Ansel Adams home for sale

[Alan Edward Klein]

I wonder about the term “overpriced.” If it sells for close to the asking price, is it ”overpriced?”

We just had a Blue Angels Air Show show here, the first in 20 years, and the tickets averaged something like $40, up to $125. People here were outraged and complained on social media that the tickets were “overpriced,” yet the show sold out. I hear the same when it comes to concert tickets, the price of F-150 trucks (the standard Montana vehicle) yet they sure seem to sell lots of them.

I've read that credit card debt is at the highest. That might account for all the higher prices.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Local real estate asking prices have gone down just a little. But over the past three years, there's been almost a bidding war for available homes, and properties nearly always sold for well above the asking price.

But trucks? My gosh. If you need a ranch or construction vehicle, so be it. I spent the last week over on the east side of the Sierra where gas prices have been higher than nearly anywhere else in the contiguous US as long as I can remember. I feel the pinch putting 50 bucks worth into my little Toyota Tundra 4WD, which was plenty big for my own little ranch when I still had it; but then someone on the adjacent pump would drop 150 bucks for half a tank in their big Dodge Ram or Ford, and most of those sure as heck weren't all ranchers or builders. Not to mention motorhomes! I had a neighbor across the street from me here looking at me with disdain whenever I came back with my pickup covered with mud. He had both a new Toyota Land Cruiser and a new Lexus SUV in his driveway, and never left a paved urban street or the freeway. Then he complained about his mortgage. All about style, bragging rights to a more expensive urban SUV than thou hast, that's it.

Same with houses. I've known billionaires just as deeply in debt as ordinary people because they lived above their own means too. An hour north is the ruins of the monstrous Jack London Wolf House. Once he couldn't keep paying his workman, the whole thing mysteriously burnt down one night. Similar things have happened to rich contemporary moguls who decided to start stiffing their workmen instead of scaling down their giant ego building projects.

Reminds me of the joke:

An engineer and an attorney were fishing off a yacht in the Caribbean.

The attorney said, “I’m here because my house burned down and everything I owned was destroyed by the fire. The insurance company paid for everything.”

"That’s quite a coincidence," said the engineer. “I’m here because my house and all my belongings were destroyed by a flood and my insurance company also paid for everything.”

The puzzled attorney asked, “How do you make a flood?”

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I fully understand supply and demand. I simply find it hard to understand that a couple can so readily afford the $572k (20% down) to qualify to buy a $2.86 million home across the street from me, and assuming 4% loan (absurdly low, these days) that means $10900 excluding property tax and insurance...and if you assume that conforms to 30% of gross (per bank guideline), that calculates to gross pay over $36000/mo gross pay !
At today's interest rates, the housepayment is $16000, meaning gross pay (per bank guideline) is over $53000 per month!

Programmers in Silicon Valley are making up to $750K a year. Starting at $150K out of college is not unusual. Bless their hearts.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Techies swarm all around this area. Even a couple each making over $150 K has extreme difficulty buying a tiny house or even a small condo. But lots of blue collar folks good with their hands and young enough to burn the candle at both ends do succeed by acquiring a fixer-upper, then selling that at high profit, then another one or two, and finally ending up with a nice home of their own outright paid by cash, or mostly so. Tech work is not necessarily permanent; lots of them are more like temporary contract employees. But what some of them do is get a nice little motorhome, live in that, then bicycle to work. Some of those big tech companies have their own gymnasiums, showers, and cafeterias. That way, they save up enough money in eight or ten years to outright buy a nice property somewhere else, or else have a serious down payment more locally.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Yes.......... I lived in The Sunset. Judah and 24
There were times in the summer when i would go see my Father in San Jose.
68 in SF and 103 in San Jose

In the brief time I lived in Emeryville, I had the experience of having to go to Pleasanton for a meeting for work. They really ought to rename it Unpleasanton for as broilingly hot as it can get there.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Emeryville was the most dangerous city in America in the late 19th C, and it's getting back some of that reputation. It has some of the most successful Biotech digs in the world, along with very expensive tech and business spaces, and luxury condos, all within short walking distance of a skid row demographic and some of the worst mass theft incidents on record. Talk about a really mixed bag! Pleasanton is way safer .... but ohhh that summer heat! But even there it's nowhere near as hot as many other places in CA.
I was downright cold here most of the summer. Finally, this time of year right now and it's up to a pleasant low 70's.

Mark Twain fled from the hills allegedly due to getting caught cheating at a poker game, and ended up famously referencing "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco". There is obviously an element of truth to the quoted portion; the rest of the story might or might not be true.

 

[takilmaboxer]

They don't call it the Sun Set District for nothing. I always preferred the Mission. Just be careful where you place your feet.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Yep. Mission District. Buy anything from a "street vendor" and you might get charged with receiving stolen goods. It's egregious there. Sunset district is still nice; just don't leave any valuables in the car.

 

[BrianShaw]

Perhaps you guys should get together at Caffe Trieste for a cappuccino and chit-chat!

 

[DREW WILEY]

Cappucino??????? That's equivalent to 20-something Techie soda-pop. Never heard of good black Espresso?

 

[Brendan Quirk]

The house I bought in ‘82 in SoCal was a 1926 Craftsman bungalow that I acquired from the original owner. The only upgrade was the bathroom. Luckily, none of the original wide wood molding had ever been painted. During the 10 years I had it I gutted the kitchen and enlarged it by taking out a wall that had created what I think they called the “service porch.” I built all the cabinetry myself and kept with the period. I rebuilt and retained the fold out ironing board.

In my current home, a mid-50s rancher with a full basement, I’ve been going through room at a time, resurfacing the hardwood floors and putting in new molding that replicates that ‘20s bungalow. I added crown molding and faux beams in the ceilings of the living and dining rooms. I painted one with a rose and the other with a green, both picked from a 1930s color sample. Of course the room is furnished with antiques, some of my art, and, sometimes to my wife’s eye rolls, my many floor model 1930s radios.

It seems that many, if not most, on this forum are "producers" of some sort!

 

[SodaAnt]

Some might suggest that much in the Bay Area is overpriced. Someone I know just bought a 1,600 SF rancher in Mountainview for over $2 million.

It's all based on location and how desirable it is. I don't live in Mountainview, but further north in a semi-rural part of Contra Costa country and my house is also worth over $2 million, but it's 5,500 SF on 10 acres. Transplant my house to a similar size lot in Mountainview or Los Altos and it'd be worth $10 million.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Or transport that same property across the State into the fire-prone hills, and even with a spectacular view, it might be difficult to sell it for even $200,000. But people will spend four times as much for a reliable water well.

 

[MattKing]

With these sort of discussions, I try to use "local market value" rather than "worth".
We too live in a corner of the world where housing prices are very high.

 

[BrianShaw]

That is very true, but only in sincere discussions. Market value data was presented and, apparently, not what a concern or interest in this discussion.

 

[CMoore]

With these sort of discussions, I try to use "local market value" rather than "worth".
We too live in a corner of the world where housing prices are very high.

Strange how people get hung up on semantics or 'definitions'.
If that house sells for 5M USD.............it was 'worth' it to the new owner.

I would totally dig living there. It is definitely worth it to me.
My problem, of course, is that i cannot afford it.
That house does not know who it is missing out on

 

[MattKing]

Strange how people get hung up on semantics or 'definitions'.
If that house sells for 5M USD.............it was 'worth' it to the new owner.

Absolutely.
But when discussing these things on an international website with people located all around the globe, the word choice helps keep clear that the discussion isn't about worth, it is about price.

 

[CMoore]

Absolutely.
But when discussing these things on an international website with people located all around the globe, the word choice helps keep clear that the discussion isn't about worth, it is about price.

10-4
I agree 100%
Even in my own country, if somebody never knew much more than their little town, of 3000 people in Arkansas...........they would not be able to fathom the cost of homes in bigger 'cities of desire'

 

[BrianShaw]

We all will know what it was worth once the selling price is eventually revealed. Whether AA’s name attachment had anything to do with it likely will remain a mystery… to most people.

 

[VinceInMT]

Absolutely.
But when discussing these things on an international website with people located all around the globe, the word choice helps keep clear that the discussion isn't about worth, it is about price.

Exactly and if one is willing to relocate, the price thing can be a definite advantage. After owning my California bungalow in the Los Angeles area for 10 years, I left that for Montana where I bought a house that is over 3 times the square footage on a 1/4 acre city lot, paid cash for that AND cash for a rental property. IMO, too many people are stuck or otherwise hung up on where they live and ignore the advantages of new digs. Ny moving I not only eliminated a mortgage, but did a career change to something more rewarding (industrial construction project manager to high school teacher). I’ve had 23 addresses in my life and have lived as far west as Hawaii and and as far east as Germany.

 

[SodaAnt]

Exactly and if one is willing to relocate, the price thing can be a definite advantage. After owning my California bungalow in the Los Angeles area for 10 years, I left that for Montana where I bought a house that is over 3 times the square footage on a 1/4 acre city lot, paid cash for that AND cash for a rental property. IMO, too many people are stuck or otherwise hung up on where they live and ignore the advantages of new digs.

I’d love to do the same after retirement, but my wife’s too deeply rooted in the Bay Area to move. She’s lived her entire life within 25 miles of where she was born.

 

[VinceInMT]

I’d love to do the same after retirement, but my wife’s too deeply rooted in the Bay Area to move. She’s lived her entire life within 25 miles of where she was born.

I know people here who are of retirement age and have lived in the same house their entire lives. They also tend to be the most outspoken against "outsiders" who move here and how this is the best place to live even though they've never lived anywhere else. Then I have friends who readily relocated to be near grandchildren so it takes all kinds. I grew up as a navy brat so moving is just something we did and my own time in the military had me in 5 different places. Now I'm here in Montana, my kids have both moved away to other states on opposite sides of the country, and we have no other family within 1,000 miles. I am pretty involved in my community but no so much that I don't think it would stop me from relocating again.

 

[SodaAnt]

I know people here who are of retirement age and have lived in the same house their entire lives. They also tend to be the most outspoken against "outsiders" who move here and how this is the best place to live even though they've never lived anywhere else.

I feel very strongly that if I ever move to a place like Montana, I would adopt the ways of the local community rather than try to import my "California Culture". I think the reason many are outspoken about outsiders is because these people move to an area and try to make it just like where they came from, even if the local culture is vastly different.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I grew up literally among cowboys and Indians, yet ironically, have had rocks thrown at my truck in Montana due to California plates and ignorant stereotypes. Calif. is a remarkably diverse State, both geographically and demographically. And there are plenty of places in this State itself which are just as resentful of mindless development sprawl as what much of Montana fears. They've certainly got their own share of enviro offenses. But having lived in both worlds, so to speak, I have no trouble sitting down at some little breakfast counter with ranchers out in sagebrush country and starting up a conversation, or doing so among a very different demographic here in the Bay Area.

But I have known a number of people who went into outright culture shock moving from fast-paced urban areas to Western desert towns or the Midwest. Fitting in might not be as easy as you think. Views about things can be very very different.

 

[SodaAnt]

But I have known a number of people who went into outright culture shock moving from fast-paced urban areas to Western desert towns or the Midwest. Fitting in might not be as easy as you think. Views about things can be very very different.

My wife is most concerned about availability of good restaurants and cultural activities that may be lacking in a place like Montana. There are nearly fifty Michelin-starred restaurants in the Bay Area, and we have season tickets to the SF Symphony and Ballet. I think she'd miss all that.