House size of hotel room, no appliances, lists for $1.7M in Cupertino
CUPERTINO, Calif. - Just when you thought the Bay Area real estate market could not get any crazier than it is already, a house in Cupertino, basically the size of a hotel room, sold on Friday after just six days on the market.
The house does not even have any sort of heating nor a stove, and it is just 384 square feet.
The seller’s agent says there were over 100 potential buyers through the home during an open house last weekend. A contract has now been signed with a buyer and the house should be officially off the market by the weekend.
It takes just a matter of seconds to see the three rooms: a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.
The real appeal, though, is the 7,800-square-foot lot that the tiny home sits on.
"It is quite compact in size, but it has a big powerhouse of possibilities, which is what I think drew such huge crowds here over the weekend," said Faviola Perez Bonafede, the co-listing agent for the property.
Just six days after the home was listed, Cherry Xie put down an offer and signed a contract that she says is well above the $1.7 million asking price.
For the price of a home in LA, you could’ve bought a skyscraper in St. Louis
A recent sale of one of the tallest buildings in St. Louis fetched $3.6 million, a stark contrast to the regular sales of homes in LA for twice that amount, underscoring the tumultuous nature of the current real estate market in America.
"So what can I say it is very crazy," Xie said.
Xie said she has been looking for at least three months and says finding homes in Cupertino has been even more difficult recently since the Federal Reserve Bank has not cut interest rates as some had expected it to do in recent months.
Upon seeing the property for the first time Xie said "The property; I was expecting bigger but this is the price in this market," Xie said.
Xie is buying on behalf of another person who does intend to build here.
In communities like Cupertino – close to tech jobs and in good school districts – tearing down and rebuilding new properties is common.
Builder Amir Naghavi with Paradise Homes said the price to build varies depending on upgrades, but you could expect to spend over a million dollars in a process with design and permitting.
That could take up to a year and a half.
"It depends on what you want to do with the house. If you want to build what we call a ‘Home Depot grade’ home, it costs differently than if you want to build something higher up or even a custom home," Naghavi said.
Back inside the property, realtor Faviola Perez Bonafede is not at all surprised that there was as much interest in this tiny home as there has been.
"People can still build a pretty good size home here and be in the neighborhood where all of your neighbors' homes are worth $4 to $5 million, so I think that is the potential people saw when they came through," Perez Bonafede said.
This tiny home was originally a hunting cabin built in the 1940s. Some residents say before a tenant eventually moved in there were literally trees and plants growing out of the home and deer roamed the vacant property.