Give me a break

[George Hatch]

The underlying build quality for the subject and the neighborhood composition and pricing won't support a $1.5M valuation. The sales it takes to do that are on the bay side of the highway and to the south, which will obviously have a much stronger pricing history over time when compared to the subject neighborhood.

 

[Mejappz]

I have a pretty good idea what happened. The subject neighborhood has a sales history which shows the purchase appraisal shouldn't have come anywhere close to $700k in 2016, much less $1m. It also shows this immediate neighborhood will not support a $1.5 value for a 2200sf home. The new appraisal had to go outside the neighborhood in order to support that conclusion.


The prior sale is shown on this list, along with the sales which occurred before and since then. Just in case anyone is interested.

It would be interesting to find the neighborhood the second appraiser used and compare the median sale price for both areas in the past five years.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I have a pretty good idea what happened. The subject neighborhood has a sales history which shows the purchase appraisal shouldn't have come anywhere close to $700k in 2016, much less $1m. It also shows this immediate neighborhood will not support a $1.5 value for a 2200sf home. The new appraisal had to go outside the neighborhood in order to support that conclusion.


The prior sale is shown on this list, along with the sales which occurred before and since then. Just in case anyone is interested.

86 Buckelew St is 1300 SF on a 9,000 SF lot and sold for $1.29M in 2018. 52 Buckelew St is 3360 SF on a 15,000 SF lot and sold for $1.79M in 2018. Both look like they have nice views though.

 

[Joe Flacco]

20 Pacheco looks like it might have a view too seeing how it is on the side of a hill and elevated from the street.

 

[gregb]

The underlying build quality for the subject and the neighborhood composition and pricing won't support a $1.5M valuation. The sales it takes to do that are on the bay side of the highway and to the south, which will obviously have a much stronger pricing history over time when compared to the subject neighborhood.

As a prior resident of Marin County, there is no way to compare the subject's location in Marin City with the nearby sales in Sausalito, they are whole two different worlds, despite their geo proximity.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

As a prior resident of Marin County, there is no way to compare the subject's location in Marin City with the nearby sales in Sausalito, they are whole two different worlds, despite their geo proximity.

I think one of the interesting things about real estate in my world is the almost total lack of "two different worlds" in our population regionally (NW Ark and SW MO, NE OK). It is hard for me to even understand what that means. I know some Irish chick was saying she wanted to see California and so her and a GF took a bus around the area and got out in Compton and strolled around...was later told that was dangerous??? Here you seem to have a population that is almost unconcerned about who their neighbors are culturally, racially, etc. No one "steers" buyers away from any area they are interested and the bulk of people want to live as near their work as reasonably or otherwise want a house in the country and are willing to commute. If they have kids, the school becomes a significant factor but again, we don't have many "bad" schools, and it may be more a concern that the school be near their work in the event they must pick up their children or participate in sports in a convenient place.

OTOH, in Little Rock, busing and other issues has a distinction impact on value. I did a large estate and hired another appraiser to help for 2 properties in Little Rock. The area we went into was older 50s homes and they were dirt cheap. He explained that this was not a "good" part of town. Yet, the streets were wide and clean, the shops were not vandalized, trash was picked up, etc. but $50k would buy a pretty nice 1200 SF house. I really was clueless about the issues involved.

 

[Joe Flacco]

86 Buckelew Street: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/86-Buckelew-St-Sausalito-CA-94965/19266060_zpid/
$1,235,000 - SD: 04/15/2018

This 60's house is 1,357 SF - 3 BR /2 BA on a 9,000 SF lot with nice view.

52 Buckelew Street: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/52-Buckelew-St-Sausalito-CA-94965/19266086_zpid/
$1,795,000 - SD: 12/18/2018

This 60's house is 3,360 SF - 5 BR / 3 BA on a 15,000 SF lot with nice view.

28 Buckelew Street: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/28-Buckelew-St-Sausalito-CA-94965/19266125_zpid/
$650,000 - SD: 06/04/2019

This 60's house is 1,092 SF - 3 BR /1 BA on a 9,000 SF lot. The improvement seems to be similar to 20 Pacheco Street before the $400k expansion and renovation. It's on a hill but less elevated verses the properties lower on the hill and doesn't face the bay.



20 Pacheco is 60's house with 2,173 SF - 5 BR / 3 BA on a 9,000 SF lot. Possibly with decent to good views. looks like it is good condition based on the news video and maybe arguably better condition than 86 Buckelew and 52 Buckelew based on renovation date. But those houses have those large casement windows taking advantage of the views which 20 Pacheco doesn't look like it has. 20 Pacheco looks like it has the original window opening windows and no modifications were made with that. Somebody could have bought 28 Buckelew Street and have done the same renovation but would probably have inferior view and 86 Buckelew and 52 Buckelew probably have better views with the large casement windows from the interior. Another consideration is that prices may have changed since 2018/2019.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I don't know what it is worth but I am thinking the Zestimate is probably wrong.

 

[gregb]

Marin City vs Sausalito

https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/sausalito_ca/marin_city_ca/costofliving

 

[George Hatch]

The house on Buckelew is superior in the original build quality. Pacheco didn't even have an enclosed garage. That house and most of the ones around it are basic rectangle Q4 construction. That's going to leave a mark on the value.

If an appraiser did a 5-yr summary of the low-median-high size and price for the area it would have been a lot harder to say this subject, it's size notwithstanding, should have been valued at the top of that range. The only way it turns out otherwise is if an appraiser runs comps and takes the highest sales without regard for similarity and without providing any context for how those sales fit the majority of the neighborhood.