Happy Thanksgiving!  Sorry today’s house is late, as we were up all night prepping for a Burbed Feast.  Did you know how difficult it is to cut up the Real Bay Area into Census districts of half inch cubes without crossing any zip codes?

Now on to our entree. Today’s house was sent in by one of its former owners, a Burbed reader who wishes to remain anonymous.  Can’t imagine why!

361 Ardis Ave
San Jose, CA 95117 
Price:  $555,000

Loan Payment:  $1,902/mo
Bedrooms:  4
Bathrooms:  3
Size:  2,943 sqft
$/Sqft:  $188/sqft
Type:  Single Family House
Year Built:  1951
Lot Size:  9,424
Days on Movoto:  547 days
Sold Date:  05/31/11
MLS#:  81123441
Status:  Sold for $535,000

Contractors special-Huge Lot w/ Unlimited Potential. Build your Dream Home near Santana Row/Valley Fair.

Here’s what our unnamed fan has to say about today’s main course:

The house that keeps on giving.. Yes I was one of the people who lost money on this West Valley Brigadoon. The person who bought it from me, never did one thing he said, just held it and turned it for my profit… This wreck has been untouched through 4 sales…

Will the next buyer be able to rehab this behemoth???

Bad houses happen to good people :-0

This house was sent in just a week and a half ago, but the usually suspect real estate sites have it marked as sold already.  Either our correspondent just noticed his/her old place changed hands after almost two years on the market, or there’s a more recent listing we’re not finding.

Hey, Redfin, pass the white meat!  Click on through if you’re joining us from the front page.  The table is groaning.

(more…)

Happy Thanksgiving from Burbed!  And one thing to be thankful for is we’re not taking today off.  We are also thankful for our many wonderful readers, without whom we would never be able to bring you Real Bay Area Real Estate, House Price and Mortgage Insanity on a regular basis.

Speaking of wonderful readers, here’s a momentous mansion in Mountain View from Burbed reader dollarbin!

2178 LELAND Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040
$725,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3
SQ. FT.: 1,920
$/SQ. FT.: $378
LOT SIZE: 4,947 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 2
YEAR BUILT: 2007
COMMUNITY: San Antonio
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81129200
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 144 days

Maybe the Final Price Reduction before it goes to auction! Take a second look! Enjoy this stunning 4 year old well maintained home with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, 1920 sf of living area, wrap around porch, granite kitchen, granite faced fireplace in living room, 4 spacious bedrooms including downstairs master suite. This home sits in a 4791 SF lot in a well sought after Mountain View area.

Here’s what dollarbin was thinking when sending us today’s Thanksgiving Turkey.

I swear this has been on Burbed before, if not it might spark some discussion. I don’t know if this house has ever actually been occupied, the sales history suggests it hasn’t. Mere inches from the Caltrain tracks, you can shop at Mi Pueblo in your slippers too.

If this house has been on Burbed, it was hiding under a different address.  And it has quite a history, too.  Take a look at this!

And if you think that’s interesting, then look what Zillow has to say about this place!  But none of those missing listings from 2007-08 are there.

Here’s the link to Auction.com in case you want to bid on this house.  I really like the exterior shot they’re using instead of the one above on Redfin (sorry about their annoying little banner there).  Arty!  Too bad the other 4 photos are the same as before.

$725,000 really was the final price before the auction after all.  Take a second look, since you’ll be eating today’s meal a few more times too.  This house and its history can make you feel thankful for so many things.  Why not share them in comments?

Remember to get up extra early tomorrow as we begin our Black Friday Sales!  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s Thanksgiving!

The best part about Thanksgiving is how much work you’re able to get done because your lazy, slacker, co-workers aren’t around to bug you. So keep going Bay Area Work Bee! We give our thanks to you – helping build the next AppleGoogleFacebook which will continue to fuel housing prices!

Enjoy the day of productivity, while the rest of us enjoy the day off!

Last year I had the ultimate Thanksgiving Price Shootout on this blog: Using safeway.com’s website, I compared the prices of a hypothetical Thanksgiving shopping list between the Bay Area and Seattle/Redmond area.

Also known as “Zune vs iPod, Wii vs PS3″ since Sony/Apple are either based in, or have significant operations in the Bay Area, versus Nintendo and Microsoft which are in Seattle/Redmond. I guess I could’ve also called it Google vs Microsoft, but that seems so cliche.

Anyhoo, here are the prices for this year! Again, I compared prices of the exact same item in the Bay Area vs Seattle/Redmond. I also tried my best to pick items without coupon deals (the only exception was stuffing – crazy sale on stuffing right now!). Also, if you compare to last year, the prices won’t match – in part because I may have picked different brands/items last year. For example, this year I went for Roma tomatoes – I think last year I picked beefsteak tomatoes.

That said, it’s the same general list otherwise. Here we go!

Difference: Bay Area is 16% more expensive

(BTW, I’ll never understand why milk is so much more expensive here…)

This is pretty disappointing frankly. Last year the difference was 20%. This means either that Seattle/Redmond has gotten more expensive, or the Bay Area has gotten cheaper.

At this rate, the prices might be the same – that would be a disaster! Would high housing prices, and a 9.3% state income tax (that keeps our roads in fantastic condition) be enough to keep the Bay Area as special as it is?

Of course if you leave the the Bay Area, you’ll find that they don’t have any Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Japanese restaurants, Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, gays, smart people, guacamole, tech companies, snow sports, hiking, mountains, liberals, In-n-outs, or 9 months of sun. And let’s not forget our cheap housing, amazing public schools, great roads, low taxes, and lack of traffic.

Here’s to hoping that 2008 will be more expensive!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The other title for this entry is “Zune vs iPod, Wii vs PS3, Safeway vs Safeway”. Why?

iPods are made by Apple, which is in Cupertino. PS3s are made by Sony which has a big site in North San Jose. Bay Area companies.

Zunes on the other hand are made by Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Coincidentally, Wii’s are made by Nintendo – which is also in Redmond, WA!

But these places have one thing in common: Safeway. So thanks to a reader, I thought I’d investigate to see what the difference between the Safeways are. Here’s a table comparing the prices of common Thanksgiving items:

First, we’ll start with a turkey…

Here’s a turkey in Nintendo/Microsoft land:

… and the same turkey in Sony/Apple land:

Here’s some milk in Nintendo/Microsoft land:

… and the same turkey in Sony/Apple land:

Average difference: 20% more expensive

(Just to be clear – these were the exact same products on both sides. Same brand, same quality, same count – everything. You can verify the results easily using Safeway.com)

So now you know why the PS3 and iPod are so expensive, compared to the Wii and the Zune. Because the groceries are more expensive too.
Want to save money on your groceries? Easy! Leave the Bay Area for some place that’s not special like Seattle metro area.

Of course if you leave the the Bay Area, you’ll find that they don’t have any Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Japanese restaurants, Thai restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, gays, smart people, guacamole, tech companies, snow sports, hiking, mountains, liberals, In-n-outs, or 9 months of sun. And let’s not forget our cheap housing, amazing public schools, great roads, low taxes, and lack of traffic.

Yeah. I didn’t think you’d leave. It’s just too special here.

Happy Thanksgiving!