388 Lansdale
Five bedrooms, five baths and over 5,000 square feet, the contemporary 388 Lansdale was built in 1991 the same year Michael Jackson released Dangerous. And while not one of his best efforts, track number 13 can’t help but be somewhere on the mind.
∙ Listing: 388 Lansdale (5/5) – $2,100,000 [MLS]
Gone Too Soon [wikipedia.org]

25 thoughts on “A White House To End A Black Week”
  1. Went to the open house last weekend. I wanted to like it more than I did. The rooms are big and the views are panoramic but they are Southern views. The facade is probably the most interesting thing about it. Still it’s definitely one of a kind and worth a look for those looking for a lot of square footage.

  2. Oh please, thank god he’s dead. He’s been dead, crazy, and molesting since the mid-80’s. I also saw this last weekend, the views are very nice.

  3. I like the title of the post…reminds me of that t-shirt the bum on Muni was wearing, “black man, white house”
    as always, very classy from SS

  4. This home sort of has a nautical theme to it. I like it a lot; the home that is, not the nautical theme. Don’t know the neighborhood enough to accurately comment on the price. But my gut says that $2.1 should get you a bit more. This would be $1.1 in the east bay with better views.

  5. MJ was truly amazing in his heyday.
    One of the best.
    although, in my opinion, he wrote no more than 1 or 2 good songs since the 80s.

  6. An interesting twist on Michael Jackson’s financial life is his brush with Real Estate riches and ultimately foreclosure. He couldn’t have maintained his lifestyle without cash extracted from his RE assets (until he couldn’t: Neverland faced foreclosure last year, coincidence?), and his assets wouldn’t have been worth much without the huge bubble we witnessed (thanks again, suckers!).
    He refi-ed, refi-ed, refi-ed, got repo-ed, and then he died. I hope at least he had some fun in the process.

  7. @Fronzi
    Nice connection between MJ and the real estate run-up/meltdown. And then there’s the name of his chimp…

  8. No. Michael Jackson leveraged his Beatles’ Northern Songs/ATV publishing rights, a 37.5% stake, to Sony for $95M and the further promise that it would get behind his latter-day albums. That was infinitely more foolish than any real estate move Neverland or otherwise.
    — Anonn, out of retirement, to set the record straight. Still waiting for that edit button feature.

  9. Ahhh, I knew there would be a Realtor rebuttal:
    Let me copy and paste an interesting extract from the wikipedia entry on the Neverland Ranch:

    In early 2004, news program Entertainment Tonight estimated Neverland Ranch to be valued at approximately $120 million. The Santa Barbara County assessor’s office has assessed its value at $96 million, but only for tax purposes. Forbes estimates the ranch may be worth significantly more than that. While sorting through boxes of Jackson family memorabilia up for auction in Las Vegas, Nevada, auction staff members found a 1987 contract detailing his $17 million (or $30 million in 2008[4]) purchase of the land that became the Neverland Ranch.[5]

    And it was almost repo-ed in 2008 for $25M due. He basically “ate” a chunk of the house with his lifestyle.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverland_Ranch

  10. It is funny to read the “remarks” section of the MLS listing. It is, at most, 1/3 filled in. Yet the agent feels the need to use these ridiculous real-estate agent abbreviations. I am sure it’s is a throwback to the newspaper age in which you paid by the letter for ad space, but today its useless or worse. In fact I can’t make out half of the abbreviated items.

  11. Whoah ! This place reeks of the late 1980s, especially that Memphis style tiled master bath. I predict a remodel in the near future.
    I wonder whether how many of the modern designs being created today can survive the 20 year mark without looking dated. I hope so, but expect that the lesser imitators will fall out of favor.

  12. OK – What’s everyone’s most hated current design trend? I’ll go first: Mis-matched upper and lower kitchen cabinets. Looks like you got cabinets on clearance and they didn’t have uppers and lowers that matched.

  13. The real story on this house: purchased @ the height of the market 2 years ago for $1.9+. Not much in updates. After commission, transfer tax, property tax and house payments they will be upside down if sold @ $2.1 Vultures should wait and scoop in @ the lowest price possible. Value: 1.6-1.7 max. Some tips on buying low, Check status of owners job and see if they are bridled by other unsold properties in SF. Note: neighborhood is great; easy parking, views, quiet and centrally located (12 min downtown, 15 min airport, 10 min beach 15 min presidio

  14. Just looked up SF tax record: They have not paid their property tax for 2008. Owe 25k +. I see trouble here. A good buyers agent should point this out to their clients.

  15. “Owe 25k +. I see trouble here. A good buyers agent should point this out to their clients. ”
    Agreed, although it has been over 3 years since I purchased any real estate, I am always surprised how little homework most agents do. Go to any open house and start asking questions about taxes, age or roof, average utility costs etc. and you get a deer in the headlights look. I guess that is what the free snacks are to make up for?

  16. 388 Lansdale is in a nice area – that street feels a million miles away from busy Portola and Monterey Blvd (and even less busy Yerba Buena Ave.), but it’s really pretty close.
    Tax records show that the current seller paid $1.989M. Not having seen the place (so I can’t comment specifically on the pricing), I couldn’t say for sure, but I’d think 15-20% down over the last 2 years is what the typical seller out there should expect as a base case forecast. I hope he didn’t put down too much in the first loss position!

  17. LM: I figure this one goes for $1.9ish at the end of the day which is 10% of the ask, and $380/ft². It is a lot of interesting house on a quiet, well located street. maybe $1.8 on the low. I would be very surprised if it trades less than that.

  18. We’ve removed the comments of one individual masquerading as a few (as well as a site administrator) and we’ve also removed any comments that said individual provoked.

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