patrick.net

My theory is that you're going to see a lot of FSBO pop up in the Bay Area. I remember searching for "FSBO" on craigslist a few years ago and you could count on maybe two listings for some crappy Tahoe cabins. Now that people are upside down to the tune of a realtor's commission (at least), you're going to see some creative selling in place of all that creative financing...

When you're bored, go to craigslist and search for any of the following terms:

"FSBO"
"sale by owner"
"not on mls"
"principals only"
"no agents"

Or my favorites:
"short sale"
"bank owned"
"REO"

You get the point...

I like the view of this Milpitas home. Seriously.

http://tinyurl.com/2pnctp

I think Marin is likely to hold its price better than SC and SM.

I agree.

Of course, I love the view in Marin across the San Pablo Bay in the morning.

View is better than ANY school district. At least you get to look at it.

Peter P,

when spring is over, that house in Milpitas will be surrounded by dead brown grass. I am sorry, a million-dollar home in Milpitas is just an oxymoron, let alone a 2-million-dollar-home.

I am sorry, a million-dollar home in Milpitas is just an oxymoron, let alone a 2-million-dollar-home.

I like the Spring Valley area though. Just please do not let me see any "city lights" view.

I completely totally utterly fail to understand the objection. In India, every village/town/city/metro has a few things named after Mahatma Gandhi.

Yeah but that was after he died.

They started trying to name all sorts of stuff after Reagan while he was still (physically) alive. The worst is the airport - considering he fired all the air traffic controllers and banned them for life. Now we have a pending air traffic controller shortage crisis. :(

The Summitpointe area is also very nice.

I like Reagan. I like Thatcher too.

Yeah, what Randy said for me too ;-)

Why is it that RE perma-bulls like SoftestLanding always immediately lurch to the "market regulation = COMMUNISM!" argument the moment anyone hints that industry self-policing may not produce, uh, completely optimal results for consumers?

Is this the "Chewbacca defense" for realtwhores? Kind of reminds me of comparing any political leader to Hitler. Pretty much stops debate cold in its tracks.

Why do you hate our Freedom?
Have you stopped beating your wife?

Kind of reminds me of comparing any political leader to Hitler. Pretty much stops debate cold in its tracks.

That's known as Godwin's Law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

BTW, I own the usage of "Why do you have our Freedom(TM)?" on this site...

don’t be academic and rational in your arguments,

Awesome ! This is too good. You made my day.

SoftestLanding

If I sell you a nice pair of earrings for your wife/girlfriend, with beautiful sparkling blue sapphire stones, for $10,000 is that fair if I don't bother to tell you the stones are synthetic? What if I imply they are real, without ever really saying they're real? What if I put in fine print they're synthetic, but my sales person tells you, "these are real, no reason to worry"?

What are these earrings worth? In your vision of the "free market", anything goes. In your version of the free market, the earrings have no real market price. The price is whatever can be extorted out of buyers lacking information.

Of course you could say "caveat emptor", better know what you're buying. But do you really want to become a gemologist just so you can get some loving?

And of course that means you'll need to become a medical doctor, an auto mechanic, a stock broker, a pharmacist, a tax accountant, and so on.

No, we have rules so that we don't have to all be experts at everything, and we can rely upon a free market to make things fair.

The operative word is free.

isn’t this a free country, why can’t someone list or not list their home however the hell they want to.

Absolutely. I think sellers should be able to list their house for whatever they feel like. And they should be represented well by their RE agent, which means seeing ALL the bids on their house --not just the ones the agent "wants" them to see (because it means more commission for them).

who are you to decide that it is “not nice” and “not according to the rules” to do what you can to sell a house?

Oh, ok. So in SL's cowboy capitalist paradise, people can do whatever the f**k they want, ethics and laws be damned. So if I want a better price for my house, I should be able to kidnap Mr. Buyer's wife until I get my asking price, then? Sounds like a plan --sign me up.

It is a competitive marketplace isn’t it?

No "it" is not. "It" is an incredibly corrupt, archaic, inefficient and monopolisitic industry, where valuable information is deliberately withheld from both buyers and sellers, in order to benefit middlemen, who add little real value to the process.

why is it unethical for the agent to want to “doubledip”? umm, don’t we all want to make more money? if a seller doesn’t like that, then why the hell do they sign with the agent under those rules?

The seller is rarely --if ever-- aware that the agent is really doing this. If they were, the practice would become pretty rare.

is capitalism dead in this country? maybe all of you people should decide what is “slimy” and what is “nice”. then you should legislate it and force it down everyone’s throats!

So thievery, fraud & misrepresentation = Capitalism? Maybe this is true to some (DS), but I like to think we can do a little better than that.

OO Says:

> I’d say Marin County is perhaps the most reasonably
> priced compared to Santa Clara, which is not as bad
> as San Mateo.

Randy may want to ad more but I would say that Marin (that every time I looked over the past 20 years has had the highest per capita income in the US) has always had home prices much higher on average than Santa Clara County for some great deals take a look at the link below:
http://marinpos.blogspot.com/

> 1) the Marin home in $1.5M range is likely have stunning
> views (yep, literally million-dollar view). View is not
> guaranteed in this price range in Santa Clara.

You might find a level lot or a teardown in Marin with a nice view for $1.5mm, but not a nice home.

> 2) the Marin home is more likely more unique in the architectural
> style. In South Valley, $1.5M means a better location with an
> extremely boring ranch style recently updated with the prototypical
> graniteel on a decent lot.

Most people would rather a nice track home than a former “hippie cabin” that was built out of scrap wood by stoned carpenters when some moved out of their VW van in ’67.

> San Mateo is the worst. I have no idea what kind of idiot
> will pay $1.5M to buy a typical home up in San Mateo county.
> I think Marin is likely to hold its price better than SC and SM.

I can’t think of a better place to raise a family than San Mateo County. Some of the reasons include great weather (SC county is hot in the summer and parts of Marin like Tam/Tennessee Valley get an almost daily fog blast), easy drive to SF or SJ, and overall great demographic profile…

And of course that means you’ll need to become a medical doctor, an auto mechanic, a stock broker, a pharmacist, a tax accountant, and so on.

No, just make sure you don't ever need to see a doctor or a lawyer or a mechanic etc and you have nothing to worry.

Sorry for taking out the serious tone Randy, but why do you even bother arguing with SoftestLanding/TOS/ConfusedRenter etc. ? I admire your patience, but they don't deserve it.

Pocket listings-

In the past when looking at listings I notice that a new high rise building or condo conversion will have about 6 to 10 listings. Then when I inquire what units are avialable the sellers agent generally has many more than the 6 to 10 listed. Are the other 50 units available considered pocket listings?

I asked my buyers agent about this and she said that is how developers list. They put out a few at a time. I guess the implication is "don't scare the market with 200 new condos" or whatever.

eburbed,
Why single out Reagan? I personally admire him, but that's besides the point. What about Norm Mineta SJ airport? Norm's still alive and kicking, isn't he? Or Bush airport in Houston?

I think FANS will solve part of the problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Air_Navigation_System

With telecommunication technologies, air traffic control can easily be moved offshore.

Johns says he was looking at houses when he came upon a New Tampa development called Covington Estates and mistakenly thought it said “King’s Covenant.”

Hmmm. Let me think. "Covington" has the "ing" sound of "King". It also begins with "Cov" like "Covenant". OK. I agree. There is indeed a lot of similarity. I don't blame him. Anyone would make the same mistake. We are all human.

Randy H Says:

> Of course you could say “caveat emptor”, better
> know what you’re buying. But do you really want to
> become a gemologist just so you can get some loving?

This reminds me of another good Buffett quote:

“If you don’t know jewelry, know your jeweler”

With that said I would never buy a piece of jewelry that I couldn’t return if a third party didn’t verify the value…

Buffett is full of wisdom.

With that said I would never buy a piece of jewelry that I couldn’t return if a third party didn’t verify the value…

Just curious, have you ever actually gotten a jeweler to refund a purchase if the item didn't appraise? This sounds easy in theory, but I've found it to be much harder in practice.

I wrote a letter to my senators today, vehemently opposing the bailout. Yeah, I know, bailout is the last thread, but you guys chew up a lot of territory during the day, and I don't blog at work. :)

Just curious, have you ever actually gotten a jeweler to refund a purchase if the item didn’t appraise? This sounds easy in theory, but I’ve found it to be much harder in practice.

Wait, who is the appraiser?

Will the jeweler use the appraiser again if he does not "hit" the number?

Will the jeweler use the appraiser again if he does not “hit” the number?

:LOL: Better hope the NAR/NAMB doesn't branch out into the jewelry market.

HARM,

As always, it depends on the ethics of the business person. When I was in the jewelry business, it was my standing policy to encourage the buyer to have it appraised by a third party. The only caveat was it had to be by a QUALIFIED gemologist.....not some yokel pawn shop. In over 15 years, it was never an issue....never. Every appraisal was for more than what I sold it for....I made sure my customers received as much value as possible while making a fair profit. It's the only way you get referrals and repeat business.....the cheapest and best advertisement there is.

I am one of the luckiest men on earth because my wife is not too much into jewelry.

FAB,

I am not talking about Portola Valley, Hillsborough, Woodside part of SM, we all know why they are priced that high. I am more curious about why the shady parts of San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park, etc. are sold at such an astronomical price.

For example, why would the following house on the wrong side of El Camino with no lot and no view go for $1.5M?
http://tinyurl.com/2dg4ju

FAB states the case against Marin pretty well.

My opinion is similar to Peter P's. Marin is probably the most beautiful of the BA counties. And I mountain bike. Being able to pedal from my garage to Mt. Tam is very cool.

People here aren't so compatible with me or my wife. Too many trust fund babies. Too many self righteous neo-liberals who cry about the evils of GMO grown food being sent to feed unsuspecting Africans, thus denying them their goddess given right to homeopathic aromatherapies. All while showing up at Council meetings in Strawberry screaming bloody murder because Habitat for Humanity dare build a couple apartments for cops and teachers.

What will $1.5m get you in Marin:

1. Something nice north of the "wall of traffic", like the hinterlands of Novato.

2. A half-ass upgraded McCrapsion in the fog, on an unstable hillside, or near the 101 in the sound belt -- which by the way has no sound wall because eco-conscious Mill Valleyites keep showing up to protest every time the County tries to build a sound wall.

3. A knock down on a lot with a "peek through" view.

4. That one house that's been for sale for nearly 2 years now in Tiburon (just past the Lyce'e School in Corte Madera) which has a leaking pool full of algae and frogs, which is destined to end up falling into the Bay.

Oh yea,

5. The one we looked at last month in Corte Madera for $1.59m which had:
- 5 bedrooms!! yea!
- A cool glass enclosed bridge connecting the two halves of the house.
- A one-land driveway below that cool bridge where you could barely park a prius, and no other off-street parking, and no on-street parking being it's a one-lane road.
- 1.5 bathrooms. Hope those people in the 5 BRs don't all get up at once.
- A galley kitchen with a little mini-range and stove like the kind you see in those little closets in little apartments.
- No yard, but a lot of rusted funky 800lb steel "artwork" the owner had "expressed" on the hillside above and below.

@Brand,

Thanks, every little bit counts.

I am more curious about why the shady parts of San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park, etc. are sold at such an astronomical price.

Part of San Mateo is very nice. Menlo Park has one of the nicest downtowns (other than Los Altos) in the non-Marin Bay Area.

Is RWC part of the US sovereignty or is it extraterritorial?

1.5 bathrooms. Hope those people in the 5 BRs don’t all get up at once.

What? Did you mean average 1.5 baths per bedroom?

I the little enclave of RWC we used to live in. It was picture perfect. But if we'd had more money back then we'd have crossed Edgewood into San Carlos, or gone up the hill into Emerald.

@PeterP

No. Lots of older Marin houses are lacking in bathrooms. Only the McCrapsions generally have the right BA/BR ratio. My theory is it's because so many have never been properly upgraded/remodeled, and so many have been rentals for decades.

i’m relieved that Sanjaya is safe tonight on American Idol.

We disagree on more things than RE.

I *liked* the little...

Maybe the following can be helpful to the JBRs. (Warning : A site sponsored by REIC.)

http://homeownershipfacts.com/

Emerald is okay. I played my first-ever round of golf there.

My theory is it’s because so many have never been properly upgraded/remodeled, and so many have been rentals for decades.

I think so. I never understood how people could have so few bathrooms. But I guess JBRs pee less often.

RE: http://homeownershipfacts.com/

This is more interesting:

http://fishscam.com/