Too Slow, Too Loud

By now I was fully plugged in to the Redfin alert system.  Every morning I would receive an email providing an update on the condo market in Millbrae and Burlingame: what properties had hit the market, which had dropped their prices, which had sold and at what price.  This was incredibly useful, as it let me get a feel for the overall trends in the market, even beyond the (very) narrow area I was focusing on.

On a Tuesday morning, I saw a fascinating property hit the list: a small 1-bedroom condo at 88 South Broadway.  I've been aware of this development for years, but hadn't thought that it had any 1-bedrooms.  It was on the smallish size, but extremely well priced.  A little too well priced.  The only way I could imagine explaining the low price was if it was on the first floor facing directly onto El Camino Real.  Still, I was sufficiently intrigued to request a tour.

I put in the tour request on that Tuesday.  I got in touch with Matt, but we weren't able to schedule a showing before Saturday.  When I showed up on Saturday, I found that it was more or less mobbed, with perhaps five or six parties squeezed into this small one-bedroom space, walking around and chatting.  Matt was juggling me and another client.  I really liked what I saw.  The building is almost brand-new, having finished in 2007, and while this unit is less luxurious than most, it was still in great shape and had a really nice-looking kitchen.

So, why the low price?  It was on the ground floor, but was at the back of the complex, facing onto South Broadway.  Privacy was slightly limited, since a walkway came right outside the window.  Matt had also learned from the listing agent that there were some complications with the unit - it was technically a "caretaker's unit," and theoretically intended for occupation by the property manager.  Still, in practice, it could be freely bought and sold; the only restriction was that, if you rented it, you couldn't charge more than a certain amount for rent... I think that the limit was something like $1200 a month, pretty reasonable.  So that helped explain the low price, but still, the restrictions didn't bother me, and this seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get into the development.

I'd toured the property Saturday.  I started the offer wizard on Saturday night.  Redfin agents have the weekends off, which I do not begrudge them, so I didn't hear from Sean until mid-Monday.  He got in touch with the listing agent.  On Tuesday, I learned that they had already accepted an offer and the property was no longer available.  The next day, I saw it pop up as "Pending" in my email inbox.

That was probably the low point of my relationship with Redfin, although I don't know that it's necessarily their fault.  For this very well-priced property with a lot of interest, getting in a few days earlier would have given me a shot at buying the property.  Now, I don't know what price it ended up selling for, and it's totally possible that a bidding war would have pushed it beyond what I would be willing to pay for a small one-bedroom.  Also, I don't know that a traditional agent would have been able to get me in to see it earlier, or been able to communicate my interest any more quickly to the sellers.  Still, this was a case where Redfin's model seemed to suffer a little.

A little while later I toured a townhouse that was on the Burlingame side.  This was the first townhouse I'd seen, and I have to admit to liking it.  It had an integrated two-car garage, three stories, plenty of space, a balcony... lots of the stuff that I associate with traditional residential houses, but still at a (relatively) affordable price and in a great area.

The catch?  As I had instantly noted on Google Maps, it was next to the train tracks.  I went ahead and toured it since I wasn't sure if this particular unit was next to the tracks or farther back in the complex.  Nope - it was front and center.  I toured it in the morning during commuting hours, and paid attention as two Caltrains rumbled by.  Nope... not happening.  Even with the windows closed, it was quite loud, and while the floor didn't exactly shake, you could still feel the movement.  I gave a sigh, and let that one go.