$782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale • Hacker News Board

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#201

Post by foota » Fri, Sep 15, 2017, 6:32 AM UTC

wtvanhest wrote: post #37

planteen wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are houses ever sold in auctions in France? How long are typical houses on the market? It seems in this situation that you would start the house price high and then lower it over weeks/months until you get an offer. In the US, sometimes houses are priced "low" intentionally and the listing agent says something like "offers will be accepted until noon Monday" to encourage over asking, all cash offers, and waiving insp…

IMO, over the long-run, the market always wins. You cannot randomly change an unimportant technical detail and actually impact the long-run pricing. The type of mechanism that is described where you must take the price offered has so many drawbacks, like... how do you handle contingencies, etc.

Are you familiar with auction theory? The conditions for the auction can significantly change the optimal bid.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#202

Post by chiefalchemist » Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 8:47 PM UTC

larrik wrote: post #107

JustAnotherPat wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you just overprice it and let bidders fight on lower than asking? Essentially the same thing, but with different psychology. I wonder how it would play out differently.

There's a lot to this. 1) having a lower price attracts more bidders, and the bidders may go much higher than they originally planned after they see it in person. 2) having multiple potential buyers in the mix creates urgency, which drives the price up AND lets you sell faster. 3) Homes aren't free to own. Most have mortgages that you waste money on interest again each month, amongst other things (taxes). Selling fas…

In short:

Supply = Very limited.

Demand = Increased and ever increasing.

Result = $$$$$

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#203

Post by rconti » Sun, Sep 17, 2017, 3:11 AM UTC

andrewstuart2 wrote: post #3

Working at a huge tech company like Google or Facebook is attractive to me, but not enough to justify spending $2.5M on a smaller house, or 12x more per square foot. And this is just in Phoenix. I know there are other places with tech jobs and much lower cost of living, or better income-to-COL ratios.

Much lower cost of living / much better income-to-COL ratios? Better sure, but I don't know about MUCH better. Arizona is famously inexpensive. Sure, you might be comparing to the midwest, but there I'm not sure there are the high paying jobs there to support the "much better income-to-COL ratios" claim.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#204

Post by rconti » Sun, Sep 17, 2017, 3:17 AM UTC

lisper wrote: post #74

About a half hour north of Sunnyvale, there is this brand new 3300 sqft spec house offered at 2.5M: http://www.glenlochway.com It has been on the market for months without selling. [UPDATE] Downvotes? Seriously? Why?

I don't get your point. It's a different house, in a different location. I live in Redwood City too; the schools aren't as good as Sunnyvale, the commute will be longer, etc etc.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#205

Post by rconti » Sun, Sep 17, 2017, 3:18 AM UTC

luckydude wrote: post #188

"Large lot - 13000 square feet". So I'm not anywhere near as good of a commute location, takes me 25 minutes to get to Los Gatos, so getting to Apple is probably 40, but I've got 15 acres, a main house almost twice as big (it's too big in my opinion, just gathers junk, so not necessarily a plus), a barn that we have turned into 1/4th man cave, 1/4 exercise room, 1/4 chicken house, and 1/4 barn, and a 1 bedroom guest…

I have zero desire to own a big house in the mountains. Like you say, it's not for everyone. shrug The land, house, commute, dealing with septic and water services, all sound like a lot of work.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#206

Post by rconti » Sun, Sep 17, 2017, 3:20 AM UTC

bobosha wrote: post #193

are there any affordable places in around SF? North Bay or Berkeley or further south? or are they all just as insane prices?

No; everyone's already thought of that. Your cost will be inversely proportional to your commute misery.

Though as mentioned elsewhere here, the Santa Cruz mountains are the biggest bargain in the area. By far. It's just not for everyone.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#207

Post by rconti » Sun, Sep 17, 2017, 3:21 AM UTC

CPLX wrote: post #84

Greetings from New York. You people are fucking insane, for the love of God please consider building some apartment buildings. Cheers.

Apartments/Condos are being built like crazy in Redwood City. It's no South Lake Union, but it's close.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#208

Post by luckydude » Sun, Sep 17, 2017, 2:39 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #205

luckydude wrote: post #188

"Large lot - 13000 square feet". So I'm not anywhere near as good of a commute location, takes me 25 minutes to get to Los Gatos, so getting to Apple is probably 40, but I've got 15 acres, a main house almost twice as big (it's too big in my opinion, just gathers junk, so not necessarily a plus), a barn that we have turned into 1/4th man cave, 1/4 exercise room, 1/4 chicken house, and 1/4 barn, and a 1 bedroom guest…

I have zero desire to own a big house in the mountains. Like you say, it's not for everyone. shrug The land, house, commute, dealing with septic and water services, all sound like a lot of work.

It is a lot of work. We've got a saying in the mountains: there is no need for a gym membership :)

But there is some satisfaction from learning how to run a tractor, fetching fresh eggs from the hen house, etc.

I lived in San Francisco for 19 years before I moved here, I like it here fine. Very little in the way of neighbor problems.

It may be an age thing, I remember when I was in my late 20's going backpacking with a friend who said "when I have enough money I'm going to buy 40 acres in the shape of a square and put a house dead center." I remember thinking why on earth would you want to do that? Then I had neighbor problems and the light went on.

I like it but you are absolutely right, it's not for everyone.

Re: $782k over asking for a house in Sunnyvale

#209

Post by mediaman » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 5:33 PM UTC

methodover wrote: post #184

mediaman wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could definitely fit that many units in a 13k square foot lot. Fitting a narrow format house on a 2k square foot lot (40x50') is plenty doable. Even more so if they have some adjoining party walls, as with townhomes. Though as you mention, zoning may prevent it. Some areas have 5,000 s.f. minimum lot sizes.

This should be illegal. There's no good reason why you shouldn't be able to split up your 13,000 sq ft lot into smaller lots and sell those separately if you want to. Setting some reasonable state right-to-split-lots bill might go a long way to helping solve the housing crisis.

A little late response to this, but many of the minimum lot size laws are rooted in historical racism and classism to prevent people of the wrong type from being able to move in to the neighborhood. In many areas there is a lot of foot dragging to change any of it. Typically the language used to oppose it is "traffic" or "neighborhood feel."