Would you prefer to live in Vancouver, Seattle or Portland

That Sunnyvale one, the big thing about that is it's believed to be a record at $2,358 per square foot.

That sounds crazy. This is crazier: It's almost certainly a tear-down. It's on a 6,000-square-foot lot and the people who bought for $2 million will in all likelihood build a nice two-story house. They just want that land.

It's near Apple and not far from all the other biggies.

 

I've spent a few summers in Seattle, visited Portland (buddy lived there) and only in Vancouver as a tourist; Seattle over Portland simply for a bigger city, more diversity; greater range of most everything. Certainly more sprawling than Portland but with that comes more diversity in living environments and choices. Son is now a freshman at UW and I love going there.

 

Two million for a 6,000 foot lot. My God.

 

The invisible hand is pointing east, toward Grand Island or Wichita or Muskogee.

 

It being a tear down isn't crazier, it makes more sense.

 

Being a real estate broker around here must be nuts.

So far this year, homes in Sunnyvale are selling for an average of 28 percent over their listed price and are spending just nine days on the market, Harrison said. A four-bedroom, two-bath, 2,000 square foot house in the city recently sold for close to $800,000 over its listing price, fetching $2.47 million.

Should we expect that the $2M tear down was bought on spec by a developer?

 

I've lived in the same house in the Boston suburbs for over 25 years. Its market value is very close to seven figures now. And I know it'll be a tear down when it's sold. Within an easy mile walk around my neighborhood, there are currently three McMansions under construction where there used to be smallish three-bedroom Capes built in the 1960s. The Silicon Valley situation is just an extension of the natural order of things in any desirable location in 2018. The total sums involved are smaller, but I bet there are tear downs in Wichita and Grand Island, too.

 

Since it's the land (and not so much the building) that is fetching all this money, what would be the cost to rebuild? And what would homeowners insurance cost (BTW, we're also talking about a home on prime earthquake land)?

 

Earthquake insurance by and large doesn’t exist. It’s too expensive and doesn’t cover enough, so only 10 percent of the state has it.

Cost to rebuild would probably be around $500,000, I guess. I’ve heard speculation that the plan is to split it into two 3,000-sf lots and build two-story houses on each.

 

When I worked construction in Portland (2003-05), I worked on a house in the West Hills. The owners bought it for about $500,000, and we gutted it and were refurbishing it from the ground up, at least $750,000 worth. It was in a beautiful location, and from the east-facing deck on a clear day I saw the mountains Ranier, Adams, St. Helens, Hood and Jefferson.
When I lived there, median home prices were going up from $10,000 to $15,000 per month. Most common bumper stickers: Oregon (or Washington) is full: Californians, go home.

 

So, the owner was in for about $1.25M.

Curious to know, what do you think it’s worth today?

 

A couple of my closest college friends were fortunate to get in down there about 20-25 years ago. Its ridiculous, but the reason as I discussed with one of them last week is that from some of those areas, draw a 30 min drive radius and look at what employment opportunities are within that area, you get Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo (used to mean something), etc. Where else in the world do you get that?