Irvine Housing Blog

That calculator is based on the CPI index which is bullshit. The government uses the data they want and exclude other data in order to underpay social security and other entitlement programs.

When the government says inflation is 0.02% in order to inflate GDP numbers from the NGDP to try and convince people the economy is growing it is a sham. Inflation is much higher than that. its more like -5% last year, its a freaking recession.

Listen to Bernacke, “core inflation” excludes food and gas and that Joe Blow the average should not be worried, WTF, we all buy that, of course prices are inflating 10-15% or more. the government is obfuscating it all.

The housing market is going to be inflated to death with more money to bail out the banks. Housing depreciation will stop because dollars will be so ubiquitous that bubble prices will return and just go higher. We will all be renting homes from Arabs eventually.

Nice try.  This contract team was lead by our neighbors at Northrop and the planes will be built in Alabama.  Biggest thing working against Boeing was the overhang from the procurement scandal, not John McCain.

Why can’t parents spend $10 to buy some supplies for their own kids?  It is not too much to ask.  People are feeling way to entitled lately.  We need a real crisis to snap people back to reality.

This house belongs to a realtor who has an architect for a brother. He has been buying/remodeling/selling at WTF prices. This particular house has been sellling at this price since 2004. The dark wood is a give away.

Shameless plugs aside, mmg is right. Even with a dual-income family making more than 200k per annum (a rare occurrence even for Irvine) , cannot support even the most modest of Irvine SFH at todays pricing.

Even when we lived in our brand new condo on Irvine, I didn’t know anyone making less than 100K.

Maybe, but that would depend on how much new home inventory exists and is being sold in the different cities. That’s why it’s just better to use the NAR numbers. Sure, Irvine could be *a* premium location, but not *the* premium location.

So still, it’s not different. And it’s cratering like the rest of OC.

No idea about what’s in either set of numbers, but surely the same differences would exist between cities in the sets?

Maybe it is 10 months worth in Irvine, but that would likely mean it is 20 months everywhere else.  The data presented was to support the trend/idea/conclusion that Irvine is a premium OC location that does attract buyers relative to many other OC cities.  Differences between the data sets will adjust the numbers for every city in likely the same direction, not just Irvine, so I would still draw the same conclusion.

That’s fine, Ipoop. But I’d still like you to address your “OC is cratering, but not Irvine” bit, vis-a-vis the fact that depreciation was “highest” in Irvine among the cities you listed.

Second, I’d like you to tell me why it’s more valid to use dq’s sales numbers against the NAR’s inventory, when the dq numbers include non-MLS sales, and *might* include sales that don’t complete. I’ll make it short: I think 10+ months inventory is correct, not 7+.

Just want to know who this fits in with your “Irvine is Different” thesis. Does it dispute? Was your argument non-sequitor? Does the thesis still hold up?

Address these and you can have loads of generous free affirmation from me.

Hello IR -

One of the things that has always seemed interesting to me is the make up of our blog.  Have you ever considered polling the visitors / bloggers (spelling?) about their financial and educational status?  It might be interesting to see what people make and do professionaly that spend some time here.  just a thought…

I always secretly wonder this very set of questions when I see million dollar plus asking prices on a home - “what do they do?” “Do they really make $300K plus a year?” The downpayment part seems more doable.  I’m a saver so $200k is a lot of money but, it’s doable if you just plan and stay focused for some time.  Are there really that many people that are making 300/400/500+ a year?  who will these people sell these homes too? 

BD

Comment by 25w100k+

The software and engineering fields have been quite rewarding and seem to continue to be so.

I thought that these professions are currently subject to overseas outsourcing and possibly falling wages. And venture capital investment is flat.

thanks zoiks.  i needed a little affirmation… appreciate it.

no argument about Irvine prices.  what goes up big and fast must come down, sometimes big and fast too.

my original contention on this thread is that Irvine will draw buyers, not that prices will stop dropping.  also, that the job losses to date in construction especially, have likely had a much greater impact on other areas of OC vs. Irvine.

maybe it’s just that the whole mess hasn’t yet filtered up to Irvine?  maybe foreign money is supporting home sales here?  i don’t really know.  when in my simple calc the average for a city is 16 months inventory and Irvine only has 7 and change, that tells me that places are selling here better/easier/faster for some reason (i assume it’s not because I live in this wonderful city) and prices aren’t likely to drop as fast here in the near future…

And you’re right, Ipoop, Irvine really is different.

If you bothered to look at your own data source (dqnews) it said Irvine had the highest rate of sales price depreciation (-24.78%) of *all* the cities you listed. And you were the one that chose the listed cities!

Care to address that little omission in your “Irvine is Different” Kool Aid fest?

OK, Ipoop, you were right. Does that get you your affirmation for this week? According to dqnews it was 129 sales for January.

But you have to admit my surprise at a 50% increase in sales from December to January. I noticed realtor.com used the term “closed sales”. I wonder if the more recent data at dqnews includes sales that fall out of escrow. That’s a legitimate gripe.

When I look up my home town, Costa Mesa, on dqnews it says 31 “sales” for January. Then, realtor.com says the “closed sales” was 23, also for January. I know for a fact the dqnews numbers include new home sales as well, which is not reflected for the most part in the realtor.com inventory numbers which were used for the TOM numbers.

So, I still think your number is bogus, by the way, but you can have your affirmation if it makes you feel better. You can just say it’s Dataquick’s fault.

PS—How about that John Mc Cain? He made sure that Boeing did not get the $35 billion contract that Airbus is getting.

It will be nice to know that the priorities are no longer murder and pillage.

Look at the premium that people pay for Irvine schools. No way is it in line with reality. And look at the mediocre spending on these overcrowded trailer parks. It was in the OC Register today.

Here you go zoiks, I made it easier on you to sort through all those troubling numbers:

http://www.ipoplaya.com/229inv.htm

I used January sales figures (likely to be lower than Feb) and current inventory per homeseekers.com.

See, Irvine really is different.

median income is calculated the same any where in the country, Irvine will fall more than near by cities IMO as it went up more than other cities.  thats why one of the most famous websites I follow is called IRVINE housing blog.    and yes incomes in Irvine do not support housing prices.

We bought patio furniture and put it in our living room when we bought our house.

What? Real furniture is expensive. Don’t you play The Sims?

$1.4 million for half a duplex in Irvine? Are they crazy?

Here you go zoiks:

http://www.dqnews.com/ZIPOCR.shtm

Irvine had 135 sales in January.  Guess I was indeed wrong - it’s 7.35, not 7.5.

I’ll patiently wait for my, “Oh IPO, you are right, sorry for doubting you and calling your stuff bogus, I don’t the what the heck I was thinking"…

Simple math is usually a pre-req for my CFO gig.

Yes, inflation has probably doubled the price. Perhaps you are rigt.

I have a five-year old BMW subsidiary British-built car. That’s two strikes against reliability. It must have fallen apart two years ago.

Oh, and it has a Chrysler engine. Third strike. It must have fallen to pieces on the drive home from the dealership.

“All I’m is saying is I don’t run in an elite crowd — but I don’t know ANY households around here who are at just $85k, or even $100k. But then again, I don’t see any black swans circling overhead either — but I know most folks on IHB do.”

Why don’t people just look things up?

Wikipedia, quoting from census estimates: “According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city is $84,270, and the median income for a family is $103,604.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine,_California

I know plenty of people who live in Irvine who don’t make 85k. I’ll bet you most of the realtors ain’t making that kind of dough right now. I think some of you folks have really gulped down the Kool Aid, beer bong style.

Ipoop: “Irvine is around 7.5 months worth, likely the lowest in the entire county… Irvine has 50% less months inventory than most other OC cities. Irvine has way less months inventory than Newport Beach, Newport Coast, Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, etc.”

According to realtor.com, inventory=993. Checking under “Market Conditions” (in the same site), it says closed sales in December were 81. (Not giving January for some reason.) That’s 12.26 using December sales. That would put it higher than Aliso, FV, or RSM. Granted, sales in Feb may be higher, but not that much higher.

To have higher TOM than RSM would be a real slap. RSM is cratering like nobody’s business.

In short, I think your 7.5 month figure is bogus. I think 10-11 would be more accurate. Would be nice to see where you got your numbers from, though.

Unbelievable, sellers are all too stubborn right now.

Thanks for the comments.  I’m still not accustomed to living in an area where such small lots are commonplace.  I’m currently renting a place on a 9,000 sqft lot and that seems to be a decent size even with neighbors on both sides.  I definitely have to agree with the pie shaped lots at the end of cul-de-sacs.

Perhaps Wells is simply seeking to diversify their loan portfolio.  Ever think of that?

the neocons are lame ducks.  the new admin will have different priorities regardless of who wins (better hope for the republicans, dems will really downsize you).  our country is running huge deficits with an economy in recession.  I’ve seen defense layoff’s before and they arent pretty.

i wouldn’t be so glib and I’d be putting some money aside for a rany day if were you.

Every $150K one-bed condo in Chicago has granite and steel.

Even I am getting tired of it, and I used to love it.

But granite really is about the best surface you can use on a kitchen counter, except for, perhaps, reconstituted stone. It is a natural material that wears well, cannot, is great to roll out pastry on, and incorporates no petroleum products. It is far better than marble, which is too soft and easily damaged by cooking oils and cleaners for the kitchen.

The steel is great, too, but in a white kitchen, white appliances and pale countertops go better.

OOps..  I gotta quit skimming so fast

Has this blog been discussed here? 
http://blog.franklyrealty.com/2008/02/va-short-sales.html

The most recent story is one about Short Sales actually being fake listings.  It is a ploy by banks to keep the homedebtors paying a few more payments, all the while the banks have forclosure insurance that they cash in on = hardly any short sales at all out there that are legitimate.

I would caveat that huge in that you better be working with a top fee only planner, preferably one with a CFA (CFPs are dimea dozen). The reality is that the vast majority of people lose money in the market. Very few have the discipline or knowledge to follow a long term investment plan. Their house is their best bet for long term appreciation. Yet many of these sheeple followed ipop’s plan (and I suspect most lack ipop’s financial acumen). Schadenfreude smorgasbord.

Best ever episode: The Sun Also Rises. He kills the Russian officer who tortured him and the boyz in Vietnam in the end. They don’t make TV like that anymore.

Si.

I like it better when Silly posted it.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/districts-unified-state-1990103-district-million

More at link:

Massive teacher layoffs loom across Orange County
School districts plan to terminate more than 1,590 instructors, slash arts programs, boost class sizes and reduce bus services should state cuts materialize.
.......................................................

“...whatever paper losses you incur from 2009 - 2011 will surely be gobbled up in the next bubble, which will probably start cooking around 2015…right about the time credit scores start rebounding on the foreclosures from this bubble...”

The rationale and knowledge expressed in IHB comments is not the norm.  Average people will anchor 2005’s prices in their minds and will always think a return to those prices is right around the corner.  So if and when lenders allow borrowers to reach again, the cycle will reverse, yet again.

If your wife works at Uni why do you want to move to the flatlands beyond?  She’s already in Paradi$e.... 

I work for the MIC and the neocons are keeping us very occupied.

My wife is fine too.

Life is good.  Maybe they’ll repeal the law banning french fois gras from force fed geese.... What a stupid law.  I’d hate to have to drive to LV to get our fois gras.

Well.... it will be down to sending checks to the school district and the Irvine Co. giving more money.

We did this before.  200 bucks per kid is peanuts.

I just hate it when I think how the state school dole from our taxes is calculated.  Most of OC is “rural” so we get less money.

Meanwhile you got the LAUSD wasting money like they had a printing press.

I don’t know if she’ll continue to do it day in and day out if IUSD cuts significantly from her program.  There are three teachers handling 50 or so moderate to severely challenged kids in her section at Uni. 

If they cut one of those teachers, the load falling to the two remaining teachers would be incredible… It that were to happen, I’d suggest shejust take a year or two off and stay home with the kids.  That kind of stress just wouldn’t be worth the incremental income.  About half her take-home pay goes to our nanny.

I thought “No Child is Left Behind”?  That’s what Bush said.

When a district as heavily supplemented by the community as Irvine still relies on good people like IPO to buy tape, I shudder to think what things must be like in somewhere like LAUSD.  That is truly sad.  All this housing debate aside, we should all be thankful that we have the means to give our children an environment like Irvine to grow up in.

I can tell you that were I live you’d be on welfare if you only made 85K a year per household.

Even the retirees with their paid off mortgages make more than that.

There are statistics and there are lies.

I believe the household income is above $100k, but appreciate your comments.  How many students attend UCI?  Do their incomes roll up in the Irvine number—assuming they have an apartment and address off campus?  I assume their “household” would have a pretty low income, supplemented by the Bank of Dad?  This is an honest question I tried to ask a couple of weeks ago, but got nothing other than “its the same way the gov’t has been counting it for years”.  I don’t much trust the any of the gov’t counting methods these days. 

All I’m is saying is I don’t run in an elite crowd --- but I don’t know ANY households around here who are at just $85k, or even $100k.  But then again, I don’t see any black swans circling overhead either --- but I know most folks on IHB do.  So I’m the weirdo here.  I’ll embrace that.

“My wife and I are supporting her classroom in terms of supplies. “

That we cut off supplies to the most defenseless recipients when money is tight is sad.

My parents are both teachers, so I know how much teachers have historically purchased for their classrooms.  It’s hard to imagine things getting any tighter.  We need to make a bumper sticker that says “Books Not Bombs” or something like that!  Please thank your wife from a nameless parent.  I could not do what she does day in and day out…

That’s median HOUSEHOLD income...thus counting all people per household, including the part-time Target and In-N-Out crowd.

No one and no community will avoid the impacts of the housing collapse.  Some will fare much better than others but, they will all suffer to some extent or another.  Property tax revenues are going to kill some communities - some CA cities will absolutely take bankruptcy.  We are in a long cycle de-leveraging process for RE - meaning that the business models built on 100% financing and other “creative schemes” are gone - obliterated.  Like all major market events, I believe we will likely well overshoot fundamental equilibrium / support for housing prices.  This means that I believe we could likely see 2000 or prior prices.  This problem that began with housing is now a credit issue and is spilling over into all aspects of business.  To complicate things further (read perfect storm) inflation and global demand for commodities is going to force the FED to reverse course very quickly and drive rates even higher (BTW, the fed has lowered rates by 2.25% in the last year and mortgage rates are UP). 

If this is a serious recession then forget 2000 prices and look out below.  Seriously, ask yourself what you can afford if you have to pay 20% down?  Also, if we have a serious recession… is your job really safe?  Mine isn’t....

Now what can you afford?

BD

I’d be surprised if IUSD doesn’t have layoffs.  It wasn’t only 1st year teachers that got notice of non-renewal of their contracts.  Some teachers with 3-4 years experience in the district, but not yet tenured, were also not offered a contract for next year. 

Funds have been super tight at IUSD already.  My wife and I are supporting her classroom in terms of supplies.  They need Scotch tape, their aren’t any funds to get it, so the tape comes from the ole Family De IPO…

I think you are right on track, Silly.  But I am in a very small minority here. While Irvine is certainly going to feel pain right along with the rest of the county, it indeed has many atributes that will buffer it from the battering many places nearby will get. The schools are probably the top reason, with the fantastic master planning and central location closely following.  There are a lot of people who like to mock everything Irvine is and stands for from places like Arizona --- but apparently there are at least 200,000 people who think it is worth the premium....and that’s all that counts.

I’ve set my watch to see how long it takes for a reply of “but...but...but the median income is $84,000!!” Yeah, the median income is $84k if you roll up all HS and UCI kids working PT at Target and In-N-Out, who should not be considered in “homebuying population” income numbers.  One thing which seems obvious (just look around) is that Irvine has a much larger % of younger “underemployed” people who likely dilute reported W2 incomes.

I’m just throwing this in for discussion, so please don’t cast me as an “Irvine is different” believer.  I just read an article on msnbc titled “Massive Teacher Layoffs Loom Across Orange County”.  Here’s the link, for anyone interested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23414154/

I would like to point out the following paragraphs for those of you who might read my comments, but not click the link:

“Even Capistrano Unified, a district that has seen recent increases in enrollment, is looking at deep cuts. The 51,000-student district plans to do away with class-size reduction at all 37 elementary schools. The cuts will save $4.4 million, but 231 teachers are expected to lose their jobs from that one change.

Laguna Beach Unified and Newport-Mesa Unified receive substantially less from the state per student than other districts because they rely more heavily on local property taxes. Officials at these districts said they plan few, if any, layoffs or cuts to programs.

Irvine Unified may cut up to $18.5 million from its budget, but plans no layoffs or significant cuts to programs, partly because of donations from the community, including a recent $20 million donation from the Irvine Co. for music and the arts.”

In my opinion, the class-size reduction program is critical.  (It guarantees only 20 kids per classroom in grades 1,2,3 rather than between 32-34 kids.) So all those people who bought in Talega and Foothill Ranch are in the Capo school district, right?  I’m thinking that their property values are going to sink even more just because of that one change.  Seriously, I would not move my young kids to that district when I could live in Irvine and have the class size reduction for my kids. 

So are the Irvine housing prices going to be insulated because our school district is not planning any big changes?

Thoughts?  Comments?

Wow!  We must all have the same realtor!

It’s good to know there are still some knife-catchers lurking about…

Dow down 315 points.  So ends another bear rally.

Will we see another or are we too close to the precipice now?

Cool I’ll take it off your hands in three years for $25k...actually, no I won’t. BMW’s rarely last that long.

Don’t forget a lot of industries have been seeing pretty steep pay increases the last few years, and even this year.

The software and engineering fields have been quite rewarding and seem to continue to be so.  Irvine’s always had a slow and steady growth of tech companies.

Actually had both in the house I sold about a year ago.  When I buy again, it won’t be a deal breaker if it doesn’t have it....

Just hold on until the end of the year, IPO.  I am betting we shed another 25% by the end of 2008 (that’s why I just signed another lease through 12/31).  Certainly there will be continued drops after 1/1/09 --- probably through 2011.  But a good majority of the pain will be absorbed in the early 2009 pricing --- and we can get on with living our lives.  And don’t worry, whatever paper losses you incur from 2009 - 2011 will surely be gobbled up in the next bubble, which will probably start cooking around 2015...right about the time credit scores start rebounding on the foreclosures from this bubble.

This is California, and anyone out here thinks the general public will have learned anything from this last bubble and it won’t happen again is indeed drinking kool aid.

I didn’t really understand the whole subprime mess until I read this…

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1

“you do realize you are about to be flogged for saying “Irvine is different””

And before anyone does flog me, Irvine IS differenet or at least has been to date. 

You want proof, look at the OC housing inventory based on January sales and today’s inventory:

Aliso Viejo - 8.62 months inventory
Anaheim - 13.79 month inventory
Fo Valley - 9.3 months inventory
Garden Grove - 16 months inventory
Huntington Beach - 13.76 months inventory
Mission Viejo - 16.94 months inventory
Rancho Santa Margarita - 11.75 month inventory
Santa Ana - 17.5 month inventory

Irvine is around 7.5 months worth, likely the lowest in the entire county… Irvine has 50% less months inventory than most other OC cities.  Irvine has way less months inventory than Newport Beach, Newport Coast, Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, etc.

Yes, OC is cratering, but unfortuately Irvine has not yet.

Westpark mike, watch out for that knife you’re going to catch

and thats where it will sell for at the bottom, did any one hear about Wells F declaring CA a F*ed up state (severly distressed) and requiring 25 (yes twenty five) percent down on Jumbo loans. and that is including OC.  :shock:  :shock:

People are still optimistic in the OC including some on this blog, 200 per SF here we Cooooooooome :mrgreen:

Someone has to be the Bull CK.  Although I’m not a Bull, just one by relative comparison to the typical Uber Bear, the abuse helps me forget and fight the home-buying urge that is ripping through almost every fiber of my being…

Some days, I just think we should pull the trigger and roll the dice so we can get on with our damn lives.  I know you know that frustration too.  It sucks to be patient when you can afford the unaffordable and see people still buying.

HAHAHAHA… someone said that to me.. “i haven’t checked the prices lately, but this is Irvine… yada yada yada… its not depreciating “

i think someone posted about this before.. but substitute “Irvine” for “NYC”, “London”, “Paris” etc.. then maybe that sentence will make sense to me.  Even then, those big cities had some amazing housing boom these past 10 years

IPO --- you do realize you are about to be flogged for saying “Irvine is different”.  I’m starting to think you like the abuse…

BTW, you know I agree with you, brotha.

HAHAHAHA… someone said that to me.. “i haven’t checked the prices lately, but this is Irvine… yada yada yada… its not depreciating “

Thank you for the observation on the sampling here on IHB.  While this is a fun little community, I think we need to remember that the 517 votes (as of 2:30pm) represents something like 0.3% of the Irvine population.  And we don’t know how many times AZDavid voted.  This is a bear blog, no matter what it says on the “newbies start here” disclaimer.

Even the forums are heavily weighted toward the prevailing mentaility --- Over 50% of all 38,700+ comments were made by just the Top 20 posters --- with over 25% of all comments made by just the Top 5 posters.  So yes, IHB is a fun little distraction....But I don’t know if representative of the prevailing sentiment in Irvine.

You’re right about how the stats are computed Al.

Personally I think the unemployment rate and wage growth figures will be larger driver for Irvine real estate prices vs. the total employment base.

Irvine is a more premium area of OC.  As long as the more white collar people are keeping their jobs and their wages are going up, Irvine will draw buyers (relative to other areas) willing to take on real estate risk. 

The loss of $15 per hour construction jobs or loan servicer jobs doesn’t have much of a direct correlation to the Irvine median IMO. 

Or put it this way, as compared to Irvine, you will find many more homes with big pickups with shiny silver toolboxes in the bed parked in the driveways of HB, Fo V, etc. houses.  I think the job losses so far in construction and financial services have hit non-Irvine areas much harder.

These homes were going for $210K ( or so ) when new in 1986.  We toured them but there was a lottery so we bought a fixer upper in TR instead ( for 200K ).

Now, I voted for the $700K to $799K.  However this is what it will take to sell it this year.

Well maintained/rebuilt homes in TR today of the same size are selling in the mid 900K range ( selling that is ) with low ball offers in the 900K range.  So, I figure there’s no way in hell that Westpark can be priced like TR.  These people are fools or desperate.

I would expect that my chateau in TR ( bigger, rebuilt and newer than this Dan Johnson pad) will end up running $750K at the bottom… so I think this place will end up in the mid $500Ks.

George8 your 100% right.

I’d buy that house right now for 700K. You’ll never see it go down to 600k because of serious buyers like me.

That’s what I did, on a Florida scale.

Granit and stainless is the Sh!t. If you can afford it.

There are two unemployment figures:

1) Jobless claims - people filing for benefits
2) unemployment - which is a survey that counts people out of work and that are actively looking for work. So it doesn’t count under employment and it doesn’t count those that leave the work force.

I just bought a 2008 X5 with all the extras. $80K I didn’t lease. I paid cash. Don’t hate.

“It sold for 540k in 2000” So what? It’s 2008, thats 8 years of inflation. What cost $540000 in 1999 would cost $684211.60 in 2007.  http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
Pluse the market HAS got up. Even if it goes down allot it won’t go back down to 2000 prices.

Correct me if I’m wrong (just an expression, I have no doubt you will correct me no matter what I write) but unemployement only counts people who file for unemployment.  If people lose jobs and pack up and leave that wouldn’t figure in.  The total employed base will be more important in determining housing demand than the unemployment number.

And yet the unemployment rate in OC has only gone from 4.3% in July to a whopping 4.4% in January 2008. 

A .1% climb in seven months…

Just coppied from Lasner
(http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2008/02/29/oc-real-estatefinance-jobs-off-10-from-peak/ ) Total reported OC job losses so far 46,000 or 3% of the empolyed working stiffs were let go in the last year.  How about starting a new poll on the bottom in employment?

Job slice Last mo. Vs. Peak Vs. Peak

Construction 98,700 -11,700 -10.6%
Construct buildings 23,300 -1,800 -7.2%
Heavy construction 8,100 -1,100 -12.0%
Specialty trades 67,300 -8,900 -11.7%
Lending activities 37,600 -17,500 -31.8%
Bank lending 18,500 -500 -2.6%
Non-bank lending 14,100 -10,400 -42.4%
Lending support 5,000 -8,700 -63.5%
Other finance 10,800 -1,700 -13.6%
Real estate/leasing 38,400 -1,200 -3.0%
Real estate 31,900 -1,000 -3.0%
Leasing 6,500 -2,000 -23.5%
Bldg. services 32,600 -800 -2.4%
Building supply 11,400 -1,300 -10.2%
Farm 5,100 -5,300 -51.0%
All real-estate related 234,600 -26,400 -10.1%
All other O.C. jobs 1,262,700 -25,700 -2.0%

All O.C. jobs 1,497,300 -46,500 -3.0%

Are the 18’ x 18’ tiles featured in this home on sale?  I think 2 or 3 of those should be enough for most homes.

You don’t have to price it “WAY low” get a buyer.

I just sold a property (not in Irvine, but an area where there has been 15% correction) and all I had to do was underprice comps by 5%.

The property was gone within 3 weeks.

If you are the lowest comp, you will sell, even in this market.

Realtor comments to this would be the following, take your pick

1) this is irvine, people from other parts of the county are ready to buy here so prices will not fall a lot.

2) this is irvine, there are people within irvine ready to pay 50% down and buy.

3) This is irvine, there are so many people waiting on the sidelines that a 3-5% drop will prompt muiltiple offers on a house.

4) OC consists of many ‘undesireable’ parts where the price drop is larger, irvine is not “severely distressed” .

5) if you have good credit then you dont have any problems.

May be irvine is like Chuck Norris…

If the comps start falling below 2003 then then we might expect the death thores of the phrase ‘This is Irvine’ catch phrase...till then This is Irvine

Bah.  Only pay it off if it makes good financial sense to do so. 

If you can borrow for 30 years and pay an after-tax interest rate of 3.75 to 4.00, in the long run a person could very well be better served having those dollars invested in the stock market vs. paying down principal.  Historical market after-tax market returns are better than 4%…

I’d rather be a slave to my mortgage and accumulate more net worth overall vs. pay it off early.

Great catch greedy flipper.  I think we can consider the question IR posed to be answered:  “Do these sellers have their heads in the sand, or is it somewhere else”?  Since it is well documented (even in the OC Reg) that the braintrust behind 2 Angell had their head up their a$$ --- we can understand 1 Lorenzo much better.

Wasn’t 2 Angell an aging house on a corner lot which was dressed up and listed for $1.4M?  These guys have an m.o.

Long time reader, first time poster…

Has anyone noticed that these are the same guys who were selling that boxy looking home AKA - the jewel of irvine at 2 Angell, Irvine
?

http://www.trackmy.com/flyer@listings.fwx?R_SRC=HS&R_MLSNO=S517790&R_PUBLICID=0000302816