priced below acquisition

There are currently 81 blog entries related to this category.

Welcome Back to a Few

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 at 1:57pm. 195 Views, 0 Comments.

A couple of properties have hit (or "re-hit") the MLS with the old quickie-relist tactic this past week. Do they feel new?

Meantime, another listing from last year is back this year, lease having expired, looking for a nice markup this year – even though they couldn't sell last year.

We welcome these listings back – though 2 never left – and wonder what may become of them.

It's of special note that they're making these moves in late October. Not exactly a hot time in a normal market. Will we see these listings continue into next year?

1030 1st (5br/5ba, 4300 sq. ft.) is a mid-90s Mediterranean built into a very favorable position high up the hill.

In our July review, we referred to the "huge, huge PV & ocean views, made possible as the hill drops down and…

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Close the Books on 763 31st

Monday, April 23rd, 2012 at 9:51pm. 281 Views, 0 Comments.

It's rare indeed to see a Tree Section home go over $3m.

But once upon a time, it happened at a storybook house on prestigious 31st Street.

That was Summer 2006, as our local RE market was only beginning to hit the occasional bump in the road. The storybook home was 763 31st (5br/5ba, 3575 sq. ft.). It sold for $3.025m back then, in what could be called our last bubble year.

Regular readers know this one has been on and off the market for the past couple of years. We've repeatedly done 2 things here at MBC:
  • expressed our love for the home ("a custom masterpiece"), and
  • questioned list prices that ran as high as $3.295m.
This one never went under $3m in its 2010 listing, which ran a little over 5 months.

New agents, new year, same result – a 2011 listing…

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What a Difference a Year Makes

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 3:29pm. 194 Views, 0 Comments.

Seems like only yesterday that we last saw 2808 Elm (5br/4ba, 3225 sq. ft.) for sale.

In fact, it was March 2011, the end of a 2-month run on the market not unlike the property's prior 3-month run in mid-2010.

That's right, twice in recent times they tried to find a buyer for this newer (2006) Cape Cod that's light, bright and cheery, and even has something of a yard. (More than you'd expect on a 4480 sq. ft. lot.)

Twice it didn't work.

And now here we are again, a different landscape, buyers clamoring for Cape Cods, and – what's that? – it's on the market at a higher price than last year.

Purchased new at the peak for $2.415m in Nov. 2006, this one was offered publicly for prices ranging from $2.049m in 2010 down to $1.979m last year.

And now: $2.199m to…

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Close the Books on 1801 Palm

Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 8:25pm. 273 Views, 0 Comments.

They have finally sealed up a sale at 1801 Palm (4br/4ba, 3900 sq. ft.), a newer (2000) home that logged a fairly amazing 279 DOM last year. Amazing, that is, for a larger, nice Tree Section home on a great block and a sunny corner lot.

They wrapped it up at $2.100m, down an irrelevant $29k from the last price cut made in July 2011.

The sale price is off $199k (-9%) from the start price from last March.

Perhaps more interestingly, the chop is also 10% down from the May 2004 acquisition price of $2.325m. MB's median price for 2011 for SFRs was pretty much flat to 2004 (see "2011 Wrap: More Sales, 2004 Median"), so we notice when someone comes in notably off that line. 

Curiously, that prior listing began in March 2004 at $2.050m, perhaps begging for the…

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Maybe Palm Has Finally Turned

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 4:30pm. 205 Views, 0 Comments.

It was way back last July that we said "it's hard to believe more than 4 months have gone by with 1801 Palm (4br/4ba, 3900 sq. ft.) still on offer." (See "Can Palm Turn the Corner?")

And then another 5 months went by after that.

Tuesday the home switched from "backup offer" status – where it had been since mid-December – to "pending," likely an indication that some contingency has been met by the buyers, perhaps sale of their existing home. (Admittedly we haven't pressed for details.) This makes it all the more like that this second reported deal will wrap up. At last.

At Palm, they've rolled on for 279 combined days on market, a pretty surprising accomplishment for an attractive, newer (2000), corner-lot home in a pretty great location.

The last offering…

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Close the Books on 2509 Laurel

Thursday, January 19th, 2012 at 6:10am. 264 Views, 0 Comments.

Yes, it was premature to point to 2509 Laurel (4br/3ba, 3650 sq. ft.) as an example of a perfectly priced quick sale in the Tree Section.

Back in September (!) in "Laurel Hit the Sweet Spot," we noted the almost instant deal on the big, remodeled home, which had come out at $1.695m. (Here's our review from the first open house.)

But that was just the first deal, and it flopped.

Thereafter, Laurel sat.

Instead of about 1 DOM, it logged 101.

It's a very big house, redone since its last (2007) purchase, in a location that's walkable to school and town. You might want to update it further (kitchen and master in particular), but nothing's pressing.

There's no yard, really, which was a killer for some buyers.

Once Laurel sat, it sat and sat. The last time we…

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Hey, Didn't They Just Buy That? – Part 2

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 at 4:15am. 243 Views, 0 Comments.

It's a curious thing when someone buys a house and then puts it right back up for sale.

No one flips houses anymore, do they?

But that's one way to look at 469 28th, a sizable (4br/4ba, 3025 sq. ft.) and fairly new home up on the plateau in the Sand Section.

The 2004 build hit the market in late April this year and cut a quick deal for a cool $2.0m. The deal closed in June, less than 5 months ago.

After a certain amount of smashing remodeling, here it is back up on public offer.

In November.

For 16% more: $2.325m.

We're assured that this wasn't intended as a flip, but as a custom re-do for the new owners. And then something else came along. So if/when they can find a buyer, the next thing happens.

We'd like to get a look inside to evaluate the changes, and we…

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Ocean View, One-Third Off

Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 2:09pm. 192 Views, 0 Comments.

We see trades around town on bubble-era purchases where the drop upon resale is less than 20%. A drop somewhere in the teens seems normal for a 2006-07 purchase resold today, though there are exceptions. Yes, MB is performing better than most markets post-bubble.

So what about a newer home, west of Highland with big ocean views and walkable to MB's "second downtown," El Norte south of Rosecrans?

The short sale at 233 30th (3br/4ba, 2325 sq. ft.) is currently queued up for a one-third drop from '07.

This SFR was almost perfectly timed to hit the market as the bubble popped. First listing: May 2007.

The home was purchased new in Aug. 2007 for $2.250m and used subsequently as a rental/investment property.

Wait, $2.250m? Maybe the bubble hadn't popped yet.

But…

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-1% Since '07?

Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 3:21am. 177 Views, 0 Comments.

The MB median price is down over last year – down even from the bottom year, 2009, west of the highway. So how would you do now if you tried to resell a 2007 purchase?

Lots of peak-year resales have trouble recouping their original sales prices.

To cite just one example we've recently cited here, the newer, ocean-view TH at 2211 Bayview fetched 13% less than its 2007 acquisition price in a recent open-market sale.  

No big surprise there – the years 2006-07 largely mark the peak of local RE. You expect some dropoff.

605 33rd just sold for $2.475m off market.
But as we see in the case of 605 33rd (5br/5ba, 3750 sq. ft.), an off-market sale might be the way to pull off a minor miracle – reselling for a 2007 price.

Late last week, 605 33rd posted a sale at

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Former Speckie Undersells Current Speedies

Monday, October 3rd, 2011 at 8:30pm. 225 Views, 0 Comments.

Maybe it should be no surprise that a resale of a newer home is coming out priced below some current spec homes.

Still, when 1901 Poinsettia (5br/5ba, 3200 sq. ft.) hit the market on Monday morning, we couldn't help but think of the 5 Speedy Speckies.

Poinsettia was the last spec home by the Speedy Speckies' builder to sell in MB's Tree Section before the new crop popped up this year.

Only a couple of weeks ago, the first of the newbies posted a deal – that being 2516 Pine, last at $1.899m. (See "Your Ex(spec)tations on 2516 Pine.")

Now 1901 Poinsettia opens at $1.849m, a modest $50k below several of the remaining new spec offerings. (1601 and 1605 Pine, with smaller lots, are at $1.799m each.)


1901 Poinsettia sold for $2.0m in March 2008, one of the very…

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