4517 Earhart Ave, Santa Rosa - Make An Offer

I'm guessing the owners of this house might be open to an offer at this point. The home has been on the market over 170 days and another home of the same model came on the market just over 30 days ago. I visited this community when they were initially selling and they seem to be fairly nice homes. Cobblestone is a respected builder in the area and this could be a good deal. This house is on the smallish side, but could be perfect as a starter home for someone. The kitchen in this particular plan is more niche than gourmet, so keep that in mind if cooking is a passion. If I recall, these homes included a wood-burning fireplace with a gas starter. No A/C here, but it was an option for buyers and others in the community may have it.

1406 Marylyn Circle, Petaluma - Good Price

This townhome was just reduced significantly and seems to be a pretty good bargain. Nearly 1600 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage for $434,900. That comes out to around $274.00 a square foot. The house has been on the market for quite some time and apparently the owners are getting a bit anxious to sell. The first set of pics that were posted showed an empty house. They have since taken the time to stage it and it looks pretty nice. The home also includes a wood burning fireplace (always a plus for me) and the community has a pool and tennis court. At 255.00 per month, the HOA dues seems a bit steep, so keep that in mind if considering this home.

Woodbridge Classics – Big Bang for the Buck

And now for some good news…If you're looking for a new place up in the Northeast Santa Rosa area, take some time and visit Woodbridge Classics by Rivendale. These townhomes are built in pairs -- not huge, long buildings of multiple units. Because of this, you only share one wall with your neighbor. Most of the units consist of one Plan 4 and one Plan 5. The Plan 4 homes are low income units and include 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The Plan 5 has 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths.

I am particularly excited about the Plan 5 as it clocks in at just over 1900 square feet and the prices are around 490K right now. That’s only 257.00 per square foot for a brand new home. I also really like the floorplan for this home, but I know everyone has different needs. It features one bedroom and a full bath downstairs, which can be used for a guest bedroom, office, or whatever your needs might be. I was very impressed with the kitchen in this home as it has a huge island and tons of cabinet space. The flow of the kitchen, dining and family rooms is very nice in my opinion and creates a great space for entertaining and everyday living. There is also a nice big storage space under the stairwell that could also be a great fort for your kids.

Moving upstairs in the Plan 5, there are 3 decent sized bedrooms and they space seems quite usable and comfortable. One of the secondary bedrooms is a bit smaller than the other, but it doesn’t fall into the “that’s a joke” category. The laundry room also lives upstairs and there are plenty of windows throughout to make the house feel open and light. The master bedroom is not huge, but the size seemed fine to me. The master closet is large and includes some basic shelving to help you with organization.

So what are the downsides? That depends on what you’re looking for in a home. The homes do include a back yard (positive points), but they are pretty small. Definitely better than nothing and pretty much what you would expect when buying an attached home. You also get a garage, but it’s a very narrow tandem number that will make your mini-van feel huge. Garage is good, not great actually, but I’m not a big fan of the long, narrow tandem design. Again, better than street parking and provides great storage possibilities for any other pack rats like myself.

Regarding the location, I’m not so sure. There is quite a bit of building going on in this area. Rivendale is also building Woodbridge Traditions (Single-Family detached) in the same neighborhood and another community called Montage just around the corner. Another builder is starting work on a development next to Woodbridge, but I have not seen any info on it yet. They look like small, detached homes – possibly in the 1100-1300 square foot range. There is a school right next to these communities and quite a bit of open space surrounding. It seems like it could be a nice neighborhood when things get built out, but you never know really. There is a farmhouse just to the south and I have heard roosters ever time I have visited this community. This land could probably be sold in the future, so it’s unclear if there will be more homes or something else to the south of the community.

I visited last week and they are about halfway through their construction and sales process. If you’re looking for a brand new home, want a good sized place and also a good deal, check out Woodbridge Classics, you might be pleasantly surprised.

"Demand is High at Sweed School" - Oh Really?

If you're not familiar with this project, Sweed School is a 14 home project (11 townhomes and 3 carriage homes) that uses an existing structure that was built back in 1911. I was on the interest list for this community because it looked very unique. Turns out, it is a pretty cool project and I like how they maintained the building when they built out the townhomes. When I received the grand opening email from them, I was really surprised at the prices. I replied to the message with my concern and stated that I felt they were around 75K too much. I know, I know, pretty snotty thing to do, but I felt I was providing a public service of sorts. The lowest priced townhome was 509K (1069 sq ft, 2bed, 2.5 bath) and they went up from there. These townhomes have no garages and no yards. Anywho, I was doing my usual checking around online the other day and noticed they still have half of the homes left to sell. When this project was ramping up, they were making it sound like people would be camped out for weeks just to get a look.

"Demand at SweedSchool is expected to be very high, so get pre-qualified now", was what many of the emails said. If this was in 2005, their messaging would have been accurate, but they sent this out after the downturn was in full-force. Hellooo...welcome to 2006. It looks like they did come down 40K on the one of the carriage homes, but I'm not sure where they are on the townhomes. I think they felt the uniqueness of the community was going to make it an easy sell and allow them to keep prices jacked up a bit.

Personally, I think you can get a lot more for your money, especially if you are looking for a condo type set up. Check out Azure off of Lakeville -- they are offering a 2 bed/2 for 405K. It's a new build and doesn't have the nostalgia and west side address of Sweed, but you get around 1000 sq feet, a pool, a clubhouse and you save about 100K.

910 Cedarwood Lane, Petaluma - Overpriced?

This is a nice looking little house (key word is "little") near Lakeville in Petaluma. At 1084 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, it's not going to be overly spacious, but it does look like it's in good condition. Some nice back yard work, but a bit too much concrete for my taste. This home was initially listed at 545K and recently lowered to 533K. I think it's still overpriced -- you're paying $492 a square foot for this 1970 home. My guess is that it needs to be around 519K to even be competitive right now. It's been on the market for 157 days so far, so we'll see. If you are looking in this neighborhood, check out 924 Alderwood. It seems like a better deal...and it has a pool :)