WTF In Novato
Here are excerpts from the write-up of this generic, typical, Novato tract home:Gardener's special! Huge back yard w/level lawn, apple tree & raised beds for growing vegetables or flowers. Sprinkler system...Great curb appeal.Excuse me, but I fail to see the "curb appeal" in this PoS. And if the garden is so wonderful, why is it that the listing does not show any pictures of it? And what is so special about a sprinkler system? Does it sprinkle merlot or something?
And then:
Kitchen w/blt-in oven, gas cooktop, refrig & breakfast area. Large family room or use as a formal dining room. Spacious living rm w/brick fireplace & attached deck. Master suite w/tiled bath. Freshly painted interior. 2-car garage w/laundry area, sink.Brick fireplace, built-in oven, tiled bath, fresh interior paint, laundry in garage, a sink... Yeah, that is really special. You can't find that anywhere else in the county I am sure.
And heaven forbid if you work in the city because then you are looking at a minimum 50 minute morning commute to just Corte Madera in Marin's crushing traffic care of a county that has refused for the last 30 years to do much of anything to improve the quality of life for working people and instead pushes its own obligations on to neighboring counties... Welcome to Marin. If you were smart you would stay where you are.
Who would be stupid enough to pay the $749,900 asking price or even anything close to it? I mean are we talking Forrest Gump stupid, idiot sevant stupid, or just plain Homer Simpson stupid? I want to meet the person who actually thought it a good idea to buy this PoS because I have some great investments to sell them that are sure to make them some serious amounts of f**k-you money.
posted by Marinite at 3/20/2006 09:42:00 AM
14 Comments:
man, the self loathing on this blog is getting heinous. If you hate marin that much then bail. There are plently of other places to live as you so often point out. What keeps you here if your daily experience is so negative?
Bear in mind I'm not defending any of the prices on the homes you feature. Prices are crazy here and not likely to drastically change anytime soon.
I think Marinite is doing a great job..I can understand why it "hurts" some of the readers. It is only a fact that the house prices are way too high but the quality is reflected in that. It could be because of some of the greedy sellers or desparate buyers. Whatever. Added to this is the painful traffic south bound.
Keep up the good work..Marinite.. Way to go..
Marin is beautiful.
I love living here.
Prices will fall...
Shock and awe...
Save your bucks and wait for the bubbles popping, just like a glass of fine champagne.
Tiny bubbles popping, and then the reality sets in.
If you love Marin, don't buy in!
As the resident Novato-an (or whatever we slope-headed buck-toothed po' folk are called), I do drive-by's of recent sold homes every once in a while to correlate selling prices to the actual house (I know -- I need a better hobby). Bearing in mind that I don't get to see the interiors, I do get a pretty good sense of what things are worth here. This place is ambitiously priced, probably 60-80k north of the mark. Even a complete crap-heap SFH in Novato can still fetch 625-650k -- for now, anyway.
However, the most overpriced properties represent the best opportunities to low-ball because any other potential buyers get scared away by the asking price. Bear in mind it is the "asking" price, not the "getting" price.
Also, the commute to my office in the SF financial district is only 50-55 minutes..... at 6:30 in the morning ;-) Any time after 7, fuhgeddaboutit.
I actually thought this post was kinda funny which I think is how it was suppiosed to be read.
but people should see Marin for what it is that much I agree. The horrendous traffic is a fact -- 50 minutes to travel just a very few miles from the 37 to tamalpais ave in corte meadera. Yes, if you leave before 7 am you are good. But after that... That piece of the 101 corridor is so infamous that NPR's traffic report mentions it each and every day mostly saying "and Marin is bad as usual". So infamous in fact there was a radio commercial down here in LA on the topic of local traffic where they actually mentioned Marin specifically as being one of the worst spots in the state with the implication "at least we are not as bad as that".
But you have to wade through that same traffic just to get to the ferry in larkspur.
I could crack open another can of worms about how I pity the fools that have to go through the Mac Maze and the Bay Bridge far more than myself or other Novato-ites (?!). I would argue that those trekking in from Tracy to Silicon Valley would not have much sympathy for me. Let the arguments about who has the sh**iest commutes commence...
I also ride the bus quite a bit which is about 1h20m door-to-door even at the peak traffic period of 7-8. BTW, I am not happy about the commute -- If I could pony up the extra $300k (above what my place is worth) to get into something passable in Mill Valley, I would do it in an instant -- plus I would get to live near all those MV snobs I hear so many great things about! Let's see: is saving 45 minutes each way to the city worth $300K? Hmmmm.
well, dropping 45 minutes each way would lead to you "saving" about 375 hours a year. So it'd be about $800/hour. What is your life worth to you?
Not exactly -- you are assuming my $300k is an expense I incur once a year, when it is actually a one-time expense. So, my life is apparently worth much less than $800/hour.
If we assume I borrow the extra $300k for 30 years @ 6% amortized, it would cost me an extra $1800/month which equates to only $60/hour. Oh, forgot the major bump in property taxes -- my place is assessed at $480k (thanks to Prop 13), the new place would be $1m, my monthly tax bill would gain $520/month, so $77/hour or $2350/month total or nearly $30k more per year than I earn today. Anyone got any jobs they want to offer me at 30k over what I earn today?
I was assuming a one year payout because once you live in Mill Valley, life will suddenly become blissful, after a year you'll realise that you won't need to work for the man, you can open another high end pet boutique in town, thus no commute into the city
"... once you live in Mill Valley, life will suddenly become blissful, after a year you'll realise that you won't need to work for the man, you can open another high end pet boutique in town, thus no commute into the city"
Hilarious!
So it's true then; that money does grow (of a sort) on trees in Mill Valley!
pothead-
That is hilarious. Not at all what I was expecting to see as a response. Well done.
Marinite-
do you ever get the addresses for these places so you can check and see what they actually sold for?
I'd LOVE to see an update sometime with the finalselling price noted.
Can I have a house with that driveway, please?
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