Less is more, more or less

Sunday, April 16, 2006

I've been looking at the floorplans for the townhouse condos being built a few blocks from my house. It makes me a bit jealous, since the low end of that development is a 2 bedroom, 2-1/2 bath townhouse with 1127 square feet and a two-car garage -- for $100,000 less than I paid for my house just two blocks away.
For the price of my 830sf home, I could buy a 1,617sf townhouse with a "bonus room" for an office on the first floor.
But the reasoning still applies from when I tried to buy the loft downtown: with my little house, I own more than the interior space. I own land, I have a front and back yard, and I don't have any condo fees. I'd still be paying the same high property taxes on a condo, but with the added burden of a high monthly fee.
Still, it is hard to ignore that $100,000 price difference, and it leaves me hoping that my house will hold its value even while cheaper housing is built down the street.
On the good side, those townhouses are being built on a former industrial site, located between our neighborhood and the train tracks and airport, so they'll buffer a bit of the noise. Maybe that's why they're cheaper!

P.S. here's an example of a bold-faced lie, told by a developer wanting to sell homes: on the "About the Area" page for this development, Pulte Homes claims, and I quote:

BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit is available in the South Bay.

Nope. Not true. BART is not available in the South Bay, and clicking the link they provide proves it. BART ends in Fremont, the East Bay, and while there are plans to bring BART down and around the bay to San Jose, the plans have been mired in politics and money for decades. If these plans ever do come to fruition, it will still be decades away.
Still, the plan calls for the terminus of BART in the South Bay to be right down the street from our neighborhood, a stroll away. Of course, by then I'll be using a walking frame.

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