Price estimates - Los Altos Edition

Yes, flag lots go for discount as they don’t have curb appeal and they are less private with more homes looking into your house. Privacy is from the street, but not so much from the immediate neighbors.

You’ll have less trick and treaters, too, i imagine.

Flag lots are awful. @manch likes them though.

Who cares for curb appeal? Are people so vain?

who cares about tree lined streets? too many leaves to worry about.
large lots? maintenance problems
single story? waste of space.

Not all makes sense, but all of them has a reason, clearly :slight_smile:

Flag lots neighbor a bunch more people, have a bunch more houses looking into it, you will pass by someone elses house, when you wanna do something all of these 3-4-5 houses might complain, etc.

$300K less than list price. That after a price reduction of $400K. Not bad…

Market is soft. There was another one in san felicia that went pendint after weeks.

curious about price.

Good to know. I’m with Manch – forget curb appeal, I like the added privacy from the street.

1 Like

Flag lots encourage lawsuits. The driveway access and maintenance can become an issue. Plus if the two neighbors don’t get along there can be problems. Been there done that. Fugetaboutit

Price bump:

Had to increase price due to lack of multiple offer competition?

probably people were lowballing :smiley:

tomato, have you ever considered buying a condo in North Los Altos?

We looked forever to buy a house in this area for a couple of years and were unsuccessful.

Last year it dawned on me that getting the benefits of a good area, good schools, parks, etc. was the priority and it didn’t matter if we lived in a house on a decent sized lot.

My daughter is usually out of the house at school, swim, ice skating, dance, play dates, endless birthday parties, etc. Like many other kids, she’s being shuttled around to various activities. By the time she has free time, she’s at home on her iPad. I’m sure it’ll be the same for our baby when he’s older.

If you want a large green area for kids, Shoup Park is terrific. There’s even a creek where lots of kids are jumping around in rain boots and swimsuits. Downtown Los Altos is bustling during certain times of the day and it has great restaurants and shops for kids (Arcade, Linden Tree Books, toy store). The people are very friendly and there’s a great sense of community here. The art and wine festival a couple of weekends ago was like no other
I’ve been to with a mini amusement park.

My sister-in-law lives in the vicinity and has a large lot with a pool. Her kids are out of the house on weekends and now with summer vacation at various camps, math school, Chinese school, etc. I think the gardener is in the yard more often than the kids.

If you’re looking for a place to live, a condo might be a good alternative as you can at least put your roots down in the area. Of course, a condo is not a great investment but I don’t have to stress about a huge mortgage and we can live very comfortably.

When I decided that a condo/townhouse was a good affordable alternative, I placed two offers in ten days, the first on a condo in Cupertino. We have not looked back — my wife’s commute is less than ten minutes, annual condo insurance is $466, etc. We gutted the place and invested into remodeling it exactly how we wanted and would be able to live for the foreseeable future.

As you know, Los Altos is a tough market. I don’t think any large die-off of baby boomers is going to change anything. I know of at least three units where the original owners who bought for $25k In 1975 is either renting out their units or their kids live out of the area and stay in the condo when they’re in town. There are another two units that sold a couple of months before we bought; one is vacant and the other is being rented out.

Don’t wait for that perfectly priced house. We looked for a couple of years waiting for some market slowdown in Los Altos but it didn’t happen. I think everyone would agree it’s best to buy ASAP (even if it’s a condo).

6 Likes

I agree, buying something is better than waiting. Did you buy in Cupertino or LA? Some of the condos in North LA can be really expensive too. The ones by downtown are 2M. I think they are geared towards retirees who lived in the area and wants to downsize.

Is an old story. He bought in LA.

We bought in LA next to downtown (five minute walk).

Yes, the new building on First St right next to Foothill Expy is ridiculously priced as is its HOA. We paid $1.3m, $100k over list.

Until I looked at the listing for our condo, I also thought the condos in the area were limited to seniors or rental apartments but that’s totally not the case. I believe the only 55+ condo community is 1 W Edith Ave.

BTW, I’m not saying we are splurging on stuff but we’re not eating packaged ramen either. We continue to live frugally.

Spending $1.5-2m less than we anticipated has allowed us to keep important investments and frees up cash flow to save/invest.

2 Likes

hanera, I wished I looked like Aaron Kwok too. :heart_eyes:

That’s not Aaron Kwok…

金城武?

You would have to ask @hanera for sure. My guess is 鄭少秋 back in 1970.