Today’s featured home is a San Carlos scraper brought to you by Burbed reader nomadic.  This low-hanging lemon has been overripening on the Redfin vine, and was spotted on a fruitful locale for Burbed bounty: the Redfin forums.  Thanks very much for the harvest! 

437 HILLCREST Rd
San Carlos, CA 94070
$850,000; was $875,000; was $899,000; was $910,000

2 Beds 
1.5 Baths
1,120 Sq. Ft.
$759 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1941 
Lot Size: 7,644 Sq. Ft. 
On Redfin: 130 days
Status: Active
Active
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
County: San Mateo
Style: Contemporary
Community: Cordes
MLS#: 81213411

Great westside location, this home is a major fixer upper bring your contractor with you large level lot perfect for building your dream home building plans and engineering reports have been submitted to the city for approval

Here’s what nomadic had to say about this perplexing property:

Check this out, from the Redfin forums:

  I lived in this home, as the flippers who bought it in 2011, rented it to me so they could get the permits in place.  Long story short, is that they thought they had the permits in place in February of 2012 so they asked me to move.  Turns out just more paper shuffling by the city, and things are still moving slow.  The house is in bad disrepair.  The son of the original owners (since 1941) died and the family sold it.  All the plumbing was shot, and a poorly constructed addition was slapped on the porch in the back.  The chiminey was falling off the side of the house, and there was quite a fair amount of landscaping growing out of the roof.

  Shortly after I moved out, a bunch of  vagrants ransacked the place, stole all the copper, and broke most of the windows.  Permits are still pending for the tear down and rebuild.  As I was browsing the listings, I found it funny that it was relisted at $910k basically a year after they bought it for $622, and its now no longer livable.

The asking price is now $850k.  When did San Carlos wedge itself into the RBA?

Hmmm, this comment doesn’t seem to be on the thread anymore, but this reply references part of the above.  So nomadic was not hallucinating the post.  Perhaps Redfin is getting a little gun-shy about actual discussion of houses rather than oh-so-postive realtardese.  Talk that way for too long and you won’t even need to take any uppers.

Bunus: Trash bag and abandoned monitor in Streetview shots, plus extra bin at neighbor’s.

Here’s another great find from Burbed reader Overheard in San Carlos, in… would you believe San Carlos?  Too bad somebody bought it out from under you.

161 VINE St, San Carlos, CA 94070
$657,000

BEDS: 2
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 1,040
$/SQ. FT.: $632
LOT SIZE: 7,590 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1948
COMMUNITY: Cordes
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81127057
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Sold

Hands Down Winner! Competition melts by comparison to this charming 2 Bedroom , 1 Bath, Ranch Style Home located in the popular Garden Terraces neighborhood. Enjoy a summer BBQ out on the large outdoor deck overlooking your expansive back yard. With excellent San Carlos schools and a short distance to downtown , this is a winning home, hands down!

I’m still trying to figure out if this is the Hands Down Winner, then just exactly  in what?  Remember, the competition melts by comparison.  This place is a contender in the Highest-Contrast Kitchen Contest (Cabinet Division), a strong possibility in the Greater Garden Terraces Most Congenial Replacement for a Front Lawn Pave-Off, and in the running for Oh My God THAT Place Had Overbidding Festival.

We can agree that the buyer is a winner.  Of something.  Hands down!

Thanks to Burbed reader Sam for this “very unique” find in San Carlos.

790 BUCKLAND Ave, San Carlos, CA 94070
$1,049,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3
SQ. FT.: 1,965
$/SQ. FT.: $534
LOT SIZE: 7,565 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Contemporary
STORIES: Bi/Split Level
VIEW: Bay, Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1955
COMMUNITY: Cordes
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81113908
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending Without Release
ON REDFIN: 14 days

Wow!!This is a Tremendous 4bed 3 bath home. Unmatched features and wide open floor plan make this home “fit for a King” Heated bathroom floors, heated towel racks, remote control digitally controlled shower. Electrolox Icon Stanliess steele appliances with build in espresso machine makes this kitchen one of a kind. All new windows, floors, doors, Outstanding remoldel.

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

I guess the listing agent forgot that in 2011 the “recently flipped” moniker isn’t a feature. Flip This House is sooooo 2006. But hey, it’s “fit for a King”: it has heated towel racks! It also has “Stanliess steele”. I don’t know what that is, but I’m pretty sure it would make a good porn star name.

Well, we got good news and bad news for you, Sam.  The bad news is this listing recently changed, maybe when the buyers accepted that pending without release offer.  Maybe they took away that “recently flipped” comment you mention that I didn’t find, what with my keeping your email sitting around for 2 weeks.  But the good news is that we don’t have to scratch our heads wondering what’s wrong with this place.  Redfin’s doing the heavy lifting for us!

Very unique!  I love very unique!  Nonconforming and weird is good too!  We’re going to love working with our Redfin overlords.  Meanwhile, check out the Google Streetview of this place!  I guess Spring Bounce means equity is rising. Something is rising, because the place doesn’t look exactly level.

But wait, there’s more!  Look at the listing history, OMFG!  This must be what Sam mean about recently flipped.  Plus a bonus foreclosure, this place has it all.

Don’t worry, Zillow’s got us covered on those missing listing prices.  Hoo-boy, can you say “Price Reduction”?

Cheer up!  The house was pending back in September, 2010, and that deal fell through.  It could happen again and YOU could be the next owner!

Whoever does buy it, please replace that rug with something that doesn’t look like the hardwood floor cut open and rotated 90 degrees.  Even Stanliess steele would look better.  But nothing beats a remote control digitally controlled shower.

578 CEDAR St San Carlos, CA 94070
Price: $879,950

Beds:     2
Baths:     2
Sq. Ft.:     1,590
$/Sq. Ft.:     $553
Lot Size:     6,500 Sq. Ft.
Age (Years):    84
Year Built:    1924
Type:    Detached Single Family
Style:    Contemporary
Stories:    1 Story
Neighborhood:    Cordes Etc.
County:     San Mateo
MLS#:     805063
Source:     MLSListings
Status:     Active
On Redfin:     3 days
This is an oppertunity for owner or an investor, this property appears to be on a Multifamily Residential lot in a great downtown location. R1 lot in a R3 zone, explor the possibilities with this in town home w/ large 3+car garage. R3 use District: Multiple-family dwellings or apartment houses in a single structure, family care home, two family dwellings in a single family structure;

Sweet. You can now buy the City of San Carlos. And if you look carefully, they even thrown in the Caltrain station! Who knew that San Carlos was only 6,500 sqft though.

But seriously, this is a great opportunity. Just think, you can buy this house now, live in it, and then in a few years, when the house prices has doubled, you can refi, tear down, and build a townhouse! Think of all the passive income baby!

Step 1: Buy house
Step 2: ??????
Step 3: Profit!

If this isn’t the best investment opportunity ever, I don’t know what is. But then again, I’m not an expert on building apartments. Could someone help me do the math to demonstrate how this would be immensely profitable?

(Thanks to Burbed anonymous reader)