What will builders pay for a lot?

As always there are some amazing properties available in San Jose. The total inventory for Santa Clara County is 6360 (4823 single family homes and 1537 for condos). Sales for the Willow Glen area of San Jose have dropped to 7 from 13 last week. The count of how many houses are on market for Willow Glen (area 10) is 256 (last week it was 249). A balanced healthy number is 225 for Willow Glen, so as suspected with this crazy economy, we are still out of balance and it is still very much a buyers market.

Two houses that peaked my interest on the Willow Glen (San Jose) tour Thursday. The first was 1302 Mildred Ave.

A beautiful colonial home- unusual for the Willow Glen area. This 2850 sq ft. home has a wine cellar, 6534 sq ft lot, beautiful details and finish work and a 1000+ ft basement (imagine the possibilities!!). Walk to town on a prime street! Listed at $1,699,000.

My other top pick is listed by one of my good friends at Coldwell Banker Anne McDonough at 1015 California Ave.

Most realtors thought of this house as a tear down as it needs a lot of work and has some serious foundation issues. It is a 2 bed 1 bath 1200 sf ft home on 8300 sq ft. lot. PRIME tree lined street, walk to town and parks. It is listed at $800,000. I will be keeping my eye on this one as $800,000 may be a bit steep for builders right now.

What is your favorite listing? How much do you think builders will pay for a tear down on a prime street in Willow Glen?