Welcome back to San Mateo, courtesy of Burbed reader MS.  Today’s terrific title is a top-tier townhouse, and all that townhouse living entails.  Like 20 other units to share the complex with you, and those delightful CC&Rs to make decor decisions dictatorial.

829 S Bayshore Blvd
San Mateo, CA 94401
$690,000, reduced from $711,000

HOA Dues: $250/mo. 
3 Beds 
2.5 Baths 
1,775 Sq. Ft.
$389 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 2008 
Lot Size: — 
On Redfin: 46 days
HOA Dues: $250/month
Style: Contemporary
Community: South Shoreview
MLS#: 81229901
Property Type: Townhouse
Stories: 1-3 (Low Rise)
County: San Mateo

Luxury townhome near downtown San Mateo, designed w/ craftsman details, large windows & abundant light. Less than 5 yrs old (2008 built), 3bd, 2.5 bth, 1,770 sqft unit features high ceilings, recessed lighting, wood cabinets, open kitchen, gas-burning fireplace, & gleaming flooring. Master w/ lrg walk-in closet. granite countertops + marble tiling. Seller may consider Lease w/ Option to Purchase.

Here’s why ms sent in this tip-top tenement!

This is a townhouse in a project where the nearest scenic view is the 3rd Avenue sign on 101.  The HOA is decent at $250, but for $700K+ you should not be paying HOA at all.

It is also priced far more than comps. Check out:

Retirees, note the San Francisco-type stairs to go up and down and up again to get to the bedrooms. Your grandkids would have no common place to play.

711K?  Is the bubble real?  Is the bubble fake?  Only the shadow knows, the shadow man under someone else’s bed.

It’s not lucky $711,000 anymore!  Price reduced to $690,000.  You’ll get even luckier with a price like that.  You know what else is lucky?  Those HOA dues.  Redfin mentioned them twice.

MS’s comment about the 3^rd  Avenue sign was completely on the level.  This is the lovely view you get every time you leave the plex.  Location, location, location!

Sometimes, we receive a submission that tells us to drop everything else in the reader queue and post it at once.  Today’s real estate ruh-roh is from Burbed reader TB.  Once you see the pictures, you’ll see why those initials are so apt.

732 Fallon Ave
San Mateo, CA 94401
$299,000

Beds: 3 bed 
Baths: 1 bath
House Size: Not Available 
Lot Size: 0.11 Acres
Price/sqft: Not Available
Property Type: Single Family Home
Year Built: 1950
Neighborhood: Not Available 
Style: Fixer-Handyman Special
Stories: 1 
Garage: 1
Status: Active
County: San Mateo
Area: San Mateo County Approximately 1000 acre(s)
1 total full bath
5 total rooms
1 stories
Type: Detached
1 car garage
Attached parking
Lot size is 20 or more acres
Utilities present: Sewer System Public, Water Public

We don’t often link to Realtor.com, and the missing info coupled with the conflicting info may be why.  They don’t know how big this house is.  The lot is 0.11 acres.  The lot is approximately a thousand acres.  The lot is at least 20 acres.  Close enough!

Let’s see if Redfin is any help.

732 Fallon Ave
San Mateo, CA 94401
$299,000; reduced from $425,000 on 8/31/12

3 Beds 
1 Baths 
— Sq. Ft.
Built: 1950 
Lot Size: 5,000 Sq. Ft. 
On Redfin: 9 days
Type: Detached
Stories: 1
Community: San Mateo
MLS#: 40586991
Style: Fixer/Handyman Special
View: Other
County: San Mateo

NOT for the faint of heart. Major fixer, needs everything including foundation work. All offers will be considered.

Moving over to Redfin has provided way more information than the Official Site of the National Association of REALTARDS®.  We now know how old the listing is, we have the previous price, we have a lot size in a more useful measurement, we now know this is a short sale and that the listing is out-of-area, we have a Double Dog Dare Description of this property, and we have one of the first listings on Burbed ever to have a View of Other.  What could Other be when the default of “Neighborhood” really means “No view from this house.”  This suggests this home has something worse than no view.

No wonder all offers will be considered!  TB observes:

the photos probably don’t do the place justice.

They certainly don’t!  Have a look at them after the break!

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Burbed gets all kinds of mail.  Usually we get suggestions for houses to review or links to interesting articles that our readers might enjoy.  Occasionally we get requests for help.  Burbed reader Protennoia writes in and asks for your suggestions in dealing with a situation in the neighborhood.

A neighbor is turning a 3/1 into a 6/4.  Today, he had an open house for neighbors before he submits plans to the city of San Mateo. I went and asked him to tell me about it.

His roof leaks and he wants the space of a second story. He says his timeline is six months and that he’s building it for his family.  This neighbor is a few houses down, so I can’t argue that his second story will affect my privacy. He’s been there over 15 years and says he has no plans to move or rent out the place.

But plans can change.

I am nervous about a 6/4 house being built on the block.

A 6/4 house being rented involves a lot more traffic and street parking than a 3/1.

A 6/4 house, significantly, would maximize the potential profit of a halfway house. Up to six residents, a halfway house is considered a single family, even if their residents are six transient parolees with substance abuse problems.

People have the right to rent out rooms or to turn their house into a group home, so I don’t know that these complaints would have any effect

Other readers, how would you handle this situation?

For now we’ve taken out the name of the city.  Protennoia can add it in in the comments if it’s absolutely critical, but we will say this is a city in San Mateo County.

Updated 23:59 — Sorry about not fixing this until now.  I put San Mateo back in with Protennoia’s permission, but forgot to rewrite the about graf.  –ed.

We were looking for a good graphic of a house that completely dominated the block, but this video does an even better job getting that idea across.  And the article it came from suggests 10 signs a house is overbuilt for the neighborhood.  Several of them seem to apply to our reader’s situation.

So, Burbed Readers, what advice do you have on dealing with a neighbor doing so much expansion on your block, given that that the home’s purpose could change and then affect your ability to enjoy your home?  Is this NIMBYism or preserving neighborhood character?

If you don’t want to post your comment publicly, you can send email directly to Protennoia at this email address.

Ever thought about building you very own family compound?  Now you can!  These neighboring homes are for sale, so why not buy both?  Thanks very much to Burbed reader amer_icongrl for sending us these San Mateo specials.  And we promise, these are Real Special.

3815 EDISON St
San Mateo, CA 94403
$599,000

BEDS: 2
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 1,040
$/SQ. FT.: $576
LOT SIZE: 5,490 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1946
COMMUNITY: Westwood Knolls
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81222217
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 5 days

CHARMING WESTWOOD KNOLLS HOME! LOCATED ON THE WORLD RENOWN SAN FRANCISCO PENINSULA, WITHIN MINTUES FROM SCHOOLS, SHOPPING CENTERS, TRANSPORTATION AND THE SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT! THIS HOME FEATURES GLEAMING HARDWOOD FLOORS, AN UPDATED EAT IN KITCHEN WITH GRANITE COUNTER TOPS, FRENCH DOORS LEADING OUT TO A PRIVATE PATIO AND AN ATTACHED GARAGE! HURRY! THIS HOME WON’T LAST LONG!

..but wait, there’s more!

3821 EDISON St
San Mateo, CA 94403
$596,600

BEDS: 2
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 1,040
$/SQ. FT.: $574
LOT SIZE: 5,490 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1946
COMMUNITY: Westwood Knolls
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81219113
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 27 days

Great starter home on the west side featuring two bedrooms and one bath. Nice large deck, yard, views and more. This is your oppportunity. .. don’t miss it

We’ve got plenty about both houses… after the break.

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It’s becoming more challenging to provide a good variety of listings on Burbed.  Readers from all over send in their nominations for housing fail.  We work our way through the inbox looking to produce a good mix of home types, locations, submitters, and price range.  Lately, by the time we’re ready to write up a reader-suggested domestic disaster, all traces of the listing have been removed from the MLS. 

Back in the post-bubble doldrums when sellers had to promise a years’ worth of weekly car waxes and grocery delivery, an accepted offer wouldn’t lead to the agent yanking photos and description.  So what’s happening now?  Listings are evaporating faster than a YouTube video with a DMCA takedown notice.  Is this just another sign that there’s so little inventory, the selling agents feel besieged?

Today’s featured property is a San Mateo teardown that didn’t collect any dust, courtesy of Burbed reader SMParkster.  And since Redfin’s removed the info, time to play eenie-meenie-miney-mo with the other real estate websites.  Today’s “winner” is Trulia, which we thank very much for taking their time.

249 West Poplar Avenue
San Mateo CA 94402
$2,250,000

Status: Pending
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 3
Property type: Single-Family Home
Size: 3,121 sqft
Lot: —
Price/sqft: $721/sqft
Year built: 1906
Added on Trulia: 18 days ago
Neighborhood: San Mateo Park
Zip: 94402

Absolutely spectacular estate in San Mateo Park. Sprawling lot size of 24,000 square feet. High-reaching palm trees and mature redwoods welcome guests as they approach the main house down a gently winding driveway. This truly unique offering has been carefully maintained by the same family for the last fifty years.

Here’s why SMParkster passed this carefully maintained winner along:

I walk past that property all the time and the lot is truly really nice, but the house is set back much much further than any other house in the neighborhood and I’ve always kind of wondered about the owners.

The MLS listing says the current owners have been there 50 years which doesn’t really surprise me.  I was just surprised that the asking price is about in line with what a decent house on that size lot would currently go for (I think) around here, but the house clearly needs either tearing down (what the real estate agent seems to be implying) or major updating at the very least.

More photos inside, so click on in!

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Recently, there was a rather notable marijuana bust in San Mateo that netted 530 plants, due to a tip from a “concerned citizen.”  Every one of us probably has some kind of self-appointed concerned citizen living in our neighborhoods, and it’s thanks to people like them that we can discover there’s a pot house in an otherwise quiet, suburban subdivision.

Like this one.  Someone recently updated the Redfin record despite it not changing hands in nine years.

Check out the neighborhood, courtesy of Zillow.  This does not look like the meth district.  And the house isn’t just on the West side of El Camino, it’s on the West side of Alameda.  And on the Peninsula, West means more prestige, more appeal, and more Real.  If any part of San Mateo is going to aspire to Real Bay Areahood, this is a good place to start looking.

The local San Mateo Patch has some helpful hints on how you too can be a concerned citizen and rat your neighbors out for running a grow house.  Here’s how to tell what they’re up to:

Manheimer and Alcantara encourage the help of citizens in locating neighborhood grow sites. Each suggested some indicators that there might be an operation in your neighborhood.

"You’d hear whirring noises," says Alcantara, "because they need to have filtration inside the house. They need to get the oxygen out, and the carbon dioxide in for the plants, so they have filtration systems set up.

Yes, definitely call 911 at the first sign of a ceiling fan.  Those fiendish fixtures are a gateway appliance to high-energy lamps.  Here are some more tips from the San Mateo police:

• Infrequent visits by individuals who stay for a couple hours and then leave.

Because everyone knows that suburban get-togethers last all the livelong day.

• Lights in the house appear to be regulated, and on timers. Sometimes, rooms inside seem perpetually lit.

I wonder who it was who suggested putting lights on timers (see Home Safety).

• Initial construction and the noise that comes from that work.

Because nothing says grow house like noise from contractors.

• A "skunky" marijuana odor, and other odors, such as those from mothballs, air fresheners or chlorine, which are used in an attempt to mask the marijuana smell.

In fact, call 911 if you smell anything other than the approved chocolate chip cookie dough used during Open Houses.

• Unusual garbage strewn across lawn. Items used for growing marijuana, such as wiring, PVC piping and nutrient containers, may be discarded and left around the house.

So that’s why we’re seeing so many nominations for the Burbed Good Housekeeping Tag of Approval.

• Windows covered in dark plastic or newspaper.

Better have them check out the goth teen across the street for the blackout curtains, too.

• Extra security, such as guard dogs, fences, or cars loitering for long periods of time.

Remember the words of Robert Frost: Bad neighbors make good fences.

Let us know about any questionable signs your neighbor is running something nefarious, or any interesting things you see when touring Open Houses.  This is an Open Thread, so open up.

One of the interesting things about reading so many real estate listings is noticing just how few agents have a decent command of the English language.  When the market was red-hot back in the mid-oughties, listing copy was slapdash because the homes, RBA or not, essentially sold themselves.  And now that market action is found at the very high and very low ends, nothing says low-end like a listing that doesn’t even try to scan.

Today’s housing horror, from Burbed reader MS, is a good example of this.  The copy sounds like a Monopoly instruction.  The only question is whether this property is in the Dark Purples (now Browns) or the Light Blues, because it sure as heck isn’t Boardwalk.

 

438 CAVANAUGH St
San Mateo, CA 94401
$499,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 5.5
SQ. FT.: 1,804
$/SQ. FT.: $277
LOT SIZE: 5,610 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1959
COMMUNITY: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81148666
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 42 days

Tenant occupied. Two large dogs. Do Not Go Direct. As Is Sale, No Seller Warranty, Additions may or may not have permits

Here’s what MS had to say about this fantastic find:

All tenant-occupied places mean you have to call agent for appointment. . Just to get the point across about how real this short is,  these tenants have TWO LARGE DOGS that make showings even more difficult, not that you planned to! And then there’s the unpermitted additions. What are they in a 3/5.5?
How’d they add onto it, to get that configuration?
I’m stumped. I’ll go if someone goes with me.

Have a look.  It seems like they just kept moving on back.

Whoah.  Come for the “may or may not have permits” additions, stay for the high-voltage transmission lines.  And if you’re ever worried about not having enough power to run your flatscreen television collection, just tap in behind your fence.

“Bunus”: Golf course right across the street means random broken windows!

15 S NORFOLK St
San Mateo, CA 94401

$398,000

It looks like the art of writing great real estate copy has been lost in this new decade. Just look at the primary photo! Doesn’t this call for some reference to the enormous parking opportunities that this house has to offer? Just look at all the vans and suv’s that can fit in that driveway.

You know what this house really is right? It’s a safe house. Yep. Part of the CIA’s “black site” network. (Or CTU – you never know.) Those vans and suvs in the driveway? Disguised.

Let me show you where they use enhanced interrogation techniques:

This house is what’s keeping freedom and liberty alive in America. You’re welcome, citizens.

We know, you’re busy holiday shopping!  So we’ll make your shopping really easy with this DEAL in San Mateo!

318 S DELAWARE St, San Mateo, CA 94401
$199,000

BEDS: 1
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 740
$/SQ. FT.: $269
LOT SIZE: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1912
COMMUNITY: Parkside
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81120671
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 223 days

1bd/1ba land value only. Please do not disturb occupants.

This house has practically everything you want in a listing from Burbed. 

We’ve featured it before!  It has no value as a residence, yet there are people living in it.  Plus the tenants living there mean you can’t look inside the house, and the agent isn’t going to show you any interior pictures.  It’s been pending for more than half a year!  It sold for $401,000… ten years ago.  Talk about instant equity!

Plus you get this AWESOME sign that matches the house paint, right in front of the white picket fence, reminding you of the other places you could have chosen to find a DEAL.

If only this house were closer to the freeway or built on a Superfund site.  Then it would be the Absolutely Perfect Burbed Property.

But it isn’t, and that means the $199K is just a starting point for your overbidding.  HURRY, WON’T LAST!

Today’s find is from Burbed reader MS, bringing you another scrumptious sampling of Superb San Mateo!  Here’s a house that combines the luxury of a detached single family house in bucolic suburbia with the exciting night life of the nearby big city!  Okay, I didn’t say which city.

What could possibly go wrong with a one-two combo like that?

200 N KINGSTON St, San Mateo, CA 94401
$444,900

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 1,610
$/SQ. FT.: $276
LOT SIZE: 5,148 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1947
COMMUNITY: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81145428
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 44 days

Great home for first time buyers or investors! Spacious with large eat-in kitchen, formal living room and dining area plus a den. All with fresh paint and new carpet. Detached garage (partially converted) all on a corner lot.

Here’s what MS has to say about why this home deserves your attention.

Home was is occupied/partied in by relative’s sometimes violent descendants for years and years. The sheriff brought numerous backup units to evict "struggling family" terrorizing the neighborhood through October.

If you’re a potential owner-occupier, there are some of the best neighbors in North Shoreview right there. Change the locks, you should be good to go.

There’s more excitement right at the corner of Mount Diablo. Yes, where the house is. Not enough? How about this friendly block party?

Plus, the garage is only partially converted, so you’ll only need obtain a partial permit to partially fix things with the city.

Best of all, you won’t be dealing with those troublesome relatives. All you have to do is convince the bank you want the house more than they do!