patrick.net

Foolish to buy at that price as your rent would appear to be one third of your outlay if you bought. No offense, but the place is not attractive, sold as is, and overpriced.

Yes, but Foster city is overpriced. Isn't it location location location?

If you move to MA, you can get a 2500 sq house new/relatively new with a basement for that price in a very good school district :) with no monthly hoe fees lol

If you move to upstate NY, you can get a mansion for that price, and the weather isn't any worse than in MA. You might not find a job in your field, though. ;-)

Before buying there, I'd find out what the elevation of the property is. What would a 3 foot sea level rise + a storm do for your property value?

More tactically speaking, I'm still of the opinion that you should continue waiting.

Also, I'm no geologist, but...

That area looks like it was "reclaimed" from the bay. What about earthquakes and soil liquefaction?

From Wikipedia: "Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo."

WAY overpriced. Ridiculously overpriced.

Compare to this one, half the price, at a glance is nicer, and still it hasn't sold after 124 days.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Foster-City/661-Portofino-Ln-94404/unit-74/home/1040819

wthrfrk80 says

From Wikipedia: "Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo."

Yep, although engineered fill *hypothetically* stands up well. I'd say the bay stink would be more of a day to day issue. Better than it once was, but when it stink, it stink.

Or how about this one?

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Foster-City/126-Albacore-Ln-94404/home/1601908

And still it's on Redfin: 108 days

I would recommend not to buy marlin. I have seen this house personally a year ago. It was on the market for very long time. Didn't sell. The remove the listing put it back. The plumbing is galvanized plumbing not copper. There was big crack in the backyard. Not sure if they fixed it. House itself was old. I think they were selling it "as is". Way too overpriced.

pkowen says

Or how about this one?

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Foster-City/126-Albacore-Ln-94404/home/1601908

And still it's on Redfin: 108 days

Piece of junk. Think of all possible issue and this house has it. Foundation issue. Water in the basement. Etc

pkowen says

WAY overpriced. Ridiculously overpriced.

I agree. My calculator estimates it's worth about $434K

http://patrick.net/housing/calculator.php?uaddr=1423+Marlin+Ave%2C+94404

leo9 says

pkowen says

Or how about this one?

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Foster-City/126-Albacore-Ln-94404/home/1601908

And still it's on Redfin: 108 days

Piece of junk. Think of all possible issue and this house has it. Foundation issue. Water in the basement. Etc

Well, the OP property was also a piece of crap, so I was just showing you can get an equal piece of crap for less. And at least this one had some lipstick (for $200k less).

Thanks everyone for your responses. Much appreciated.

I guess I and my wife are scared that the Facebook IPO will make these houses appreciate even higher than what they are now. We do not want to be losers if that happens. Frankly the Facebook IPO is scaring the shit out of us!

leo9 says

I would recommend not to buy marlin. I have seen this house personally a year ago. It was on the market for very long time. Didn't sell. The remove the listing put it back. The plumbing is galvanized plumbing not copper. There was big crack in the backyard. Not sure if they fixed it. House itself was old. I think they were selling it "as is". Way too overpriced.

Leo, how did you know about galvanized plumbing? Did you do a property inspection yourself? The seller does not have any inspection report and just has a standard disclosure. We did not notice any big crack in the backyard. Do you know of any other major issues?

We will negotiate hard with the seller and see if he is realistic.

There is a good thing I see - HOA at $220 seems really low for that area.

tclement says

Before buying there, I'd find out what the elevation of the property is. What would a 3 foot sea level rise + a storm do for your property value?

More tactically speaking, I'm still of the opinion that you should continue waiting.

Yup, Foster City has always been dangerously close to losing the FEMA insurance. They just the last 2 years had to work with the city of San Mateo to pump millions into improving the levee system. It was so outdated that if they didn't act it would surely have been lost. They just completed the work about 6 months ago, and I haven't heard any rumblings lately, but it will keep resurfacing every few years for sure.

I rent a house (much larger) in this neighborhood for much less than the cost of ownership of this townhouse. Things are still dropping around here, so my advice would be to hang tight for a few years and pick up that place for less later. There are more and more open homes in foster city this year than I have ever seen. Hardly any buyers at the open houses either. It is like when you walk in that you are waking up the realtor. ;)

peninsulabuyer says

Thanks everyone for your responses. Much appreciated.

I guess I and my wife are scared that the Facebook IPO will make these houses appreciate even higher than what they are now. We do not want to be losers if that happens. Frankly the Facebook IPO is scaring the shit out of us!

Here is my prediction for the Facebook IPO. Big big news when it happens. Stock takes off out of the gate and soars. However, once everyone gets to look at the real financial books of the company and questions the real profits and profit growth things settle down. At about the 3 month period when the insiders get the right to start dumping, the price will be back to about the IPO value. Then the real test begins where they have to make themselves be that 100 Billion dollar company. Good luck.

If you are really worried about Facebook killing your chances, then rent and take some of that downpayment money you have saved and buy some stock. Facebook will survive, but the question is if the company is a 10B or 100B enterprise. If the answer is 100 or 200B then you just made a killing, if not then you still hold stock in a reasonable company that is growing, and the housing jump didn't really happen anyway.

pkowen says

wthrfrk80 says

From Wikipedia: "Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo."

Yep, although engineered fill *hypothetically* stands up well. I'd say the bay stink would be more of a day to day issue. Better than it once was, but when it stink, it stink.

Yes, it is. I know many people here that were around during the engineering fill. They have pictures of what it really was. Junk and lots of it. There was old bridge parts, car parts, building materials of all kinds and shapes dumped here along with immense amounts of dirt.

Don't get me wrong, I actually love it here. I think the city is great, especially if you like water sports. The schools are great, neighborhood is safe, good people, etc. I just wouldn't buy here right now even without the risk of going underwater, literally. ;)

peninsulabuyer says

Leo, how did you know about galvanized plumbing? Did you do a property inspection yourself? The seller does not have any inspection report and just has a standard disclosure. We did not notice any big crack in the backyard. Do you know of any other major issues?

We will negotiate hard with the seller and see if he is realistic.

This house is also pretty old. If you end up buying it, you will keep on spending lot of money fixing on or the other thing. If it was worth I would have bought it.

peninsulabuyer says

We do not want to be losers if that happens. Frankly the Facebook IPO is scaring the shit out of us!

Usually the way you lose is by making some rash decision because you're afraid.

Just be slow, deliberate, and non-emotional and you'll probably do OK.

peninsulabuyer says

Frankly the Facebook IPO is scaring the shit out of us!

I don't think everything you read is the truth. How many people will get millions and billions? This will change the entire landscape of the Bay Area RE market? Gee, the dot com bubble burst over a decada ago and there are still townhomes in Foster City for 700K at over $450 a square foot. ;-)

House would require income of $230,000.

When I broke the $200,000 salary level, I couldn't imagine myself living in a town home - and just an average one at that. Why work hard?

And the Facebook IPO won't effect prices on town homes - just million dollar mansions.

Rent. Rent. Rent. Or move to Phoenix and buy a city block of houses.

GlobalRoamer says

House would require income of $230,000.

When I broke the $200,000 salary level, I couldn't imagine myself living in a town home - and just an average one at that. Why work hard?

And the Facebook IPO won't effect prices on town homes - just million dollar mansions.

Rent. Rent. Rent. Or move to Phoenix and buy a city block of houses.

In Phuket Thailand.

Totally agree. I do not think Foster City will get much effected by facebook IPO. If you have millions of dollar why buy in Foster City ? There are so many other options. Realtors are just using facebook ipo to scare buyer and are forcing them to buy. It's all BS.

$457 / sq. foot is not even close to negotiable range. That's very very high.

How much does it take to build a new home ....max $150 per sqft. is my guess on the west coast.

Anyone know rough estimates?

Try comparing that place to this place. I know it's junky, well everything is junk.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/W2064-Trails-End-Dr-Mercer-WI-54547/2124488281_zpid/

GlobalRoamer says

House would require income of $230,000.

When I broke the $200,000 salary level, I couldn't imagine myself living in a town home - and just an average one at that. Why work hard?

And the Facebook IPO won't effect prices on town homes - just million dollar mansions.

Rent. Rent. Rent. Or move to Phoenix and buy a city block of houses.

In Phuket Thailand.

Feel the same. If you are making 200K income then don't live in a crappy townhouse built under sea level. Save a bit over a couple of years and then buy something decent that reflects your hard work. I grew up in a town house for low income single families that was much better than any townhouse I have seen in the bay area. I'll live on the street before going back to a townhouse. It would feel like I failed myself.

There is now a listing for this townhouse going for rent on Trulia for $1400
(http://www.trulia.com/rental/3089475351). The response e-mail looks fraudulent. I have reported it for a suspicious fraud. Please be wary.