Speechless--2241 Buena Vista Avenue, Alameda, CA

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When you can't come up with anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut. Seems the agent for the ugly box (with awnings for fun) at 2241 Buena Vista took that advice to heart: the MLS(r) description is blank. At least I can quote it in its entirety without catching flak from the fellows at EBRD.

The specs:

2x 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 650-sqft units (building total 1,302 sqft), built in cheerful 1947, listed at $625,000 (MLS(r) #40358839)
This duplex is a particularly fine example of post-war architectural extravagance (it's the one in the middle):

2241-buena-vista-street-view.jpgGoogle's Street View van got a lucky shot of an almost period beater parked in front.

My guess is that a 650-sqft 1+1 apartment would rent for about $1,000, if that. The mortgage would be somewhere around $3,200 assuming 20% down and a 6.5% interest rate, to which you might want to add $600 for property tax, $600 set aside for maintenance, plus the $300 or so you could be earning every month on the $125,000 you put down to buy this investment property, adding up to about $56,000 in fixed costs and shortfall per year.

$56,000 out (in the best-case, no-emergency scenario), $24,000 in (in the best-case, full-occupancy scenario). This means you need to pay $2,700 a month for the privilege of owning this truly lovely investment building. And you have to live somewhere else, since both units are spoken for lest you might lose even more money.

What an INCREDIBLE DEAL.

The sale history on Zillow only shows an abnormally low transaction in 1999:

Last sale and tax info

Sold 12/29/1999: $57,500 *
2007 Property Tax: $3,213
* Transaction not included in Zestimate.
The price was just dropped from $649,000 to $625,000 a couple of days ago, after 40-some days on the market. At this rate, it'll take a year and a half of price drops before the numbers start making any kind of sense.

Update 10/12/08: Price dropped to $585,000 a couple of days ago.



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This page contains a single entry by L. Opine published on September 4, 2008 9:11 PM.

Minus $681--1017 Holly Street, Alameda, CA was the previous entry in this blog.

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