Menlo Park, like its nearby neighbors, is having a bit of a real estate run right now.  Fortunately, some properties have that certain je ne sais pas that put them on our front page no matter how much Facebook employees want to buy a house.  Today’s featured facade, foisted upon us by Burbed reader peninsula.man, punctuates this perfectly.  Please proceed.

410 8TH AVE
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Offered at $699,000
- Pending (Do Not Show)

Type: Single Family Home
MLS #  ML81233923 
SqFt  2,170
Beds  5  Baths  3 Full / 1 Partial 
Lot Size 5,350 SqFt
Year / Age  1935 / 77
Virtual Tour
BuildFax 
 
This spacious and newly remodeled home with 2170 sf is in immaculate move-in condition. Beautifully updated kitchen, baths, recessed lighting, crown moldings, dual-pane windows, and Cherry engineered hardwood floors. Secure front gate with professionally landscaped yard. A perfect home with great convenient location, ready and waiting for its new owner.

And here’s what the P-Man himself has to say about this place:

Can not wait to live next to pizza hut! for just over half a million

More like almost half again over half a million. You’ve been living on the Peninsula too long if $199,000 isn’t worth mentioning in a home price.

More importantly, these photos suggest that this not-quite-vintage-enough-to-qualify-for-the-old-house-tag listing has had a few upgrades put in recently.  Very recently.  Because let’s have a look at the last time this place went pending.

410 8TH Ave
Menlo Park, CA 94025
$355,000 –  Last Sold Price

4 Beds 
4.5 Baths 
2,000 Sq. Ft.
$178 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1935 
Lot Size: 5,350 Sq. Ft. 
Sold On: Jan 13, 2012
Property Type: Detached Single Family
View: Neighborhood
County: San Mateo
Stories: 1
Community: County Area/Fair Oaks Ave
MLS#: 81150047

This property is a fixer upper need cash buyer to buy this property

Someone had the cash, as the place went pending in eleven days.  Now look what they did to it!  This time it went pending in only seven days. 

Whoops, according to Zillow it went pending in seven days after the $76,000 price reduction five weeks after the $50,000 price reduction which was a month after this place was first listed for an eye-popping $825,000. 

Where the heck do they think they are, Mountain View?  Bunus: House is not actually next to Pizza Hut. 

You can clearly see there is a Quik-Stop in the way.  Be sure to check out the Streetview so you can appreciate this location, location, location! 

Score! Trash bins and DHO!

Our pleas have been heard!  A couple of weeks ago, when posting the nine kajillionth house in Mountain View “close to Google,” we asked for homes that were not in the hot, hot, hot Mountain View/Palo Alto area.  And Burbed reader JL has delivered, with this attractive attached abode in Alameda.  Yes, Alameda, as in the island in Alameda County.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you about this one, because we certainly did.

2909 BAYVIEW Dr
Alameda, CA 94501
$465,000

4 Beds
2 Baths
1,716 Sq. Ft.
$271 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1964
Lot Size: 3,051 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 10 days
Type: Duet
Stories: 2
Community: Alameda
MLS#: 40590093
Style: Contemporary
View: Water
County: Alameda

Open – Sunday, Sept 23rd, 2 – 3 pm only. A 4 bedroom single-family attached home situated on a quiet lagoon, close to the beach and walking path. TLC needed for this contemporary home.

So far, nothing too alarming here, other than this “duet home” having a garage door face-off.  One looks like a paint sampler and one doesn’t.  One has a peaked roof feature and one doesn’t.  The windows and shutters aren’t matched either.

Guess our standards shouldn’t be so high when buying a house directly from the bank instead of through a pesky owner.

So first, let’s first admire that Water view we were promised.

Delightful!  Ready to see the inside of the house?  Sure you are.  You may need to take a minute to adjust your eyes from the bright sun glinting off the water.  We’ll give you a brief rest by making you click through to see them, and many more pictures!

(more…)

Yesterday, Our Fearless Leader came out of retirement and shared a really Special House in Millbrae.  It was soooo Special that burbed asked me to follow up with this possibly related listing.  So, thanks for sending this one in, Burbed reader burbed.  To, um, the blog you started.  Right.

821 MORNINGSIDE Dr
Millbrae, CA 94030
$1,258,000

4 Beds 
4 Baths 
2,140 Sq. Ft.
$588 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 2002 
Lot Size: 5,100 Sq. Ft. 
On Redfin: 36 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
View: Bay
County: San Mateo
Stories: 3
Community: Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch
MLS#: 81231418

4 Bedroom/4 Bath, only 10 years new home with marble and wood flooring, cherry cabinets, granite countertops throughout located in a great school district.

Did you like yesterday’s house?  Well, you’ll just love today’s, because it is right next door and it also new while having the advantage of being time-tested.  This house is even more awesome than yesterday’s, because all you can do is longingly look at the front facade.  There’s not a single shot of the marble and wood flooring, cherry cabinets, granite countertops throughout, let alone the great school district.

That must mean the staging is so amazing, you’ll need to wait in line for hours just to buy tickets to see it.  And if they hired ILM to stage yesterday’s house, who could be the artiste for this one?  Maybe it’s Peter Bohlin?  Could the landscaping be the work of Lawrence Halprin?  Or is the entire project the genius of Denis Weil?

One thing is for sure: no matter how many computers and servers you have, you should plenty of power to run all of them.

Here’s both homes for you to admire.  Let us know which one you’d rather be trapped in by a million dollar mortgage for the next 30 years.

“Bunus:“ Same agent representing both houses!  Can you say Buy Two Get Two?

Do you want a house with trees in the front yard, but don’t want to deal with all those tree troubles?  Do you hate raking leaves?  Do you get angry tripping over roots?  How about falling branches?  Well, have we a house for you today, courtesy of Burbed reader nomadic, guaranteed to minimize those arboreal obstacles.

601 W REMINGTON Dr
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
$950,000

4 Beds
2 Baths
1,660 Sq. Ft.
$572 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 1959
Lot Size: 7,245 Sq. Ft.
On Redfin: 36 days
Status: Pending Without Release
Pending Without Release
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 1
Community: Sunnyvale
MLS#: 81229511
Style: Contemporary
View: Neighborhood
County: Santa Clara

This beautiful Eichler is full of light with a slate atrium courtyard. Inside you will find new bamboo floors with radiant heat and a remodeled gourmet kitchen. The kitchen features quartz counters, alder wood cabinets and GE Cafe appliances. Enjoy the open living room and spacious dining area. You will truly enjoy this home and its location near Las Palmas Park and Cumberland Elementary.

New bamboo floors inside?  It’s the outside you need to be taking a good look at.  That hedge along the front wall will satisfy your need for tree-like objects without any objectionable tree-like behaviors.

Plus the backsplash design in the kitchen will wake you up every time you enter the room.  It’s not that the colors are particularly objectionable; we’re just not sure that design goes with the alder, the bamboo, the quartz and the stainless.

We haven’t even gotten into the slate.

So, nice open Eichler plan, recent remodel of a 50 year old house.  Ready to plop down almost a mil for the second best elementary in the Sunnyvale school district?  Maybe you should first check the location, location, location.

Because living on the corner of a secondary arterial and the route to a park and tennis center means the whole city will have many opportunities to admire your hedge!  No wonder it went pending — BOOM!

“Bunus”: Here’s what Google Streetview shows when you give this address:

This may be the first house on Burbed to score so many roadblocks in one place.

And we’ll finish up this shortened week of accommodation awesomeness with some new construction in Los Gatos!  Thanks very much to Burbed reader nomadic for yet another example of Truth in Real Estate!

116 PANORAMA Way
Los Gatos, CA 95032
$1,999,000

4 Beds 
3.5 Baths 
3,000 Sq. Ft.
$666 / Sq. Ft.
Built: 2012 
Lot Size: 10,100 Sq. Ft. 
On Redfin: 126 days
Property Type: Detached Single Family
Stories: 2
Community: Los Gatos/Monte Sereno
MLS#: 81216707
Style: French, Mediterranean
View: Mountains
County: Santa Clara

New Construction. Excellent Floor Plan; Gourmet Kitchen with Custom paint & glazed Cabinets with Professional grade Bosch Appliances; Walk-in Pantry; Alarmed Security Systems; Smart Wired for CATV/HDTV & custom audio system; Laundry with custom built Cabinets with Granite Countertops & skylight.

Not another one of those backwards houses!  And by backwards we mean a “luxury” type McMansion that has an impressive address, but forgot to bring the school district along for the ride.  Let nomadic explain:

New construction for a premium in the slums of Los Gatos!

I’m calling them out because on the “features” tab it says: “Excellent Los Gatos and San Jose Public & Private Schools.”  They must be referring to private schools in Los Gatos, because the public schools (while quite good) are in the Union Elementary and Campbell Union High School districts.

Redfin has the location all wrong for these houses on the Google map, which makes me think they’re taking liberties with the lot sizes too.  If you look on the map and pan down Union Avenue to just north of Leewood Court, you can see the two of them nuzzled together on the construction site. 

Wow, it looks AWFUL on the satellite view – worse than the view from Union. 

The better-looking but much too close companion chateau finally went Pending a couple of weeks ago.  And given how lovey-dovey these two homes are, who wants to guess that the lot size of 10,500 is for both of them?  (Lot size of 117 is conveniently provided in acres to make comparisons quick and easy!  That’s 11,326 sf.  You’re welcome.)

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.

…Once they’ve seen the bright lights of South San Jose?  This is a floor wax and a dessert topping, two mints in one, yes an actual farm in San Jose.  Thanks very much to Burbed reader Abby Dow for this fantastic farmyard complete with funky photos and retail store pricing.

3630 KETTMANN RD
San Jose, CA 95121
$2,999,999

3 beds
2 baths
1300 sqft
8 acres
1937 built
18 days on site
MLS# 81229181
Walk Score™ 48

Wow- Great Location and Potential. Developers, investors and owner builder; come see for yourself this one of a kind evergreen property, wonderfully located on 8+ acres.

The value must be in the land because the actual house doesn’t appear in the listing photos until you get to #4.  Our pal Abby seemed quite taken with the idea:

I’m sure this is priced for development, but it’s still strange to see a shabby looking little farm with a rundown house going on the market for $2,999,999 in San Jose.

It sure is.  8 acres?  It should be going for $3,999,999, especially with trash bins of this quality.  Plus you can be lord of the manor on that much property right in the middle of all this suburban sprawl.

Except that big house we’re seeing on Streetview is someone else’s manor.

You’ll get to know them well, as it looks like you’ll be sharing that gated one-lane road.  That’s going to be awesome when you build you PUD zoned 12 homes to the acre.  Who needs Santa Cruz, you can play real bumper cars just trying to get in or out!

Today’s house must be an Olympic-level winner, because three different Burbed readers sent it in.  We’re sure you’ll love it as much as they did.

375 ANNA Ave
Mountain View, CA  94043
$698,000

BEDS:  4
BATHS:  2
SQ. FT.:  1,216
$/SQ. FT.:  $574
LOT SIZE:  5,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT:  1956
COMMUNITY:  Thompson
COUNTY:  Santa Clara
MLS#:  81227441
SOURCE:  MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN:  8 days

Contractor Special! Excellent opportunity to purchase a fixer-upper in a great location in the Monta Loma Neighborhood. Excellent floor plan with private rear yard backing up to Monta Loma Elementary.

Here are the nominating speeches, first from dollarbin:

From the always popular Monta Loma neighborhood we have a hot little “contractor special”.

Only $574/sq ft?  Fortunately, local realtor Pat Jordan’s newsletter has the full story:

“375 Anna Avenue, 3 BR, 2 BA Mardell with 1,216 Sq. Ft. on 5,000 Sq. Ft. lot.  In very poor condition, offers subject to inspection (cannot see until an offer is written, because it is infested with fleas).  Notice of default has been filed.  Listed for $698,000 by Sereno Real Estate. “

I guess I won’t be able to post a first hand account from an open house.  In fact, I drove by tonight and they’re going with stealth marketing, there isn’t even a sign out front.

Not only that, have a look at the Googlecam.  The next-door neighbor is close.  Real close.

Bunus: trash bins!  Next, another nod from mabel du, who was yesterday’s Guest Blogger:

there’s only one pic on zillow or redfin, and boy-howdy it’s a beaut!  doesn’t it make you want to rush to buy this gem?  you could lose sight of your dog or kid in that weedy front lawn.  the realtor is set to make a chunk of money on this place, but he couldn’t drop $50 to get the front yard mowed?!?

“…private rear yard backing up to Monta Loma Elementary” -  oh yeah.  the sounds of screaming kids, intercom announcements, and timed school bells all day long, that’s “private” and peaceful.  (check out the satellite maps)   in case you were ondering – the school bells ring early & often, even on holidays.  so don’t plan on sleeping late very often.

Sleep late?  With all those delightful sounds you’ll be hearing?

Not to mention the amazing history this offers.  Well, amazing listing history.

Looks like this property is back in the RBA, if it can pull off this price double after just 13 years.  Which it really needed, after losing value from 10 years before that.

Success breeds success at Burbed, and our coverage of Google Central just keeps leading to more submissions as close-in as possible. Today’s property is a real treat because it’s so close to everything.  Thanks very much to Burbed reader Michael Boltonestater for this mixed-use manse in Mountain View.

1941 COLONY St
Mountain View, CA 94043
$828,000

BEDS:  3
BATHS:  1.5
SQ. FT.:  1,105
$/SQ. FT.:  $749
LOT SIZE:  0.27 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT:  1950
COMMUNITY:  Rengstorff
COUNTY:  Santa Clara
MLS#:  81227723
SOURCE:  MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN:  1 day
 NEW LISTING (24 HOURS)

Zoned industrial, currently used as a single family house, not allowed to increase the living sqft. Can be used also as mixed residential/industrial. Currently considered non-conforming use and can be kept this way. City will not allow to change the industrial zoning to residential zoning.

This agent is such a defeatist! Of course the city will allow to change the industrial zoning to residential zoning.  The only question is, how much will it cost to encourage them to do it?  When you see what this house is near, the answer to whether it’s worth it isn’t just yes, but FOUKING HELL YES.

We’ve seen mixed residential/commercial zoning before, but this house enters a new paradigm for the Silicon Valley engineer/inventor who doesn’t want to be limited to just the garage.  Take a look at all you get just on your block!  Places to build things or store things or blow them up to the left, other is-this-a-house-or-a-wrecking-yard mysteries to the right.  It’s a win either direction you go.  

Plus, look at the  neighborhood we’re talking about!  It’s not often that the vehicles go so perfectly with the front yard decor.

And across the street, it gets even better!  No less than Burbed’s favorite townhouse community EVER!

If Burbed were a business that actually made any money, this house would be the place we’d be headquartered. So run out and buy the place, and start your Web 3.1 empire today!

Listed 7 days and pending already, no doubt because of the easy access to better towns.  Did we mention that Mountain View is hot, hot, hot?  If you don’t believe us look at the trees in these photos.

2546 DELL Ave
Mountain View, CA 94043
$699,000

BEDS:  3
BATHS:  2
SQ. FT.:  1,216
$/SQ. FT.:  $575
LOT SIZE:  5,000 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT:  1959
COMMUNITY:  Thompson
COUNTY:  Santa Clara
MLS#:  81226069
SOURCE:  MLSListings
STATUS: Pending Without Release
ON REDFIN:  7 days

Great location in Monta Loma Neighborhood! Incredible opportunity to remodel and make your own! Blocks from Monta Loma Elementary School. 4 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms with over 1200 sq. ft living space. Open living room and dining room, bonus room and large backyard. Attached 2 car garage. Just minutes from the New Village at San Antonio Center with easy access to Los Altos & Palo Alto!

Please pardon us while we try to reboot our eyeballs after yet another HDR attack.  We may also need some potassium iodade pills to mitigate any exposure to the radioactive foliage.

Now, can anyone explain why the realtard chose the “additional” pictures provided?  In addition to all three school facades and the Mountain View Performing Arts Center, there’s a photo of a US Bank with a Starbucks across the street.  Is this a subliminal suggestion that you’ll be rolling in dough from all the new homeowner tax savings?  Or is this photo merely there to show how awesome Downtown Mountain View is, a US Bank and a Starbucks, both! 

Because this is Downtown Los Altos.

The photo on the left is #24 from the listing. The photo on the right came straight from teh Googly Mapz, for 300 Main Street.  Obviously this view is far more classy than one of the Starbucks closer to this house.  Wouldn’t you rather sip your lattes at a more prestigious Starbucks in a mawbul kawlums zip code?  Heck, why didn’t the agent include a picture of Stanford?