A little over a month ago, I wrote about a rare event in the Mission San Jose area of Fremont—an bank-owned property (REO) was listed for sale. This is a rare event because the excellent schools in the Mission San Jose attendance area of the Fremont Unified School District makes this the most sought after area in Fremont. You can check the API ratings for the schools in the Mission San Jose area against any in California and you will find that Fremont’s Mission San Jose High School and the schools that feed into it are very highly rated.

So—for some reason the owner of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house within walking distance from the Mission San Jose Elementary school lost the house and it eventually came on the market as an REO listed at $749,900.

Is the house well located? Well, you can throw a rock and hit Mission San Jose Elementary School. That is the real value driver for this house. I previewed it. The general appearance and condition of the house were not what I would want them to be personally, but it is on a nice size corner lot that may allow for future value upgrades.

I spoke to the listing broker after I saw the house was marked Pending within 6 days of being listed. She told me that the house garnered one offer, but it was over the asking price. The house has now been marked Sold for $762,000.

So—what does that tell us? Location, location and location still seem to be the most important elements in determining the value of a house. In this market, we tend to think that appearance and price are more important than ever—and they are—if the house is in the right location. The right location for some buyers is the Mission San Jose area of Fremont. Real estate in that area is special because the schools are special.