Old chestnut--1316 Chestnut Street, Alameda, CA
This quaint, ancient little Gothic-y house on Chestnut was on the market last spring. I didn't write about it then, but I just found out it recently sold, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the listing's life over the past few months. First the specs, with picture courtesy of Google Street View:
What's most interesting, however, is that several sites (like the Harbor Bay Realty site in the screenshot above, or Barb K's site, which is otherwise a good resource for up-to-date sales data) show the property as having sold for its list price, with no mention of the 15% discount off its original list price that was required to close the sale. Strictly speaking, this is true--the house was listed for $459K at the time of its sale, and it sold for exactly that amount.
But if it's "nothing but the truth," it's not "the whole truth," and the casual would-be buyer gets suckered into drinking from the poisoned well guarded by the local experts and making inflated offers that are too close to the obscene asking prices we're still seeing all over town. "You need to offer their asking price or your offer will be turned down--you see, homes in this area are selling very close or over their asking price!" This vile, dishonest, false sense of urgency is motivated by exactly one thing in a commission-based transaction, and that ain't the buyer's best interest.
This is going to be a sad holiday season for the real estate market.
2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,250 sqft, 3,150-sqft lot, built in 1875 (!)It was once known as MLS(r) #40346003 and described as...
Charming, historical Gothic Carriage House with front and rear yards, historic "tack/bunkhouse." Wood flooring in LR, unique windows, said to be from Old City Hall (per owner; not verified). Home is an "H" designation on Alameda Historical List.There's no sale history on Zillow, other than this last transaction at $459,000 recorded on 9/18/08. What's interesting, however, is that you can easily find evidence of its descent towards its final price, starting from its June open house when it was listed at $539,000 (emphasis mine):
Open Homeswith an intermediate stop at $499,000:
[...]
Open Homes for June 14–15 Alameda 15 Parfait Lane $529,000 Sunday 2-4 1546 Broadway $530,000 Saturday 3-5 1316 Chestnut St. $539,000 Sunday 2-4 3110 El Paseo $539,000 Sat. and Sun. 1:30-5 305 Lagunaria Lane $540,000 Saturday 1-3
What's most interesting, however, is that several sites (like the Harbor Bay Realty site in the screenshot above, or Barb K's site, which is otherwise a good resource for up-to-date sales data) show the property as having sold for its list price, with no mention of the 15% discount off its original list price that was required to close the sale. Strictly speaking, this is true--the house was listed for $459K at the time of its sale, and it sold for exactly that amount. But if it's "nothing but the truth," it's not "the whole truth," and the casual would-be buyer gets suckered into drinking from the poisoned well guarded by the local experts and making inflated offers that are too close to the obscene asking prices we're still seeing all over town. "You need to offer their asking price or your offer will be turned down--you see, homes in this area are selling very close or over their asking price!" This vile, dishonest, false sense of urgency is motivated by exactly one thing in a commission-based transaction, and that ain't the buyer's best interest.
This is going to be a sad holiday season for the real estate market.
Leave a comment