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Funky Foto Contest Week 43

February 13, 2009 By 16 Comments

thing

It’s going to be interesting to see how hard this weeks foto is to determine. It’s a pretty commonly used “objet d’art” in various depictions of Foster City that I’ve seen. The question is…where is it? If you can tell me what it is I’d be interested too, but the “where” part is what’ll get you the prize. Oh, by the way, the prize this week is a $30.00 gift card to Plaza Gourmet Deli at Edgewater Place. All the rules of the road are available to view on the left hand margin or on the bar above. The winner and all correct answers will be published on Monday morning. All funny and unfunny jokes, semi rude comments, silly banter and all wrong answers will be published ASAP. Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Funky Foto Contest

Chinese New Year Festival

February 12, 2009 By 6 Comments

OK, I’m sure some of you will get a chuckle out of this but my friends at Foster City Television asked me to host a segment that they produce called “City Snapshots”. It covers a variety of community events and the first one they let me loose on was the recent Chinese New Years Festival. They’re pretty smart…they edited out all the bad parts, which was about 75% of what I did! The FCTV folks (Arlene Shields and Bridget Carberry) are really fantastic and they really did a fantastic job putting this together…and I sure had fun doing it!

City Snapshots – Chinese New Year 2009 from Foster City TV on Vimeo.

Filed Under: City Snapshots

Condo/Townhouse Inventory-February

February 10, 2009 By 5 Comments
Street Address List Price Orig List Price DOM Status Beds Baths Bldg SqFt
720 PROMONTORY POINT LN #2401 1388000 1499900 116 A 3 3 1/2 2927
740 PROMONTORY POINT LN #3209 888000 16 P 2 2 1/2 2264
720 PROMONTORY POINT LN #2109 869000 889000 78 A 3 2 1/2 2264
1017 LIDO LN 849000 949000 117 A 3 2 1/2 2140
720 PROMONTORY POINT LN #2302 839900 925000 117 A 3 2 1/2 2224
1059 GALLEY LN 788000 9 A 3 2 1/2 1550
853 CABOT LN 779000 13 A 3 2 1/2 1640
359 CATAMARAN ST 759000 5 A 3 2 1580
1573 BEACH PARK BL 749990 65 A 4 2 1/2 1760
7 BINNACLE LN 749888 794888 111 A 2 2 1/2 1730
868 ANDROMEDA LN 749000 7 P 3 2 1/2 1675
850 CABOT LN 739000 52 A 3 2 1/2 1380
986 CARTIER LN 727000 81 A 2 2 1260
1023 HELM LN 715000 11 A 2 2 1240
48 E COURT LN 699000 749000 113 A 2 2 1/2 1530
748 APOLLO LN 695000 13 A 3 3 1470
804 CENTAURUS LN 685000 715000 82 A 3 2 1/2 1618
37 COMMONS LN 679950 699900 89 A 2 2 1530
853 LYNX LN 659000 71 A 3 2 1/2 1546
857 N CANIS LN 650000 2 A 3 2 1/2 1546
827 VESPUCCI LN 630000 4 A 2 1 1/2 1460
880 MERIDIAN BAY LN #103 620000 669000 160 A 2 2 1350
802 JUNO LN 599888 6 A 2 2 1/2 1278
780 SEA SPRAY LN #103 599103 599101 147 A 3 2 1499
1131 COMPASS LN #314 549000 568000 128 A 2 2 1349
172 ALBACORE LN 549000 2 A 2 2 1050
234 BONITA LN 539000 14 A 2 2 1100
1171 COMPASS LN #109 529000 112 A 2 2 1286
800 SEA SPRAY LN #101 528101 14 A 2 2 1213
1061 BEACH PARK BL #00307 525000 585000 357 A 2 2 1286
1131 COMPASS LN #215 525000 6 A 2 2 1349
1061 BEACH PARK BL #114 498800 108 A 2 2 1349
1051 BEACH PARK BL #201 469888 505000 146 A 2 2 1349
1041 SHELL BL #3 465000 485000 100 A 2 2 1032
924 BEACH PARK BL #14 459750 497750 160 A 2 2 1060
1025 SHELL BL #10 450000 2 A 2 2 1042
840 SEA SPRAY LN #116 415000 24 A 1 1 995
7205 ADMIRALTY LN 400000 439888 125 A 2 1 1/2 998
5205 ADMIRALTY LN 360000 420000 63 A 2 1 1/2 998
6104 ADMIRALTY LN 256500 289900 75 P 1 1 748
AVERAGES: 640,644 661,052 73

See that listing up there at #2 on this chart? Unit #3209 at Promontory Point. It could be the first non REO to sell in that development since July of 2007. It changed status to “pending” after the wonderful and talented Lydia did this chart…let’s keep our fingers crossed! It’s pretty darn slow in this category too, for what it’s worth. There are a couple of real highlights that are new on the market and worth mentioning. Here goes:

359 Catamaran listed by Mary Bee of Re/Max Today for $759,000. Adorable 3 bedroom townhouse at Winston Village featuring everybody’s favorite feature…low Association dues ($245.00) Nice! The Seller’s a great folks too!

172 Albacore listed by Alex Wang of Rainmaker Properties for $549,000. The condo at Marina Green had a fire a few years ago and was rebuilt completely. It’s a really nice, new unit!

234 Bonita listed by Melissa Schaffer of Cashin Company for $539,000. Just like Albacore, this Marina Green unit is stunning. Lot’s of great features and really adorable, although this one isn’t brand new. Both of these units are perfect and in any other market would get multiple offers.

If you’re out and about check out these places…even if it’s just for fun.

Filed Under: What's For Sale?

Funky Foto Contest Winner Week 42

February 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

city

Just as I thought…pretty easy, and yes, I did take the expected heat. Oh well! Lots of folks participated and with it came kind of a fun day on Friday. The tower, of course, is located at the corner of Hillsdale & Foster City Blvd in front of City Hall. Arriving first on the scene with the correct answer was Asif Suria who wins the $30.00 gift card to Peet’s Coffee. Good job Asif! Honorable mention also goes out to Nike, Erika, GS-Dos, Ranjana, Narayanan, Alex O, Claw, Rob McIlvoy, Richard, Melissa, Rick Naff, Harish, and Larissa. Way to go folks! Come back this Friday…maybe it’ll be harder!

Filed Under: Funky Foto Contest

Sea Cloud Park

February 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

seasocseabase

Finally! The grand daddy of them all! Sea Cloud Park. 23.90 acres of just about everything. 8 baseball/softball diamonds and as many soccer fields. It has batting cages, snack shack, lawn area, FC Sports Hall of Fame and restrooms. It’s arguably the best park on the Peninsula. Here’s a map:

SeaCloudParkMap

Filed Under: The Parks

Funky Foto Contest Week 42

February 6, 2009 By 24 Comments

tower

I have no doubt that I’m going to take heat about this one being too easy…especially by my wife Lesley! We’ll see… In this weeks contest I want to know where this tower sits. As much detail as possible, please. This weeks winner will receive a $30.00 gift card to Peet’s Coffee…I know, I know there is no Peet’s in Foster City! You’ll have to drive over to Bay Meadows…I do! It’s time for a Peet’s in Foster City!

OK, I’m off of my soapbox. All the rules of the road are available to view on the left hand margin or on the bar above. The winner and all correct answers will be published on Monday morning. All funny and unfunny jokes, semi rude comments, silly banter and all wrong answers will be published ASAP. Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Funky Foto Contest

Single Family Inventory-February

February 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Street Address List Price Orig List Price DOM Status Beds Baths Bldg SqFt
100 FLYING CLOUD IS 1700000 2275000 182 A 3 3 3382
1011 WINDJAMMER CI 1688000   54 A 4 3 2900
159 FLYING MIST IS 1590000 1980000 226 A 5 3 1/2 3691
1307 MELBOURNE ST 1488000   3 A 4 2 1/2 2700
602 PORTSMOUTH LN 1399000 1498000 187 A 5 2 1/2 2540
982 FLYING FISH ST 1389000 1488000 119 A 5 3 1/2 3000
249 SURFBIRD ISLE 1350000   49 A 4 3 2500
710 SOMERSET LN 1338000 1439000 219 P 4 2 1/2 2700
602 SOMERSET LN 1330000   124 A 3 2 2340
350 SEA HORSE CT 1279900   39 A 4 3 2360
145 SHOOTING STAR IS 1275000   59 A 4 2 1/2 1990
350 STAYSAIL CT 1248000   13 A 4 3 2250
365 THATCHER LN 1239000   11 P 4 2 1/2 2550
711 TENDER LN 1199000 1249000 73 A 3 2 1/2 2300
1460 SWORDFISH ST 1199000   26 A 5 3 2540
377 MULLET CT 1190000   13 A 3 2 1/2 2210
257 PUFFIN CT 1180000   24 A 4 3 2450
112 BARKENTINE ST 1168000 1235000 181 A 4 3 2360
127 FLYING MIST IS 1150000 1335000 199 P 3 2 1820
201 SPINNAKER ST 1078000   49 A 5 3 2560
623 BAINBRIDGE ST 1078000   13 A 4 2 1810
260 STILT CT 1050000   11 A 6+ 3 1930
607 PORTSMOUTH LN 1024888   8 A 3 2 1/2 1800
231 BARKENTINE ST 999888   62 A 5 3 1/2 3873
842 GRENADA LN 958888   62 A 3 2 1810
1181 MARLIN AV 940000 965000 33 P 3 2 1890
198 BOOTHBAY AV 920000 999000 76 A 3 1 1/2 1620
781 CORONADO LN 918000   10 A 3 2 2110
730 VESPUCCI LN 889000 889000 23 A 3 2 2110
300 BODEGA ST 860000 860000 26 A 3 2 1280

 

Here’s an amazing fact: Since September 15 there have been only been 3 houses priced over $1.3mil that have sold. The fourth is the pending sale at 710 Somerset. That’s amazing to me. The days on the market are getting pretty long in that category. Right now we have 26 single family homes on the market and 4 pending sales. 16 of these listings have experienced price reductions. The market is one tentative place right now. Still, there are houses on the market right now that sure appear to be pretty good opportunities to me at this point. Here’s a couple of examples:

300 Bodega listed by Debbie Wong of Prudential for $860,000 is looking pretty good to me now. It’s lower than the seller paid for it in 2006 and it’s a pretty cute house…the lowest priced house in Foster City actually.

607 Portsmouth listed by Carmen Miranda of Alain Pinel for $1,024,888. This is a pretty good deal on a Whaler’s waterfront. Not the biggest house in the world but it’s priced right and seems to be in good shape.

The bottom line right now is the fact that the market in Foster City is still frozen…and sellers are holding the line on price, for the most part. The pressure on the higher priced properties is going to increase in my opinion and a great many of these prices are going to have to come down if they’re going to sell…unless these sellers are willing to wait indefinitely.

Filed Under: What's For Sale?

Fun With Short Sales

February 3, 2009 By 2 Comments

short-sales

Short sales, quite simply, are a pain…at least in my humble opinion. They’re so common right now that maybe they don’t need an explanation, but for the uninitiated here goes:

A short sale occurs when a seller owes more on a property than it’s worth. They list the home for sale, usually at a lower than market price and upon receiving an offer attempt to negotiate with their lender to accept less than what they are owed to make the sale close. It’s usually a long and tedious process and their rate of success is far lower than their success rate.

A given house may be listed for $480,000 in a neighborhood filled with comparables listed for $650,000 and up. A buyer could easily write an offer on this place at the asking price, wait for 3 months or more to get an answer from a lender about their offer…and then find out the lender will only take $525,000 for the house. Some times buyers wait alot longer than 3 months. My office mate had a short sale listing earlier this year and I would listen to her daily voice mail messages to the sellers lender (often you can’t speak to a living breathing human) that went unanswered for months . I realize that there are plenty of successful short sales, it’s just that I’ve seen and heard of lots more that didn’t work.

I receive alot of calls and e-mails from clients asking about homes they’ve seen that appear to be great opportunities who are unaware that they are short sales. Here’s why.  The following is actual verbage form a current short sale listing in the MLS on the Peninsula:

Location a prime  Neighboorhood walk to schools.Three bedrooms,2 1/2 Bathrooms,Ranch style home,fireplace in living room,beautiful hardwood floor,nice landscaped,attached garage,wood burning fire place.

Here’s what it says in the “realtor only” section. Not available for public viewing:

Private : Call for more details and to show the property. Short Sale subject to lender’s approval. Commission will be split 50/50. Bring your offer.

On many short sale listings there is really no public disclosure. Particularly the part about “subject to lender approval”. It may not matter at all what price is published on one of these listings. The lender is ultimately the final authority and will make the decision about what they’ll take. A buyer could get stuck waiting for months, and miss out on more real opportunities, before finding out that the lender (or lenders) won’t negotiate. If you have the time and patience a short sale can work…but make sure you have plenty of both.

Filed Under: Buyer info, Real Estate

Funky Foto Contest Winner Week 41

February 2, 2009 By 2 Comments

ihop

It took quite awhile for the first correct answer to come in on this one! I’ve sat at one of those tables on SO many occasions, including when it was Carrow’s, that I figured everybody else did too. Still, we had quite a few late entries. This weeks winner was Kali…aka Shane Shih. Great job! The Shihs win the $30.00 gift card to Noahs Bagels. Also arriving with the correct answer were Harish, Jeff Chu, Edna, Trisha, and Priya. Very good you guys! I hope everyone survived yesterday’s fun and you have a great week! See you back on Friday!

Filed Under: Funky Foto Contest
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