The 2012 San Carlos Big Dog and Little Dog Awards.

January 11, 2013

big-vs-small

The Extremes of 2012.

It's time for some Friday fun. We've spent the better part of this past week looking at 2012 statistics for the San Carlos real estate market.  Now it's time to look at the statistics that really matter.  Yep, it's time once again for our annual awards for the biggest, smallest, most expensive, and cheapest least expensive homes to sell in San Carlos… aka the Big Dog and Little Dog Awards.

There were 317 entries in this prestigious awards contest this year.  But just like the Academy Awards, it seems like one or two of the contestants seem to get most of the nominations — just look at nominations that “Lincoln” hauled in this year.   That indeed happened this year with one particular listing, which will become evident when you look at the categories below (if you even get that far before clicking out…)   To make things a little different this year, we'll even pay homage to the first runner-up in each category.   Gotta keep the red capet fresh, after all.

So without further delay, here are the San Carlos Big Dog and Little Dog Award winners for 2012:

The Most Expensive Home.

5 Coronado Avenue, San Carlos

5 Coronado Avenue

This is referred to by some as the “Biggest Commission Check” award, but that just sounds a bit too pretentious for this ceremony.  And besides, we have no way of verifying commissions.  So now we just call it the “Most Expensive Home”.

This year's Big Dog award for the Most Expensive Home goes to 5 Coronado Avenue, which sold for a tidy sum of $4,500,000.  You will see this home again in the awards category in places that you'd least expect it.  That's what makes this awards ceremony so meaningless interesting…

First Runner Up1955 Carmelita Drive at $2,680,000.

 

The Least Expensive Home.

1006 Alameda

1006 Alameda

As you may have guessed, this category used to be known as the “Smallest Commission Check” award.  (See above for the reasons behind the change).  But I'm sure some of my commission checks may have rivaled this one for lack of zeroes, so the new name is better.  And calling it the “Cheapest Home” just doesn't sound very positive, either.

This year's Little Dog honor for the Least Expensive Home in San Carlos goes to 1006 Alameda, which sold for $276,000.   It's interesting — it has been a loooong time since a single family residence in San Carlos sold in the $200K range.

First Runner Up:   This year's runner up was 980 Hall Street at $410,000.

The Largest Home.

1 Lewis Ranch Road

1 Lewis Ranch Road

Who says that size doesn't matter?  This category is for the home with the most amount of square footage that sold in 2012, as specified in the MLS.  We can't be responsible for the accuracy (or imagination) that may have been put into these square footage figures.  We just give out awards.

This year's BIG Dog award for the Largest Home in San Carlos goes to…1 Lewis Ranch Road at a whopping 5,640 square feet.  That's a whole lotta house.  And if you saw this house when it was for sale, you'll know that it has a whole lotta views of the Bay Area, too.  On top of that, any house that has an address of  “1” has to be pretty special.

First Runner Up:   2727 Clifford Avenue at 5,583 square feet.   Just think — only 57 measly square feet separated the winner from the runner up.   What is that, the size of a dining room table???  Somebody should demand a recount on this one…

The Smallest Home.

399 Winding Way

399 Winding Way

In this age of the Smart Car, the iPad Mini, and my investment portfolio, “small” is the new chic — so on that basis alone, this award should be a highly coveted one.    After all, small homes are easier to keep clean and they don't use as much energy,

This year's Little Dog award for the Smallest Home Sold in 2012 goes to — 399 Winding Way, at a svelt 780 square feet.   Let's put that into a bit of San Carlos perspective here — you could fit 399 Winding Way into 1 Lewis Ranch Road 7 times over… and still have room left over for a few dining room tables.   Now that's a BIG difference.

First Runner Up:   980 Hall Street, at 790 square feet.

The Largest Percentage Over List Price.

819 Sunset Drive

819 Sunset Drive

This was formerly known as the “Sandbagger Award”, and it reminds me of the days in high-tech sales when we used submit our heavily edited (aks “sandbagged”) forecasts which were used to set our commissions for the year.  Yeah, just a tad conservative.   But hey, in a strong real estate year there's nothing an agent can do to keep buyers from driving the price to an incredibly high number.

This year's Big Dog Award for the Largest Percentage Over List Price goes to… 819 Sunset Drive.  It sold for 33% over the original list price, which equated to $195,000 over the asking price.   I can only imagine what that bidding must have been like on this one.

First Runner Up:   3020 Melendy Drive, which came in at a very respectable 26% above its original list price.  That came out to $289,050 in real dollars.

The Largest Percentage Below List Price.

Formerly known as the Optimist Award, this award recognizes the most optimistic and hopeful list price.   Not pointing fingers — we've all been there.     It's also a much more positive way to look at overshooting the mark.

This year's Little Dog winner for the home that sold at the Largest Percentage Below List Price goes to… 5 Coronado Avenue at 22% below the original list price.  OK, can you say “Lincoln”?   This one is raking in the awards.

First Runner Up:  That goes to  349 Laurel Street at – 21%.

Highest Price-Per-Square-Foot.

The most expensive home doesn't necessarily mean the home with the highest price.  Some people choose price-per-square-foot instead of just the absolute price as a more relevant measure of the cost of a home.    Well, in this year's award ceremony, that argument is irrelevant because they're one in the same place.  Once again, 5 Coronado Avenue sweeps in to claim the prize at a stratospheric $5,625/sq foot.   No, we're not suddenly in Manhattan.   As you now know, it's a very small home on a very large lot, which made a very big mockery of this category.

First Runner Up:   That would be 262 Vine Street, at $838/square foot.

Lowest Price-Per-Square-Foot.

This politically correct name for this category is “The Most Affordable House” award. This award usually goes to a house that's on the larger side, since $/sq foot tends to decrease as the home gets larger, and that is indeed the case this year.

This year's Little Dog award for Lowest Price-Per-Square-Foot goes to…353 Clifton Drive, which sold at $224/sq foot (3,350 sq foot home.)  Had this house been in a category for Most Number of Times Sold in a Year, it would have tied with a few others because it was flipped sold again later in the year at much higher $482/sq foot.  Nicely done!

In fact, here are the before and after pictures of 353 Clifton:

353 Clifton Ave - Old

353 Clifton Ave – Old

353 Clifton Ave - New

353 Clifton Ave – New

 

First Runner Up530 Walnut Street, at $264/sq foot.

That's All, Folks!

Well, that wraps up this year's awards.  There are other categories that we could have considered, such as Longest on the Market  — which would have gone to 116 Club Drive at 319 days.   BUT… the converse category, Shortest on the Market, would have been shared by no fewer than 10 different homes, all of them off-market listings coming in at 0 days on the market.  And who wants to share an award anyway?

But congrats nonetheless to our award winners.  Because of fiscal cliff concerns, there are no trophies, cash awards or door prizes for our contestants.  Thanks for attending this year's ceremony, and we will now switch you back to our normal serious and mundane real estate reporting on the White Oaks Blog.

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