We love flips.  Take your vintage crapbox that hasn’t been updated since the original owners signed the restrictive covenant, let it marinate for 57 years and mix thoroughly with a cash sale.  Wait 3–6 months and then garnish with new appliances, new paint, new countertops. Of course it’s the same old house under the makeup.

Today’s Los Gatos lovely was sent in by Burbed reader nomadic.  See how long it takes you to figure out what’s wrong with this picture.

135 ANNE Way
Los Gatos, CA 95032
$1,100,000

4 Beds 
2.5 Baths 
2,299 Sq. Ft.
$478 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1964 
Lot Size: 8,050 Sq. Ft. 
On Redfin: 26 days
Status: Pending Without Release
Property Type: Detached Single Family
View: Neighborhood
County: Santa Clara
Stories: 2
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
MLS#: 81243731

Huge lot. Incredible Gorgeous tree-lined street in highly desirable Los Gatos neighborhood! This home is another SVHOME renovation that includes stunning remodeled kitchen featuring granite counters, new appliances, new lighting and laminate flooring; baths feature extensive use of travertine stonework. New plumbing fixtures, vanities and lighting; plush new carpeting in all bedrooms, fresh paint

Let’s check in with nomadic on why this house deserves your attention:

Bought November 16, pergranisteel kitchen, new baths and some paint by December 26, when it was re-listed.  Instantly pending!  $284k price delta.

The flippers’ site: http://www.svhome.com/

Yes, the flipper’s have a site, including a ginormous animated photo-graphic that literally flips in segments while you watch.  They also have a page of all their pending properties, including this one.  Most of the others have a virtual tour.  This one does not.

This one also does not have any photos of that stunning remodeled kitchen featuring granite counters, new appliances, new lighting and laminate flooring. The flippers are asking us to take their word for it about the extensive use of travertine stonework.  They wouldn’t even give us a peek at the plush new carpeting, fresh paint.

Although we are giving you a really good ogle at those sturdy power transmission lines running through the back yard.  Now, check out this unbelievable listing history, courtesy of Zillow:

Are you sure there was a flip here?  Really super sure?  Because if there was, it’s still selling for less than they tried to get for it five years ago. (And according to Redfin, they were trying to sell it in 2006 as well.) The November sale price is an eye-opener.  Looks like after five or six years of chasing the market down, the owners finally bailed.  Just a month later it’s back in seven digit range.  All it took was a little pergranisteel and traverstone.

Here’s a very Bay Area solution to the often noted challenge that “they’re not making any more land.”  Build your house on  water!  Sound like a plan to you?  Let’s swim on up to WaterWorld, courtesy of Burbed reader J from Alameda! 

Note: this is a Bay Area solution, but definitely not a REAL Bay Area fix.  RBA houses are in the RBA in the first place because they have land they aren’t making any more of.

2394 Mariner Square C3
Alameda, CA 94501
Sold 11/9/10 for $335,000

2 Beds 
1 Baths 
1,296 Sq. Ft.
$258 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1972 
Lot Size: — 
Sold On: Nov 9, 2010
Status: Sold
Type: Detached
Stories: 2
Community: Barnhill Marina
MLS#: 40489839
Style: Contemporary
View: City Lights, Marina, San Francisco, Water
County: Alameda

This beautifully remodeled 2 bed 1 bath floating home features estuary and SF views, hardwood floors, new paint, wains coating, vaulted ceiling with exposed wood beams, new appliances, stain glass windows, three decks, and skylights. Close to BART, ferry, train, and Fwy.

Here’s what J floated over with the house:

And this would be cheapest SFR/Floating. Also should get a prize for longest price history….

Unfortunately, would you believe this property was delisted, we swear we are not making this up, the very day we head off to Redfin to write it up?  Which means we don’t know how many days it was on the market for but about two years.  We’ve already done a property that was sitting on MLS for four years!  And this one for more than three!

But while you may be at sea here, the agent says it’s close to everything: BART, ferry, train, and Fwy. It’s even closer to the Posey (underground) tube.  The map clearly shows it runs right underneath you.

Meanwhile, we looked high (Zillow) and low (Sawbuck) for the newly pulled listing without much success.  Here’s what we found in Google cache, but it appears to be a completely different floating house, despite the listing history lining up perfectly.

2394 Mariner Square Drive E6
Alameda, CA 94501
$229,000

1 Beds 
1 Baths 
— Sq. Ft.
Built: 1968
Lot Size: —
On Redfin: 537 days
Type: Detached
Stories: 2
Community: Barnhill Marina
MLS#: 40533694
Style: Contemporary
View: City Lights, Downtown, Marina, Water
County: Alameda

Floating Home. Open plan for kitchen/living room and den; upper level suite for bedroom and sitting area. 360 degree view from upper deck; elegant tiled first floor. New carpet in upper level bedroom suite.

One bedroom, two bedrooms, so what? No square feet, 1300 square feet, big deal.  Blue trim, green trim, doesn’t mean anything.  C3, E6, you sunk my battleship!

Now, here’s one of the 360 degrees of views you can enjoy from the upper deck.  Also check out this delightful photo of the house and environs from homes.com!

Bunus: Sold in 2007 for $448K.

Another bunus: This old listing (with old paint job) says there’s a $523 a month berth fee.  But that’s nothing.  Trulia says this place is a mobile/manufactured home.  They’re the only site that says so, which means they could be wrong.  But what could possibly be better than a trailer house in a trailer flotilla?

We’re heading south today, for a look at this New Almaden NODder. Thanks very much to Burbed reader nomadic for keeping an eye on what’s in shadow inventory, and what’s trying to stay in the sunshine.  Let’s see how shortly this spread will be selling.

20891 ALMADEN Rd
San Jose, CA 95120
$975,500

$975,500 Price
4 Beds
3 Baths
2,888 Sq. Ft.
$338 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1920
Lot Size: 1 Acre
On Redfin: 161 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
View: Canyon
County: Santa Clara
Stories: 1
Community: Almaden Valley
MLS#: 81210207

Magical one-of-a-kind Historic Home in New Almaden! Unique historic home is loaded with CHARM! Huge porch, formal living/dining room, family room, 4 bed/3 bath (2 master suites) w/ an updated country kitchen and a workshop on a 1 acre lot. Needs a tiny bit of TLC and many newer updates! MUST SEE! Get more info: TEXT “71699″ to 79564

Get more info by texting!  Because there’s only so much info you can fit on the internet.  But text messaging?  Hope you’re on the unlimited plan.

Why did nomadic send this place in?  Let’s find out!

The listing history might inspire you.  They took an interesting approach to getting RBA returns – just HELOC it out and do a short sale for 2x the purchase price after 13 years – I wonder how much they sucked out. (After all, they won’t actually get the purchase value back out.)  I remember them trying to sell at the peak prices just after the real estate crash and thinking “good luck with that.”

What’s this?  Something about an inspiring listing history?  Redfin doesn’t have much on the old pricing, so Zillow to the rescue!

Uh, yeah.  Good luck with that.  But on the upside, if you’ve always wanted a pony, this place is horsie-ready should your magical fairy godmother ever come through with those wishes.

Anyone have any idea why Zillow has reasonably-sized pictures and Redfin doesn’t for this property? Does it have anything to do with the agent who relisted it in July?  (See the EBRD listing in Redfin, the pictures look fine there.)  Does Zillow indicating the place isn’t for sale anymore have anything to do with that?

So many questions.  So many horsies.  So much historical mortgage equity withdrawal.  MUST SEE!

A little less than a year ago we found an agent website listing ten big, expensive properties in the Real Bay Area (well, most of them were in the RBA). We dug in deep to see how the very high end market was doing as it began the fourth year of a prolonged economic slowdown.  Burbed reader Robert Dow recently sent in a Los Altos Hills luxe listing, and sure enough, it was one of the ten featured fabulous freeholds.  So let’s dwell on these digs in more detail.  To the Batmobile!

27040 Old Trace Lane
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
$19,880,000

6 beds
7 baths
14855 sqft
3 acres
1990 built
30 days on site
MLS# 81227454
Walk Score™ 23

Spectacular Estate situated on a Private Country Lane 3.39 acres (per prelim) Main House w/dramatic entrance salon, Library/Office, Family/Game Room, Theatre, Gentleman’s Bar, Exercise Room, Wine Cellar, Indoor Exercise Pool, attached 8-Car Garage, Generator, Well for irrigation. 2bd/2ba Guest House,Tennis Court pool and elevated spa; Terrace w/outdoor fireplace; firepit . Palo Alto schools

Here’s what Robert had to say when bringing this gem to our attention.

Saw this listing for a $19,880,000 home for sale. No idea if this a reasonable price, but the house is pretty spectacular. Is this the kind of listing you’re looking for or is there some other set of criteria? Thanks.

Who wants to tell Robert what the criteria are for a home to be featured on Burbed?  There are so many ways for RBA realty to win the Internet!  For example, this one’s got a MAWBUL KAWLUM even on the guest house porch!  And check out this “library,” where books are under glass.

Like any big, expensive, and mutli-acred mansion, it has a Virtual Tour.  Unlike most of them, it also has a Gentleman’s Bar (unclear if the strippers are included, consult agent for details before writing offer).  But most importantly, it has a history, although you’d never know that if you used the Estately page.

Fortunately, when we reviewed the Astonishing Webpage we filled in all those price reductions, so there’s not much more to add.  And Zillow has it all, anyway, even if Redfin and Estately used the memory hole (as well as the seller request to not link to its Zestimate of $17,227,396)

Listed: 3/17/2008 at $25,000,000
Price Increased: 4/26/2008 to $28,950,000 (+16%)
Price Reduced: 5/22/2008 to $25,000,000 (-13.6%)
Listing canceled: 9/20/2008
Relisted: 8/30/2010 – 12/27/2010 at $24,950,000 (-0.2%)
Relisted: 2/1/2011 – 7/11/2011 at $20,500,000 (-17.8%)
Relisted: 7/22/2012 at $19,880,000 (-3.0%)

Oh, about that Zestimate.  It’s 13.3% below today’s list price, which disappoints us.  We had a theory that the Zestimate for any large, custom, hard-to-price estate like this would be exactly 15% lower than the current asking price (and if you don’t believe us, go back to the Astonishing Webpage and check all ten of them).

Anyway, the hapless seller has been chasing the market down for more than FOUR YEARS.  At what point will their price cutting finally hit the market bouncing back up?  They have to get lucky this year, there’s a couple of 8s in the price now! Oh, wait.  Facebook isn’t going to save the RBA after all.  Never mind.

Burbed has visited this high-priced peninsula before, but we’ve never reported on a teardown at Hillsborough-with-Baywater.  Thanks very much to Burbed reader Pkamp3 for the find.

A $4.2 Million Tear-Down House in Belvedere, California

By ALAN FARNHAM | ABC News – Fri, Jun 29, 2012

In Marin County, California, where people tend to have money, people in Belvedere tend to have more. Even so, a recent decision by Clark and Sharon Winslow of 337 Belvedere Avenue to buy the home next to theirs for $4.2 million — and then tear it down — might seem extraordinary.

It’s not, say locals and real estate professionals.

“There are houses being torn down all the time,” says Bill Smith, realtor and ex-mayor of Belvedere. In neighboring Tiburon, he says, a buyer not long ago paid $20 million for the home of tennis star Andre Agassi and wife Steffi Graf, then announced his plan to raze it.

While the article specifically mentions the house that isn’t being torn down, we’re left to guess which property is getting the extreme makeover.  And we think it’s this one.

Update 9:30 AM: And we are completely wrong.  Burbed reader gallileo provided the evidence that it’s the house on the OTHER side.  Correct info added to end of article, because we hate to waste a good housing rant.

341 Belvedere Ave
Belvedere Tiburon, CA 94920
Sold on 01/14/2000 for $2,100,000

Source: Public Records
BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2.5
FINISHED SQFT: 2,831
UNFINISHED SQFT: -
TOTAL SQFT: 2,831
FLOORS: -
LOT SIZE: 8,400
STYLE: Single Family Residential
YEAR BUILT: 1964
YEAR RENOVATED: 1975
COUNTY: Marin County
APN: 06022128
LAST UPDATED: August 24, 2011

The interesting thing about buying and tearing down a perfectly good house isn’t that someone with way too much cash went ahead and did it.  It’s how much the house was worth in the first place.  Zillow says… ZEstimate of $1,876,100.  Which means the new “owners” spent more than twice what this house may be worth just to make more land.

Yes, the purchasers live in that 9524 square foot housing tumor on the left.  Let’s see what they got for $4.2 million!

Oh yeah.  Perhaps they’ll be tearing down this place next, since it’s blocking their Bay access.  (See #42.  Only 1017 days on Redfin!)

Update: Here is the correct house.  gallileo provides a link to SocketSite with the story, and there’s a further link to a piece in the Marin Independent Journal.  So, without further adieu, the actual house that was purchased for $4.2 million only to be torn down.  That and more, after the break.

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Want a house in the lovely Rose Garden area of San Jose?  So do a lot of people!  Central location, big houses on beautiful lots… what’s not to like?  Tracy Tea House found a real goodie that shows every rule has an exception, and every good neighborhood has some Fail.

Now this property is gone,  It’s not on Redfin at all, nor on Movoto even, and Trulia says it’s off-market.  Guess who still has it.  Zillow.

1135 Yosemite Ave
San Jose, CA 95126
$699,000

Beds: 2
Baths: 2
Sqft: 2,868
Lot: 13,068 sq ft / 0.30 acres
Type: Single Family
Year built: 1922
Parking: —
Cooling: Central
Heating: Forced air
Fireplace: –

Spacious floor plan on a large lot. Tons of potential to add bedrooms if needed. Charming home located in the Historic Rose Garden area. Formal dining room with plenty of natural light, living room with wood burning fireplace, separate family room looking out into backyard and pool. Perfect for entertaining. Hardwood floors, A/C, side yard with space for boat or RV parking.

Here’s what Tracy had to say about this find.

The price on this house keeps dropping like a stone. I looked at it a few times over the years and it is a great old place, full of charm. Except it has location FAIL. It is located at the corner of Yosemite and Race, famous for the prostitution ring, busted across the street. Shares a wall with a Mexican restaurant parking lot, and is down the street  from the “water Garden.”  If only it was located a few more blocks into the Rose garden.. Sigh..

Looks like we had best get some pictures up before Zillow gets a friendly visit from the wild and crazy lawyers who work for MLS.  They even have a much better front view than the one they led with.

There are several higher-resolution photos of an empty house.  This is a photographer who loves the interplay of light.  See these and more photos after the break.

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We recently received this email (without the pictures; I selected them especially for the excess smug):

Open House 23+ Acres $1,288,000 in Los Gatos Sunday 01-29-2012 OPEN 1-5pm

Take in the spectacular views!
OPENHOUSESunday 1PM-5PM!

21631 HICKS Rd, Los Gatos, CA 95032
MLS# 81200553
23 beautiful acres with SFR
Priced to sell @ $1,288,000

Spectacular views of city lights, Lexington Reservoir, the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Valley.
Build your dream estate on this 23 acre property with over 3 buildable pads.

A secluded and private retreat close to town!
Possibilities are endless, vineyards, horses, lush gardens, orchard, solar, Helipad.
Only 5 minutes to Los Gatos.

Valuable property that is priced to sell now.
Thanks,
agent name and phone

p.s. Email me if you would like to see photos of the property.

Hicks Road?  Why did that seem familiar?  Ah, yes!

We don’t know why this agent’s email got caught in a time warp where it didn’t show up until yesterday, but we can only assume it was sent to Burbed because they want the property featured again.  The least we could do is oblige them.  Quickly.  Click on through to see how the place is being marketed now.

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Happy Thanksgiving from Burbed!  And one thing to be thankful for is we’re not taking today off.  We are also thankful for our many wonderful readers, without whom we would never be able to bring you Real Bay Area Real Estate, House Price and Mortgage Insanity on a regular basis.

Speaking of wonderful readers, here’s a momentous mansion in Mountain View from Burbed reader dollarbin!

2178 LELAND Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040
$725,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3
SQ. FT.: 1,920
$/SQ. FT.: $378
LOT SIZE: 4,947 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 2
YEAR BUILT: 2007
COMMUNITY: San Antonio
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81129200
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 144 days

Maybe the Final Price Reduction before it goes to auction! Take a second look! Enjoy this stunning 4 year old well maintained home with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, 1920 sf of living area, wrap around porch, granite kitchen, granite faced fireplace in living room, 4 spacious bedrooms including downstairs master suite. This home sits in a 4791 SF lot in a well sought after Mountain View area.

Here’s what dollarbin was thinking when sending us today’s Thanksgiving Turkey.

I swear this has been on Burbed before, if not it might spark some discussion. I don’t know if this house has ever actually been occupied, the sales history suggests it hasn’t. Mere inches from the Caltrain tracks, you can shop at Mi Pueblo in your slippers too.

If this house has been on Burbed, it was hiding under a different address.  And it has quite a history, too.  Take a look at this!

And if you think that’s interesting, then look what Zillow has to say about this place!  But none of those missing listings from 2007-08 are there.

Here’s the link to Auction.com in case you want to bid on this house.  I really like the exterior shot they’re using instead of the one above on Redfin (sorry about their annoying little banner there).  Arty!  Too bad the other 4 photos are the same as before.

$725,000 really was the final price before the auction after all.  Take a second look, since you’ll be eating today’s meal a few more times too.  This house and its history can make you feel thankful for so many things.  Why not share them in comments?

Remember to get up extra early tomorrow as we begin our Black Friday Sales!  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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 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.