patrick.net

a $160k down in 4 months... damn....Just imagine how many years one has to work to EARN that much money, let alone SAVE THAT MUCH!

2650 sqft at $373/sqft is not horrible.

especially considering the median for san carlos and 94070 are both around $500/sqft.

mike, I'm afraid you are drinking the Kool Aid. What about the fact that the median is way out of reality with local incomes? Too, the "Beverly Terrace" neighborhood in San Carlos where this home is located has been averaging $470 (very inflated still but down from the peak) per square feet per sale the past 12 months...and this one isn't even selling at $373 sq ft asking price. People of the Bay Area, the homes up there are way over priced. I know that neighborhood all too well as my relatives bought down the street...and grossly overpaid for a 53 year old POS right at the peak. They'll be house poor for decades because of that poor financial decision. Their 3/2 down the street will drift back down into the $400 - $500s before this is all over...still a lot of delusion and leverage on the peninsula.

Also...wait until interest rates start reverting to their long term mean. There's an entire generation of people (Gen X, Gen Y, Millenials) who have only seen falling and low interest rates. Debt has been a way of life for many of them. And why not? They've not been held accountable, and their government is also irresponsible and unaccountable. It has been easy to over leverage and get away with poor financial (especially housing) decisions with a huge bull market. Well, unfortunately for a lot of people, and two different sets of relatives of mine up there, the music has stopped (since Oct 2006), and they are left holding the very large debt bag. One family is about $300k down on their purchase in the East Bay, and the other in the above neighborhood is down about $150k. Do you know how much you have to make to get back to break even after losing 20% You have to make 25%. And how about if you lose 50%? Then you have to make 100% back just to get back to break even. These lessons will be painfully learned in the coming years by many who over paid on the peninsula and surrounding areas. Wait until interest rates go up and put downward pressure on home prices...and debt won't be cheap any more...all the Gen X, Gen Y, and Millenials will be staring financial reality smack dab in the face.

I'd say this one is ripe for lowballing. They have to settle the estate. Judging by the pictures, this is a classic "big lot, but so sloped you get no yard" peninsula house, so it's not as attractive as the sizing numbers would suggest. It probably would rent for around 3k at best. At even ridiculously high historical bay area price/rent ratios (200x monthly rent) you get about 600k for that house.

Given that we're early in the second leg down and the sellers want to settle the estate, you MIGHT be able to get that house for 800k, maybe 750k. Almost certainly you could get it for 850k. But there is nothing to make it stand out enough to warrant bothering with.

This is how my wife and I wound up overpaying for our house (while still paying 35% less than the original listing price.) We watched clueless estate sellers start at the 2007 price and chase it down until they reached the end of the time-frame they had to to sell the house in before having to start insuring it as an empty house or renting it out.

We had bid very low on it on after the fourth price drop and had gotten the "multiple offer" runaround. We told them we weren't upping our offer and walked.

A month later (and another price drop), we resent our offer and it was accepted.

Yah, we paid too much, but we scored the best deal we could at the time. I wasn't thrilled about buying, but the wife wanted to own before having the second kid. (I talked her out of having to own before the first kid.)

Looks like a turd.

I wouldn't pay 500 for it.

I guess you are paying about 500K for nice weather with a view?

NagaEater says

I guess you are paying about 500K for nice weather with a view?

$500k? Try $1 mil for a view property.