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!

Here’s a great find from Burbed reader Tracy, in sunny, I mean spooky San Mateo!  Ooooooooo!

210 N IDAHO St, San Mateo, CA 94401
$495,000

BEDS: 2
BATHS: 1
SQ. FT.: 770
$/SQ. FT.: $643
LOT SIZE: 4,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Attached Single Family
STYLE: Contemporary
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1951
COMMUNITY: Eastern Addition/Downtown Area
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81105556
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 301 days

CLEAN AND WELL MAINTAINED HOME. GARAGE CONVERTED WITHOUT PERMITS.

One photo, one line of copy, and the truth about the garage conversion!  What more could you want, other than a better look at the house in the daytime…

Gorgeous!  And maybe a look around the neighborhood…

Yeah!  What’s not to like for half a million dollars?  All this and an honest agent, too!  You should be kissing this seller’s feet and offering $600,000!

Poor Mr. Zip.  The United States Postal Service put him out to pasture in 1986, when they introduced the ZIP+4 postal codes.  But he was a familiar sight in the 1960s, urging everyone to include the new ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) postal codes when sending mail.

Mr. Zip might not be around to nag you on addressing envelopes, because he’s in retirement.  Mr. Z writes to say he hopes this series will go on forever, because he can’t play Name That Code all the time.

Today we bring you yet another installment of all the Northern California cities on Forbes’ Most Expensive Zip Code list.  It features data crunched by local favorite Altos Research (and mangled by Forbes; you’d think after I’ve linked to them four different times and noted in each article that their data has a systematic error in every single entry, maybe somebody there would fix it, but NOOOOOOOO).  Anyway, here’s what you may have missed while writing code or hanging out on a sunny sidewalk waiting to collect a faceful of pepper spray.

Previous Entries in the Most Expensive Zip Code Series:

• Top 50 Most Expensive Zip Codes, RBA Edition
• Next 50 Most Expensive Zip Codes, Almost-RBA Edition
• Third Tier Realty: Zips 101-200 or I have a feeling we’re not in the RBA Anymore
• Fourth Tier Cul de Sac: Submillion in Suburbia

Now, we’ll take the Fifth!  Fifth Tier, that is; the Top Half of the Bottom 200!

Let’s see which cities can still scrape together a property median wishing price just under $850K.  Remember, we correct the mistakes as we find them, and we added the comparison to last year’s list.  That’s the kind of original work you’ll only find done by obsessive-compulsive bloggers who think zip codes are fascinating.  Well, Mr. Zip certainly agrees!

#304: San Mateo 94402

• Median Home Price: $849,292
• Median Price Change: NA
• Average Days On Market: 200 114
• Inventory: 114 81
• Rank in 2010: 236 (-68 spots ⇓)
• Most Expensive Home: $13 Million

Now I am beginning to think that the people at Forbes were just making stuff up for that “Most Expensive Home” field.  $13 million.  In San Mateo.  The most expensive place I could find sold for $3.3 mil in June, including the gated entryway.  It’s just like what you get in mid-level condoplexes, including calling itself an ESTATE (complete with the CAPITAL LETTERS).

Ah, but that living room does look spacious enough to hold a very small charity ball.  More goodness from Mr. Zip after the break!

(more…)

Today’s luscious listing is a superb short sale in San Mateo, courtesy of Burbed reader Divasm!  Thanks for this fantastic find, featuring fun photos, plenty of deferred maintenance, and the ever-popular “The dog ate my permits” excuse.

324 MIDVALE Ave, San Mateo, CA 94403
$550,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 4
SQ. FT.: 1,610
$/SQ. FT.: $342
LOT SIZE: 5,056 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 1950
COMMUNITY: Westwood Knolls
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81119319
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 168 days

Contractor Special! House has 4 bdrms 4 ba on record but total square footage of 2200 sq ft not formally recorded. Owner states that 2 bdrms, 2 ba & family rm addition were built w/ permit. Close to shopping & schools. Needs maintenance. Has a lot of potential. Swimming pool and spa in bkyard. Legality of 4th bath not warranted.

Here’s Divasm’s thoughts on today’s house:

This short sale has been around for over 150 days and been in and out of pending. It’s nothing new, same old story…but it’s a great example of when to just NOT include pictures of the house because they’re really not doing you any favors. The outside pic has so much glare and lens flare you think you’re in a JJ Abrams movie, and the inside pics look like somebody intentionally trashed their house…at Christmas time.

But hey, maybe in a couple months the season will come back around and it will appear festive! And I guess we should be happy there are no Dudes or Cats hanging around, there is that…

I think this shot of the kitchen is a 10.  A 10 on the “I’m selling my house for more than half a million bucks and can’t be bothered to clean the kitchen before taking a few snaps.”

They couldn’t even bother to move the trash can out of the frame.  This is so beautiful, it’s bringing tears to eyes.  Or maybe that’s the onions in the trash can.

The permit issues are just the icing on this delectable cake of contractor concern!  Good thing the owner states that most of the additions were built w/ permit!  The extra square footage not appearing on the county records is just a quibble you can work out with the friendly folks at the Planning Department and the Assessor’s Office.  You’re going to be spending a LOT of time with those folks getting approvals for all the maintenance this place needs, so you might as well ask them why there’s 600 square feet “not formally recorded.”

Maybe they’re hiding behind all the crap in this bedroom.

Thanks very much to Burbed reader sprezzatura for this San Mateo short sale.  Not only will it be selling shortly, but also often!

 

369 N CLAREMONT St #2, San Mateo, CA 94401
$279,000

BEDS: 2
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,237
$/SQ. FT.: $226
LOT SIZE: -
PROPERTY TYPE: Townhouse
YEAR BUILT: 1991
COMMUNITY: Eastern Addition/Downtown Area
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 80939018
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 781 days

Price right for a fast sale, ready to move in with great financing available including FHA or 100% financing. Closed to Shopping, schools and transportation.

Here’s what sprezzatura had to say about this, um, piece of property:

This San Mateo short sale has gone pending 4 times and still never sold! Always a bridesmaid, poor condo.

The realtor has thoughtfully included photos of both bathrooms and what I assume is the living room, but nothing else. I suppose since the seller will be taking close to a 50% haircut since buying at top of the market, the realtor thought only photographing half the house was appropriate.

I think for only $279,000 we should be delighted to see three photos of the interior.  Yesterday we had a place for almost ten times as much with just a crappy shot of the outside.  It was pending, too.  That’s two quick pending in two days.  And 100% financing?  I tell you, the Bay Area real estate market is BACK!

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?

Thanks to Burbed reader MS for another terrific guest post today.  Let’s return to San Mateo and see what just hit the listings!

And remember, Burbed would be nothing but a bunch of links to Redfin without the utter crap fantastic finds our readers send in.  So if you see a hideous teardown dream house opportunity, or always wanted to insult realtards write your own article, please drop us a line.  Why?  Fame, fortune (we can put some 8s next to your handle), plus we’re incredibly lazy.

And now, please give your warmest Real Bay Area welcome to MS!

What could possibly be done to make a 3/2 house in South Shoreview so unappealing that people will bid on it?

2068 KEHOE Ave, San Mateo, CA 94403
$430,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,380
$/SQ. FT.: $312
LOT SIZE: 5,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Attached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1955
COMMUNITY: Parkside
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81133155
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 1 day
NEW LISTING (24 HOURS)

fantastic three bedroom home with large family room, two fireplaces, two car garage 7 great yard with build in BBQ in great neighborhood.

1) Supply one picture of the house at 800 x 600 at so wrong a time of day and angle that it obscures the house almost completely, making it seem like one giant garage. Include the fantastic purple fluorescent sky.

2) Then write this description:

"fantastic three bedroom home with large family room, two fireplaces, two car garage 7 great yard with build in BBQ in great neighborhood."

3) With such marketing, it must be a bargain! Price it 10 percent below realistic to get a bidding war started to cover that ’05 mortgage! 

It’s been far too long since we visited San Mateo, county seat of San Mateo County (we got that obvious tidbit from the Department of Redundancy Department, thank you Captain Obvious!)  Today’s Guest Blogger is Burbed reader MS, who has found a whole new definition of maximizing revenues.

Please give MS a warm, Real Bay Area welcome with today’s takedown of a San Mateo charmer!

1406 MONTE DIABLO Ave, San Mateo, CA 94401
$470,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,320
$/SQ. FT.: $356
LOT SIZE: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Ranch
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1947
COMMUNITY: North Shoreview/Dore Cavanaugh
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81127572
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 34 days

Great home in San Mateo. Close to transportation, main freeways and schools. Three bedrooms, two bath, good size Master Bedroom and walking closet. Home is in good condition and at a great price!!!Open House Sunday, June 26 1-4pm

This 3/2 in Shoreview is priced attractively. Getting in to look at the whole property isn’t so easy. The main house has three separate tenants in it who cracked open their doors and left their rooms a sty. The garage houses at least another person who wouldn’t come out. The back-yard in-law houses yet two more who waved us away.

Each tenant in the main house pays 700 x 3 = 2100.

The couple who thought we were ICE = 1200.

The garage guys = 600.

Total in rent = 3900. My realtor and the listing agent were just shaking their heads. They’ve seen it a lot around here.

If there’s $3900 in rent coming in from five sources, why would someone short sell?

Why? Perhaps, theoretically, the time it buys a home “owner” to stop making payments and skate off the $4000/month in income he’s getting, all while whining about how the banks ripped off the little guy with the ’06 mortgage he took out.

Sale Pending (MLS-listed)

Listed at: $199,000

318 S DELAWARE St San Mateo, CA 94401

Beds:	1
Baths:	1
Sq. Ft.:	740
$/Sq. Ft.:	$269
Lot Size:	5,500 Sq. Ft.
Property Type:	Detached Single Family
Stories:	1
Year Built:	1912
Community:	Parkside
County:	San Mateo
MLS#:	81120671
Source:	MLSListings
Status:	Pending With Release
On Redfin:	9 days

1bd/1ba land value only. Please do not disturb occupants.

That looks like a pretty fine house. I wonder what’s wrong with it.

But here’s what Burbed reader Sam wanted to bring to our attention:

I see this kind of thing from time to time- a short sale property that goes pending the same day it is listed.  I have to wonder how the underwriting bank- who is taking a loss on this kind of transaction- can permit this to happen.  Of course, the bank may not agree to the sale, but if they do it sure smacks of some kind of rigged game/insider shenanigans. Since sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants, I’m hoping that burbed can shine some light on what appears to be something rotten.

Let’s look at the history real quick:

Looking at this listing, what I see is that the listing price is $199k. But we’ll have to wait and see what the final selling price is! Will be $500k? $750k? $1M?

Only time will tell…

Zillow, the website that brought you the Zestimate, now has a brand-new feature to make fun of.  We’ve all chuckled over how surprisingly off the Zestimate of a home’s value could be.  Well, in the words of Mr. Family Guy, “You think that’s bad?”

Zillow has just introduced the Rent Zestimate.  Yes, now we can compute the Zrent Zratio, using two estimates that may or may not have anything to do with reality!  Let’s try it with a few houses previously featured on Burbed!

Here’s Friday’s house, the Tangrams Set with the High-Tech name.  Once more, the Zestimate has no relation to real life, because if it did this place wouldn’t be sitting unclaimed for 113 days at $200K less than Zillow’s amazing valuation model’s prediction.  To compute the Zrent Zratio, divide the Zestimate by the annual Rent Zestimate.  For this house, $762,000 divided by ($3081 * 12) is 20.6, a number that says rent, don’t buy this house.  (A number above 15 says rent, a number below 15 says buy.)

Although I think the answer is really don’t rent or buy this house, so let’s try again with something a little more desirable.  So let’s stop and smell the roses.

Well, here’s a Zestimate a little more down to earth, as this Beautiful Specious Home is listed for $239,000.  The Zrent Zratio is $217,500 / (1345 * 12) or 13.5.  Buy!  Buy!  BUY!

And here’s our most recent run-in with MAWBUL CAWLUMS, it’s the Shrek House.

Ready?  Oh oh, this place has a Zestimate about 30% of the asking price.  I didn’t say 30% lower, I said it’s 30% of the asking price.  I’m sure the FBs will be happy to set Zillow straight on this.  And the Zrent Zratio is… $1,427,000 / (5587 * 12) = 21.3.  Rent.  Definitely rent.

Okay, now for grins, we’re going to compute the rent ratio using the wishing prices of all three homes, and Zillow’s Rent Zestimate.

• Poinsettia: $575,000 / (2979 * 12) = 16.1 (weak rent, buy it if you love it)
• Gibraltar: $217,500 / (1345 * 12) = 14.8 (buy or rent, it’s a wash)
• Butch: $4,999,000 / (5587 * 12) = 74.6 (rent rent rent rent rent rent are you kidding me?)

So, what do you think of Zillow’s new made up numbers?  Do any of these rents have anything to do with reality?  And if you divide one invented number by another, does the nonsense cancel itself out?