although ugly, at least this construction was wooden and only a few floors so the costs are somewhat low.  but right next door are the “plaza” steel/concrete high rises that are clones of the park place disaster.  no flippers to buy that shiznit and the developers can only cut prices so much because of the high cost of construction for such towers.  i see darkness in their future.  speaking of park place, you ought to put a picture of their towers taken around 8PM in the evening.  Lights out, totally.  nothing but flippers.
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It’s nice to see no mello-roos, but $351/mo for HOAs?  You have to be kidding.  At Hovnanian’s loft development on the Lake corridor in Pasadena, the HOAs were around $800/mo.  They weren’t selling, so Hovnanian supplemented each unit’s HOAs by $400/mo for 10 years.  Wonder if they will do that here.

10 years? Wow! That’s pretty nice   The most I’d heard was 2 years for these condos in Ladera Ranch.

$400 minus $800…is still $400 a month for HOAs…that still is a joke….The $351 HOAs for a apartment turned condo is a joke. Avenue One is a crappy apartment type condo with no garage…..This condos should hit below $200k in 2-3 years time..

Great work.  You say that the developer’s drops in asking prices of $15k or $20k aren’t much, but remember that they are happening over a very short period of time, right?

How can a seller possibly justify a buyer paying $60K or so MORE for a one bedroom unit than the developer is asking.

Also, are you including “developer freebies” like paid HOA dues for the first year or two?  That is what Hovnanian has been offering on other slow-moving condo projects.

The hardest thing to know in a declining market is the EFFECTIVE selling price when all the concessions are factored in.  Of course, these are not disclosed on a grant deed or trust deed.

Hi guys,

I met a guy who told me about how a couple of these condos are used as whore houses. Kid you not!

He said that they’re high class girls who are servicing the stop over crowd from John Wayne.

That’s one way to make the payment! LOL

I’d get the addresses to post, but I wouldn’t post unless I was sure. Sense I’d never pay for that stuff, I don’t know how I could prove it.

oh nice, i’d be interested in that!  how to find them?

I’m amused at the growing inventory sans price reductions.

REOs for everyone!
Neil

These will be in the mid 150’s in 3 years.

1231 Scholarship - Plan 1B - 1/1 - 602 sq ft - 223 DOM - Sold for $369,990 on 2/26/2007
1150 Scholarship - Plan 1A - 1/1 - 725 sq ft - 138 DOM - Sold for $376,990 on 1/29/2007
1418 Scholarship - Plan 3AL - 3/2 - 1538 sq ft - 181 DOM - Sold for $695,000 on 4/19/2007

Who in their right mind would pay this kind of dough for condos???  Insane!

Is the builder still offering a 5% kickback to an agent?

The 2/2 with loft priced at $594K is going to hurt when it sells. 

Is the Redfin information correct?  It says the school district is Santa Ana Unified.  Holy bat-**** batman, you’re paying a half million for a condo in Irvine and your kids get to go to Santa Ana Unified anyway!

“Straw” buyers.  I went to the this complex this past weekend. I am not ready to buy at this point. I just wanted to check things out. I did not have a chance to go inside as there was no parking. There was valet parking, however. I thought it was a hassle so just left. From the outside, it looks pretty bad. There was already streaks of dirt on the exterior of some units. There was nothing architural stunning about this place. At least, for the Watermarke, there is a “look” to it.  And the prices are still outrageous.

Does anyone know how many of these units got sold?

I have a friend that sold his place in Tustin and bought a 2 bedroom condo for 545k 16 months ago.  I thought he was retarded then.  And prices are even higher now.  His condo is right by the basketball court so he gets to hear all the whiteys and asians pretending to be michael jordan.

They are small and have no garage.  They are essentially apartment condos.  You can get essentially the same amenities at Villa Siena for less than 2k a month and NO mortgage.  Personally I think teh amenities at Villa Siena are better

The school district is the real kicker. I moved from Villa Siena—in a rush—because I found out my kids would have to go to Santa Ana Schools. It never even occurred to me it was possible for this Irvine location to be in the Santa Ana school district.

I wonder how many young couples are starting out by trapping themselves in these condos? How would you like to be them when they want a family or if they need to send their kids to school, and they find out where they would go? Trapped in a tiny condo in the Santa Ana school system. The joys of home ownership.

The problem with wood is that noise resonates - mostly to the unit below, but with some noise to the side and possibly above.  You can mitigate mightily, but the noise transfer is almost impossible to completely abate.  The higher cost of concrete is worth it if you live in stacked housing.

Compared to prior experience with 3 similar style buildings in the Bay area, that is a low HOA.  How many elevators and underground parking gates and ventilation systems are in this building?  They must be maintained.  Plus, many utilities may be common, i.e., no separate metering for gas fireplaces in all electric units, and the water most probably is common, plus trash generally is included.  These items all contribute to the HOA and in my experience, the board (comprised of homeowners) does not want to increase dues unless absolutely necessary.  My experience is that the builder sets the budget too low initially.

Good to know you understand the budgeting process required by the DRE to ensure there is enough money to maintain the building you buy into!

So if you’re not confident enough of your sources, why are you bloggin this?

This is city living being sold in the “Burbs”.  I was in Santa Ana/ Irvine this week for the first time in months and noticed the faux “shopping village concept” being mass marketed to the young professional crowd.

The sales disclosure given by the developers clearly state the local schools, so don’t fret.  The purchasers know darn well what the local schools are.  The renters are the ones who don’t receive disclosures.

Pianist, I’m sure the builders list it appropriately, my point, much like IrvineRenter, that it wouldn’t cross my mind that I live in Irvine and go to Santa Ana Unified.  I’m not a real school snob and would pretty much treat one Irvine elementary school like another.  Obviously, I’ll have to pay much better attention to that factor.