Home in a "fluffing good area"

UPDATE: This home is now listed for $499,900 or $264 a square foot. Unfortunately, the agent hasn't bothered to look at their description and make it 10K less laughable.

Punctuation is very important, but it still doesn't save this listing from being ridiculous. Here's the unedited description, including both of the periods at the end:

Tremendous opportunity for this fixer sold as is needs interior paint, carpet, fluffing good area well designed and large lot. price is king here absolutely will not last at this price. .

And what exactly is a "fluffing good area"?

A) A misspelling of an inappropriate word that proves this listing was posted in a drunken stupor after a broker party or liquid lunch.

B) Lacking the ever critical comma in a very strategic location.

C) Even if lacking the aforementioned comma, who in the world refers to updating or fixing up a house as "fluffing"? Fluffing is reserved for pillows, silly little dogs with expensive haircuts and the new age groupies who claim your aura requires it on bad days.

Mr. Agent, I would also suggest that the next time you take a picture of the kitchen and it's wonderfully tangerine-dream colored formica, you may want to remove the slew of business cards scattered on it from previous agent visits. The cards give it that "this home is a dog that no one wants" look, which is best avoided.

OK, enough of these foibles and follies (...dropping silly sounding words that begin with "f" into my posting to get into the spirit).

Based on what I can gather, this home had an offer at 535K and it fell out. It's now listed at 510K, which puts it at $270.00 a square foot. Not bad, especially for a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with nearly 1900 square feet. The lot is also nice sized at 7,318 and there appears to be some grass mixed in with the tall weeds in the backyard picture. Grab a jug of Roundup and a good mower and you should be ready to play ball.

At this price and specs, this could be a good bargain, and hopefully you will have enough cash left over to give it a proper fluffing.

Prices dropping faster than subprime lenders.

Trying to keep up with the price adjustments on some of the previously covered homes is becoming a job in itself. I have two of them today, so I'm going to hit them both in one post.

The first home is 4517 Earhart Ave. in Santa Rosa. The neighbors house that was listed at a higher price of 469K (vs. 465K for this one) appears to have an offer. Who knows if it will stick, but this seller must be wondering what's up. I think the 469K house was in better shape based on the pictures, so that may be the determining factor. To the point, the price for this home has been dropped to 455K, which is right there where I suggested you make an offer (blatant self promotion...sorry). In fact I suggested you offer 445-455K and feel pretty confident you could get away with 440-445K at this point. If you're the homeowner, you may want to stage this house and take some new pictures. I'm making a broad assumption here, but the current pictures make it look like it's a rental, which does not help your position, in my opinion.

The other place is the townhome at 1406 Marylyn Circle in Petaluma. I thought it was already a good deal at $434K, but the price was just reduced to 419K (265.00 per sq. ft.). At Nearly 1600 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a 2 car garage, this seems like a good deal to me. I've driven this neighborhood and it seems fine. The HOA is a bit high in my opinion at 255.00 per month, but at least you get a pool and tennis courts for you money. There is another townhome right across the street for sale as well, but they are asking 459K (UPDATE: Price has been reduced to 425K). If there is something wrong with this one (which is not mentioned in the listing),the price difference of 40K could buy you some nice improvements.

Price reduced by One Million Dollars

UPDATE: Price has been reduced to 3,350,000

Now THIS is what I call an aggressive price reduction! It's still listed at a lofty $3,599,000, but lopping a cool million off the top sure sweetens the offer. If this San Anselmo home had only been on the market a day or so, I would have thought it was a typo by the agent, but it's been listed for over 23 days. What would inspire someone to drop the price this dramatically?

Eyebrow raising adjustment aside, take a look at the views and interior shots for this place. Really amazing! The house has 5 bedrooms, 4 baths and is listed at 4,342 square feet. The lot is ginormous, clocking in at 175,939 square feet, which is right around 4 acres if my math is correct. That's a heap of Marin County dirt. If this home is in your price range, it's probably worth a look...if for no other reason than to solve the million dollar mystery.

The little house that couldn't sell.

UPDATE: As far as I can tell, this house did not sell and was pulled from the market.

In the ongoing saga of the little home that just won't sell, they have lowered the price once again. They are now down to 499K, which is 46K off the original 545K. I feel a bit sorry for these folks at this point, but frankly, I think the home was really overpriced when it listed. Stop by, take a look, and offer them 475K-485K -- I bet you can snag this place.

A pool and a pond. A pond would be good for you...

Dear Real Estate Agent,

Although I think this pond is somewhat attractive, I am currently looking for home for my family, not for frogs or a breeding ground for mosquitoes. In light of this, you many consider changing your lead picture to the front of the home instead of the fountain/pond image that is currently being used. And while I am on the topic, of the 5 pictures shown, 2 are of the landscaping, 1 is a close-up of an outside gazebo, 1 is the front of the house and the final one is the dining/kitchen area. I plan on living IN the house, so I would really like to see several more images of the interior rooms and spaces. Your listing mentions a "large sunroom" and a "large master bedroom", which could have been great subjects for the aforementioned interior photographs.

Best regards,
John Q. Homebuyer

No You Didn't...Price Reduced by ONE DOLLAR.

I don't know why they did this, nor do I care, but it's the funniest thing I've seen all day (...possibly all week). I was recently contemplating blogging about people who reduce their homes by 1-10K and think it's going to make a difference in today's market. Show me a 30K reduction and then you'll get my attention, that is if the original price wasn't padded. This, on the other hand, defies ones ability to keep a straight face.

Attention! If this is your home and your agent recommended that this would bring in the masses, you may want to shop for a new agent. In my opinion, I think the home should have been pulled from the MLS altogether, repriced (with more than a $1 difference) and then relisted in a week or two. The way it was done just makes the seller and/or agent look ridiculous...but it was good for a laugh. I guess that's worth a buck.

Note: Redfin is NOT the agent on this listing. I just got the info from their site.

338 Bassett St, Petaluma - You're Kidding, Right?

520K for a 978 square foot home that is sitting on a foundation that needs work? That's $532 a sqaure foot for this teensy house and the listing suggests that you may want to move it to the back of the property and build a second home. Wait, I have an idea, bulldoze the whole ugly mess and start over, but is this lot worth 520K? It's pretty good size (7,187) and on the "desirable west side", but that still seems steep to me. It's about half a block away from the high school -- you'll have to decide if that's a good thing or not.

But wait! For this low-low price, you also get the "way-cool retro light fixtures" (yes, actual verbiage from the listing) and they are going to throw in the lovely oh-so-San-Francisco earthquake enhanced driveway at no extra charge!

520K...you're kidding, right? ...right?