Agreed! If only I can convince my wife to move into our rental there…
You know what, Fremont has many great Chinese restaurants. The northern dishes that SF doesn’t even have any, let alone good.
The food choices would be a draw for wifey as she loves Shanghinese or Taiwanese food but her commute into the city would be rough (free parking but not close to BART). I am a Toisonese boy so no northern style chinese food for me…
I won’t do, as I feel the value of $1 level. I can do wonders with that 50k ! I can provide 10% down payment help for my son to get a condo !
Whoever feel comfortable throwing 50k in bidding they can do !
2014 pricing? Listed 5/14, now 9/16 for +$900K.
https://www.redfin.com/CA/West-Menlo-Park/3130-Barney-Ave-94025/home/1525136
Did the guy that bought in 2014, improve the remodeling or stage much better?
The remodeling looks to have been completed for the 2014 sale. Staging ehhh looks close enough.
This sale closed few days back. Price $1.25M ! So somebody did pay a good 70k more than you Jil.
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Glad, I am out of race ! There is no Margin of Safety.
These two are better choices.
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/1361-La-Bella-Ave-94087/home/1355130
Spend extra money here for remodeling, we have good Margin !
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/359-Stowell-Ave-94085/home/1115014
For sure, Stowell is taken by some builder/flipper. They may likely put that home again on sale after 12 or 18 months.
In the aggregate, real estate has never been a great investment either. Vast swaths of the nation see housing appreciate just above the rate of inflation - not even enough to balance the mortgage interest.
Invest in what you thoroughly understand. If you don’t thoroughly understand much, invest in stocks using index funds.
Sure, but again, we do focus on the local Bay Area real estate scene here and quite frankly anyone around here who has invested in real estate over the years made money, huge amounts of money. You are right, I would not invest in real estate in many parts of the country. Heck, I complain about my Fremont rental already (what, 45 min drive?). Yes, there are many posters here who are sophisticated enough to know about the stock market but like you said it yourself, invest in what you thoroughly understand. I understand that there is a greater demand for housing here than what is being supplied. I understand that the jobs are concentrated here in the Bay Area and commute costs are continuing to rise. I understand enough about construction, remodeling and the permitting process here in SF to have fully gutted my own home and rebuilt it to be positioned for a great return one day (my wife told me her realtor client said she can get us 1.6M if we want it now). I understand how cash flow can be pronounced especially with a multiple unit building (I own one) that it would serve as my retirement income should I need it. Yet, I also understand that too much of anything (even real estate) does not make a complete life. One needs to have balance in life. Family, friends, are important as well. Remember, more money does not mean you get to live longer too.
The one who win the bid is the greatest fool. In Bay Area, one has to be the greatest fool to win the bid… have been that for two houses already. Obviously, bidding at $1.18 mil is not able to win the bid hence is not the greatest fool. The one who bid at $1.25 mil won the bid, and hence is the greatest fool. Got it? If I want the house, I would assess what could be the highest bid, and then add in extra, to ensure the win i.e. how foolish do you want to be. Is impossible to win by a small margin because Bay Area is filled with highly intelligent people who could be way smarter and knowledgable than you, you have to be willing to be foolish to win. If you always want to be viewed as intelligent, you can’t win the bid. Since you’re willing to bid at $1.25 mil, you’ll win the bid, hence is the greatest fool. Congras.
+one, no doubt ! In any purchase, first is safety that leads to stability in life. After reading Margin of Safety, my outlook is completely changed.
In Bay Area, there is no choice, be a greatest fool or forever can’t win a bid. So when can we have the cake and eat it? That is, be the greatest fool and still have the margin of safety? Buying when nobody is buying like 2009-2012 or as you said before large lot fixer-upper (many techies are willing to overpay for turnkey but not willing fix up things, this give you a chance to purchase for some margin of safety).
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Real estate has gone almost straight up since the early 70’s when the federal government started directly buying mortgages and selling MBS through freddie/fannie. It’s a distortion in the market that’ll continue as long as the government plays along.
That’s true but there will always be intervening short-term “crashes” which could put you in financial distress, especially for those guys who want to push the limits using multi-layering ideas (that’s you, mranch). So need to buy at margin of safety and/ or keep LTV manageable, else may not survive the “crashes”.
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@hanera You gotta work on the sarcasm part of your writing.
I’m seeing the market and I said in previous posts turnkey is fetching a lot of premium, fixing up is not always easy, a lot of stress, if one has 2 young kids and both parents working surviving a remodel is not easy. I’m going through one now. Contractors are not very professional, professional ones end up asking exorbitant rates.
Plus when @Jil says he wont pay one $ more, he is experienced enough in BA real estate and he is putting a value where he is comfortable, which is great. A lot I mean a lot of new comers are buying homes and they cant even get close to buying a home if they are conservative. Thats why an emotional buyer would easily pay 1.25M. Imagine not able to buy a home for 1 year, so was just saying why not 1.25M.
FTR, I bought a pure fixer myself, so I am definitely not an emotional buyer.
Private sale. You are the only bidder. All you have to do is check things out and say yah or nay to the price or can even negotiate on the price since no other bidder technically. It’s a beautiful thing, when it happens.
I have been blessed to have done it on several of my holdings, including my primo Sunset home. Granted, aided by one hell of a realtor/friend who will get the opportunity to one day earn full commission when I sell out. Coldwell Banker is not always the devil as @Elt1 believes.
More action in that Fremont corridor…Mentor Graphics of Fremont just got bought out by big Siemens!!!
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