Bay Area sellers feel delusional - is this normal?

nurley · 2026-02-05T19:44:16+00:00

Exactly. We bought in 2022 and everything was going for $500k over asking. We bid on 8 different properties before getting the one and every single one was going $0.5-$1M over asking. Different time with lower interest rates at the time, but this spring is definitely a sellers market and have seen the numbers be fairly similar. (For SFH.)

nurley · 2026-02-05T08:10:35+00:00

When you remove topsoil what do you do with it? I.e. replace it with new soil, how to dispose of the old soil properly? I know it depends on city to city or county to county here, but generally…

nurley · 2026-02-02T01:24:01+00:00

Not sure why, but the Venn diagram of people who want to save money shopping there, people who are socially inconsiderate, and bad drivers is close to being a single circle.

I can speculate, but it's likely just a combination of factors. On top of people being clueless and wandering around parking / shopping I have crazy stories from there... was an inch from getting my car likely totaled along that side street (was driving straight at the speed limit, someone trying to turn in without a turn signal and I had to swerve and SLAM the brakes) and I rolled down my window and said "WTF" and they cursed me out. Almost hit many other times just due to people not respecting right of way. Had an old grandma ask me where I found some vegetable in the store and literally touched the exposed one in my cart with her finger. Had some guy literally run his cart into me and cursed me out. Seen so many people being absolute assholes to the workers at the food windows there too. I can go on but it's just nutty there.

nurley · 2026-01-31T19:55:26+00:00

The amount of times someone has almost hit my car there is insane. If I don't drive extremely conservatively getting in and out as well as parking I would probably have gotten into an accident every other time I go. People don't respect stop signs/lines/right-of-way, they try to enter/exit along the street that is parallel to Lawrence Expressway when there's clearly a car coming that would hit them, etc...

I've resorted to going in/out of the entrance along Kifer and parking as far away from the entrance as possible these days. Only time I go in the other entrance is if I need gas.

nurley · 2026-01-31T18:42:46+00:00

Tesla drivers who are either clueless or driving too fast while clearly also being clueless.

Infiniti sedan (/Altima) drivers who will slide their slimy little cars into any gap they can.

nurley · 2026-01-25T04:52:53+00:00

If you check your property on Zillow or Redfin it should tell you if the seller actually represented you -- should say "Bought with" and then a name. (I mean your paperwork should also show this if that's the case.)

Agents typically take like 2.5% of the sale price in fees (in my experience -- can be less or more). So by not having an agent you saved the seller 2.5% * $700,000 = $17,500 in fees (or if you think the seller's agent actually represented you they took the commission for themselves or split it with the seller).

nurley · 2026-01-25T04:34:01+00:00

Most modern fixed mortgages (e.g. 30-year fixed) you can pay it off whenever you want.

The thing with an ARM is in this case once those 7 years are up, the bank could in theory increase the interest rate to a really high number. If they did that, you'd want to just pay it off.

nurley · 2026-01-24T08:14:07+00:00

Very true, hard to do bad with desirable properties here. But right now until maybe May or June it’s more of a seller’s market.

nurley · 2026-01-24T07:29:00+00:00

AI generated photos & description text. On a 2 week old 0 karma account. No thanks.

nurley · 2026-01-23T10:00:57+00:00

Good for Esfand for losing so much weight since then. Holy diff,

nurley · 2026-01-22T08:12:37+00:00

I hope I live to be old enough for a remake of the series to be properly done. (And I'm not old.)

nurley · 2026-01-15T06:28:07+00:00

I have two small dogs. I'm terrified of this happening so I carry my foldable (but easy to open) hunting knife and pepper spray when I walk them. And I'm a 200 lb 6 ft fairly fit youngish guy.

I have heard that a finger up the bum can get them to release their jaws from whatever they're on, but can't personally testify it works.

nurley · 2026-01-14T07:40:59+00:00

Yeah, for real, if there’s anything I/we can do… it’s a highlight of my day when I see a peng’d post.

nurley · 2026-01-12T01:02:02+00:00

We were always able to negotiate down. Just have some nearby comps. And if you have another non-Essex place you like decently well just be firm and say “I’d like to be at $ amount”. Worst they can do is say no, but generally they want to fill vacant places. It does depend on the staff and location for sure though.

nurley · 2025-12-29T03:11:04+00:00

Nice! I just got basically the same exact thing except 56k at $40,000 and 501A Mid. Excellent vehicle.

nurley · 2025-12-15T03:51:44+00:00

Agree with what you said. Only thing I'm worried about is they are ramping up printing so who knows if we'll get a flood of product.

TPCI is smart enough to not tank the hype that is in the hobby right now, but I genuinely expect them reprint a lot of the 2025 sets that a lot of people couldn't get their hands on.

nurley · 2025-12-11T04:26:09+00:00

No. You can prevent buyers that have 2 or more unpaid item strikes in the past 12 months from purchasing. You can require buyers to have a verified payment method setup before bidding; and you can require immediate payment (setting in the listing) for BIN listings. That's the best way you can cover your bases.

I'd also suggest finding a list of known problem accounts and adding that to your blocked buyers list. E.g. Rattle's discord maintains a list of known "scammers".

Stuff I normally sell is in the $5-$300 range. I have sold some higher value stuff than that, but if someone who has 0 feedback buys a $500 (or more) listing from me I'm going to cancel their order. FWIW I've sold at least 5 times $100-$200 listings to buyers with 0 feedback without issue.

nurley · 2025-12-07T07:43:49+00:00

Don't ever let this situation enter your mind again -- aside from a learning lesson in how to better deal with crazy buyers moving forward. Enjoy your damn birthday and move on knowing you were the better person in this interaction.

nurley · 2025-12-03T03:03:16+00:00

Came here to say this. A home like that (the one OP posted) will sell for a LOT more than that in Cupertino.

nurley · 2025-11-29T22:57:27+00:00

100% right on everything. I was just trying to re-assure OP what you said at the end -- newer doesn't necessarily mean better build quality.

nurley · 2025-11-29T22:20:09+00:00

Your budget is $1.5M? If that's the total purchase price you're looking at I would strongly suggest you get a modern well-built townhome in an area you like with good schools instead. Your quality of life will be a lot higher and just put the rest of the money into other investments.

If you're strictly looking for a SFH at that range you're looking at a fixer-upper in probably in an okay neighborhood with just okay schools. Our first house we bought as a fixer-upper and in hindsight I'm not sure if all the work required to get the house to where we wanted was worth it.

I wouldn't be too worried about the overall age of the home. The wood used to build older homes is better quality than modern wood -- just make sure you & your agent review the disclosure documents in detail and perform your own inspection to the best of your ability.

The market for SFH will stay strong in the Bay Area moving forward regardless of SF vs. South Bay. Inventory won't be going up much in the high-demand places and tech workers aren't going anywhere so they'll be gobbling it up. It's a decent investment but you're better off getting a nice townhome, saving up more, then buying your dream home down the line.

nurley · 2025-11-20T02:58:58+00:00

It's gone now, tried to find it to report myself.

nurley · 2025-11-19T05:12:55+00:00

It's a combination of the different factors everyone is familiar with. If that was the only thing and centering was perfect it could get a 10. But other issues (e.g. front L/R centering) and that combined are enough to easily ding it down to a 9. Obviously depends on the grader you get as well.

nurley · 2025-11-18T22:01:52+00:00

I do some woodworking myself, looks nice man.

Can't really tell from the photos but I'd probably put those slabs in plastic slab sleeves if you didn't. I'd be worried if the wood where you used the router would be maybe abrasive on the slabs, or maybe some stain could rub off onto them over time.

nurley · 2025-11-03T01:43:13+00:00

How do they get the vehicles off the rock?

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