DEALS, DEALS, DEALS!  They’re everywhere to be found all around the Bay, even in Silicon Valley.  Just yesterday we found an awesome place in Santa Clara for only $298,000!

What’s that? You don’t want to live in Santa Clara?

Plenty of other choices are yours in Silicon Valley!  How about a home close to world famous San Francisco Bay, yet convenient to both the job centers of Mountain View and the night life of Milpitas?

1256 WABASH St, San Jose, CA 95002
$199,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,300
$/SQ. FT.: $153
LOT SIZE: 5,662 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1920
COMMUNITY: Alviso (Santa Clara County)
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81147794
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 20 days

Cash flow property at a great price! Regular Sale! Great for first time homebuyer or investor in up and coming area! Close to 237/880/101, Great school district-Santa Clara Schools, This is a 2 unit property with $1700/month in total rental income, 3/1 in front, 1/1 in back

I don’t see how you could lose with this one.  Rent one unit or the other, or let your slumlord self come out to party by renting out both!  That is, if you can find it behind all that greenbelt.

Also, take a look at what was hiding behind the SUV, in the Streetview photo on the right.  Nice to get a “feel” for the neighborhood before moving in.

At this price, you could pay cash for it, and the only way you’d ever be under water would be another 100 year flood.  And that shouldn’t happen until 2083.

Many thanks to Burbed reader sonarrat for this find, in one of our favorite parts of San Jose!

1044 Catherine St, San Jose, CA 95002
$675,000

BEDS: 5
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 2,314
$/SQ. FT.: $292
LOT SIZE: 0.46 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Victorian
STORIES: 2
VIEW: Bay, Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1890
COMMUNITY: Alviso (Santa Clara County)
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81118845
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending Without Release
ON REDFIN: 81 days

Alviso’s "La Montagne Boarding House" aka "The Big Yellow House" * * Built in 1890 this is a one of a kind historic treasure sitting on nearly . 5 acres * * Features fresh new exterior paint, full kitchen remodel w/ island, living room, dining area w/ wood burning stove, office/den, bedroom, mud room and porch * * 2nd floor has (4)bedrooms, full bath, attic storage * * Expansive water tower and loads of parking!!!

Just what you’ve been looking for, a one of a kind historic treasure, located in the only place in the South Bay that could actually benefit from a mud room.  Plus it comes with an expansive water tower, just in case there isn’t enough mud on your almost half an acre.

Check out the grounds.  There’s loads of parking!!! And there will be plenty of mud.

Here’s a charade today.

For $39,900, I will be your Cambrian home (and I will be Magnificent!)

For $29,900, I will be your Alviso home (and I will be Priced to Sell!)

For $19,900, what will I be?

and just as important… WHERE will I be?

Ahhh Mobile Homes. They just CAN’T stay still!

Please welcome Burbed reader nomadic to the front page! 

And what a find from nomadic, today’s Guest Blogger, has for us at over at San Jose del Norte del Muy Norte.  No real estate orgy, but a very generous serving of suggestive numbers, both in the address and the price.  That ought to be worth something!

Enjoy, and everyone please give a warm, Real Bay Area welcome to nomadic.

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1269 Michigan Ave, Alviso (San Jose), CA 95002
$699,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3
SQ. FT.: –
LOT SIZE: 2,602 Sq. Ft.
TYPE: Detached
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 2
YEAR BUILT: 2000
COMMUNITY: Santa Clara
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 40478514
SOURCE: EBRD
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 260 days

This fabulous 2,600 sf home feels like a brand new home. 4 BR/3 BA, with basement offer ample space for all your needs. Truly, the best home in area. You’ll love all the luxury upgrades incl. custom décor, solar elec. panels and granite chef’s kitchen. Outside, fabulous deck and hot tub.

Ahhh, Michigan Avenue.  Home of Miller’s Bar, the best burger on the planet.  Too bad that’s Dearborn, and this is Alviso. 

In any case, that’s what caught my eye in this listing, besides the bubblicious price of $699,000.  The owner is a realtard and he bought it last summer for $680,000 (no doubt eying the prospect of $130k in instant equity).  Maybe he’s not being quite so ridiculous, given the next door neighbor’s house is pending at a $688k list price.  He ought to take a closer look at his listing though; the lot square footage actually belongs to the house. 

I’ll give him props for having faith in modern technology: do you suppose he’s got the solar panels as back up to keep the sump pumps going in case of power loss?  A basement in Alviso seems to be an act of hubris.

I’m trying to puzzle out the listing history too.  It says it was sold August 18,2010, yet it’s been on the market for 245 days.  The listing also has this note:

Listing Information

• Listing Date: Tuesday, July 20, 2010
• Status Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010

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Can anyone solve this mystery nomadic has dug up in the slough?  Or are you too busy writing up your overbids so you can unlock that instant equity?

Who says there’s no affordable housing in Silicon Valley?  Obviously they didn’t look in the right neighborhood!  Remember, it’s all about location, location, location, and there’s no location like Alviso.  Not many places have the entire zip code declared a Superfund site, but after 25 years the EPA says all the asbestos is cleaned up.  That means the time to buy is now!

1585 Wabash St, San Jose, CA 95002
$199,999

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,124
$/SQ. FT.: $178
LOT SIZE: 3,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1935
COMMUNITY: Santa Clara
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81058707
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 37 days

Home for inverstors, No FHA Loan, Three bedroos and two baths, this house is divided in two houses. This is fixer up.

This house is divided in two house.  Um.  Ruh-roh, Rabe Rincoln.  A house divided against itself cannot stand. 

So you’d better nip over to the 95002 and pick this up before it sits down.  Or falls down. Or gets crammed down. It could even burn down now that all the asbestos is gone.

Plus you have your choice of which of the two houses in one house to live in, the one with the power lines in the yard, or the one with the rustic fence.  Decisions, decisions!  Choose your favorite, then rent out the other for that on-site landlord experience. 

And here’s something the agent forget to mention.  Your new home is close to a private lake!  Er, is asbestos green?

Plus, like a fine wine, this home’s foreclosure was aged to perfection as well.  None of that mid-2000s Johnny-come-lately bank seizure for this home.  These homes.  In one house.  Whatever.  This house home for inverstors was foreclosed on back in 1998!  Now, that’s success secession.

In the Real Bay Area (RBA), there are many homes listed with seven-digit prices.  Some places that are almost, but not quite, RBA also have million dollar properties.  Then there are the locations where a seven-digit listing is as sensible as a particle accelerator at a rummage sale.

1346 Grand Blvd  San Jose, CA 95002
$999,000

Beds: 4
Baths: 4
Sq. Ft.: 2,574
$/Sq. Ft.: $388
Lot Size: 6,098 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Mediterranean
Stories: 2
View: Mountains
Year Built: 2009
Community: Alviso (Santa Clara County)
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81017512
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 178 days

Fabulous one year new Mediteranean home. 2,474 sq. ft, 4 bed, 3 ba. Plus 500 sq. ft. studio apartment (rented $825). Marble entry & floors. Recessed lighting, Luxury fixtures. Granite, maple, and stainless kitchen. Huge master suite with jacuzzi tub. Skylights. 1,000 sq. ft. bonus room. Over 4,000 sq. ft of living space! 4 car finished garage. Slate entry with custom doors. Views of mountains.

Wow.  Who knew you could find a “Mediteranean” home with marble entry and floors with jacuzzi tub… in ALVISO?  In case nothing comes to mind when you read “Alviso,” here’s a couple of things to remember.

1. Aviso is Spanish for “notice.”  So you had better be on notice if you’re considering Alviso.
2. Sometimes a picture says a thousand words.  Sometimes a picture just says “Stay the heck away.”

 

Okay, so Alviso isn’t exactly RBA, but there are still pockets of nice areas to be found almost anywhere.  For example, today’s featured house is on a GRAND boulevard.

Um, yeah.  Nothing like a traffic signal in your front yard.  It will keep the kids amused for hours!  Speaking of kids, let’s see if the nearby schools are any good.

No schools less than 700 miles away?  Cool!  Must be due to the wormhole on North 1st Street!

1397 MICHIGAN Ave, San Jose, CA 95002 | MLS# 80918267
1397 MICHIGAN Ave San Jose, CA 95002
Price: $379,999

Beds: 3
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft.: 1,056
$/Sq. Ft.: $360
Lot Size: 6,000 Sq. Ft.
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Style: Traditional
Stories: 1
View: Neighborhood
Year Built: 1940
Community: Alviso (Santa Clara County)
County: Santa Clara
MLS#: 80918267
Source: MLSListings
Status: Active
On Redfin: 125 days
Not a foreclosure or short-sale! 2nd unit is garage conversion. 2 units ($800/$2,000)could offset mortgage pymts. Big corner lot (6,000 sq. ft. )parking access in large yard and off street parking alongside main house. 2nd unit has compact kitchen, living rm. 1 bdrm, bath stall shower. Inspections completed/reports online. To be sold AS IS in present structural condition. Easy access to Hiwy237.

Let’s face it, Alviso just doesn’t get enough attention from Burbed. This house is shocking. They’re giving it away. Sheesh!

Let’s look at what you’re getting for free:

Wow. I’m totally digging those new teal countertops. You’ve gotta admit, you just don’t see those every day!

While we’re here, let’s learn more about Alviso:

• Mail is not delivered in Alviso, but must be picked up at the post office.
• After the 1970s, Alviso was treated like a socioeconomic backwater of the prospering Silicon Valley and struggled to restore its former vitality.

Personally I love this bit on the wikipedia.

Alviso 1981

And then…

Alviso 2007

Check out those AWESOME sidewalks! It’s walkable! Can you say gentrification?

Better buy now before it gets too hot for you to handle!

MLSlistings Property Detail for MLS number 710942
1286 MICHIGAN AV
San Jose, CA 95002$419,900This Single Family Residence has the following features:
MLS#: 710942 Approx Age: 58 Years Approx Sq Ft: 991
Detached Single Family 1 Story Cottage/Bungalow

Well, so the house looks a little run down… that’s no big deal. Fixer upper… blah blah blah. I never liked grass anyway.

But click inside and then you get this:

Wow. Nothing says perfect starter home for young Bay Area families like this. Or, if you’re getting ready to deploy to Iraq, this would also be a great place to practice house to house searches!

All yours for $419,900.

Are those tears of joys I see?

Update: I forgot to post the sales history!

Sale History
07/10/2006: $344,845
08/09/2004: $385,000
06/22/2004: $229,000

Wow… this house gets better every year!