Kate confused by price hike

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Note: Guest Blogger Kate in the Valley is back, still house-hunting and still trying to figure out the real estate game. Her personal blog is ‘May 5 & Everything After’, and here’s her latest for us:

I am kind of taking this new listing personally. Yeah, I feel personally offended that it is listed at $899k (not to be confused with $900k). That’s $676 a sq. ft. for those of you keeping score at home. This seems like an extraordinary price for a 1,329 sq. ft. house on a 5,900 sq. ft. lot located north of the 101. But the agents in the area tell me ‘Hey! This is Sherman Oaks!’ Fine. It’s Sherman Oaks. So where exactly was the house located when it sold six weeks ago for $630k?

Let’s turn our attention to the MLS description:

‘Located in a prime area, close to shops & eateries, this remodeled traditional home offers newer ktch w/ stainless steel appliances…’

‘Newer’ kitchen? So it’s not ‘new’ it’s just ‘newer’? As in, the kitchen was in place when you bought it for $630k? It’s certainly a nicely upgraded kitchen, but it’s not like that’s a Viking range with a commercial grade hood and wall-mounted ovens. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s a slide-in range from Sears that retails around $1,200 (but it does look like it’s brand new). What else does the description say?

Read below to see the listing.

‘... new electrical & plumbing, roof, wood & carpet floors thru out.’

Okay, ‘new electrical’ that’s nice, I’d pay a little more for that (assuming they switched out the whole panel, and not just some new wiring). The wording is vague so I can’t tell if the ‘plumbing, roof, wood & carpet floors’ are also new. But assuming they are all completely new, do they represent $270k of value? C’mon! Do you really think that I am that bad at math? Do you think I am going to walk into this little house and go: ‘Ooooo… shiny oven! I must have this house! I will pay literally anything!’ Seriously?

I guess you didn’t realize that I could buy a bigger house on a bigger lot, south of Ventura for only $854K.
(and get more than $17k toward my closing costs)? Seriously.