2009 Arbor Ave, Belmont

2009 Arbor Ave is an REO property. Bought in 2006 for $1,015,000. It went back to the bank on 10/12/2007 for $794,750. That means the buyer from 2006 put down $200k, and then got foreclosed on exactly 1 year later. I wonder how many payments the person made. The house has been for sale for over 2 months now, and the bank is hoping to get over $800k.

If you wanted to buy this house for list, you'd need to put down $166k and then pay $4200 per month for the privilege of living there. Wow.

998 Alameda de las Pulgas, Redwood City, 94061

998 Alameda is a nice little house, but no one seems to want it. It's been listed since November, and they're asking $775k. It's about to be foreclosed upon - auction date is set for 3/25/08 with a sale amount listed at $687k.

This house last sold for $855k in November 2006 - and it looks like the buyers used 100% financing (80 variable, 20% fixed). Now they're being foreclosed upon within 15 months?

Other houses nearby that are selling or sold?
1128 Chesterton, sold on 11/15/07 but I don't see a price. I'll look for more later.

Shelter Creek - what's for sale?

After seeing that 1149 Shelter Creek was for sale at such a low price, I looked to see what else might be for sale there. Here's what I found - 8 studios, 13 One Bedrooms, 8 Two Bedrooms. I don't know this area very well. But it's interesting to see that the cheapest 1B/1B is listed cheaper than most of the studios. I'm sure there are differences in location within the complex, and which floor the units are on... but these differences in price are pretty severe even taking that into account... right?

Studios for sale:
5135 Shelter Creek - $185,500
8333 - $218,000
5210 - $219,800
2111 - $219,900
1233 - $226,950
3110 - $239,000
2135 - $289,888
6154 - $330,000

1B/1B for sale:
1149 Shelter Creek - $210,000
2123 - $254,888
3303 - $267,000
2204 - $269,000
2148 - $295,999
5223 - $308,888
6206 - $315,000
7355 - $316,999
4303 - $318,888
6353 - $328,888
8259 - $335,000
6349 - $339,000
2315 - $350,000

2B/2B - for sale:
3244 Shelter Creek - $359,000
2252 - $359,900
1237 - $414,888
3126 - $415,000
8239 - $419,000
8341 - $420,000
1141 - $425,000
4339 - $449,850

100% Financing

Wow. I guess I'm old school, but I still find it amazing that people were actually allowed to buy million dollar homes without putting down a penny. This short sale just popped up on the MLS today:

1117 PEBBLEWOOD WY,
San Mateo, CA 94403.

FOR SALE (short sale) - $879,500
LAST SALE - 11/23/05 - $1,040,000 (100% Financed - 80% Variable, 20% Fixed)

Right next to 101... I don't think I'd want to live here even if the sound wall was 100ft high. And someone paid $1MM for this house 2 years ago? Pictures look nice though.

Cracks in the Peninsula

Cracks are starting to appear in the Peninsula real estate market. I've been watching it for a while, and thinking about posting some of the crazy things I see. I kept putting it off until today when I noticed this condo for sale:

1149 SHELTER CREEK LN, San Bruno, 94066
FOR SALE - $210,000.
LAST SALE - 03/28/06 - $400,000

Yes, you read that right. From what I can tell, all the real estate sites agree. The person who bought this condo in 2006 is about to lose $190,000. And that's assuming the condo sells for the current list price (maybe they are trying to start a bidding war by under pricing it?). I don't know how much of a down payment was made in 2006, so I'm guessing this is a short sale and the bank is going to take a big hit. But this is still a pretty amazing turn of events for this condo.

San Bruno seems to be one of the hardest hit towns on the Peninsula. The others are Daly City, South San Francisco, and East Palo Alto. Parts of San Mateo, Redwood City, and Menlo Park seem to be getting hit as well.

But, make no mistake... the desirable parts of the Peninsula are still commanding insane prices. What I would consider average homes still draw multi-million dollar offers... and sometimes multiple offers - all over list price.

Well, that's a start. Not sure how often I'll post, but the first post is up.