Sunnyvale Home Sells For $782,000 Over Asking Price
SUNNYVALE (CBS SF) – Even in the real estate craziness of the Silicon Valley, the sale of a modest four-bedroom home in a quiet Sunnyvale neighborhood has stirred up quite a buzz.
While it's not unusual for bidding wars to erupt over homes in the Bay Area and over-asking offers are more the norm than the exception, what happened at 1129 Prunelle Court has raised the anxiety of many home buyers.
The home was listed for $1,688,000 and when it finally closed seven days later, it sold for $2,470,000. Bidding for the home had become quite heated as 20 different buyers put in offers.
"There were lots of people who gave very good, high prices" for the property, Dave Clark, the Keller Williams agent who represented the sellers in the deal, told the San Jose Mercury News.
"I think it's the most anything has ever gone for over asking in Sunnyvale — a record for Sunnyvale," Clark told the paper. "We anticipated it would go for $2 million, or over $2 million. But we had no idea it would ever go for what it went for."
The price also was likely impacted by the home's location – it's just a mile from Apple's new headquarters building.
While not identified by name, the buyers are tech workers who had lost bidding wars for other homes.
KPIX 5 got to witness a second home being sold by a couple about a half a mile from the first house that also brought in multiple offers for way over the asking price
David and Mary Lynn Hohengasser listed their Sunnyvale home near the new Apple campus for $1.4 million.
They received ten offers over the asking price.
"I used to joke with my husband all the time saying, 'As soon as that house is worth a million dollars, we're selling!' Joking!" said Sunnyvale homeowner Mary Lynn Hohengasser.
But it is no joke. The top offer for their 1,400 square foot, three bedroom, two bath home was over $1.8 million.
After 28 years in the home, the couple is retiring and moving to Florida.
"It just so happens that the market is what it is and...we're blessed!" said Hohengasser.
And their home was not even real estate agent David Clark's biggest sale of the month. He was the agent who handled the Sunnyvale home that went for $2.74 million.
Clark said it's no coincidence that both Sunnyvale properties are close to apple as well as other high tech campuses. He explained buyers are now just as interested in cutting their commute times as they are about getting good schools.
"The trend is for the market to keep going up," said Clark. "I don't know where the end is going to be."
Industry sources told the Mercury News that the property was one of more than 50 South Bay homes that sold in the last month for at least $200,000 above the listing price.