NOT AGAIN--1626 Alameda Avenue, Alameda, CA
This property (most likely 1626 Alameda Avenue, based on my recollection and public records) keeps coming on the market and disappearing. The phone number is always a Santa Barbara area code (805), and the description is USUALLY IN ALL CAPS. I have talked to at least one agent who's told me this has been happening for years without a sale.
The specs courtesy of Trulia:
A picture courtesy of yours truly:
Here's the craigslist post that appeared today:
Does anybody know what's going on with this property?
Zillow shows 2 "anomalous" (non-arms-length, probably) transactions in the 1990s:
Update 10/9/08: I don't know what's going on this week, but it's been a particularly absurd few days. This property is now listed with an agent (Carol Burnett), an MLS number (#40374667), and a VERY LOUD DESCRIPTION IN ALL CAPS:
Update 12/31/08: Cute typo brings price up to over 1 billion dollars ($1,145,000,000). Maybe TARP can help?
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The specs courtesy of Trulia:
1626 Alameda Avenue, Alameda CA 94501
4 br 5 ba 4,416 sqftMulti-Family HomeYear Built: 1908
Here's the craigslist post that appeared today:$1145000 TURN OF THE CENTURY MANSION ALAMEDA GOLD COAST (alameda) (map)
Reply to: hous-815953936@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-08-27, 5:43PM PDT
THIS SPACIOUS (4416 SQ. FT.) TURN OF THE CENTURY PROPERTY OFFERS LOADS OF LOVELY SPACE FOR EXTENDED OR SINGLE FAMILY LIVING PLUS THERE IS LEGAL RENTAL POTENTIAL. IT HAS SIX BEDROOMS, SIX BATHS, COVED CEILINGS, HARDWOOD FLOORS, POCKET DOORS AND DECORATIVE FIREPLACES. HUGE UPDATED KITCHEN WITH ALL MODERN APPLIANCES. THERE IS A FINISHED LIVING ATTIC CONVERSION DONE WITH PERMITS AND A FINISHED BASEMENT DONE WITH PERMITS AND USED AS A DEN PLAYROOM OR OFFICE. THE HOUSE HAS BEEN EARTHQUAKE RETROFITTED AND IS NOT ON BRICK FOUNDATIONS. A LOVELY BRICK PATIO COURTYARD GARDEN IS AT THE REAR OF THE HOUSE AND HAS A CHARMING WISTERIA COVERED GAZEBO WHICH IS GREAT FOR OUTDOOR ENTERTAINING. THERE ARE TWO SINGLE CAR GARAGES AND OFF STREET PARKING FOR ANOTHER TWO VEHICLES. EASY WALK TO BUS LINES CONNECTING TO BART AND FERRY AND DIRECT SERVICE TO DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO. YOU ARE IN THE FINEST FRANKLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT AND JUST AROUND THE CORNER FROM FRANKLIN PARK. A HOUSE ON THE PARK HAS CURRENTLY SOLD FOR 1,289,000 SO PRICES HAVEN'T DROPPED MUCH IN ALAMEDA!!! WHY FIGHT THE COST AND AGGRAVATION OF COMMUTING WHEN YOU CAN LIVE THE GOOD LIFE IN ALAMEDA'S LOVELY GOLD COAST DISTRICT CALL 805 927 1058 FOR MORE INFORMATION AND AN APPOINTMENT TO VIEWALAMEDA AVE. at GRAND ST.
Does anybody know what's going on with this property?
Zillow shows 2 "anomalous" (non-arms-length, probably) transactions in the 1990s:
| Sale History | |
| 05/20/1999: | $184,000 * |
|---|---|
| 05/13/1996: | $152,000 * |
| No other sale data is available | |
| * Transaction not included in Zestimate. | |
Update 10/9/08: I don't know what's going on this week, but it's been a particularly absurd few days. This property is now listed with an agent (Carol Burnett), an MLS number (#40374667), and a VERY LOUD DESCRIPTION IN ALL CAPS:
GOLD COAST COLONIAL REVIVAL DUPLEX OR FAMILY HOME WITH ART STUDIO ATTIC [...] BASEMENT. HISTORICAL ELEGANCE NESTLED IN THE SERENITY OF ALAMEDA'S EXCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD, BOTH LUXURY AND SPACIOUSNESS [...] ORIGINAL DETAILS,TRANQUIL BACK YARD.
Update 12/31/08: Cute typo brings price up to over 1 billion dollars ($1,145,000,000). Maybe TARP can help?
START YOUR NEW YEAR RIGHT BY BUYING THIS VERSATILE PIECE OF PROPERTY. THIS HOUSE IS GREAT FOR LARGE OR EXTENDED FAMILIES OR LEGAL RENTAL UNIT. SIX BEDROOMS, SIX BATHS TWO LARGE PARLOURS AND TWO BEAUTIFUL DINING ROOMS WITH MANY ORIGINAL FEATURES INCLUDING HARDWOOD FLOORS, COVED CEILINGS, POCKET DOORS AND BAY WINDOWS GIVE THIS HOME THE AMBIENCE YOU WANT FOR ENTERTAINING. LOVELY BRICKED IN COURTYARD GARDEN WITH WISTERIA COVERED GAZEBO COMPLETES THE PICTURE FOR EASY LIVING. THERE IS A FINISHED BASEMENT (DONE WITH PERMITS) AND TWO SINGLE CAR GARAGES WITH OFF STREET PARKING FOR ANOTHER TWO VECHICLES. EASY WALK TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT CONNECTING TO ANYWHERE IN THE BAY AREA. BEST PART, THIS PROPERTY IS LOCATED IN THE EXCLUSIVE FRANKLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT EXCELLENT SCHOOLS WITH NO FEES. CALL 805 927 1058 FOR APPOINTMENT TO VIEW
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Looks like it was last purchased in 1999 for $184,000. Maybe they just can't get the price they want. I called the number (just out of curiousity) but was too lazy to get into conversation. It was picked up by a woman. No particular identification (such as a company) just a nice, regular voice as though she was answering her home phone. 805 extends from San Luis Obispo down towards Thousand Oaks so who knows where the person lives.
I would love to engage in conversation just to call them out on why it keeps coming on/going off. What is the point, I ask???
So KCG,
What did you do? You called the nice lady and hung up? You said you "were too lazy to get in a conversation"? But you were not too lazy to comment here. Whatever.
The description is indeed that of the property located at 1626 Alameda Ave. It's a legal duplex with a "non-conforming", i.e. illegal, unit in the third floor attic space. In fact, most of the descipton has been lifted from a real estate flyer I picked up at the property's open house about 18 months ago.
The property has been on the market with no fewer than 4 different agents over the past 3 years, and it appears intermittently on craigslist. It has been listed with several different prices over the years. If anyone is truly interested, I do have the flyers from each of the open houses and can tell you the past listing prices--all were in the $1.15-$1.6M range if memory serves me correctly. (I would visit each time a different agent held it open hoping the owners did something--anything--to the property to justify the price. Each time I visited, it was the exact same property with a new agent and a slightly different price.
In my humble opinion, it looks to me to be a situation in which the owner(s) have a number stuck in their head(s) and refuse to list the house below that number, despite how unrealistic that price might be.
Island guy, that is precisely the reason why this property has been through at least 4 listing agents in the last 3 years. Each one of them will tell you that there was a lot of interest, and a few offers on the property. But the owner didn't want to budge on the price. Don't forget, there was also a non-conforming studio unit in the basement.
I walked past that property a year or two ago to get a sense of what it's like. It is on a very nice block in the Gold Coast neighborhood, and it looks pretty good from the outside (although if memory serves the lot must be much deeper than it is wide, because the neighbors seem to crowd it out on both sides). The photos displayed whenever the house is relisted also reveal nothing obviously wrong.
So to me this begs the question: barring some bizarre personality quirk on the seller's part, why hasn't this home sold? It's huge and priced way below market at $259 / sqft (compare to 1208 St Charles, which is about the same size and just sold for over $2M http://www.knifecatchers.com/blog/2008/04/as-good-as-it-gets1208-saint-c.html ). Hell, if a nice big Victorian came on the market at $259 / sqft, *I * would be all over it. If you really want the house, I don't see how giving the seller the price they want should be a problem at this price point (per sqft).
This seller may be stubborn but they have shown the ability to drop their price--$1,145,000 is different from what I remember.
There's got to be more to it than just a stubborn seller. $259 / sqft in that location for a house that's not falling apart is unheard of these days, and it would take a particularly stupid buyer to lose the sale for $50,000 or whatever they bid below asking.
Oh, wait. A particularly stupid buyer. Not exactly a rare commodity. Never mind.
You'd have to see the inside of 1626 Alameda to understand why it hasn't sold in more than 3 years of being on and off the market. It's hard to even figure out what the house was like in its original incarnation. Was it a SRF? A Duplex? A Triplex? The house has a very "chopped up" feel, with halls leading to strange dead-ends, single rooms apparently chopped in half to make two rooms, and an attic "unit" that you have to stoop to walk through. And, nothing's been updated in a LONG time. There's absolutely no yard. Yes, it's a BIG house. It's also a BIG mess. A Gold Coast-type buyer would need to put a few hundred thousand dollars into this house to make it "normal," and would need to totally reconfigure the house to use it as a SFR or an appealing duplex.
You can't compare this house to 1208 St. Charles which is a showplace-type house on a quadruple lot. The land value is what drives that price to $2M.