Breaking $300--1210 Broadway #C, Alameda, CA

The condo market isn't well, but some sellers (and/or their agents) thankfully show signs of moderate brain activity. Today's craigslist condo is one of the first sub-$300K 1000+sqft 2-bedroom condo I've seen in town, in a building with looks far less ignominious than the hideous 1970s boxes you see all over town:

2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, 1,071 sqft, MLS(r) #40374497, $279,950

$279950 Open House Sat 10/11 1-4pm Townhouse Style Condo in 4-Unit Bldg. (alameda) (map)

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Reply to: gailmtravers@hotmail.com ^[?]
Date: 2008-10-10, 5:35PM PDT

Open House Saturday, 1-4 pm. With townhouse privacy, this two-bedroom, bath and a half condo offers spacious bedrooms and a quiet location at the rear of a small, friendly community. With only 4 units, it’s well located to shopping and restaurants and its low HOA dues ($125 mo.) complete the package. At this price, with a little TLC, it’s a perfect first-time homebuyer opportunity.

(try to ignore the non-sequitur-laden sentence structure of "With only 4 units, it’s well located to shopping and restaurants and its low HOA dues ($125 mo.) complete the package").

Of course, Beelzebub only knows how much backbreaking work TLC this condo requires; for all I know it's a wreck inside. But breaking the $300K barrier (and not just by $1000, either) for a condo that can house more than one person is something to be celebrated.

Don't break out the streamers and silly hats just yet, though--the asking price still reflects fairly aggressive year-over-year appreciation expectations by the seller:

Last sale and tax info

Sold 05/29/1998: $135,000

2007 Property Tax: $2,567

That works out to an average 7.5% y-o-y appreciation rate, which given the "TLC" requirements (code for "the owners did minimum maintenance in 10 years of ownership", I suspect) and the nosedive the market has taken in recent months is pretty high. Maybe they fell for the Göbbelsian propaganda heard the "fact" that home values double every 10 years and figured they'd test the hypothesis scientifically.


Update 12/13/08: Sold in less than a week for $305,000.