Wow, what a week!

We started off with a bang, or at least a toilet that could have used some blowing up.  We had an abandoned construction project featuring garage space for seven cars. Not only did we have a Burbed-style debate, our Friday feature wasn’t just the usual mawbul kawlum love.  No, that house turned out to have had a murder take place on the property… while the owner was in court defending someone accused of an even more infamous murder just a few miles away.  That’s the East Bay for you!

Good thing we’re just going to sit back and read a delightful children’s story now.  It’s all about you and your shadow… inventory.  Thanks very much to the shadowy folks at Movoto for this terrific tale.  You can check out their blog for other real-estate-related tomfoolery.

Have an idea for other great kids’ books that would do double-duty explaining real estate trends?  Share them here, or share anything you want in this Weekend Open Thread.  Any Open Houses in your book?

There’s a cute piece over on Buzzfeed that renames all 32 NFL teams according to what their logos resemble, instead of what the team is actually called.  For your enjoyment and discussion purposes, we’ll share the Bay Area entries.

F’rinstance, you may recognize this as the official sigil for the Oakland Raiders.  According to Buzzfeed, this is actually the Oakland Swords ‘n’ Severed Heads.  They left out that the severed head had an eyeball removed.  Sloppy, sloppy. 

And this design on the right, which breaks out of grayscale, is for the San Francisco Forty-Niners, right? Not if you name the team starting from the logo.  Then it’s the San Francisco Abbreviations for San Francisco.

Here’s one more, and also from California. Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for the San Diego Cartoon Character’s Hair!

I hope you see where this is leading. 

Here is the corporate logo for a major tech firm, including a couple of guesses on how the image may evolve.  Got any better names for this company than the first thing that pops into your mind?  The far-future version looks more like Pac-Man.

Not a Bay Area company, but quite familiar to us.  Again, the last three entries are inspired guesses.  What is this a logo for, shampoo?  Contortionist classes?

This one’s tech-related plus the 21 December meteor strike leads to severe climate change.

Flags getting bricked, vaporized, sliced, englobed, dissolved and now, speaking of flags…

A new logo was announced earlier this year.  Here’s the redesigned Greek flag at left, ready for when they leave the European Union.  We say it’s a Chanukah present.

Then the corporate parent got a logo update.  But when they changed the flag for the whole EU to go with…  We call it FourSquare®: A Way To Make You Pay $40 for a Game Court You Could Draw with a Piece of Chalk (ball not included).

Can you identify these tech company logos?  More importantly, can you name these tech companies based on what each logo looks like? We get

• 8 purple magnets
• A half-screened green eye
• Red cable-wrapped beachball
• Now landing on red runway 1

Surely you can do better than this.  In fact, surely you can do best of all with this one at right.  Or discuss anything else you wish in this Open Thread.

While you’re waiting for the realtards to show up at any Open Houses this weekend, why not play a board game with your loved ones?

It’s a little difficult to make out the street names, so here’s the list.  See how many of the cities representing each color group you can identify!  And do let us know which streets  you would use instead of the ones we picked.

Alas, we were not permitted to rename the utilities PG&E and SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT.  Do you have any good ideas for some Chance and Community Chest cards?

And yes, this is also an Open Thread.

Recently seen in the San Francisco Chronicle:

You Know You’re a Real Marinite when you…

…Think a redhead adds “diversity” to your kid’s class… (Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle) / SF

and…

Ha.  If we only see three Priuses parked anywhere around Google, it’s only because the rest of the vehicles are plug-in electrics.

So… let’s hear your suggestions for X and Y, where X is your city or town, and Y is whatever you come up with to best exemplify its essence.

We’ll start.  You Know You’re Really from Sunnyvale, when you can’t come up with anything other than the general case using the letters X and Y where X equals “Sunnyvale” and Y remains undefined for now but might have something to do with a gigantic can of fruit cocktail.

But we’re sure you can do better with whatever place you call home.  RBA-only entries not required, but please confine your suggestions to Northern California locales.  (We do have SOME standards around here.)

You can also nominate your entire region, such as “You Know You’re Really From Silicon Valley when you 1. See a billboard like this, 2. Understand it, and 3. Contact the advertiser for a better job.”

The best examples will be featured in a future weekend column, complete with random photos!  Your name or handle on the front page!

Okay… go!

Happy weekend! Going on a vacation? Of course not! The Real Bay Area is so awesome, you’ll staycate all summer. And what could be better than going to work, anyway?

Unless your name is Larry Ellison, and you can afford to buy most of a Hawaiian island for yourself.

Your mission is to rename the island to something more appropriate. Like Larai.

Update: Oh yeah, this is also an open thread. Duh.

It’s Saturday.  Go look at some Open Houses and tell us what they’re really worth.  Oh yeah, Open Thread.  Go really wild.

Anyone been to an Open House lately?  Are buyers waiting for a drop?  Are sellers trying to hold it?

Open the door and tell us what you found inside.

Click for a larger version.  This is an open thread.

It’s another weekend in the Real Bay Area, so what better time to discuss anything you want about real estate, or all the sites that went on strike Wednesday, or anything at all. 

Here’s a photo sent in by Burbed reader nomadic to get you started. Photo source here.

Thanks very much to Burbed reader Ek for this find in the beautiful Blossom Valley area of San Jose.  This is the friendliest neighborhood you could live in, and today you’ll find out why.

 

3821 VILLA GLEN Way, San Jose, CA 95136
$665,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,612
$/SQ. FT.: $413
LOT SIZE: 7,200 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1968
COMMUNITY: Blossom Valley
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81140137
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 11 days

OH Sat/Sun 2-4 Wonderful updated floor plan in great “Thousand Oaks Neighborhood” * Open floor plan * hardwood floors * crown molding * granite counters * plantation shutters * extensive use of pavers * outstanding backyard oasis with custom covered patio, palm trees and pebble tec pool * Close to park and schools * This one is a must see.

Looking this listing over, I didn’t see that much wrong with it.  Admittedly the décor’s a little out of fashion (okay, a LOT) and the agent could have done a better job with the photos.

Dim dining rooms, more granite than kitchen, and a sky that shrieks “This was shopped!” are mildly interesting, but not worthy of front-page status on Burbed.  But “this one is definitely a must see,” yet I’m not talking about the house.  Here’s why Ek sent this listing in:

Zoom up on the Google Street view….the owner is communicating to you.

Google Street View?  Coming right up!

Now, let’s zoom in…

We’re Number One!  We’re Number One!!!!