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Dollar-for-dollar non-foreclosures look good
It is a My Three Sons neighborhood
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The home at 1265 Countryside include new carpet just installed throughout, a fireplace and wet bar in the family room, spacious master suite, and extensive landscaping in the front, side, and back yards. - photo by DENNIS WYATT
Countryside Lane is a place you’d expect to see Steve Douglas and his three sons if the widely popular CBS sitcom was based in the 1980s and not the 1960s.

It is lined with unpretentious two-story homes that reflect family living and not McMansion largesse. The yards are all well-kept. The homes show tender loving care. The Brock Elliott School campus is just up the block where the hum of “Atta boy” fills the air in the spring when Spreckels Little League play is underway.

In the age of foreclosures and bank-owned property sold “as is” – which is shorthand for “buyer beware”- Countryside Lane offers a pleasant respite. You can buy a home competitively priced against foreclosures but without the need to add a new roof, painting, new carpet, new heat and air conditioning, new duct work, or new landscaping. Those items can easily add $15,000 to $30,000 to the price of a home. And, unlike with banks, you can condition your offer on the home passing an inspection.

The four bedrooms, three-bathroom home is listed for $239,900 at 1265 Countryside Lane. It is being showcased this Saturday from noon to 2:30 p.m. through Cindy Smith (815-2172 or  e-mail: csmith@c21mm.com) just days after new carpet was installed. The home isn’t under distress although it is priced competitively. If you doubt that, there is an REO with four bedrooms and three bathrooms at 1159 Stonum Lane just blocks away for $217,550. Add a new roof and air conditioning and you’re at $230,000 plus. Add carpeting, paint, and landscaping plus the newer spa that stays and you’re past $240,000.

With all things now equal, there is one thing that money can’t buy that comes with Countryside – peace of mind. You’re not rolling the dice.

If you’re used to looking at foreclosures, “curb appeal” has been reduced to not having dead grass, broken windows facing the street, or dry rot showing. The home at countryside has old-fashioned curb appeal – extensive landscaping, recently painted exterior, 12 redwood trees, and a yard and neighborhood that’s well-kept.

You step into the double entry doors into the sensibilities of the 1980s. There is a vaulted ceiling in the formal living room – but not in the formal dining room. That means you don’t have to worry about underwriting the PG&E’s chief executive officer’s next $10 million bonus or deal with architectural shelves made popular in the late 1990s that have turned into massive dust collectors and in many foreclosures are showing signs that they need to be retextured as some workers building the homes apparently took the stance out of sight meant it was OK to skimp on the quality.

The kitchen is right-sized. It’s not the galley kitchen of the 1970s nor is it the monstrous kitchen of the late 1990s where you had to wear skates to move around. There is an island as well as a breakfast nook.

The family room has a brick fireplace flanked by two windows. There is also a wet bar in the family room.

There is one bedroom downstairs as well as one of the bathrooms plus an indoor laundry.

The landing/walkway on the second floor features linen closets.

The master suite is huge and comes complete with three closets – all with mirror doors – and a master bathroom with a Roman tub next to a shower that has a clear glass panel at the tub’s edge as well as his and her sinks. The bathroom is also carpeted.

There is a large bonus room at the opposite side of the second floor with a pair of bedrooms and a bathroom in between. Each of the bedrooms has extra large closets.

The homeowner installed a new air conditioning system with new duct work. The system is designed to keep temperatures at desired levels without breaking the bank.

There is an extensive concrete patio in the back complete with a spa with shade structure that includes a counter with seating. There is also a shed that stays.

The home is close to Sierra High as well as new entertainment and shopping going in along the Highway 120 Bypass.