patrick.net

Address is 1101 S Main St #117 Milpitas, CA 95035
This looks like a good one with 2b/2b, can easily rent for 1200 to 1500$ per month.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Milpitas/1101-S-Main-St-95035/unit-117/home/17289693
Is this a good investment for 200,000$

Simple test -- what is the % return if you get $1200 per month?

1200 * 12 = 14400

14400 / 200000 = 7.2%

So it's at least a reasonable investment if you can get $1,200 per month. You'll have to pay property tax and maintenance, and probably have a month or two empty while looking for tenants, leaving you with maybe 4.2%, which is not too bad in today's environment.

And maybe you'll get $1,500 rent instead of $1,200. So I'd say it's borderline, maybe a good deal.

Note though that the HOA fees are really high. Redfin lists them at $511. Be sure to find out what the period is for that. Is it monthly? If so, yikes!

Damon

Wow, yes, if HOA is $511 montly, that suddenly makes it a bad deal for sure:

(1200 - 511) * 12 = 8268

8268 / 200000 = 4.1%

Take away 3% for taxes etc, and you're down to 1.1%. Might as well buy a CD or Treasury and have much less risk and no work.

Yeah..HOA kills the deal. The bad part is HOA, and the worst part is its not deductible.

check out google street view, that entire street is one giant stripmall. It looks like the condo is on top of some store?

Is this a good investment for 200,000$

This is actually a new development finalized just last year in 2008. Sale may have been made at peak 2007 ...therefore 2 years. There is a new condo up after the Google street map.
The original prices were around 400K for start as I recall.

Similar condos were under $100/sq ft prior to the RE bubble or $100K ...yes you read that right.. given its location I say more like 150K.... after all its a Condo which is the low end (starter) of housing.

Some 700 new condos are slated to go up on zanker and east tasman about 2 miles down...

https://www.sjpermits.org/permits/permits/general/emailpermitquery.asp?permitnum=PDC06-093

as predicted, the former business parks are being torn down due to excess commercial space and rezoned for residential since we are not adding new jobs here.