Welcome back to San Mateo, courtesy of Burbed reader MS.  Today’s terrific title is a top-tier townhouse, and all that townhouse living entails.  Like 20 other units to share the complex with you, and those delightful CC&Rs to make decor decisions dictatorial.

829 S Bayshore Blvd
San Mateo, CA 94401
$690,000, reduced from $711,000

HOA Dues: $250/mo. 
3 Beds 
2.5 Baths 
1,775 Sq. Ft.
$389 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 2008 
Lot Size: — 
On Redfin: 46 days
HOA Dues: $250/month
Style: Contemporary
Community: South Shoreview
MLS#: 81229901
Property Type: Townhouse
Stories: 1-3 (Low Rise)
County: San Mateo

Luxury townhome near downtown San Mateo, designed w/ craftsman details, large windows & abundant light. Less than 5 yrs old (2008 built), 3bd, 2.5 bth, 1,770 sqft unit features high ceilings, recessed lighting, wood cabinets, open kitchen, gas-burning fireplace, & gleaming flooring. Master w/ lrg walk-in closet. granite countertops + marble tiling. Seller may consider Lease w/ Option to Purchase.

Here’s why ms sent in this tip-top tenement!

This is a townhouse in a project where the nearest scenic view is the 3rd Avenue sign on 101.  The HOA is decent at $250, but for $700K+ you should not be paying HOA at all.

It is also priced far more than comps. Check out:

Retirees, note the San Francisco-type stairs to go up and down and up again to get to the bedrooms. Your grandkids would have no common place to play.

711K?  Is the bubble real?  Is the bubble fake?  Only the shadow knows, the shadow man under someone else’s bed.

It’s not lucky $711,000 anymore!  Price reduced to $690,000.  You’ll get even luckier with a price like that.  You know what else is lucky?  Those HOA dues.  Redfin mentioned them twice.

MS’s comment about the 3^rd  Avenue sign was completely on the level.  This is the lovely view you get every time you leave the plex.  Location, location, location!

One of the interesting things about reading so many real estate listings is noticing just how few agents have a decent command of the English language.  When the market was red-hot back in the mid-oughties, listing copy was slapdash because the homes, RBA or not, essentially sold themselves.  And now that market action is found at the very high and very low ends, nothing says low-end like a listing that doesn’t even try to scan.

Today’s housing horror, from Burbed reader MS, is a good example of this.  The copy sounds like a Monopoly instruction.  The only question is whether this property is in the Dark Purples (now Browns) or the Light Blues, because it sure as heck isn’t Boardwalk.

 

438 CAVANAUGH St
San Mateo, CA 94401
$499,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 5.5
SQ. FT.: 1,804
$/SQ. FT.: $277
LOT SIZE: 5,610 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1959
COMMUNITY: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81148666
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 42 days

Tenant occupied. Two large dogs. Do Not Go Direct. As Is Sale, No Seller Warranty, Additions may or may not have permits

Here’s what MS had to say about this fantastic find:

All tenant-occupied places mean you have to call agent for appointment. . Just to get the point across about how real this short is,  these tenants have TWO LARGE DOGS that make showings even more difficult, not that you planned to! And then there’s the unpermitted additions. What are they in a 3/5.5?
How’d they add onto it, to get that configuration?
I’m stumped. I’ll go if someone goes with me.

Have a look.  It seems like they just kept moving on back.

Whoah.  Come for the “may or may not have permits” additions, stay for the high-voltage transmission lines.  And if you’re ever worried about not having enough power to run your flatscreen television collection, just tap in behind your fence.

“Bunus”: Golf course right across the street means random broken windows!

Today’s find is from Burbed reader MS, bringing you another scrumptious sampling of Superb San Mateo!  Here’s a house that combines the luxury of a detached single family house in bucolic suburbia with the exciting night life of the nearby big city!  Okay, I didn’t say which city.

What could possibly go wrong with a one-two combo like that?

200 N KINGSTON St, San Mateo, CA 94401
$444,900

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 1,610
$/SQ. FT.: $276
LOT SIZE: 5,148 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1947
COMMUNITY: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81145428
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 44 days

Great home for first time buyers or investors! Spacious with large eat-in kitchen, formal living room and dining area plus a den. All with fresh paint and new carpet. Detached garage (partially converted) all on a corner lot.

Here’s what MS has to say about why this home deserves your attention.

Home was is occupied/partied in by relative’s sometimes violent descendants for years and years. The sheriff brought numerous backup units to evict "struggling family" terrorizing the neighborhood through October.

If you’re a potential owner-occupier, there are some of the best neighbors in North Shoreview right there. Change the locks, you should be good to go.

There’s more excitement right at the corner of Mount Diablo. Yes, where the house is. Not enough? How about this friendly block party?

Plus, the garage is only partially converted, so you’ll only need obtain a partial permit to partially fix things with the city.

Best of all, you won’t be dealing with those troublesome relatives. All you have to do is convince the bank you want the house more than they do!

Today’s listing was sent in by Burbed reader MS.  Thanks very much for this MUST SEE NOW in San Mateo!

 

1235 TERMINAL Pl, San Mateo, CA 94401
$449,999

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,040
$/SQ. FT.: $433
LOT SIZE: 4,050 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1944
COMMUNITY: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81114350
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 189 days

MUST SEE NOW! Completely remodeled 3 BR 2 full baths including a new roof, double pane windows, new kitchens cabinet, granite counter top and new stainless steel appliances. Pergo floor throughout the house, recessed lighting throughout the house, new interior, exterior paints. Detached two car garage. Drive way on the side of the property.

Here’s what MS had to say about this home:

This house is Really for Sale. It has really not sold in 170 days.

Actually it took a while to run this, so now it’s more than 190 days.

The house foreclosed at $260K, came BOM at $500K, and has been stuck at $450K for going on three months.  It is not selling because the flippers did not fix the obvious and did not take into account what could not be fixed.

1. It’s very close to the 101 retaining wall.
2. The garage is an unpermitted conversion from a one-car to a two-car, is sagging, and backs right up to an alley shared with an chain-linked parking gate for a not-nice apartment building.
3. The crawl space goes about halfway through the house. How you get to the other half is unknown.
4. The water heater and w/d hookups are in exposed enclosures outside.
5. The neighbor across the street has an 18-foot junk mountain behind his fence with “beware of dog” sign. A mattress is perched at the apex.

I CAN HAZ STREETVU?

I agree it’s never a good sign when the lead picture on MLS isn’t the front of the house.  But surprisingly, the front exterior is not the picture of most concern.  Here’s a look at the side and that unpermitted garage.

Hmmm.  The Redfin agent toured it four times and concluded:

And we haven’t even started looking inside yet!

The seller just isn’t thinking BIG enough.  Close to SF, close to Silicon Valley, close to biotech jobs, and really, really, really close to 101.

There’s a garage (with no access for a car) which you can instead use for the next Web 3.0 startup incubator make.money.fast opportunity.  Now all that’s needed is a Web 3.0 price and a reminder to drive way on the side of the property.  Way, way on the side.

I’m thinking… $995K.  Who’s in?

Burbed doesn’t usually feature home listings on weekends.  Instead we either have thoughtful wonky pieces, commentary on news articles about the wonderful world of real estate, or just random filler for an Open Thread.  Our readers aren’t in their offices avoiding work wasting time performing valuable research by visiting here, so it really doesn’t matter what we run on Saturday and Sunday.  Everyone is out enjoying the beautiful weather and the Open Houses.

Today, we have a Reader Submission appropriate for a weekend piece.  Please enjoy this look at “shadow inventory” by Burbed reader MS.  Thanks very much!

What is shadow inventory?  According to a friendly Realtor’s blog, there’s “nothing to see.”

The proof, she says, is REO vs. regular sales.

How many short sales are called “regular” sales here? Half?  A Redfin search of SFRs (Single-Family Residences) under 500K in 94401 shows that six of 14 are short sales. Like this one:

 

120 HURON Ave, San Mateo, CA 94401
$370,000

(Back from being pending, tenant occupied, listed since 2010.)  And down the street…

Finally, shadow inventory comprises properties that have received NODs (notice of default) and/or are scheduled for foreclosure auction, such as these (318 in San Mateo County):

MLS listing isn’t required to be on the auction block at Redwood City (and if a house is MLS-listed, it can still be auctioned off.)

So that, Miss Realtor, is your shadow inventory.