San Mateo County’s Countrywide Foreclosures

Countrywide is by far the largest mortgage lender in the country, and the Countrywide Foreclosures Blog is tracking the number of properties that went into foreclosure and got sent to back to Countrywide. The number of foreclosures nationwide has more than doubled since the beginning of the year. I looked into the Countrywide database last year and found no San Mateo properties, but when I looked today I found a few. This post will highlight those properties and give my personal assessment of their affordability. I tried to make sure that the data written here is accurate, but my comments on these properties are just personal opinions that need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Daly City:

Property: 1125 Hanover St.
Countrywide Price: $639,900
Last Sale Date: 05/30/2006
Last Sale Price: $815,000
Home Size: 940 sq ft
Comments: Very small 2 bedroom home built in 1914. Countrywide is taking more than 20% off the 2006 price but it’s still not down to its 2004 price of $575,000. Daly City isn’t exactly considered the prime section of San Mateo and at approximately $680/sqft, I expect this home to sit on the market for a while. Then again, I could be very wrong and it might be snatched up soon.
Affordability Assessment: Still not worth it.

East Palo Alto:

Property: 208 Gardenia Way
Countrywide Price: $489,900
Last Sale Date: 04/01/2005
Last Sale Price: $592,000
Home Size: 920 sq ft
Comments: Another old and small 2 bedroom home. It does have a good sized lot measuring about 6000 square feet, but it’s East Palo Alto and I’m not sure if more land is necessarily a good thing there. Even with a $100K+ hair cut from the 2005 price, we’re still at $532 per square foot.
Affordability Assessment: Don’t do it if you have kids and a family you care about.

Menlo Park

Property: 1359 Hollyburne Ave.
Countrywide Price: $549,900
Last Sale Date: 03/17/2006
Last Sale Price: $665,000
Home Size: 910 sq ft
Comments: If I were a real estate agent, I might say this: “An excellent cozy midcentury charmer! WOW! Priced lower than 2005 sale of $565,000! Amazing deal on this rarely available Menlo Park single family residence!!” Actually, it’s just another small, decrepit, and overpriced home. Even though Menlo Park is a more desirable neighborhood, this home would land you in jumbo loan territory even with a 20% downpayment.
Affordability Assessment: Jumbo loans are bad especially when lenders like Wells Fargo are raising rates on them. Don’t get stuck with a jumbo bag.

Pacifica:

Property: 641 FOREST LAKE DR
Countrywide Price: $589,900
Last Sale Date: 12/30/2005
Last Sale Price: $660,000
Home Size: 1110 sq ft
Comments: Pacifica is a pretty quaint place perfect for those who love the outdoors and such. I guess if Countrywide sells 641 Forest Lake Dr for just the asking price, the property values of 637 Forest Lake Dr, 642 Foothill Dr, and 652 Foothill Dr will go down with the price. They’re all homes of the same size built in 1964 on similar sized lots. So maybe the neighbors should put in a higher bid for 641 Forest Lake Dr to preserve their home values?
Affordability Assessment: Not for the faint of heart.

Property: 759 NORIEGA WAY
Countrywide Price: $619,900
Last Sale Date: 06/01/1988
Last Sale Price: $205,000
Home Size: 1040 sq ft
Comments: This is the only home not sold during the mania of 2005-2006, but it was purchased in 1988, the height of the last real estate bubble. It seems kind of odd for the homeowner to lose the home after almost 20 years, and I don’t know the detailed story here, but most likely the house was refinanced over and over again until more was owed on the home than the original mortgage.
Affordability Assessment: Needs to be repriced lower.

San Carlos:

Property: 162 CORONADO AVENUE
Countrywide Price: $828,900
Last Sale Date: 02/01/2006
Last Sale Price: $1,062,500
Home Size: 1990 sq ft
Comments: I do love San Carlos. At $416 per square foot, this home might be a good deal if more research is done. The spacious 3 bedroom house is situated in the hills and might be pretty awesome if you had enough money to get a non-jumbo loan. Then again, the property may be in horrible condition so an on-site investigation is required.
Affordability Assessment: Not for me, but fairly good deal in San Carlos if nothing is really seriously wrong and you have loads of cash.

South San Francisco:

Property: 930 MISSION RD #38
Countrywide Price: $507,900
Last Sale Date: 04/2005
Last Sale Price: $550,000
Home Size: 1060 sq ft
Comments: This two bedroom condo is facing stiff competition from a neighboring unit priced at $499,000. The discount on this home isn’t as big as the others, but that might change after it sits on the market a few more months.
Affordability Assessment: More expensive than neighbor already, and still almost $500 per square foot. Not a good idea to buy right away.

A clear pattern in these properties is that pretty much all of them are bought at the peak of real estate cycles. Most of the smaller homes are probably more attractive to buyers who want a starter home, and for they’re still very unaffordable to young first time buyers even after huge price buts. Another thing to notice is that there are no properties available in the extremely affluent cities of Palo Alto, Woodside, Atherton, Burlingame, and Hillsborough. Foreclosure is still on the rise in all of California, so I will check the Countrywide database again in a month and see what’s available in San Mateo. Judging by the prices in San Mateo, I wouldn’t say that the housing bubble has burst spectacularly here, but it’s hissing slowly as the air seeps out.

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