Joe Montana’s Calistoga Home: Buy It For Only $49 million!

Joe Montana’s Calistoga Home: Buy It For Only $49 million!

Football great Joe Montana has listed his 500-acre estate, with acreage in Sonoma County’s wine country, for $49 million.

The Calistoga property includes a 9,700-square-foot Tuscan-inspired main house, an equestrian center, two year-round creeks, a pond, a regulation-sized basketball court, a skeet shooting range, a caretaker’s residence, a guesthouse, a swimming pool with a spa, a gym, a boccie ball court and a producing olive farm.

The main house has a loggia open to the outdoors, a sitting room in an upstairs tower and a climate-controlled wine cellar and tasting room. There are three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the home has a courtyard with hand-painted frescoes, antique statues and fountains. The Montanas often take guests up in the outdoor viewing tower, which has panoramic views of Mount Saint Helena and Knights Valley.

Montana, 53, started his NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979 and was with the team through 1992. He played two more years with the Kansas City Chiefs. The quarterback was a three-time Super Bowl MVP, among other honors, and a four-time Super Bowl champ.

Atherton real estate can be very pricey, but his estate takes the cake as the highest listing in the area.

Coldwell Banker Previews International and Pacific Union/Christie’s Great Estates have the listing at www.villamontanaestate.com.

Jerry Rice’s Atherton Estate Listed For Sale

Jerry Rice’s Atherton Estate Listed For Sale

Jerry Rice, who will be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, OH this August, is one of the best wide receivers of all time. He has won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers and also won an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders during his 20 seasons in the league. He was selected to the Pro Bowl a record 13 times, and was also named All-Pro a total of 10 times throughout his career.

Rice’s estate in Atherton, CA is also back on the market and is listed for a price of $14.75 million. His home was previously listed for $22 and $15.995 million in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Jerry Rice’s 6 bedroom, 4 bath Atherton Luxury Estate home listed for $14,750,000
This three-story property is a massive 16,180 square feet on 1.41 acres, and was built in 2001. The home’s interior features a formal entryway, a step-down living room, and a family room complete with a full bar. Additionally, the mansion has a library, office, wine room, home theater, full gym, game room and parking for at least three vehicles. Outside, there is a pool and spa, game court, barbecue area and cabana.

I see Jerry around town and know the agent that has it listed.  Maybe I’ll do a video tour of his home on my Real Estate Insider show?  If so, it will post here first.

What Were the Final Closing Prices of Specific Homes in the Area?

What Were the Final Closing Prices of Specific Homes in the Area?

Everybody see’s listing prices of homes, but everybody usually wants to know what the house ended up selling for.  Many people out there see a house and make their own decisions whether a house is priced too high or too low and how long it will take to sell.  This section of my blog will show some of the final selling prices of homes that are interesting to track. Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, Saratoga, Los Gatos and other areas in between are all on my list to publish.

If you are interested in the final selling price of a home not listed here on my blog, send me an email and I’ll do my best to post the price of the home you are following.

Just click on the category of sold prices at the top of the blog or here at home selling prices.

Menlo Park Real Estate: Recent Sale

1046 SONOMA Avenue, Menlo Park 94025

Days on Market: 7  

Property Info Detached Single Family

3 Beds, 2 Baths:   SqFt: 1,650 Yr Built / Age: 1946 / 64 years : Lot: 6,000 sq ft

List Price: $1,089,000

Sale Price: $1,140,000

Sale Date: 04/30/2010

COE Date: 06/14/2010

Comments on Home: One of a kind home. Fabulous single-level. Open floor plan. A rare sleek contemporary with warmth. Stunning for entertaining + just right for flawless living. Quality built w/extra ordinary materials+choice components such as organic finishes, stainless steel, extensive custom built cabinetry and smooth Eco friendly woods!  Menlo Park luxury real estate.

Recent Sale: Atherton Luxury Real Estate

Recent Sale: Atherton Luxury Real Estate

Dates
List: 02/20/2010
Original: 02/20/2010
Sale: 04/09/2010
COE: 06/02/2010

Pricing
List: $5,480,000
Sale: $5,000,000

2 FAXON RD, Atherton 94027
$5,000,000 Beds: 6 beds Baths: 5|1 baths
DOM: 48

San Mateo County
Detached Single Family
Beds, Baths: 6, 5|1
SqFt: 5170 (Assessor)
Lot Size: 47,817 sq ft (Assessor)
Yr Built: 1956 (Assessor)
Age: 54 years

Property Comments
Lovely 2-story home on a corner lot across from the Menlo Circus Club. 6 bedrooms (2 bd suites on main level, including the master) and 4 up (one has a sitting room which could be a 7th bd). Fireplace in living room and family room, large kitchen with island, bar seating and breakfast room. Formal DR. Spacious rear grounds w/brick-edged patio, pool, spa poolhouse. Oak Knoll/Hillview schools.

Short Sales: I’m Certified By the CDPE to Help You Through The Process

Short Sales: I’m Certified By the CDPE to Help You Through The Process

Short sales are affecting all price ranges these days and not just the first time home buyer or lower end market.  Luxury homes are now feeling the pinch of the economy as money is tight for everybody.  According to a recent survey, one out of every seven mortgages is in trouble.  So, if you are doing ok, look around at the homes on your street and you will find several of your neighbors facing difficulty in paying their mortgage.

With that in mind, the CDPE, or certified distressed property experts as I’ll call it, is out there to help homeowners in all price ranges complete a short sale instead of having to face foreclosure.  I am certified in this process, which means I can handle regular listings and sales as well as short sales from both sides (buyer or seller).  This means that I have training that a normal agent doesn’t to help increase the chances of getting a short sale through.  The standard non trained agent succeeds in a short sale about 15% of the time, while a CDPE certified agent has a 85% success rate.  A big difference as short sales are full of emotion and having to deal with the failure of a short sale can be  another traumatic event in a sellers life.

So, even if you have a luxury home in Menlo Park or Atherton or Palo Alto, there is a chance you will need my services to help you with a short sale.  If you need more information about short sales and to find out if it’s right for you, give me a call or send me an email.

Is The Home Buyer Tax Credit Working Too Well?

Is The Home Buyer Tax Credit Working Too Well?

Did the government create a program that is working and too many people are taking advantage of it?

That’s the latest concern from the real-estate industry, which says that a last-minute home-buying rush in April created bottlenecks at lenders and real-estate service companies that may not be able to finalize purchases in time for tens of thousands of buyers to receive a tax credit worth up to $8,000.

On Thursday, there were signs that the real-estate lobby had successfully communicated those concerns to Congress.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) joined Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.) in sponsoring a measure that would give buyers until Sept. 30 to close on sales that went into contract by April 30. That measure would be attached to a job-related bill before the Senate. It would need House and Senate passage before being signed by President Obama.

Congress last fall extended an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and added a smaller $6,500 credit for current homeowners. For now, buyers who signed contracts by April 30 have until June 30 to close on those sales in order to claim the tax credit.

One worry has been that short sales, where a lender allows a home to sell for less than the amount owed, won’t receive requisite bank approvals in time to meet the closing deadline. Short sales are “clearly at risk” because agents and loan officers have little control over getting those deals approved, says Tim Wilson, who heads the mortgage and title divisions at real-estate brokerage Long & Foster Cos. “I think you’ll see a lot of those not make the deadline,” he says.

But real-estate agents say that “plain-vanilla” transactions are increasingly at risk because of backlogs at lenders, title companies and appraisal outfits.

At Wells Fargo & Co., employees from other sales divisions are being brought in to handle mortgages, and staffs are working weekends and nights to process higher volumes. “It’s all hands on deck,” said an executive vice president at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He says the bank has prioritized “every customer who qualified for the tax credit.”

A spokeswoman for Bank of America Corp. says the lender is also placing “increased priority” on loan applications submitted before the April 30 deadline.

Lenders say that consumers can help speed the process along by being “very responsive to requests for documentation” from lenders. Underwriting standards are much more exhaustive today, and borrowers may not be accustomed to the amount of paperwork required, he says.

Delays have become more common as lenders and third-party firms, such as title companies, ensure that they comply with disclosure and appraisal requirements enacted to correct the excesses of the bubble years. The new regulations have prompted lenders to take extra caution at every step of the process.

The National Association of Realtors says 55,000 to 75,000 prospective buyers are at risk of losing their tax credit, but it’s unclear how many sales would actually fall through for those who miss out on the tax credit. Buyers could be hard-pressed to void signed sales contracts unless they’ve made their closing contingent on receiving the tax credit or are willing to forego any deposits.

My Contact Information

Gary Kurtz
949.565.5201
gkurtz@homgroup.com
BRE# 01710776

Kathy Kurtz
714.394.2676
kathyk213@aol.com
BRE# 01876966

HOM Sotheby's International Realty
1200 Newport Center Drive, # 100
Newport Beach, CA 92660

949.565.5201 (cell)
949.478.7769 (office)
650.796.5507 (Silicon Valley #)

Contact me now with any questions:
gkurtz@homgroup.com

Kurtz Real Estate Group




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