It’s nice to remember what Burbed started out as: the site with expensive crapboxes.  Today we go back to our roots with a prime find, centrally located in the not-in-Campbell part of San Jose.  And if you object that this is not a lot of money, remember that the median price for a home in California is now $252,000.

 

610 FENLEY Ave, San Jose, CA 95117
Listed for $379,900   Sold for $385,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,277
$/SQ. FT.: $301
LOT SIZE: 8,024 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1954
COMMUNITY: Campbell
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81123104
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Sold

Large lot in Campbell Union School District, close to Moorpark and 280. Home is a project in need of alot of work; ready for a contractor. 4th bedroom added- no permits. Property is unlikely to qualify for low down financing. Utilities are off.

I’m sorry this place has already been sold to a contractor ready for alot of work, but this one is Special on so many levels.  There’s so much to admire about the photography.  For one, the agent appears to know how to set the date properly.  Also the outdoor pictures were taken at 10:00, while the indoor pictures were taken at 1:20.  Any ideas what he was doing in the interim?

What I really appreciate about these pictures is how well the landscaping complements the interior.  And do be sure to check out the listing history.  Seems like this hot potato’s been tossed to several people who decided they didn’t want a bite after all.  Wonder who the sucker lucky ducky is who caught this delicious house project?

Next, this property has been personally inspected by a Redfin Agent who is enrolled in the Witness Protection Program!

Finally: Location, location, location!

Here’s another East San Jose treasure thanks to Burbed reader Tracy!  Sure it’s an overpriced crapbox waiting to pull anyone who grabs it deep underwater.  Yes, there’s some amusing mistakes in the listing copy.  But it’s so much more than that!

 

10759 HUBBARD Way, San Jose, CA 95127
$399,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,786
$/SQ. FT.: $223
LOT SIZE: 10,450 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 2
YEAR BUILT: 1974
COMMUNITY: Alum Rock
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81138824
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 6 days

Fantastic opportuniy to make this house your dream home! Private balcony off master bedroom. HUGE bonus room opens to the ovesized deck with views of San Jose – great for entertaining. The sloped lot is tiered and waiting for your choice of landscaping! Mature trees provide a sense of privacy, yet your just minutes away from Shopping, dining, schools & freeways. So much space for so little money.

Here’s what Tracy had to say about this property:

I enjoyed the POV of the agent, focused on the bottom ¾ of the house. Also the great artistic Cypress tree shot. The wood floors do look amazing…The rest, not so much!

Whoa, does this agent have a sixty pound lens on that camera or something?  This is indeed a very bottom-heavy view of a property.

Let’s have a look at some more of the pictures.  Sometimes taking a new perspective brings out the hidden qualities of a place.

This agent is a clearly misunderstood artist, the inverse of Edgar Martins.  None of these images was manipulated, because none of them needed to be.  They made their statement without any extra help.

And that statement is: If you want to buy this house, then watch your step carefully.  Very, very carefully.

Looking for a house because you figure the market’s finally hit bottom?  Hope you have suitcases full of cash, because if you don’t, there are other people hefting full TravelPros!  And we aren’t talking about foreigners, either.

Home buyers find themselves aced out by investors

By Eve Mitchell, Contra Costa Times
Posted: 09/10/2011 03:00:00 PM PDT, Updated: 09/11/2011 04:33:48 AM PDT

As husband Mark looks on, Kathryn Bressem gives son Lyndon, 5, a push on the swing in the backyard of their home in Hercules, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011. Competing with all-cash investment buyers, the Bressems had been frustrated in their home-buying efforts before purchasing this house. (Kristopher Skinner/Staff)

After getting the good news on a Friday night that their offer topped all the others on a foreclosure in Vacaville they wanted as their retirement home, Jack and Donna Pfister spent the weekend packing.

But the following Tuesday they were told the bank had decided to go with an all-cash buyer, whose offer was $25,000 less than the $475,000 offer from the Pfisters.

“My husband was heartbroken,” said Donna Pfister, of Rodeo. “I was heartbroken because he was heartbroken. … Right now, we both feel kind of let down.”

The Pfisters are far from alone. In the Bay Area, about one-fifth of all homes sold in July were purchased by absentee buyers, mostly investors looking for rentals or properties to fix up and then sell, according to DataQuick, a real-estate reporting service. About six out of 10 absentee buyer transactions (which can also involve second-home purchase) were all-cash purchases. In July 2010, absentee buyers accounted for 17.4 percent of home sales, and the average for all months since 2000 is 13.8 percent.

Supposedly these people living in East Contra Costa County are losing out on houses to… investors from Silicon Valley!  They’re also snapping out homes in East San Jose.  Some investors are buying the homes as rentals, and others fix the properties up and flip them.  It’s also difficult to get a loan on a property needing extensive repairs, which is why so many flippers are bottom-feeding now.

So, would-be Silicon Valley investors: why go all the way to Brentwood, Antioch, or even Hercules to look for homes?  There are plenty of crapboxes in Redwood City and San Jose to choose from.  Plus that’s one less thwarted family complaining in what’s left of the newspaper that they didn’t get their dream home.  As in they must be dreaming if they think buying now is a good idea.

This is an Open Thread.

Here’s a great find from comments by Burbed reader Swan!  Thanks for keeping Burbed to its low-priced roots with this San Jose charmer that’s selling shortly, now listed for less than it sold for nine years ago.  At least it should probably maintain its value well above when it was first sold in 1950.

 

2495 WALNUT GROVE Ave, San Jose, CA 95128
$440,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 1,040
$/SQ. FT.: $423
LOT SIZE: 6,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1950
COMMUNITY: Santa Clara
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81137964
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 3 days

Well Maintan, move-in ready home. Walking distance to SANTANA ROW AND VALLY FAIR MALL. CLOSE TO FREEWAY 880-280

Props to the agent who, despite mangling Valley Fair, managed to miss the “Santa Row” goof.  Also I do not consider this place “close to freeway.”  This house is more my idea of “close to freeway.”

Here’s what Swan had to say about this listing:

I don’t know what the Dudes are up to these days, but this house has a dude who could use a friend. Check out the pic of one of the bedrooms. You can only see his knee, but it’s still a DHO! The realtard’s write up and the other pics are worth a look and a laugh too. When you are ready for another laugh, head to Zillow and check out the price history.

My friend went to one of the many open houses and told me that the realtard is the owner’s sister.  The owners always have a garage sale before it hits the market, after a long time a "Sale Pending" sign goes up, that stays up a long time, they have another garage sale, and then the sign comes down.  Rinse and repeat.  The house is on the corner of Winchester Blvd., and is located near senior housing, a convalescent hospital, The Casket Store, and a cemetery.  I thought, "I’ll never have to leave a 1/2 mile radius from my home!" Oh, and the church directly across the street recently put a cell phone tower up in its front yard!

Let’s see those other pictures, then, because I thought the exterior shot of the house was actually pretty nice!  Remember, we are looking at a “The Contemporary” model from “Orchard Park,” and the original floor plan is a whopping 1034 square foot 3/1.  Looks like they gained 6 feet somehow.

What’s the expression?  Oh yeah, “needs updating.”  But like I said, the grounds are well-kept.

So well-kept, the house is irrelevant really.  What do you want for under half a million, anyway?  A fountain that isn’t in the way of the basketball court?

Here’s some more comments from Swan about this house.

We went to the open house on Walnut Grove yesterday.  The interior is much different from the pictures online.  The turquoise room (the one with the Dude) is now a dark green with a hand painted mural on the wall.  The gold wallpaper, purple bedspread, and scarves above the bed are gone too.  The walls are just white now.  No dude hanging out watching TV either. 

However, the realtor and her niece were surfing the internet in the dining room.  The house is horribly full of clutter – furniture, boxes, knick-nacks, you name it.  There was even a goldfish in a bowl on the kitchen counter and a dog sleeping in a bed on the patio! 

Basically, it violates EVERY show I’ve watched on HGTV.

I didn’t take any pics though I wanted to.  There was sooo much much clutter I didn’t know where to start with photos.  The goldfish was great, the mural so tacky, the shiny gold chairs all over the living room…it was overwhelming!

Finally, Swan asked us to check out the price history on Zillow:

Tsk, tsk.  Pending twice.  It’s almost as if the bank would rather keep the house.  And the dude.

Here’s a real blast from the past from Burbed reader Swan.  You’ve probably noticed all the 1950s-era tract houses in Silicon Valley, as they’re the reason there’s so little room to build anything new except next to high-value spots like freeways, train tracks, airports and power lines!  But did you ever wonder what it was like for people buying these houses when they were new?

Now you can get just a taste of that idea, because look what Swan has to share.  Here’s the actual SALES BROUCHURE for the Orchard Park development in Santa Clara. The builder was Kaiser Homes.

Let’s put on our fedoras or our cloches (and no cross-dressing, that was not acceptable where we’re headed) and take a ride back to Santa Clara, 1950!

Oh my, California “Rancho” models!  Looks like using lots of quote marks was quite the thing in 1950. Even the name of the development is in quotes, and there’s also 3-bedroom smartly styled “1950 Creations” (note no period).

The picture above is the “Studio Rancho” model, just in case you’ve seen one lately.  Anyway, let’s continue with our trip down memory lane.

Whoa, lots of text here, some quite tiny. I’ll type it up so you don’t have to squint, right after the break.

(more…)

Here’s another terrific find in comments by Burbed reader Sam Adu!  Thanks very much, Sam!

Want to be on the front page like today’s Guest Blogger? Find a winner of a listing (like this one!) and write it up. Send it in with pictures you’ve taken, or we’ll use what’s on the listing.

Don’t think you can write as well as Sam? Just send in the listing, we can’t write as well as Sam either.

Please give Sam Adu a big, warm Real Bay Area welcome, as today’s featured Guest Blogger with another eye-popping property from the highly-desired Campbell neighborhood that’s not in Campbell.

Yesterday (last week) there was the awesome house that had its price reduced again and again and again.

How about this house that has gone pending again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again (Yes, that’s 9 times pending!!!!!!!) since it was first listed for sale in 2009.

 

2286 RIORDAN Dr, San Jose, CA 95130
$575,000

BEDS: 5
BATHS: 3
SQ. FT.: 1,557
$/SQ. FT.: $369
LOT SIZE: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Mountains
YEAR BUILT: 1963
COMMUNITY: Campbell
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80952568
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 662 days

Great value! The garage was converted to a family room (with permits) offering an additional 460 sqft of living space. Two bathrooms were remodeled before the home went on the market. Don’t let the days on market keep you from seeing this home! Great neighborhood!!

All-in-all a pretty unremarkable home although the garage conversion looks pretty hideous from the outside of the house and is darn annoying from a utility/usability standpoint.

I love this part of the listing: “Don’t let the days on market keep you from seeing this home!”. The person responsible for setting the price of this home should be interned in an insane asylum since it has been their crazy pricing strategy that is responsible for this home being on the market since 2009.

What sort of spooky skeletons are hiding in this property to cause it to fall through pending 9 times? Or maybe the pendings are some sort of anomaly in the way the property history is being displayed?

Anyone care to guess how many more times this property goes pending before it gets sold? My completely wild-ass guess is 11.

Here’s another listing from the wilds of San Jose hillbilly country, from intrepid Burbed reader Tracy!

 

3535 SIERRA ROAD, San Jose – North Valley, CA 95132
$699,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3
SQ. FT.: 2,977
$/SQ. FT.: $235
LOT SIZE: 2.67 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1970
COMMUNITY: Berryessa
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81133736
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 12 days

Large 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home located on large 116,000 SF lot. Room for off street parking and detached converted garage makes this the perfect home for your large family and toys. Nice patio deck with some views of the surrounding area. Tenant in property, please make appointment to see and do not disturb occupants.

Here’s what Tracy has to say about this property:

Wow, I feel for the “tenants” AKA owners who are being foreclosed on. However, maybe they have less worries since the photography of the listing is so bad! Could the lighting be any dingier? When the main selling point is “room for off street parking,” and there are only pictures of the lot, temporary buildings and cars, I wonder how they got the kitchen shot.

On the plus side, I think the picture of the four Cypress trees is very artistic. I guess the agent imagines that a detached garage makes a house perfect for a large family… but I wonder what lurks behind those bushes!

Artistic?  I guess it takes a certain kind of talent to use a modern camera and manage to overexpose the yard but leave the flash off inside.  At least the date is still readable in both shots.

And props to the agent for having the date set correctly.  Remember that listing where all the pictures were from 2003?  I think it cost a few thousand more than this place, too.

Okay, do any Burbed readers know what this is all about:

Listing Information

• Bank-Owned/REO
• Tenant Rights

What tenant rights are involved in San Jose house rentals?  Is this like Berkeley where you’re obligated to let the tenant stay 40 years or until they die in your house, whichever comes last?  Is that why the price went down 90% in six months back in 2003?

Tenant in property.  Sounds like removal is going to be painful.

I was looking at the San Jose Mercury News’ (motto: We Were Once a Newspaper!  Really!) city homicide map, wondering if it would lead to any particular real estate bargains. Like maybe there’s a neighborhood full of low prices but no unnecessarily dead neighbors.

Anyway, If you click on the little blue map pins, an information box pops up with more details on each crime.  Then I saw this.

OMFG. While this hood may not be where your typical High Functioning Autistic Engineer wants to live… can you BELIEVE that streetname? I couldn’t either. So let’s examine a typical property for sale on a short block that’s long on GEEK WIN.

446 NERDY Ave, San Jose, CA 95111
$240,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 1.5
SQ. FT.: 1,113
$/SQ. FT.: $216
LOT SIZE: 5,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1958
COMMUNITY: South San Jose
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81130790
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 23 days

This IS A Great property! While it requires some TLC it is located in a terrific neihborhood with a great lot!

At these prices, cash in some Apple, Google, or Facebook stock options and you could buy up the entire block.

Heck, you could probably afford to build your own monorail from your high tech job to this awesome sauce street name.

Really.  I’m so speechless I’ll let you Burbed readers critique the damned HOUSE.

Oh.

Wait.

THIS:

Can you imagine what this place would have sold for if it hadn’t been an insider deal?  The mind boggles.

And. THIS:

You may well be looking at one of the few properties where the Streetview shot is demonstrably better than the realtard’s offering, and I’m spotting him the garbage bins.

It’s unfortunate city planners didn’t put this street a few miles northeast, closer to Reid-Hillview Airport, so you could own a Silicon Valley house at the corner of White and Nerdy.

A while back, we featured this pretty amazing listing on Bonita Avenue in San Jose.  Burbed reader SEA noticed that there was a McMansion complex wedged in right behind and observed that a number of the units had owners who forgot the old adage: Buy low, sell high, profit!  Here’s how things looked when SEA reported in:

Looks like those former owners all got the saying backwards.  And obviously all that instant equity couldn’t be left alone, since these homes were quickly snapped up!  Fortunately, another house in Rayos del Sol is for sale, so it’s not too late to grab some instant equity for yourself.

305 RAYOS DEL SOL Dr, San Jose, CA 95116
$439,900

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2.5
SQ. FT.: 2,222
$/SQ. FT.: $198
LOT SIZE: 2,613 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Contemporary
STORIES: 2
YEAR BUILT: 2006
COMMUNITY: Central San Jose
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81129495
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 23 days

Beautiful home located in a nice complex with lovely grounds. Spacious 4 bed 2.5 bath with remodeled kitchen , freshly painted interior , new living room carpet , new a/c , new water heater, cozy fireplace and spacious rooms throughpout. Inside laundry with good storage space. great first time buyer or investor. New appliances with be installed when property is in escrow.

These pictures really do say it all, so you might as well enjoy every single one of them… after the break.

(more…)

Thanks to Burbed reader and occasional Guest Editor sonarrat for today’s featured home.

2250 STORY Rd, San Jose, CA 95122
$325,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS:  2
SQ. FT.: 1,228
$/SQ. FT.: $265
LOT SIZE: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Contemporary
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1963
COMMUNITY: Alum Rock
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81127940
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending Without Release
ON REDFIN: 18 days

REGULAR SALE * * COMMERCIAL ZONE * * GREATE BUSINESS POORTUNITY * THIS PROPERTY FEATURES 3BED/2BTH INCLUDES UPGRADE SUCH AS NEW PAINT, KITCHEN CABINETS, GRANITE COUNTER TOP, PERGO FLOOR, BATHROOM, NEW LANDSCAPE FRONT/BACK, GARAGE CONVERTED * CONVENIENT ACCESS TO SHOPPING CENTER & FREEWAYS * READY FOR MOVE IN CONDITION * SPECIAL PROGRAM FOR FIRST TIME HOME BUYER * OPEN HOUSE 12-2PM 06/26 * THANKS FOR VIEWING

Here’s what sonarrat said about why this listing was sent in for your enjoyment:

Instant Entry into Real Estate Copy Hall of Fame

Wow, this place even has 2/3 of the Pergraniteel Hat Trick.  Sorry, no “stainless steal” appliances, but you can’t have everything at these prices, not to mention this location, location, location!  What could be better for a BUSINESS POORTUNITY than Story near King?  I mean, it already has an overflow parking lot!

Is it my imagination of is this ceiling not exactly level?

And it never occurred to me to use Pergo in the living room. The warm wood-like structure really brings out the natural-like fiber structure in the furniture.

Now let’s take a look at those UPGRADE, like the kitchen cabinets.

Hey! Somebody stole some stainless after all, as well as the refrigerator!

What’s with the blue-green metallic dishwasher?  Maybe that was a close-out on somebody’s dream house who ran out of cash equity to borrow against. Then the dishwasher found its way here because it’s such a high-class appliance, who cares if it doesn’t match the cabinets or the range or the missing fridge? That’s a BUSINESS POORTUNITY.

Now I am really wondering what color the refrigerator was.  At this rate I expect it was candy-apple red metalflake.

This yard picture is so perfect in so many ways. How do I count thee, mismatched patio sections, trellis suggestive of incarceration, and those trash cans in the back yard instead of hidden along the side.

Think of how convenient it is to have the trash receptacles right on the patio for your next outdoor fete!  None of your guests will be holding empty hors d’oeuvres plates for hours while making small talk through tight smiles.

And holy moley, couldn’t the agent bother to put the hose away for this photo?

Finally, here’s the location, location, location for your BUSINESS POORTUNITY!  And the homeloaner must have a sixth sense for these poortunities, because that living room Pergo is in the converted garage as well as one of the bedrooms, too!  The stuff might have fallen off a truck, or else it was a huge spaving (spend lots to save more)!

One last note: This home isn’t in move-in condition.  It is, instead, READY FOR MOVE IN CONDITION.  Any suggestions what extra steps must be taken by the sucker lucky buyer who has this place pending?

THANKS FOR VIEWING