So many times we hear the refrain, “I would love to buy a house, but I can’t afford anything.  It’s just too expensive here.” And so many times we have found affordable houses that YOU could go and buy.  Today we have yet another exciting opportunity for YOU, the would-be homeowner.  Just imagine yourself watering your very own lawn!  Or even better, your very own Rose Garden!

1951 FOREST Ave
San Jose, CA 95128
$350,000

1 Beds
1 Baths
525 Sq. Ft.
$667 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1915
Lot Size: 3,600 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 70 days
Status: Active
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Community: Central San Jose
MLS#: 81241926

This home is located in the desirable Rose Garden neighborhood. Needs a lot of work. Not livable now. Contractor’s special. Located on a 3,600 square foot lot. Has a lot of potential. Great opportunity for someone looking to move into a fantastic area.

This property is Special for a number of reasons, and we don’t just mean for Contractors.

That’s a Streetview shot on this property listing.  The realtard didn’t even bother cropping it a little to strip out the Google logo.  It also, LUCKY YOU, conveniently fell out of contract just a couple of weeks ago, and is relisted at the same attractive price. 

Speaking of attractive, let’s swing that Streetview camera just a little to the right (below).  While the white truck is intriguing, the station wagon is vehicular WIN.  And from the satellite shot on the left, we can see exactly why this is such an attractive proposition: this looks like a Hoarder House.  Can you imagine what sorts of “bunus” loot awaits the lucky buyer of this affordable home that wears its 98 years proudly?

Bunus Specialtude: This home has been featured as the cover photo of our brand new Facebook Page for a couple of days.  Keep checking over there for new cover photos, and play “Find That Crapbox!”

Here’s a cheery little story just to remind you that you’re all only one abandoned hellhole of a house away from losing Real Bay Area status, and it can happen anywhere!

 

Dumping ground: Burlingame neighbors tire of long-vacant home

January 08, 2013, 05:00 AM By Bill Silverfarb, SM Daily Journal staff

Daily Journal Neighbors want action taken against the owners of a vacant home in Burlingame who have not maintained the property for years. (photos, Bill Silverfarb)

A long-vacant home in Burlingame’s Lyon Hoag neighborhood has turned into dumping ground and neighbors in the area are sick of it.

The home, at 139 Channing Road, sits in the middle of million-dollar homes but neighbors fear their own property values will be negatively impacted by the property — which they say looks like an overrun junk yard.

The listed owners, Michael James O’Brien and John Quillian O’Brien, moved out of the home several years ago after a death in the family and have not maintained the property, neighbors told the Daily Journal.

Bruce Bettencourt, who lives right next door to the house with his wife, has called Burlingame code enforcement at least “100 times” over the years about rats, garbage, junk and overgrown vegetation on the property, he told the Daily Journal.

He has found dead raccoons on the property and fears it has also become a nesting ground for rats.

Dead raccoons plus live rats! Usually we get our housing fun from real estate listings.  But you can learn a lot from reading the news sites as well!  Let’s see what we can find out about this house.

139 Channing Rd
Burlingame, CA 94010
$694,000 Trulia Estimate

1 bed
1 bath
1,000 sqft
Single-Family Home
Public Record
Neighborhood: Lyon Hoag

Listing Details
Description provided by Trulia
This is a Single-Family Home located at 139 Channing Road, Burlingame CA. 139 Channing Rd has 1 bed, 1 bath, and approximately 1,000 square feet. The property has a lot size of 5,750 sqft and was built in 1922. The average list price for similar homes for sale is $3,020,488 and the average sales price for similar recently sold homes is $1,106,052. 139 Channing Rd is in the Lyon Hoag neighborhood in Burlingame, CA. The average list price for Lyon Hoag is $1,035,000.

Public Records for 139 Channing Rd
Official property, sales, and tax information from county (public) records as of 09/2012:

Single Family Residential
1 Bedroom
1 Bathroom
1,000 sqft
Lot Size: 5,750 sqft
Built In 1922
A/C: Central
Heating: Central
Parking: Detached Garage
Parking Spaces: 1
4 Rooms
County: San Mateo
Tax Rate Code Area: 4-001

While you can’t see much from the street, here’s an abandoned car from the view over the back fence.  If you check out the Streetview pictures, you’ll find trash cans in front of the house next door, but we don’t think that’s what the neighbor called the code enforcement office about.

You’d think that San Mateo County would want their $16,000 in back taxes.  You’d think they’d bring some kind of fines against the owners for abandoning their (live) dogs in the house.  Supposedly John Quillian,  Michael O’Brien’s stepson, recently told the city he’s planning on moving back in.

Why doesn’t the city or county force a sale of this property?.  Not only would that lead to  a new owner cleaning up what’s turning into a health hazard, but it will be good news for the local agencies as well.

139 Channing Road
Burlingame, CA 94010

Owner: MICHAEL JAMES OBRIEN & JOHN QUILLIAN OBRIEN
Land value: $94,608
Building value: $111,812
Total value for property: $206,420
Assessments for tax year: 2009
Last sale: $120,000
Date of last sale: 10/24/1979

Today’s fine featured flop is brought to you by the letter F.  And it’s also brought by Burbed reader dollarbin, who sent this in the split second it hit all the MLS redistribution websites.  Let’s see what happened when this Pearl of Great Price hit the market.  And you have to agree, for Palo Alto, this is a great price.  In fact, this price is so low for Palo Alto there has to be a flaw.

240 Whiteclem Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94306
$699,000

Bedrooms: 4 
Bathrooms: 1 full, 1 partial 
Property type: Single-Family Home
Size: 1,413 sqft
Lot: Ask agent
Price/sqft: $495/sqft
Year built: 1951
MLS/ID: 81232060
Zip: 94306
Provided by: Coldwell Banker-The Real Estate People
2 days on Trulia

This home has the potential for a larger home and the area is located in a quiet neighbor. Great shopping close by and public transportation available. What a Gem. Lowest price in Palo Alto

Here’s what dollarbin said when sending in this home just two days ago:

Less than $500/sq ft in Palo Alto?  No pics?  Low property taxes?  Everything about this listing screams Hoarder House.  The house doesn’t look unusually run down on street view, it almost makes me curious to swing by if they ever have an open house.  I don’t know for sure, but I would bet that this lot is subject to a single-story
overlay, which might limit its value as a teardown.  I’ll keep my eye on it, and report in if I learn anything more.

Looks like you didn’t keep your eye on it 24/7. because here’s what happened when we followed the link back to Redfin.  And Zillow.

Both sites say this house is no longer for sale, and there’s no property history whatsoever on either of the sites. The home was definitely listed for sale two days ago on Redfin. Unfortunately, Trulia doesn’t show property history or we’d have the listing date, but this place was only on Trulia for two days.

But it’s not a complete loss for a listing that’s about to be yanked, and maybe brought back at a much better (read: higher) price, if it hasn’t already sold for a couple of suitcases of cash.

Look what we found when we did an extreme close-up of the carport in Streetview.  DHO! DHO!

Now here’s something else that should make you smile even more.

Located in a quiet neighbor, and possibly overassessed at $86K.  No wonder it’s gone.  This listing must have collapsed the space-time-money-potential continuum.

San Jose: Crews use huge trucks to clear junk from hoarder home

By Mark Gomez, San Jose Mercury News
Posted:   03/15/2012 06:24:40 AM PDT, Updated:   03/15/2012 08:03:03 AM PDT

Crews were in their second day at a San Jose home removing mountains of debris so massive that workers used two hauling trucks, each capable of carrying 72,380 pounds of material, to get the job done.

As of Wednesday morning, they still hadn’t made their way into the backyard.

The extreme makeover at 226 S. Claremont Ave. began Tuesday after a vote last month by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to declare the residence a public nuisance. The piles of junk, garbage and other items, including worn out bicycles, car tires and animal cages, had become so vast that it was visible from satellite photos.

The cleanup, which is expected to take about five days, ends a years-long struggle for neighbors who live in the otherwise well-kept neighborhood located off Alum Rock Avenue.

Thanks very much to Burbed reader Tracy Tea House, who had sent in an earlier story about the residents complaining about the massive piles of garbage at this house.  Looks like once this story hit both what’s left of a newspaper as well as on KGO-7 television news, the County finally took action.

Neighbors have been trying to have the grounds cleaned up since 2005.  Cleanup orders and fines were ignored by Richard Baker, the 58 year old son of the registered homeowners.  People fortunate enough to live near this local attraction suggested that Richard might be a few hundred square feet short of a McMansion.

Robert and Bessie Baker, Richard Baker’s parents, have both been deceased for ten years, so management of the house was transferred to the Office of the Public Guardian.  This agency will be responsible for inventorying whatever is in the house, as opposed to the mountains of garbage outside mostly headed for the landfill.  Anything of value inside or out would be saved for the Bakers’ estate, over and above this valuable residence.  In addition to Richard, the Bakers also have a daughter living in Santa Cruz who was only located recently.

Richard had been living in the house while collecting treasures, but not recently.  He did show up at the County hearing to object to the the home’s being declared a public nuisance, although the neither the Murk nor KGO-7 reported on what his reasons were.  He attempted to postpone the hearing because he had been in the hospital, but was unsuccessful. We’d guess the County’s embarrassment over things getting to this point trumped a hospital stay.  Remember all those fines Richard blew off?  Guess they did.

Okay, enough rewording the newspaper and TV articles.  Let’s have a look at this house.

Better have a good look at the driveway, too.

Wow, the Streetviews actually look worse than the satellite view.  And someone updated this record recently even though the house wasn’t for sale.

So here’s a way Richard (right) and his sister (who had the sense not to show up when cameras were rolling) could save even more money.  We know the County’s going to stick them with that clean-up bill, so every little bit is going to help!

Thanks for the advice, Trulia!  Anyway, do you have a neighbor building a fortification on the front lawn like this?  Tell us about it in today’s Weekend Open Thread!