Countrywide is by far the largest mortgage lender in the country, and the 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.

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brand name cialis online: 1125 Hanover St.
brand name cialis online: $639,900
brand name cialis online: 05/30/2006
brand name cialis online: $815,000
brand name cialis online 940 sq ft
brand name cialis online 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.
brand name cialis online Still not worth it.
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brand name cialis online: 208 Gardenia Way
brand name cialis online: $489,900
brand name cialis online: 04/01/2005
brand name cialis online: $592,000
brand name cialis online 920 sq ft
brand name cialis online 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.
brand name cialis online: Don’t do it if you have kids and a family you care about.
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brand name cialis online: 1359 Hollyburne Ave.
brand name cialis online: $549,900
brand name cialis online: 03/17/2006
brand name cialis online: $665,000
brand name cialis online: 910 sq ft
brand name cialis online 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.
brand name cialis online: Jumbo loans are bad especially when lenders like Wells Fargo are raising rates on them. Don’t get stuck with a jumbo bag.
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brand name cialis online: 641 FOREST LAKE DR
brand name cialis online: $589,900
brand name cialis online: 12/30/2005
brand name cialis online $660,000
brand name cialis online: 1110 sq ft
brand name cialis online 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?
brand name cialis online: Not for the faint of heart.

brand name cialis online 759 NORIEGA WAY
brand name cialis online $619,900
brand name cialis online 06/01/1988
brand name cialis online $205,000
brand name cialis online1040 sq ft
brand name cialis online 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.
brand name cialis online Needs to be repriced lower.

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brand name cialis online162 CORONADO AVENUE
brand name cialis online $828,900
brand name cialis online 02/01/2006
brand name cialis online$1,062,500
brand name cialis online1990 sq ft
brand name cialis online 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.
brand name cialis onlineNot for me, but fairly good deal in San Carlos if nothing is really seriously wrong and you have loads of cash.

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brand name cialis online 930 MISSION RD #38
brand name cialis online $507,900
brand name cialis online04/2005
brand name cialis online: $550,000
brand name cialis online 1060 sq ft
brand name cialis online: 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.
brand name cialis online: 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.

For the past year or so I’ve seen a set of condos being erected near my office in San Mateo. For a while my coworkers and I marveled at the ugly paint color they chose for the exterior. The property is the Stonegate community developed by Syme Properties. The plan is for 40 luxury condominiums and five single family homes. The model homes are finally showing so I went in for a quick look.

From the Outside:

The exteriors give you no indication of luxury since there is still a lot of concrete and dust around the property. The front entrance is on 20 Madison about half a block from El Camino Real, and it’s a very small street next to a six floor office building. So the view you will get from the top floor is the parking lot of the office building or El Camino. Or if you choose just to look inside the property, there is a little garden in the middle.

Onto the Sales Office:

When you walk in, you will be greeted with very nice brochures with an artist’s rendition of the property. I must say the picture looks much nicer than the real thing. The place is very dark, and the sales office is right on the left. When I walked into the sales office, a middle aged Asian sales person seemed to be yelling at a prospective customer. Then the salesperson turned to me and said, “ARE YOU WITH HIM?” That sort of scared me for a bit and I said, “no”. Then the other customer said to the salesman, “did you have a bit too much caffeine this morning?” The salesman replied, “you don’t have your agent with you!” The other man sounded a little perturbed and said, “I am here, and it says open house, and I want to see the homes. That’s all.” I was a bit freaked out right there and wanted to walk out, but I just took the pricelists from the table and went onto the model homes on the right.

The Prices

The prices are what I call barfalicious (extremely high). Here’s a rundown of the currently available units:

1 bedroom 1 bath condo:
Plan D – 770 square feet – $535,000 & $552,000 -$706/sqft on average

2 bedrooms 2 baths condo:
Plan C1 – 1107 square feet – $773,000 – $698/sqft
Plan E1 – 992 square feet – $699,000 – $705/sqft
Plan F – 1176 square feet – $775,000 – $659/sqft
Plan H1 – 1251 square feet – $855,000 – $683/sqft
Plan I1 – 1175 square feet – $788,000 – $670/sqft
Plan M2 – 1152 square feet – $889,000 – $771/sqft

Single Family Homes on Hobart:
21 Hobart – 3 bedrooms plus den, 3 baths – 2583 square feet – $1,498,000 – $580/sqft
23 Hobart – 3 bedrooms plus den, 2.5 baths – 2,265 square feet – $1,426,000 – $630/sqft
25 Hobart – 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths – 1,991 square feet – $1,298,000 – $652/sqft
27 Hobart – 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths – 1,991 square feet – $1,298,000 – $652/sqft
29 Hobart – 4 bedrooms, 3 baths – 2,639 square feet – $1,478,000 – $560/sqft

Inside the Model Home:

I went into unit 111, which is a 2 bedroom 2 bath unit that’s supposedly already sold. I thought the floor plan was a bit odd since the master bath was almost bigger than the second bedroom. The kitchen was a bit small and the floor was covered with a dark wood which I don’t like. The master bathroom was my favorite room, because it was huge, and covered with marble. Other than that, the entire place felt very small. There are two other models, but one is a one bedroom unit, which felt even smaller. I didn’t go to the single family homes because I wasn’t sure if they were done. There was no helpful salespeople since I kind of got scared away.

Final Review Summary

Price — very high and scary, probably unwarranted even for new luxury condos. Though the price list did say that Syme Properties may change the price without notice and liability. So the prices on the condos might go down if not enough people order them. The prices on the single family homes are comparably not so horrible for this area. For example, take a look at that sold for more than 1.2 million dollars. Anyway, none of the homes are affordable for the average San Matean, but I guess they’re going for a richer demographic.
Salespeople — As I mentioned, the man in the sales office was a bit scary and rude. After I read the documents about their loan policies, I figured out what they were arguing about. Apparently Syme Properties only accept pre-approved buyers who can put 20% down and are non-contingent. I guess they’re trying to protect themselves in this market.
Location — It’s very close to Aragon High and Central Park and about a mile from San Mateo downtown. So overall not a bad area, though the properties themselves are a bit too close to El Camino Real.
Overall Rating — Not the worst I have seen, and definitely not the best. The price is way too high for the condos and amenities and the entire place feels very dark and cramped. So I give it a C-.

When I buy a home, I would prefer to buy a new home so I don’t have to worry about updating it to building code and making it energy efficient. The problem is, most brand new homes are not listed on the multiple listing service the realtors use because the builders want to sell the homes themselves for a larger profit. Additionally, realtors don’t seem to welcome new homes on the MLS because that would give buyers the perception that there is a huge inventory. Both parties want to keep the prices up. So how do you go about finding new home developments in your community without using the MLS?

Drive Around — This may seem obvious, but you can just drive around the places you want to live and look for developments. Often the builders will have big signs out and sales offices are ready before all the homes are built. They are usually pretty friendly in the sales offices and will tell you about the property in detail.

Look at Recently Sold Homes — Most newspapers have a real estate section listing the homes sold in the past month or so. If you see many properties sold on the same street, chances are it’s a new development.

Search Builder Websites — If you know of reputable builders in your area, you can go directly to their webpage and search for new developments

Use Google — Type in something similar to New Homes Your County in Google, and you will receive some hits, but you have to take some effort to weed out the irrelevant results.

Search the City Planning Division — This is probably the best resource for finding new homes in places like San Mateo that are perceived as completely built out. Before each builder can break ground, they need building permits from the city they want to build in. So a good way to find out who’s building what is to look at city planning pages. For example, San Mateo has an listing all the sites that have building permits and the list of builders applying for permits. If your city doesn’t have a resource like this online, they will have the information in the city planning office, and it should be public record.

Builders are offering a lot of incentives lately such as free upgrades and closing costs, so it’s possible to get a new home that’s cheaper and better than a used home. Anyway, it still takes patience and legwork to find the home you want because you need to research the builder and the area. Personally, I don’t mind waiting for some of the developments that will come up a couple years down the road or wait for the current builders to cut their prices some more.

The last time I visited China, the tour guides tried to tell me that that I am fat with a phrase that roughly translates to “as round as pearls and as shiny as oil”, which is meant to be complimentary to the beauties of ancient dynasties. When we visited the Stone Forest attraction in Kunming, the tourguide related a story of a Chinese American couple who couldn’t fit through the spaces between the stone pillars, and could not enjoy walking through the natural wonder. In America I am considered petite, being only size 2, but in China I couldn’t even zip up the extra large pants. That experience is what led me to research fat in America, and it’s alarming how much we spend on obesity-related issues. This is not a post meant to belittle overweight people, but simply a small compilation of facts and figures about the cost of our collective fat.

Fat Healthcare Costs — You may be amongst the 40% of Americans who are not overweight, but you are probably still paying a percentage of your taxes towards treating the obesity of others. According to the , the approximate cost of obesity-related healthcare is an incredible 78.5 billion dollars in 1998, of which 37.6 billion were paid by Medicaid or Medicare. Adjusting the total cost for inflation using the CPI calculator, it’s about 100,000,000,000 dollars in 2007, and the actual cost is possibly even larger since healthcare costs have risen much more than the average inflation in recent years. The put this in perspective, our fat-related health costs beat

Fat Insurance Costs — The above healthcare costs only account for the money spent for healthcare and not the insurance. Obesity is considered a payout risk to insurance companies and health insurance could be a lot pricier for an obese person.

Fat Fuel Costs – It makes sense that it takes more energy to move more weight. An article last year states that Americans are consuming each year compared to 1960 due to the extra weight. Similarly, airplanes are also using more fuel because people are getting heavier on average.

Fat Death Costs– This may seem morbid, but those extra pounds of the deceased can increase the funeral expenditures of those left behind. The BBC reported that larger coffins is becoming more prevalent and some crematoria actually .

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Mandated Exercise — I remember that in school I always had PE classes where I had to exercise approximately one hour a day. After I graduated college and started a job where I sit all day and type, I gained approximately fifteen pounds. It also didn’t help that there were tons of free snacks and sodas in the office kitchen. If the government or work place has some kind of mandated exercise, then perhaps a lot of extra love handles can be shed.

Eat More Healthy Food — High calorie and fat foods generally appear cheaper, but considering the long term health, energy, and social costs of being overweight, it’s probably more financially prudent to eat fresh and healthy food.

Diet Together — My mom used to be very overweight, but she has lost a lot of flab because my dad loves to go outdoors and takes her hiking. At first, she said she hated hiking, but the more she hiked the more she enjoyed it. It’s much easier to diet with friends and family since you’ll often eat the same food and participate in the same activities.

I will not address the emotional costs of being overweight in this post because those are beyond financial. Some people are really overweight because of medical problems and no matter how hard they try, they can’t lose weight. For the rest of us, losing that extra bit of weight can save all of us a lot of money and stress in the long run.

I have had many long talks with my friends and family about attending graduate school and argued about the pros and cons. This article summarizes what I have gathered from our collective experiences.

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• The most common reason for my friends to attend graduate school is that they don’t exactly know what they want in life yet. So they try to delay entering into the “real world” by going to graduate school. In graduate school they have a flexible schedule to think about what they want to do while working on possibly cutting edge projects.
• Then there are a massive group of immigrants who absolutely need to use graduate school just to get into in America. For some of them, graduate school is their livelihood. A lot of my coworkers went to graduate school in the United States in order to have a job here in the US and create a better life for their families. My parents, for example, came to the US through graduate school.
• Next there are those who are practically forced into graduate school, either by their parents, a weak job market, or by the realization that the fun and interesting major they studied in school is not in demand in the job market. Additionally, some professions such as doctor or lawyer require graduate school so it is merely a continuation of education and training for the college graduates pursuing those careers.
• Also, there is a group of people who already have great jobs but want to either advance in their careers or change professions completely. Several of my former classmates turned to medicine or law after working as software or mechanical engineers.
• Finally, there are those idealists who are actually truly passionate about their field, and want to be professors and researchers and possibly change the world with their studies. I know several PhD candidates who are in this category.

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• One big reason is that I am a woman that wants kids. Going to graduate school would delay the creation of a family. My personal take on kids is that if you want to have them it’s probably better to have them earlier rather than later. Since with inflation, the cost of raising a child heightens as years go by.
• Since I am a woman in engineering, academia is not a very friendly place. One of my best friends said that she felt true sexism for the first time in her first year of her PhD program at MIT . One of her professors pretty much implied that she was slow and didn’t bother to answer her question at office hours, and when a male classmate asked almost the same question, the professor began a very detailed explanation of the problem. As a woman, becoming an engineering professor is also extremely difficult since tenure is decided by an old boys club in most universities. Anyway, I never ever wanted to be a professor in my life.
• Since I don’t want to do a PhD program, what’s left is a masters program. Most master programs  are self-funded, so the return on investment isn’t very attractive. At least in computer science, masters program graduates earn a comparable salary as those with a bachelor’s degree and two to three years of experience. The difference is that the person with the bachelor’s degree would have savings instead of debt.
• I don’t really want to change careers now because I have a great job with a lot of responsibilities and very good benefits.

So by process of elimination, I concluded that I should not go to graduate school. If you are thinking about graduate school, it’s probably best to think about what you intend to do after you graduate. Do you want to be an academic or work in industry? Do you want a family? Do you want fame and glory? A PhD program takes up five to six years in science, and up to fifteen years in humanities. Those years of your life can never be recovered. A masters program is quick, but the knowledge you buy might not really be much more than your bachelor’s degree. Also, you’re most likely to take a hit in the pocketbook by pursuing a masters program. It’s probably best to do a personal cost and benefit assessment of your choice to go to graduate school. This is a quick summary of my analysis:

Cost of getting a masters degree in computer science: having children later and sacrificing two years of pay in industry and the masters program tuition.

Benefits: none currently.

Your assessment is probably very different from mine and it’s possible that your perceived benefits is much greater than your perceived costs. It’s possible that one day I will revisit the analysis again, and find that the benefits greatly outweigh the costs, then I will consider graduate school again.