Loss leaders: November 2008 Archives

The property at 709 Haight has been on the market for about three weeks now, but I'm glad I waited for its latest craigslist incarnation to blog about it.

2 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, 1,460 sqft, 1,950-sqft lot, MLS(r) #40380271 , $614,900

The public records have it as built in 2003, which I suspect is really 1903. It even has a white picket fence around its handkerchief lot!

My favorite part about this listing, though, is yesterday's craigslist post:

$614900 REO BANK OWNED PROPERTY! HUGE PRICE REDUCTION! ALAMEDA HOME! (alameda)

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Reply to: reobayareaproperty@yahoo.com ^[?]
Date: 2008-11-25, 6:01PM PST


$614,900 709 Haight Avenue Alameda
(Was $624,900) FOR PICTURES AND MORE BANK OWNED PROPERTIES
Leslie Drury
Windermere Welcome Home
510-755-2666

Advertised With Permission By:
Seville Real Estate
Maya Clark

HUGE PRICE REDUCTION! And right below, it reads "$614,900 [...] (Was $624,900)"

Seriously, folks, is that the best you can do?

The sale history is sad:

Sales History

Sale History & Tax Info

Sale History
10/22/2008:	$451,800 *
09/30/1986:	$109,000 *
No other sale data is available
*This transaction was not used in computing the Zestimate for this house due to anomalies we detected with this transaction. These anomalies can include unusual document or transaction types, sales between possibly related parties, unusually high or low transaction prices, or other data irregularities that might indicate the transaction is not a full-value, arms-length transaction.

How exactly do you lose a house to foreclosure in this situation?

Now it's back on the market at the worst possible time of year, idiotically priced ($421 / sqft) for this time of year / location / lot size / home size / REO loan balance (per last transaction), and it's just going to sit there for months on end. Way to go, Maya Clark.

Update 12/04/08: Another "huge" price reduction, to $609,900. W-O-W.

Update 1/11/09: Another "huge" price reduction, to $589,900. For the life of me I can't understand why those blithering imbeciles can't get a clue and drop the price decisively and quickly. Instead they are bleeding themselves by a thousand cuts. Idiots. Idiots!

Update 2/1/09: On the MLS(r) as #40392826, listed at $569,900. Why are these morons dropping the price in tiny $20K increments? I will drive by shortly to see if it was actually built in 2003--the various pictures I've seen make it look a lot older, as the location suggests, but who knows.

5 years young [...] very charming no work needed, great property and a discount price.

Discount price? Please.

Update 4/16/09: Back on the MLS(r) as #40405195, listed at $504,900, with the answer to my question above in the description:




 

This one puzzles me. 3016 Lincoln Avenue is described as follows:

2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,426 sqft, 3,180-sqft lot, MLS(r) #40382298, $300,000
[...] Short Sale. All offers and commission is Subject to Lender Approval. [...] lovely east end neighborhood [...] Much work is needed [...] Amazing bones w/ original woodwork, boxed ceiling w/ original wood paneling in the large dining rm

There's no sale history available on Zillow or Trulia, so one has to assume the current, long-time owners have borrowed against their home's equity to the tune of more than $300,000 (since this is a short sale subject to approval listed at $300,000), yet the house looks like it's been run over by a truck and it needs "much work". So where, prithee, the hell did the money go?

For some reason, a lot of 1940s houses are coming on the market. Today's ugly 1949 building is a bungalow with "huge potential":

2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,260 sqft, 4,000-sqft lot, MLS(r) #40382108, $419,900
Great east end location. Needs TLC, but huge potential. [...]

First of all, it's not really an east end location--it's on the west side of Broadway. Second, I fail to see how a n ugly 1940s-era bungalow in bad shape need of "TLC" on a small lot right by Otis has "huge potential." Third, if it needs TLC, why the hell did you buy it for...

Last sale and tax info

Sold 10/07/2005: $560,000

2008 Property Tax: $7,236

and quickly proceed to do very little to fix it up and unleash its huge potential? Might it be because you paid way too much and ran out of money?

There appears to be an infinite supply of idiots running around loose and buying houses in Alameda. Be careful out there.

Few interesting new listings means few new posts. The most exciting new property to hit the market this week is this remarkably boring wartime west-ender at 221 Central:

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,323 sqft, 5,280-sqft lot, MLS(r) #40381893, $599,000
Charming [...] Bungalow with a porch, hardwood floors, [...] kitchen with solid counter tops. Separate Garage/Workshop. [...] backyard with fruit trees and fenced front yard.

Zip Realty says it's a short sale, and it sure looks like it: 

Last sale and tax info

Sold 05/05/2005: $600,000

2008 Property Tax: $7,750

Why anybody would pay $600K ($447 / sqft) for a 1943 bungalow in that location is a mystery.  Expecting essentially the same price 3 1/2 years later in this market (with a listing date in late November on top of that) just makes no sense at all, even with solid counter tops and a white picket fence. Drop it $150K and get it over with.

Update 2/7/09: On Craigslist as a short sale. Amusingly enough, I just realized I covered this property twice. It's so unremarkable nobody cared about it enough to notice the duplication, last of all myself. Note the "oops, we dropped out of escrow" mention at the bottom.

$550000 / 4br - Your Own White Picket Fence – Short sale with fast lender approval (alameda) (map)

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Reply to: hous-1025512062@craigslist.org ^[?]
Date: 2009-02-07, 6:26PM PST


Your Own White Picket Fence – Short sale with fast lender approval

221 Central Avenue
Alameda, CA 94501
Open Sunday 2-4pm

This charming 4br 2ba* bungalow boasts a large 5,280 sq ft* lot and
detached garage/workshop. The home has hardwood floors, tile bathrooms,
solid surface counter tops in kitchen. Large back yard with mature fruit trees.
It needs a bit of TLC, but you can quickly make it all your own.

Close to the bay and open space.


The property was pending, but the buyers cancelled during negotiatons.
A short sale negotiator is ready to respond to your written offer!

Update 2/13/09: Dropped to $499,000.

Update 4/25/09: Dropped to $450,000.

This cute blue property at 2017 Lincoln has been on the market for ages, but I missed its débutante ball in mid-May and didn't write about it then. Poking around on Zip Realty, its scarlet "Short Sale" badge drew me in, so here goes.

3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, 1,443 sqft, 5,320-sqft lot, MLS(r) #40344005, $560,000

Come see this home. Fully loaded with [...] located within a stroll's distance to park street alameda theatre!!!

(Never mind that some people can't stroll.)

Here's a family portrait of our fully-loaded property standing next to its older sibling:

It's reasonably sized and at $388 / sqft not grotesquely overpriced compared to other listings on the market (note that I didn't say it was reasonably priced). Its price was dropped to $560,000 from $649,000 back in early August, and it's still sitting around waiting for a buyer. I don't know when it became an official short sale, but $560,000 is 11% more than the previous sale price, which suggests the loan balance has grown either due to a gnarly negative-amortization mortgage with very low pick-a-payments and/or a HELOC gone wild.

Last sale and tax info

Sold 10/29/2004: $509,000

2008 Property Tax: $6,77

The property appears to be very close to its neighbors, in spite of a large-ish lot, and right across the street from something that looks like a high school, so the location is less than ideal if you value peace and quiet, but then again if that's the case you're probably not shopping on Lincoln anyway. The location + short sale + left on the shelf + economy + holiday season combo puts the odds of a quick sale pretty close to nil.