Monthly Archives: January 2007

Greystone Villas – #2 for this tract in Northwood

Address: 301 Rathbourne, Irvine, CA 92620 (Northwood)

Plan: 1481 sq ft – 3/2.5

MLS: S470313 DOM: 26

Sale History: 5/25/2005: $625,000

5/17/2001: $310,000

6/30/1998: $190,500

Price Reduced: 01/16/07 — $684,900 to $649,900

Current Price: $649,000

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This is the second flip that we’ve reported on in the Greystone Villas tract in Northwood. Built by Greystone Homes (now Lennar?), this home originally sold for $190,500 back in 1998. Our seller bought it for more than 3 times that price in May 2005 and it looks like they put $225,000 down. Continue reading

Brentwood – Northpark Back to Back – UPDATE #1

Originally posted October 5, 2006

Address: 27 Maywood, Irvine, CA 92602 (Northpark)
Plan: 3250 sq ft – 5/3
MLS: P513737 DOM: 139
Sale History: 4/22/2005: $1,250,000
3/19/2001: $578,500
Price Reduced: 06/25/06 — $1,359,900 to $1,329,000
Price Reduced: 08/05/06 — $1,329,000 to $1,299,900
Current Price: $1,299,000

Here’s a Plan 2 in the Brentwood tract built by Warmington Homes in 2001. The flipper bought it in April 2005 and listed it in May 2006 hoping to make around $100,000. It looks like the flipper has loans totaling $1,200,000 on his $1,250,000 purchase! If sold at the current asking price and factoring in 6% in selling costs, he is facing a loss of about $29,000. I just noticed the property is listed as vacant so once you account for carrying costs, the pain is even greater!

UPDATE #1 – January 30, 2007

First of all, I want to mention that this flip was first uncovered by OC Fliptrack. I can’t believe I didn’t realize that when I featured this flip here in October (especially given that I commented on the original thread at OC Fliptrack!). All I can say is that I apologize and that it wasn’t done intentionally. Are we still cool OC Fliptrack?

Now to the update. This home finally closed escrow on January 25, 2007 (241 DOM) at a price of $1,175,000. Assuming 6% in selling costs, the seller probably lost around $145,000! And that does NOT include the carrying costs for having a vacant $1.25mil place for 8 months.

Comments have been purged and reopened. Play nice this time! 🙂

A warm welcome to graphrix and OC Econ 101

Let’s welcome graphrix and his blog, OC Econ 101, to the blogosphere! “This blog will be on the economics of OC and the various industries contributing to the local economy.”

He’s already got some great posts on OC job growth (and RE related job growth), foreclosures, and of course all the headlines for “housing market” from the OC Register from 1987-1993.

There’s already some great stuff there and I’m looking forward to reading more. Check it out!

Columbus Square – Verandas – Out and About

Verandas, a William Lyon tract in Columbus Square, had their grand opening today. These are single family detached homes (or so they say) in the City of Tustin. They ARE detached but the size of the yard? is similar to many of the detached condos in Irvine.

We stopped by a little after lunch and I was really surprised how many people were out and about looking at homes. Perhaps all the balloons, hot dogs, and Villages of Columbus stamped cookies brought everyone in today. I didn’t visit any of the other neighborhoods today as I was primarily interested in what the pricing would be at Verandas. The models at Verandas saw a good amount of traffic (as even finding a parking spot was a little tough). From the looks of it, some people were seriously considering purchasing. Others weren’t so pleased.. I overheard some guy say that the floor plan on Model 1 was crap lol 😉

We took a quick tour through the three models and weren’t too impressed. Everything felt cramped even though there was plenty of square footage (1887-2394 sq ft). In general, I like the large kitchen that opens into the great room. None of the models felt like that to me and I’m having a hard time thinking about something positive to say about them. They aren’t all that bad, but for a new home my expectations are just different I suppose.

Perhaps the pricing is what is most appealing about this tract. The Plan 1’s start at $674,990. That’s a pretty competitive price (isn’t it?) for the market right now. A quick ZipRealty search of similar homes didn’t provide too many results. You can find the rest of the pricing in the Verandas thread on our Forums.

Did anyone else check these (or any other) models out? What did you think?

News: "Lennar seeks cuts from subcontractors"

I found this gem thanks to Saving in LA on Lansner’s Blog. Full article at:

OC Register

Here are some snippets:

“The builder, one of the biggest developers in Orange County with 8,000 to 14,000 homes on the drawing board, began circulating letters and meeting with subcontractors earlier this month, seeking cuts that reflect lower home prices, said Jeff Roos, Lennar’s Southwestern U.S. regional vice president.”

“Lennar’s demand is the latest example of how falling home prices are sending ripples through the entire housing economy. The missive is at least the second Lennar has sent out since June seeking price cuts. And industry officials say most homebuilders are pressuring contractors for reductions in future bidding.”

” “It’s almost like asking your employees after they’ve done the work … to take a pay cut,” said Brad Diede, executive vice president of the California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors, with 500 member companies in the state. “It’s kind of an unjust tactic to ask for retroactive concessions.” “