401 Cambridge Street circa 2008 and 2014

The three-bedroom Portola District home at 401 Cambridge Street sold for $750,000 in August of 2005.  In May of 2008, the property was foreclosed upon and re-sold for $499,878 in cash on the courthouse steps.

401 Cambridge Street Kitchen circa 2008 and 2014

Listed for $758,888 two months later as a “stunningly remodeled single family home,” the property re-sold for $691,000 in December of 2008.

401 Cambridge Street Living circa 2008 and 2014

And having been “rebuilt in 2014,” 401 Cambridge Street is now back on the market and listed for $1,088,800 with 1,468 square feet of space.

12 thoughts on “Before And After In Portola With A Foreclosure In-Between”
  1. If only this neighborhood narrowed the streets, widened the sidewalks and planted street trees, values would jump, i dunno (making this up), 25%, and existing owners would cash out with glee. As it stands, it’s never going to be pretty or feel walkable.

    1. The problem on these blocks (and most of the newer parts of the Portola, where the greenhouses used to be, I guess) is that most of the streetscape is one two-car garage door after another. On this particular block the houses all have that late 60s fake mansard roof thing going on and really cheap looking building materials.

      1. I agree with the streetscape issues in the neighborhood. The Google street view shows a classic Ford Granada parked across the street that is almost as old as the houses.

    2. Agree, we recently bought here and while I think it’s full of potential the streetscaping must be addressed in order for it to really take off, narrower streets and plenty of trees would make a world of difference here. Even changing the parking to perpendicular and adding corner bulb outs w/ planters would help the needlessly wide streets feel more narrow and pedestrian friendly. The values here are rising steadily though and I’m hoping the increased attention will convince the city to consider some road diets and beautification projects.

  2. Another candidate for the White Interior of Shoebox with Black Fireplace annual prize. This one even has the added benefit of almost-black hardwood floors. What superb taste flippers have!

    1. It’s not the flipper’s taste, it’s the buyer’s.

      If buyers wanted pink linoleum floors, flippers would put them in.

  3. Sorry. Like the after much better than the bland tract house design of the former. And I am not a flipper (or in the market for a million dollar home, LOL)

  4. The kitchen is clearly better, largely because the old cabinets were really ugly. Not sure the living room is an improvement — I don’t like the floors that dark.

  5. Update: This house closed for 1,080,000 over the weekend. We went to the open house and there was a surprising amount of interest but since moving to the neighborhood ourselves 6 months ago we have been noticing a handful of properties sell in the 900k range, the neighborhood is clearly getting buyer’s attention now that the Bayview is clearly heading down the road to gentrification.

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