Sunnyvale vs. San Ramon

Merck KGaA
bnbacdc

Merck KGaA

bnbacdc
Mar 11 37 Comments

3300 sq ft home in Sunnyvale: sold for $4.47M, or $1M above list price 😱😱😱

3300 sq ft home in San Ramon: sold for $2.68M, or 280k above list 😱😱😱

Which would you rather buy?

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Sunnyvale/1638-Canary-Dr-94087/home/1127779?600390594=copy_variant&231528114=control&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Ramon/1913-Barossa-Dr-94582/home/2103048?600390594=copy_variant&231528114=control&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet

#housing #mortgage

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TOP 37 Comments
  • Intel
    CDTV

    Go to company page Intel

    CDTV
    Congratulations for paying $50K property tax every year, while you neighbors pay one tenth of that.
    Mar 11 2
    • Google
      $undar

      Go to company page Google

      $undar
      Who cares about that. I won the genetic lottery with my coding skills; someone won geographic lottery by being early homeowner in Bay Area. Good for them. As long as I can make the monthly payment comfortably while working at jobs I enjoy doing, it’s all good.
      Mar 12
    • LinkedIn / Strategy
      techhhh

      Go to company page LinkedIn Strategy

      PRE
      Merrill Lynch
      techhhh
      Love it.
      Mar 12
  • Snap
    colbird

    Go to company page Snap

    colbird
    Who are these people? Sunnyvale house is just average on 8.5k sqft lot.
    Mar 11 10
    • Merck KGaA
      bnbacdc

      Merck KGaA

      bnbacdc
      OP
      @Google $undar: with $1.2M TC, why did you buy in 94087? Why not buy in Los Altos or Palo Alto?
      How much did you pay for your house?
      Mar 12
    • Google
      $undar

      Go to company page Google

      $undar
      Paid 2.8M. Partly due to price - wanted to keep monthly payments to within one person’s after tax base, so 3M was our max, and hardly any decent homes in PA / LA in that range. Partly due to demographics - more Indian neighbors, restaurants, stores in SVL, and we were already quite used to SVL, having rented here for 3+ years.
      Mar 12
  • Google
    $undar

    Go to company page Google

    $undar
    94087 is the next Los Altos. Will reach 1500+ $/sqft for these type of homes by eoy. If you got the moolah, buy and hold for long term.
    Mar 12 0
  • Merck KGaA
    bnbacdc

    Merck KGaA

    bnbacdc
    OP
    House is dead equity and liability until the day you sell it. At that point it can be worth mucho $$$.
    Given that we live in arguably the most expensive part of America, one can conceivably take advantage of geographical arbitrage with many potential destinations if one has bought a house that appreciates to $5M or beyond.
    Mar 12 3
    • Apple
      aWVt68

      Go to company page Apple

      aWVt68
      Cetera your math is way off. It is 18500 monthly payment at 2.5% and of that 6500 is going to principal. So net cost is 12k and if you say you spend $10k otherwise then extra cost is $2k or 20%. Given inflation of 7%, in less than 3 years the 10k will go to 12k while your mortgage stays the same. And since property is in California the taxes also stay pretty much the same due to prop 13. So you are already ahead by year 3 and for the next 27 years you start making more money. Now the investment of the $900k principal plus your $6.5k principal every month will be in stock market. Assume stock market return is 10% and housing is a historic 7% in Bay Area. But that 7% real estate is a leveraged return which would handily beat stock market returns
      Mar 12
    • Apple
      autocorekt

      Go to company page Apple

      autocorekt
      aWVt68 Cetera’s calculations are not way off. Instead of 20k, it’s 18.5k. 10k is too high for renting similar place. Rest of your assumptions are incorrect. Plug in those numbers in a rent buy calculator and see the difference. Leveraged return doesn’t beat after 30 yrs.
      Mar 12
  • Merck KGaA
    bnbacdc

    Merck KGaA

    bnbacdc
    OP
    @Cetera: few points to note here.
    First, CA is a non recourse state which means your mortgage is only secured by the house itself and not by any other assets. That is a very important point which insulates you from losses.

    Secondly, as far as I am concerned personally, 80% or more of my equity in my home comes from appreciation and less than 20% is money that I have put in from my paycheck.

    Third, I do keep a buffer of multiple years worth of PITI is relatively safe low volatility liquid (I.e., not 401k/IRA) investments which do yield some returns. These are for peace of mind in case of long term job loss. I think every home owner should have at least one year and preferably more of their PITI in liquid form.
    Mar 12 1
    • Cetera / IT
      64!78

      Cetera IT

      64!78
      In that case there is no question or concerns!! As i mentioned earlier affordability and a cost of something varies person to person.
      Mar 12