Comments on: A Little Skirmish

By: Ed Gory

Ed Gory — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:00:37 +0000

That’s a gem, Jim! I always remind people, when we have gorgeous weather days like today, that THIS is the reason you’ll pay $900K for a home here that would sell for $14K in Detroit. Great comebacks!…Ed

By: Jim Minkey

Jim Minkey — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:32:26 +0000

I’m crazy about you Michelle! You’ve given me a second idea for a blog post! The appraisal topic is coming next week too. Your problem is not unique right now…although I totallly understand how it makes you nuts! Check in on Thursday

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:49:10 +0000

Hi Jim,
Just following up on your comment earlier. I would totally love to read your post about this subject. Meanwhile, in thinking about if a property is ‘priced right,’ I wanted to share this about my own refi. Our townhome in FC just got apprised for $540,000. It is a water front, 3 bedroom property! Yikes. We have neighbors that paid $750,000 about 3 years ago for the exact same house, minus the recessed lighting, the granite counter top…! We bought a while ago and so thankfully, it is still ‘worth’ more than we paid for it. I honestly cannot imagine a home like ours selling for $540,000, as there are properties from this complex listed for more than $650,000 still. What do you think about that?

By: steve

steve — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:24:58 +0000

It is kind of funny.
But I pity her, I know how frustrated it is to get a place here. It is close to impossible even with 2 persons working to pay mortgage, not to mention the worse economy. It seems that only people who started working and bought house like 10 years back can live a good life in bay area, anyone who hasn’t now has a VERY hard time surviving.
Me and all my friends use up all the pay everymonth for mortgage and day care and food, all.

By: Dana Ferri

Dana Ferri — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:04:08 +0000

I wish I could have been there to see that skirmish!!!

By: Jim Minkey

Jim Minkey — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:42:32 +0000

It’s actually a paradoxical thing Michelle…I think prices are going both up and down. In Jan-Feb you could get plenty of REO type single family homes in many parts of the Peninsula for under $450,000. Now it’s hard to get the same type house for under $550,000…so at the lower end it’s already gone up. Conversely, at the higher end it’s still coming down and probably will in my opinion. That particularly includes high end townhouses with high HOAs. I think there’s a blog post brewing on this topic next week! Jumbo loans are a big part of that.

As far as Cedar…I have to admit to being a tad superstitious about disclosure of asking prices before COE. That’s been a difficult escrow too…I’m afraid to rock any boats just yet. It’s going to close on the 30th…e-mail me then and I’ll let you know.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:19:22 +0000

Hi Jim, You might just be the first realtor who is openly saying that prices probably won’t be going up soon anytime. Can you talk more about why you think that? Also, can you tell me how much that house on Cedar (your listing) ended up going for? We are in process of refi our place to get some money out to move to a bigger place and am eyeing the market…

By: Guru

Guru — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:03:13 +0000

it is funny. it is true its pricier. but our life does not wait for the prices to come down. so ended up buying in windemere, san ramon.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:18:36 +0000

Jim: there are some sad truths inside the story. The price here is too high for sure. It would hurt us in the long run. From the current budget crisis, it can be seen that Pro-13’s issue would come back some day: it is just a paradox.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:16:31 +0000

That, Jim, is hilarious.