What $1.1 Mill Buys You in Alameda CA
Thursday, August 27, 2009
1531 Morton St. Knife Catching Again
Up for consideration is 1531 Morton St. $1,099,000 4bed 2.5 bath 2700 sq ft house that’s $407/sq ft. built in 1910. The official knifecathers blog has already covered this house but since it was already in my Que to finish I thought I’d do it anyways, so here’s my take on it.
I gotta say, this place is the most crack-smokingest craziest price of ANY house I’ve reviewed.
There’s a story behind this one that is just too funny-greed gone way wrong I think.
View ImageHere’s what 1531 Morton looks like from the front. When built it was a nice house on a large 6500 sq ft lot. BTW I guess the realtor got fired as the house is now listed as FSBO….I bet the realtor tried to talk some sense into the owner and some owners just don’t listen.
View ImageHere’s the google sat view of the place before the new ‘addition’. You can see plenty of space and a little garage in the back corner. If I had a satellite view of the place now it would show an entirely NEW house in what was the backyard.!!!
The Story (from the realtor showing the house on the day we toured): Typical Alameda story, older women living alone in great big house can’t take care of it anymore so decides to sell. Records show the current owner (which is some kinda fancy-pants green design-build firm outta Berkeley) got the place for a steal at the height of the market, bought for $550,000 back in ’06. That number is suspiciously cheap for that time….bringing up the specter of someone taking advantage of a little old lady…. This firm then somehow convinced the city planning dept to let them build an entirely new house in the backyard (1533 Morton on sale for like $800,000+) and call it a ‘condo development’??? Its ridiculous, I don’t know how many palms they had to grease to get that pushed through but man….wow I just don’t get it.
Anywho, fancy-pants developer builds new house in backyard (all spiffy green like) does an aerosol overhaul on the original house and lists them both separately, the original place for $1.1mill and the back house for $899,000!!!!
How much crack did he have to smoke before he though THAT was going to fly? I suppose the developer thought the market was going to keep go, go going the way it was and people would be jumping all over themselves to buy either of the places… Lets just say that, that’s not happening….We’ve been to two open houses there and the reactions from the people touring the houses is just priceless…. ‘$1.1 mill FOR JUST THE FRONT HOUSE!!!, they must be joking’ I must of heard 20 different couples say basically the same thing and just walk away shaking their heads…
So, this development company bought the place in ’06 for $550,000, then sunk a bunch of money into fixing up the original house and then building an entire new house. What do you think the carrying costs of all this were? Its 2/3rds of the way through 09 and no one is jumping to buy these places. I bet that the developer is losing its shirt on this….and that doesn’t make me feel bad at all!
Okay onto the house review:
View ImageYou are greeted by these front steps…Very not original and VERY not allowed by the city…I wonder how they got this past the inspectors.
talking to the realtor I learned this gem… The roof on the place has to be replaced in 5 years!!! Yes you heard that right, they want $1mill for a house with a roof that is basically failing….Why in the heck would you not put a new roof on? To my way of thinking the fact that they didn’t put a new roof on, or the slab in the basement calls into question all the work they’ve done on the place.
Summary:
$1mill house with a bad roof, no parking and no yard…..and condo fees!!!
Its sad really, the original house was nice at one point. Heck, I would of loved to of bought this place in 06 for $550,000 that’s less than we paid for our
shack in 07. To make this house work for us we’d first have to invent a time machine and go back in time and buy it before this ‘developer’ ruined the place when they ‘freshened’ it…
This coulda been a nice place with a sensitive restoration and nice grounds…even if that woulda happened it would not be worth $1mill today…
Man, whoever thought that this was going to be a money making venture really needs to put down the crack pipe. This developer would be lucky if he gets $1.1mill for both places…
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA.&
#160; Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Replies
Mike, you see this place?
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
No, but I hope it sells! ; ^ )
The two comparable ones with in a block of my house are priced just below 800K, but no offers are coming in, last I heard. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Yeah, I'm with David. Who's the "green" developer?
I'm all for infill housing, but density has its limits. Doesn't Alameda have a lot coverage limit? In Berkeley it's 40%, I believe.
You still house hunting?
k
Ya that's the crazy thing Alameda sure as heck does have a lot coverage law...that's why I and just about everybody else that looks at it can't figure out how they passed it. Something to do with it being a condo I think...?
I don't actually remember the name of the Berkeley design build place. If you look up the flyer for 1533 Morton it should be on there..
Not seriously house hunting but just checking out the scene to keep our value-o-meters calibrated.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
It says Sinan Sabuncuoglu is the owner/architect. Can't remember if I've heard of him or not.I'll admit, the new building looks nice. Still, for 900k, (never mind 1.2m) I'd want my own lot. Central vac or no...k
Ya the new building was nice..
But its 3 floors and very narrow! You will be climbing stairs constantly just to go to the bathroom!
Also it was super 'modern' on the inside which isn't my taste preference...plus its just not that big for $900k!!!!
Maybe if he mixed some of that crack they're smoking into some punch to hand out at the next open house they could get someone to buy it?
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
What should the front steps look like?
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I'm not saying that those don't look nice but..
The city has a VERY hard and fast rule about replacing front steps 'in-kind' Which means you don't replace wood steps with anything other than wood.
The planning-zoning dept considers it a historical aberration to put concrete steps on a house that should have wood.
Not sure if I agree with that but the zoning-planning depts strict rules have kept the islands Victorians looking like Victorians which in turn seems to keep the property values up.
I was just reading somewhere that Alameda has the largest concentration of original Victorian homes of anywhere in CA.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
So you think the original steps were about the same shape, but wood?"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
looks like a nice place if a guy wants a mother in law house. around here would hit the 275.000 with the new house in yard.
thats not smog in cailf,thats crack smoke,everybodys breathing it. lolthe older i get ,
the more people tick me off
Ya it looks like you can see where the old hand rail supports were.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
That is a copy of knife throwers blog isn't it? Or are you writing all that? Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
No I did not copy the knifecatchers blog I just did a post on the same house.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
We saw a lot of that here during our little "boom" (housing about tripled in a few short yrs, before crashing back to sq. one). Guys from L.A. or the coast came in, way overbuilt (cost-wise), and did weird things to older homes without a real clear game plan, just went in and started throwing money around. Thinking they would get $300-400 K when the neighborhood was at like 175 - 225K. A few that I worked on ended up poorly, one still hasn't sold several years later, the investor had to sell his other properties and move in, there went his retirement! Bummer.
View Image bakersfieldremodel.com
Edited 8/29/2009 4:34 pm by Huck
The strange thing here is that the developer is not from out of the area.
Berkeley is practically right next door!...
I don't feel bad for the developer losing his shirt on this one as it seems he's bug-nuts and those kinda don't really need a lot of money do they?
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
>>the current owner (which is some kinda fancy-pants green design-build firm outta Berkeley)
All right, time to start naming names!
Why would a sane person wish to live in California? I was born there (Riverside) and left after six months -- hitchhiked all the way to Washington. Then tried Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Hawaii, Germany, Vietnam, Louisiana, and finally settled on Wisconsin. It's closer to the Nort cabin when the community organizers come after me and my family.
Why would a sane person live in wisconsin? ;)
k
ps Riverside is a long, long ways (distance and livability) from the city by the bayeeay..
We don't have wild fires, hurricanes, or tornados in Wisconsin. Also, the temperature never gets too high or too low. About 85 for a high this year (76 today) and never lower than -20 in the winter. We break out the sweatshirts when it gets below that, and we move indoors for our beer and brats (except at Packers games), putting our aluminum folding chairs up in the garage for the winter. When summer comes again in late July, we bring them back out to the patio, for a month or so if lucky. You just must be envious of us.
""We don't have wild fires, hurricanes, or tornados in Wisconsin."' Wildfires in Wisconsin??? You might enjoy reading about this one.
http://www.peshtigofire.info/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire
Edited 8/31/2009 11:53 am by dovetail97128
I hope you weren't hitchhiking alone at six month old!
View Image Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Ha I was thinking the same thing!My little one is almost 5 months and shes not doing any hitch hiking till shes at least 9 months old!
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
You should check out the house at Central and Willow just to see it, lots of original woodwork and they did a pretty nice job at modernizing the kitchen.
Man, I hope it cools down tomorrow. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
If its open we'll check it out.
Ya the heat on Friday was nuts! 104 def F and it only cooled down at night to like 80!
Today had a high of 95 and thank goodness it cooled down at night. I can not sleep when its hot.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Did you write the piece about this house?
Ya my opinion after taking a walk thru at an open house and after talking to the realtor showing the place and doing a permit check.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
It seems like you have an axe to grind. You appear to want to put down every aspect of the house and that makes the whole piece seem motivated by a bias.
It's almost impossible not to be snarky when looking at houses out here. They all cost an arm and a leg, they're all impossibly close to eachother, etc. and a lot of owners are unrealistic in terms of pricing. Even as a seller, I talked trash (privately, of course) about my own house.
Also, lot of developers are using the "green" label to push for massive density that really negatively affects livability in a neighborhood, so I think it's ok to jeer a bit when confronted with an egregious example.
And, (I'm only speaking for myself here) when I see a developer who has apparently gotten away with something I probably wouldn't be allowed to do according to the very strict rules I have to kotow to, it irks me, and my whole opinion gets grumbly. Even if it is nice work, I feel like it never should exist in the first place.
You did see that it is two entire houses on one 6000 SF lot, right?
If you think his commentary is bad, you should read the online comments in the SF Chronicle's real estate section. They're brutal.
k
Hi Eddie,
I don't actually put down every single bit of the house. I actually like the original old house.
Ya I am a bit snarky I guess. Is it wrong that I think the developer is crazy thinking he can get $1.1 mill for a house that's just basically had an aresol overhaul? A house with a roof thats got 5 yrs left max? A house with its original plumbing, wiring, foundation. A house with no land that's in a solid $600,000 neighborhood? A house that they paid $550,000 for at the height of the market insanity around here?
Since I've restored 1.5 old houses doing most of the work myself in this area I feel like I have a reasonably informed opinion on what an old house needs vs. what most people do to them and what it costs to have it done right.
My only axe to grind may be my utter fed-up-ness with BAD realtors who don't do their job. If you want to see my opinion on realtors please read this piece- http://chezneumansky.blogspot.com/2009/07/be-your-own-knifecatcher.html
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
I read your blog post about Realtors, and in it you mention foundation jobs. Reading the Knifecatcher blog, I saw several references to foundations being redone as well. What's the deal with this? Lotta #### foundations in the area? Some sort of earthquake-proofing scheme? Or something else?
Most the old houses out here were built with brick foundations and have settled significantly. Lots of foundation and seismic retrofit work going on, and it ain't cheap.
I work for a large company in their commercial drywall division, but the wood division is getting into the game, mostly looking for apartment building retrofits.
Here is a link;
http://www.seismicfix.com/ Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Nothing fishy,
Just BIG old houses on their original brick foundations where the mortar has usually turned to sand by now.
The entirity of Alameda is an Earthquake liquafaction zone...so crumbling brick foundations + tall skinny victorian houses = a really unsafe place to be in a major shaker!
Since doing a foundation job costs a lot people skip and then try to sell their houses at prices like it doesnt matter.
Here's my take on foundations
http://chezneumansky.blogspot.com/2009/08/whats-with-all-foundation-stuff.html
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Edited 8/30/2009 3:15 am by madmadscientist
My smaller scale project than yours has been FSBO for two weeks as of Sunday. I'll probably just end up listing with a realtor to get it sold quickly. I've looked at a few of the competition and in general I'm amazed at the junk that people buy. They advertise tile and it turns out to be the 99 cents/ft stuff. They've got $10 light fixture in the entry. $20-30 ceiling fans in the BR's. Crappy carpet, etc. On one, the house's big selling point was that they 'painted several rooms!' Nevermind that you'll have to replace all the flooring and remodel the K and BA's.
jt8
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. -- Carl Sandburg
ya cheap stuff I know now.
Now they we've done a couple b.s. on the cheap things to make the house more livable (temporialy) I know what the cheap home despot instock stuff looks like...
good luck with the FSBO Craigs list is your friend.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer