The yawls have it--14 Redondo Ct, Alameda, CA

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Two Marina Village condos, both on Redondo Court, came on the market a couple of days ago. They're both "yawl" models, and have identical specs:

2 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 1,631 sqft MLS(r) #40395927 (14 Redondo Ct) or #40396026 (25 Redondo Ct)

14 Redondo Ct:
[...] LARGE [...] TOWNHOME STYLE YAWL PLAN IS 2+ BEDROOMS/3.5 BATH. HUGE EXTRA ROOM WITH IT'S OWN BATHROOM IS ON THE GROUND LEVEL. [...] EXTRA LARGE GARAGE LENDS ITSELF TO A WORK ROOM OR LOTS OF STORAGE SPACE.

25 Redondo Ct:
FINALLY ONE OF THE COVETED "YAWL" CONDOS OVERLOOKING THE MARINA! [...] BONUS ROOM WITH IT'S OWN BATHROOM ON THE GROUND LEVEL AND A PATIO. [...] GAS COOKTOP, CORIAN COUNTERTOPS, GAS FIREPLACE, SOUND/INTERCOM SYSTEM THROUGHOUT. ..
The strident agent for both is, as you might expect, Wendy Sanda, who should probably change her first name to Marina.

As is appropriate for townhomes near the Marina, at least one of them (14 Redondo Ct) appears to be seriously underwater:

Property History for 14 REDONDO Ct

Date Event Price
Feb 18, 2009 Listed $575,000
Oct 19, 2007 Sold $620,000
Sep 01, 1999 Sold $364,500

Property History for 25 REDONDO Ct

Date Event Price
Feb 19, 2009 Listed $650,000
Nov 18, 1991 Sold $371,000
Dec 23, 1988 Sold $356,000
What I don't understand is why Ms. Sanda took two near-identical listings priced $75,000 apart, since the cheaper one is almost guaranteed to eclipse or at least cannibalize sales prospects for the other.

It's also interesting to note how prices changed between 1988 and 1999: a whopping $772, or 0.21%, nominal value increase per year. Not 21%. Not 2.1%. 0.21%. Point-two-one percent. In real dollars, assuming 4.5% yearly inflation, that's about a $215,000 shortfall over 11 years. But we all know that home values (or prices; the myth has been repeated so many times in NAR's giant game of telephone it's hard to keep track) double every 10 years.

When the market is down, real estate agents always tell you "you can't generalize--my market in Pikerville, Maryland is doing great and prices are holding up". When you provide example after example that shoot holes the size of the Titanic into NAR's propaganda, they'll tell you "the house-value-doubling-every-10-years thing is a general trend, your isolated local examples don't disprove it."

Realtors(tm): Having their cake and eating yours too since 1908.

Update 9/5/09: 14 Redondo old for $510,000 in June, $110,000 off from its previous price less than 2 years ago. Nice.

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This page contains a single entry by L. Opine published on February 19, 2009 11:20 PM.

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