The Fruit Trees

The house at 23 Linden Drive has an abundance of plant life, most of which is mature and fruit bearing. In the front of the home, there are rose bushes lining the driveway, a red maple tree in the front yard, as well as an fruit-bearing orange tree. The rear yard boasts two more fruit-bearing orange trees, a fruit-bearing lemon tree and a fruit-bearing grapefruit tree.

Over the arbor in the backyard are concord grape vines, which produce concord grapes every summer. We also planted an asian apple tree in the backyard, and it appears this year will be first year it will bear fruit. There are also rose bushes and other mature plants that line the backyard.

The Second Story Addition

There were a few questions about the second story addition. The home was at one time a single story house. The previous owner, added the second story in the early eighties. From the permits (which are available - we did find them, contrary to what I wrote in the Transfer Disclosure Statement), it looks like he applied for the permits in the early eighties and the final square footage of the home 2520 was signed off in 1989. So the home is a legal, permitted 2 story, 2520 square foot home.

Foundation Work Complete

All the work recommended in the foundation report was completed on May 24, 2010. This included permits, and receiving the final on the permits for the work. These are now available in a PDF downloadable format for anyone that is interested.

That means we're ready to go back on the market. But not quite yet. Our real estate agent asked us to hold off until after the Memorial Day holiday, as traffic and visibility is lowest during the holiday period.

So that means we'll be back on the market sometime after June 1, 2010. Look for us on the MLS, or contact Redfin if you're interested.

Is the House Still For Sale?

There's been some questions about the fact that we're no longer on the MLS. The listing did go off the MLS on August 16, 2010. With the start of the school year, we've decided to go off the market, since we have a small child and we're finding it hard to keep the house neat for showings and expect it will only worsen with the start of the school year.

If for some reason you're still interested in the home, please contact the listing agent Martin Garcia at Redfin and he can be reached at 408-634-5117 and he can relay a message to us.

Why is the Seller Selling?

One of the most common questions that gets asked, is why is the seller, selling a particular property. In this case, there's a fairly simple answer. We discussed it already in the Feng Shui section. Our family has gotten smaller, since the passing of my mother from a 12 year battle with breast cancer. We no longer need the space of this home, nor the added expense of maintaining a larger home.

We also find ourselves evaluating schools for our daughter who starts kindergarten this fall. While Washington Open and Westwood are both good schools, neither really fits our needs (Washington Open is one of the best schools in the county, but requires parent participation - with a job that requires travel that is almost impossible for us, and Westwood is a little farther than we'd like for kindergarten).

These two changes in our family have led us to the decision to put our home on the market and start looking for a smaller home closer to a kindergarten that fits our needs. If you happen to have a child already going to Washington Open, this may be the ideal property for you.

Notes on the Deal that Fell Through

This property did go pending just a few weeks after it came on the market. It did stay pending while the prospective buyer finished their inspections during the contingency period. During this time they completed the foundation report and a second property inspection.

The buyers were first time buyers, and had not purchased a home before, and were doing extensive checks around the house. In the end, they were just not comfortable purchasing a home that had some recommended repairs.

If you read through the inspection reports; you'll see most of the recommended repairs are extremely minor, and some are actually covered under warranty over existing work (like the minor roof repairs). The only real major expense would be the foundation recommendations, which are only recommendations (not necessarily required work). As mentioned in the foundation blog posting, you should adjust your offer price based on this report (around $10k of recommended work), and even request this work be completed during escrow. As a seller we're willing to work around your needs in this respect. [Update 5/14/2010: All the foundation work is scheduled to be completed the week of 5/17/2010 and paid by the seller] [Additional Update 3/15/2011: Roof repair was completed under warranty by the roofer, Daystar Roofing]

At the time of this post we've only been back on the market for less than two weeks, so you've got the opportunity again to view and purchase this home.