park for lot split possibility. Wonderful Menlo Park Schools.

Menlo Park is famous for its Venture Capitalist community. And personally, I don’t think I’ve see a better profit opportunity in a while. All you need are some angel investors!

First, buy $2.2 million house.

Second: Rent the larger home for $2500 a month, and the smaller one for $2000 a month. That’s $4500 a month. Find some other way to pay the remaining $6129 a month for the mortgage.

Third: PROFIT!!!

Sure you might have negative cash flow at the beginning, but does every start up? After a few years, you’ll be up and to the right - hockey stick style. Then boom! You’ll be super glad you bought these two houses at this Labor Day buy one get one free house sale.

Anyone want to work up a term sheet? Come on you entrepreneurs! Make it happen!

It’s Memorial Day! You may or may not have the day off (this is Silicon Valley after all - not Wall St.) How are you spending it? Are you going to a resort?

If so… have you ever thought about moving to this San Rafael house?

Just think, if you bought this house, you would never have to leave the Bay Area to go on vacation because you would be on vacation every day at your own home. Nothing says resort living like this! It’s like having your own Club Med, and your own investment vehicle at the same time! And like a time share in Las Vegas, you can be sure you can sell this for a profit when you’re tired of living in a resort.

San Rafel. Resort. San Rafel. Resort.

Go for it. Who knows, maybe you can host some poker games there!

(Thanks anonymous Burbed reader.)

KINGSLEY Ave Palo Alto, CA 94301
Price: $10,500,000

Beds: 4
Baths: 4
Sq. Ft.: 5,025
$/Sq. Ft.: $2,090
Lot Size: 0.74 Acres
Age (Years): 85
Year Built: 1923
Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Mediterranean
Stories: 2 Stories
View(s): Neighborhood
Neighborhood: Professorville
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 763160
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 175 days
Unsold in 90+ days
Expanded, remodeled, restored 2006.Traditional floor plan. Grt for entertaining. All bedrooms w/ baths. Second family room upstairs. Professorville Estate on nrly 3/4 acre w/ detach garage w/ space for carriage house. Wide terraces to terrific grounds. Grand kit/fam rm. Banquet size dining room. Study w/ FP. Master suite w/ sitting room w/ tree top views. Attic and basement. Oak floors. 9′ celings. Elegant !

Burbed reader Madhaus suggested I post this. I hemmed and hawed. Indeed the price has fallen:

Listing Price History
Date Price
Nov 15, 2007 $12,500,000
Jan 21, 2008 $11,500,000
Mar 04, 2008 $10,500,000

I couldn’t decide whether to feature this or not. You see, featuring price drops like this is sort of like talking about suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge, or showing Bin Laden videos - you’re just encouraging copy cats and terrorists. Do you really want others to think that it is ok to drop your offering price? Do you really want to showcase people who drop their offering price? Is this at all ethical?

I’m not sure. I leave it to you readers - is the owner of this house committing insane fiscal terrorism upon Palo Alto? What should we as Bay Area citizens do to him/her?

Bill Lou - 470 Carolina Lane
Large 1-Story New Home - Luxury Life in Rural Palo Alto
$3,100,000

470 Carolina Lane
Palo Alto, CA 94306
6 Bedrooms
4 Full baths / 1 Half bath
4222 approx sq. feet

Luxury Living in the Fabulous New 1 story house! All Custom design and build house in & out, of 6 bedrooms/4.5 baths and large 2 car garage. Grandly landscaped.

Details: 2 wings of the floor plan, 4 bedrooms/3 baths on side; 2 bedrooms/1.5 baths on the other side. 2 central Air conditioners, 2 recirculation hot water heater systems. Central vacuum system, 5 home theather sound systems. Video surveilance camera around the whole house. CAT 6 internet connections, intercom through the entire house. Oversized 2 car garage (can park 3 cars). Large attic for ample storage (over 560 sq.ft storage space in attic). Straight grain long cherry hardwood floor with walnut lines throughout the entire house. 2 cooking areas inside the large kitchen in the great room. 16 skylights make the entire house full of light. 2 fish ponds make the Fengshui flow through the back and side yards. 9 automatic sprinkler and drip systems maintain the plants and flowers. American ceder woodsidings around the front of the house adds special rural living flavour. Various exterior decorations around the side and back of the house reminds of the English tudor style.

Proudly & Exclusively listed by BayCrown Properties Inc. Not listed in the MLS services or any other service.

Now, you know this is a special house. Why? Because it’s not on MLS!

But Burbed reader Charlie had this to say:

while there is more than enough to make fun of in the first picture I’d recommend the “high quality” virtual tour … its a grand total of 4 slides of which the kitchen (full of trash … really terrible
picture) and guest room (bathroom?) are great.

price? 3.1 mil. rriiiiiigggggtttt.

Well, let’s see this kitchen!

Oh. My. Um. Yeah.

Well, see… uh…. this house is so special that it can’t be on MLS and it can’t be staged. Yeah, that’s it.

This is one of those reality houses - it’s real. You know you’re going to live like that anyway, because you just bought a $3 million dollar house - so this helps you picture yourself.

I’m attracted already. I just hope Charlie didn’t beat me to it first!

In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don’t Feel Rich - New York Times
“You’re nobody here at $10 million,” Mr. Kremen said earnestly over a glass of pinot noir at an upscale wine bar here.

Not every Silicon Valley millionaire, of course, shares that perspective.

Celeste Baranski, a 49-year-old engineer with a net worth of around $5 million who lives with her husband in Menlo Park, no longer frets about tucking enough money away for college for their two children. Long ago she stopped bothering to balance her checkbook. When too many 18-hour days running an engineering department of 1,200 left her feeling burned out and empty, she left and gave herself 12 months off.

Yet like other working-class millionaires of Silicon Valley, she harbors anxieties about her financial future. Ms. Baranski — who was briefly worth as much as $200 million in 2000 but cashed out only $1 million before the collapse of the tech bubble — returned to work in March.

“People around here, if they have 2 or 3 million dollars, they don’t feel secure,” said David W. Hettig, an estate planner based in Menlo Park who has advised Silicon Valley’s wealthy for two decades.

[snip]

“I don’t know how people live here on just a normal salary,” said Ms. Baranski.

Ok, time for a poll. To all readers (yes YOU): How many millions do you have (excluding house value)?

Are you a nobody? Do you feel secure?

Post your reply in the comments!