October 29, 2007

Oakland Tale of Woe

Off of our Daily Stats board over the weekend, this Oakland home has a rags-to-riches and back to rags tale to tell. A little over 10 years ago, the home sold for $91,354 in 1996. Five years later the home catapulted to over twice it’s 1996 price and sold for $210,000 in 2001. Another five years passed and the home continued to climb astronomically. At the height of the buying frenzy, it sold for $570,000 in February 2006. However by the end of the year, the home plummeted to $396,000, a very short sale. Fast forward October 2007. The home has taken another drastic dive and been reduced to 50% of it’s last sale for a current price point of $199,900. Located north of downtown Oakland, not quite north enough to be in the Temescal area, or even Pill Hill, but not quite west enough to be in West Oakland, the home is in a kind of no-man’s-land near MacArthur Bart station. So, location is not great, it’s only a 2 bedroom, has fairly small square footage and from the photos, does not look to be in great condition. How could this home have sold for what it did? Certainly no investor would have bought it for this much, as at its high price it could never recapture its monthly mortgage through rent nor would it have been a good candidate for a flip. I’m guessing it was likely sold to a first-time home buyer who had no idea about home values or resale potential. And now it’s being foreclosed. As a first time home-buyer who bought in November of last year, my heart really goes out to this seller.

 700 W MacArthur Blvd. $199,900 2Bd/1.5Ba 994 sq.ft. 24 DOM