Some people trusted their ever-optimistic Realtors who sold the idea that “Irvine only corrects so much- because Irvine is different from rest of the OC”.
A point to ponder is how would you make the biggest decision of your life based on what your Realtor has to say- you won’t even buy Jimmy Choos without cross-checking the price on froogle- Right? I have no sympathy to people who make a long face on evening news and blame it all on the Realtor.
CZ
Posted by NoWow!way on 03/25/08 at 05:00 AM
Relatives of a coworker were lamenting that they have to come up with $60k in taxes for last year. They were in the mortgage business and it had been booming. Now they need to find the means to pay those taxes. Probably won’t be done with some equity line or a re-fi this year.
I wonder what will be happening this tax season in relation to all the RE and mortgage related events and trends.
That photo looks like Westpark I with the cypress tree in the background and the more traditional (dated) look. It’s about the same oldness as the El Camino and Walnut properties.
No close ups or interior shots to share. I guess that rules out broken cement features like the more “well ventilated” home we just saw that was about the same age as this one
Kirk - you really missed your natural calling as a Real Estate Agent! ——-
Posted by ochomehunter on 03/25/08 at 05:30 AM
That $175,000 that was put down in 2006 could very well be a cashout/HELLOC from other property by the flipper who may now end up losing that home as well. Wow! 25% in 14 months! We got a loooong way to go. I predict 60% at least looking at CDS’s market that no one seems to know what that means or is worth but its $45 trillion as compared to US Treasury of $4.5 trillion. 10 fold. Ouch!
Posted by Larrygg on 03/25/08 at 05:39 AM
It’s no doubt the market is in a death spiral seeing how these buyers in the past 5 years would pay $800K to $900K for a house that would hardly fetch $300K in most other parts of the country. Property in the southland has always sold at a premium price but not three times. And looking at the number of repos and foreclosures just proves how insane the market was. Anyone that bought within the last 5 years is pretty much undewater. This will take several years to sort itself out.
Posted by George8 on 03/25/08 at 05:40 AM
There are many incredible and creative ways to fudge the data and statistics. Here is one way:
Pasadena Cancels All Homes Listed “For Sale”, Lack of Interest Cited
Man! The MLS ad is oozing and dripping with snake oil. Good lord. I think the realtor has too much time on their hands and is watching a little too much television. I suppose that not having much income for the last year probably makes you start acting a little goofy too.
COME HOME TO IRVINE AND START LIVING THE ‘O. C’ LIFESTYLE TODAY.
Nice sales pitch!
Let’s try this one instead:
COME HOME TO IRVINE AND CATCH YOU FALLING KNIFE TODAY.
or
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS DEAL BEFORE A BETTER ONE COMES TOMORROW AND YOU HAVE MISSED OUT FOREVER
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 06:14 AM
It’s no doubt the market is in a death spiral seeing how these buyers in the past 5 years would pay $800K to $900K for a house that would hardly fetch $300K in most other parts of the country
Exactly right. The unfortunate part of the whole thing is that most of these buyers did not have the opportunity to realize how much money they were actually playing house with because the mortgage hustlers were playing creative financing games with monthly payments which is all anyone cared about anyway.
With the creative financing, house flipping orgies, and 24 hour HGTV housing pornography polluting the challenged brains of our fine citizens, prices ran into stratosphere.
Nobody bothered to think about how much money they were really borrowing until pop went the house bubble.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 06:15 AM
May have to sell the Hummer H2 and pawn the chrome rims.
Foreclosures are occurring at the highest rate in decades—and as a result, lenders are acquiring homes faster than they can sell them off.
Last year, sales of foreclosed homes rose just 4.4%, while the supply more than doubled, according to First American CoreLogic.
...
This year, sales of homes owned by lenders will likely total 480,000 properties, or 10% of all sales of previously occupied homes this year, [Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com] estimates.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 06:30 AM
The latest Case Shiller Housing Index numbers are out and January 2008 was the worst price decline yet - in percentage terms:
These are from the L.A. index. There is a two month lag with this index.
Posted by zoiks on 03/25/08 at 06:41 AM
“105 Mission, 9 Timberline, 14952 Greenbrea, and 11 Bull Run”
Cool. So we have 4 places to choose from to have our IHB housing crash party. We should double-check that they are vacant of deadbeat former owners, first.
Who brings the keg? Shall we get Elliot Spitzer to order the strippers? Who’s gonna DJ?
Posted by kis on 03/25/08 at 06:45 AM
We are documenting $1,000,000 a week in lender losses. It it any wonder the banks are in trouble?
And that is just one microcosm of the nationwide problem.
When does the next batch of Subprime and Alt-A’s reset?
Posted by zoiks on 03/25/08 at 06:49 AM
“Blessed are the savers, for they shall inherit the earth.“
Posted by tenmagnet on 03/25/08 at 07:01 AM
I like the comment the guy made about Pasadena only accepting Euros for payment of taxes.
Posted by Alan on 03/25/08 at 07:12 AM
I’m just shocked that no one has posted on Hillary’s $300+ billion Wall Street Banker Buddy taxpayer bailout plan unveiled last night under the guise of a homeowner bailout. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing, what I heard just made me sick.
Posted by jhill on 03/25/08 at 07:21 AM
Snake oil apparently doesn’t just grease the realtorese in Irvine. I couldn’t help noticing that what looks like a bike path between the backyard of this house and the sound wall on the 405 is described as the “Culverdale Wilderness Park”. “Wilderness” has shifted in Irvine to the same Orwellian section of the lexicon as “estate-sized lot” and “gourmet kitchen”.
Posted by jerry1921 on 03/25/08 at 07:48 AM
This is very related with today’s discussion but I can’t agree that banks actually are selling homes anywhere near the 45-60 days they are hoping for:
Bank Sees California Dreaming Turn Nightmarish
Wachovia Corp., with its acquisition of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. in October 2006, exposed itself to greater delinquency and default risks on the West Coast when the mortgage crisis erupted last year.
“California is the big gorilla right now,” Wachovia’s chief risk officer, Don Truslow, said during a conference call last week held by Deutsche Bank.
“The most problematic markets we’re dealing with right now are the Central Valley of California and the Inland Empire,” he said.
Truslow calls a subset of Wachovia’s mortgage loans “sticky non-performers.”
“In the Golden West and the residential real estate portfolio, we are seeing extended periods of time to go through the foreclosure process – either driven by [state] requirements or because the process has backed up,” he said.
In these cases, the loan defaults and the home forecloses but the bank can’t do anything until the title is returned, which can take nine months or a year following foreclosure, after which “we are acting very aggressively to get the property sold.”
The lag means Wachovia will record an increasing amount of non-performing loans throughout this year, and that may “distort somewhat our loan loss allowance to non-performing loan ratio … because of the stickiness.”
Wachovia, he said, is trying to get foreclosed homes sold within 45 to 60 days. The bank provides the servicing, has its own appraisers and strong relationships with real estate agents, “[so we] can make very quick decisions. We think we’ve got a [slight] competitive advantage in getting properties moved.”
Because home values appear to be slipping yet, appraisals are extremely individual, by market, said Truslow. Appraisals are difficult in a less-certain market and because Wachovia is adjusting its “loan-to-value hurdles, you can imagine [the appraisals] would tend to get pretty conservative.”
There is no silver bullet for the mortgage market’s recovery, said Truslow.
“There’s an overhang of inventory that built up because there was a lot of speculation. I think there was far more investor buying than a lot of participants in the market understood was going on,” he remarked, adding that this was true for Wachovia as well.
“It’s going to take awhile for the market to absorb that inventory. Until that happens, we’re going to continue to see softness in housing prices.”
Meanwhile, however, Truslow acknowledged that some homeowners are just walking away, even those who can afford the payments, because of the inverted loan-to-value ratio. “We are seeing it, and you’re seeing Web sites popping up [that offer to] help people to do it. That’s unprecedented,” he said.
Wachovia forecasts a 20% decline in housing values between mid-2007 to the end of 2008, Truslow said, adding that “there are markets in California where we are seeing 25%, 35%, 40% declines in values, particularly in certain neighborhoods.
“2008 is going to be a pretty choppy year,” he said.
In regards to the many REO’s that are not yet listed. One of the reasons why there is often times a lag between Trustee Sale and a listing is that California Tenancy Law favors the tennant.
I have been told by people that work with REO’s that if there is any evidence that someone is living at the property (i.e. personal belongings at the property after the trustee sale), the bank will go the extra distance to insure that there will not be an eveiction issue while the property is being marketed.
Posted by buster on 03/25/08 at 07:50 AM
Thanks for the addresses. Tax time is coming up and I need to sell some scrap copper piping and wiring and some brass plumbing fixtures to pay my taxes. Hopefully I can beat the vandalizing kids and move-up junkies to the good stuff.
Posted by Mr Duncan on 03/25/08 at 07:52 AM
K-Fed?
Posted by buster on 03/25/08 at 07:55 AM
Anybody know how long someone can stay living “rent-free, property tax-free, HOA-free” after they decide (wisely) to quit paying on their debt-anchor home? Are there techniques (like bankruptcy, renting to your son or daughter, donating the property to sisters-of-homedebtor church, etc.) that can be used to drag the process out? A friend of mine was “just asking.“
Posted by camsavem on 03/25/08 at 08:02 AM
I noticed that bike path too, so I zoomed out on the map to see where it goes and saw that it was actually a “Wilderness Park”. Since when is a green belt or freeway easment and Park?
I too, got a good chuckle out of that one.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:02 AM
Foreclosures are a significant portion of what is moving in today’s market, at least in Irvine. Here’s a good recent example:
3 days on MLS before it went into escrow… Took them three months to spin it out to the market though.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:10 AM
I’ll take care of the DJing zoiky. It’s been quite some time since I spun, and all the vinyl I have is 80’s and early 90’s, but I can probably still work the Technics. Wow, I’m old… DJs now probably don’t even use coffins. A laptop would probably do.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:12 AM
If Irvine is a good indicator, I think February CS numbers will show over a 4% decline, but the March decline will be significantly lower, like maybe 1-2%.
Posted by irvine123 on 03/25/08 at 08:53 AM
IR, you mentioned you have a sub now for foreclosureradar.com. Can you share the list for Irvine?
I actually noticed several bank owned homes are not listed on MLS in woodbury.
Posted by Jim Jones aka Angry Renter on 03/25/08 at 08:58 AM
I don’t quite understand why what is happening in the mortgagereal estate industry is being characterized as a crisis that requires government intervention and bailouts of lenders and homeowners. The fact of the matter is that those who took out 30 year fixed loans with affordable payments and who resisted the urge to treat their homes as an ATM are not being impacted by the current mortgagerealstate downturn.
The only people who are being impacted are those who took out loans that would offer an affordable payment for only a limited time period. Why did these people take out these types of loans? Because they couldn’t afford the payments on a 30 year fixed. They chose to do this. I don’t understand why when a group of people individually make poor financial decisions that this rises to the level of a “crisis.“ Ditto for the lenders. They chose to give loans to people who they should have known could not afford them beyond the teaser period.
Enough with all this bailout talk. I’m a Democrat but when I hear Hillary or Obama talk about assisting homeowners with loans they never should have taken out in the first place I get pretty irritated as this is just going to make it harder for responsible people to ever afford a decent home. The cold hard reality is that frequently there are consequences to making poor financial decisions. Enough with all the Realitor housing Bull snake oil. Some of us just want a nice home to live in and don’t see a house as a financial vehicle that can be leveraged to pay for vacations and Bling.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:59 AM
Here’s a list of the last 50 Irvine places to go back to the bank per realtytrac.com:
68 Oak Tree Ln
1608 Terra Bella
28 Desert Willow
9 Helena # 26
37 Olivehurst
9 Helena # 26
6 El Cajon
144 Saint James # 54
6 El Cajon # 16
2401 Ladrillo Aisle # 50
305 Streamwood
1 Helena # 22
21 Nightshade
39 Alcoba
105 Mission
115 Remington # 327
70 Oak Tree Ln
237 Huntington
14 Carlyle
115 Remington # 327
125 Islington
370 Monroe
3 Acorn
27 Kelsey
56 Arborwood
111 Remington # 332
2238 Watermarke Pl
33 Streamwood
106 Kazan St
40 Greenmoor # 20
106 Kazan St # 48
43 Redwood Tree Ln
16 Salton # 65
4 Moss Gln # 13
210 Tuberose
4052 Belvedere St
13551 Espirit Way
609 Newcastle
3732 Claremont St
3 Zuma
15 Windarbor Ln
17 Greenleaf
7 Andalucia
2406 Scholarship
36 League
97 Remington # 219
10 Columbia
7 Milagra
3 Zuma # 34
23 Rossano
This list only goes back to February 11th, so more than one property in Irvine has been foreclosed on since that date…
Posted by tenmagnet on 03/25/08 at 09:17 AM
That’s quite a list. Any idea which ones are over $1M?
Preferably, Northpark, NW Pointe, or Woodbury locations.
Just curious
Posted by Surfing in Newport on 03/25/08 at 09:27 AM
How dare you be so unpatriotic! Don’t you know that real estate speculation is something to be admired. If those that we admire can get in trouble, isn’t that a crisis?
Sorry ten, no $1M properties on that list. The last $1M property I see went back to the bank in January. That was in Quail Hill. Most of the properties in Irvine are smaller or older or smaller and older…
Posted by tenmagnet on 03/25/08 at 09:38 AM
Wow, no kidding, didn’t know you DJ’d.
Can’t picture you lording over a club so my guess is you were a bedroom DJ, maybe a wedding or two.
Either way, my impression of you is constantly changing.
All this time I thought you were the guy that was president of the Captain Picard Star Trek TNG fan club.
Posted by Genius on 03/25/08 at 10:03 AM
Dammit Ipo, I was gonna do it. And yes, the true djs still work the Tech 12s, although most have moved over the CDJs or laptops.
All the vinyl I have is from the late 90s and 2000s :D We could probably throw down quite the set.
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 10:03 AM
It looks like there are some blues and greens in Shady Canyon and Turtle Ridge. Can anyone elaborate?
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 10:11 AM
Here’s a picture of ipop and his crew from back in the day when he was a mini-trucking, Krush Grooving DJ in the IE:
Rock steady, y’all.
Posted by frosty j on 03/25/08 at 10:29 AM
Translate this into Russian for true irony. =`:^o
Posted by Major Schadenfreude on 03/25/08 at 10:30 AM
“Blessed are the savers, for they shall inherit the earth.”
- The Bible
“Blessed are the savers, for they shall pay for the mess.”
- Future President of USA?
Posted by Trooper on 03/25/08 at 10:32 AM
Ah, the IHB boys reliving the Glory Days !
Posted by cosmo kramer on 03/25/08 at 10:33 AM
How I managed to lose 100k on a $452,000 investment in only 3.7 years. YIPPIE! (Well not me….)
Holy cow, does a member from the HOA come over once a month to clean your place, do your dishes, and walk your dog? That’s only way I would ever agree to those junk fees.
Posted by Kanigetts on 03/25/08 at 10:52 AM
If you own a home, you are being impacted. Your house is losing value every day even if it is totally paid off. If you sell it now you can buy it back in a couple of years and pocket a couple hundred grand. Just because you can pay doesn’t mean you should. Opportunity cost is real if you act on it.
There is no bailout of homeowners, they are just trying to get as many people as possible to keep paying their mortgages when it really doesn’t make financial sense to a homeowner. All of these plans are simply trying to soften the landing of the world economy into the worst recession since the 1930’s. I think these things are necessary even though they are mostly ineffective. They keep panic away a little longer. Unfortunately, we can’t let our investment banks fail even though they screwed up royally. The worldwide financial turmoil would probably drive us into a depression. These banks are not going to be allowed to fail if there is anything we can do about it. That being the case, they should be tightly regulated to keep us out of this mess again in a few years. There is probably a commodity bubble being created right now partly caused by financial innovation in derivatives.
(If I’m annoying anyone, or stealing IR’s thunder please say so and I’ll stop with the listings. But gosh this is kind of fun, in a schadenfreude sort of way)
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 10:59 AM
LOL skek. I was probably the only mini in the IE crankin’ Joy Division, Bronski Beat and Art of Noise. My poppin’ and break-dancin’ days were over before I could ever drive…
Ten - I spun during high school and the first few years of college, mostly because it is one of the best ways to make some great side/party money. IE house parties, weddings, high school dances, etc. then frat and house parties in college… Free booze, free food, access to the ladies. Truly a great gig. I was a kicka$$ Dungeon Master when I was younger, not too far removed from your Trekky characterization, but every geek has to hit puberty right?!
Two Tech 1600s somewhere in storage Genius along with crates of vinyl. They are probably so warped from heat/cold that they’d not even be usable. I dug out a Gen-X album a year or two ago to convert to MP3, and it was in rough shape.
Posted by Major Schadenfreude on 03/25/08 at 11:02 AM
OMG! I had the Simpson’s theme song playing in my head while I read that article (that dude is Homer all the way) and the other one about additional RE “professionals” who lost their shirts.
Thank you for that schadenfreude hit.
Posted by Priced_Out_IT_Guy on 03/25/08 at 11:17 AM
I hate pulling the big brother card, but you really do need to protect idiots from themselves. Not only do they drive up home prices, which will ultimately collapse and ruin them financially, they price the financially responsible out of the market.
Everyone in the Southland during the last 8 years was winning the lottery every year. And we all know what happens to most lotto winners a few years after they get their payout—they spend everything and go broke.
With all of the money banks were throwing around during the bubble is it really a surprise that we’re in this mess? A fool and his money…
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:20 AM
Granite Counter Tops.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:44 AM
And we all know what happens to most lotto winners a few years after they get their payout–they spend everything and go broke
A fool and his money
Look no further than people buying a house in today’s market with their bubbly lottery winnings. It’s all being sucked back into the system. Or as I look to call it “PFFFF!“
Did you know that the average increase in the median house price from 2000-2006 exceeded the median income? Literally, it was as if every homeowner had another breadwinner in their household bringing in the median income.
That Woodleaf property is 20% off and it has still been on the market 135 days…
Keep posting.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:52 AM
they are just trying to get as many people as possible to keep paying their mortgages when it really doesn’t make financial sense to a homeowner.
They are also trying to shake the tree to get as many knife catchers as possible to fall out and piss their money back into the system. Could you imagine if everyone stopped buying today? It would be catastrophic.
Right now we need a lot of knife catchers to step up and give back their bubble money for the greater good of society and help soften the landing.
I salute them.
Thank god I don’t have to be one of those suckers! I’m keeping my CA$H.
Posted by Priced_Out_IT_Guy on 03/25/08 at 11:59 AM
Well said Angry Renter!
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:59 AM
Man, who seriously “BUYS” a house in 2007?
That’s like picking up a gun, checking the chamber to make sure a bullet is there, double checking the chamber to make sure a bullet is there, attaching a laser site, aiming the red dot at your foot, and pulling the trigger.
It’s not like it was bad timing and buying at peak. The cat was LONG out of the bag!
Posted by kis on 03/25/08 at 12:02 PM
Why did these people take out these types of loans? Because they couldn’t afford the payments on a 30 year fixed.
False assumption. There are actually really good reasons for not always doing a 30 year loan. For instance, if you only plan on staying in a house for 5-10 years (say a small starter house, and you plan on kids later), you can often get much better rates on 5, 7 or 10yr ARMS (fixed for that period, then switches to an ARM).
Why should I pay the points and rate premium on a 30year if I only need the loan for 5-7 years? It’s not always about affordability, it’s about being smart with your financial and family planning.
Don’t presume that everybody who doesn’t do a 30year is poor or stupid.
Posted by Mr Duncan on 03/25/08 at 12:02 PM
golley, she’s perty!
Posted by ice weasel on 03/25/08 at 12:20 PM
As someone who made his living in the music industry during that time I just wanted to thank all of you. The checks were great while they lasted.
Posted by Jack-Booted EULA on 03/25/08 at 12:22 PM
You make it sound like economic depression is a bad thing, whereas others view it as a long overdue wakeup call.
Our economy is a house of cards, too dependent on dwindling resources.
:o)
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 12:24 PM
RIP, Gary Gygax.
Posted by Fishhead on 03/25/08 at 01:13 PM
OK Trekkies - Kirk or Picard? Who was cooler?
FH
Posted by Jim Jones aka Angry Renter on 03/25/08 at 01:15 PM
If their decision to take out an ARM leads to unaffordable payments and subsequent foreclosure then obviously the results speak to the wisdom of their choice.
Posted by former_irvine_resident on 03/25/08 at 01:17 PM
Looks like I made the right move when I sold in 2006 and took my money to Charlotte. I do not expect the trend to hold of course. The housing market will suffer here as well but price corrections will not be nearly as severe as other parts of the country.
http://tinyurl.com/3agds9
I posted a picture of my “McMansion” here last year and was teased about it. Let’s just say that I am very comfortable and don’t feel a bit bad about it.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 01:18 PM
Pretty shocking.
I just figured that there was a sudden influx of talented/wealthy people into the area while all of the local talentless failures/malcontents earning the median incomes left for Arizona.
Posted by former_irvine_resident on 03/25/08 at 01:19 PM
Definitely worth an extra 100k!
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 01:20 PM
Smart move! The correction won’t be as bad there. Enjoy your lotto winnings!
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 01:26 PM
Kirk FH, definitely Kirk… He had a way with the ladies!
Posted by 25w100k+ on 03/25/08 at 01:32 PM
You mean you can’t play D&D when you’re married? Or you won’t get married if you play d&d….hmmmm….
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 01:36 PM
Yeah that was sad to hear… Gygax’s games (I started playing his first RPG Boot Hill) kept me out of trouble for a good 4-5 years and got me thinking there was more to the world than the helacious heat and smog of the IE.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 01:40 PM
“You mean you can’t play D&D when you’re married? Or you won’t get married if you play d&d….hmmmm….“
Man that would so hilarious if my wife came home one day to find me sitting at the table with some buddies, a Dungeons Masters Guide, some 20-sided dice, lead figurines and graph paper. I should rig that up just to see what she’d do!
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 01:47 PM
We had a local book store that after hours once a week would host a D&D session. About 20 regular players. My dad was friends with the owner of the bookstore, so even though the group was teenagers and older, little 12-13 yr old skek got dropped off to play and picked up when it was over. Good times.
Come to think of it, some of those guys were in their late 30s, single and still playing D&D with 12 year old kids…Yikes, Dad, what the hell were you thinking?
Posted by Food on 03/25/08 at 01:55 PM
Yes, I have noticed that one as well. It is a good reason to keep the likes of her out of the office if we can.
The homeowners f*cked up by buying properties at stratosphere prices. They rightfully get their homes foreclosed. Clinton and her evil cohorts just want to use government money to bail out her elite friends.
This proves once again the United States is not a country for the people and by the people but a despotism disguised as a democracy for the elites by the elites.
Thanks for bringing it up again. I am very angry now.
We had a long debate about this on this blog and in our forum. I am of the opinion everyone who takes out an ARM, particularly with interest rates at historic lows, is foolish. You are almost guaranteed to be facing a higher payment in the future or an inability to refinance. Who “knows” for certain they are only going to live in a house for 5-7 years? That is the normal tenure, but how can you predict your life circumstances that far in advance? You may need to stay in a property longer than you would like, and taking out a time-bomb loan just limits your options.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 02:15 PM
Weird… my other replies never showed up. I think it’s because I had at signs in them. Oh well.
I was just saying that I don’t see March declining at 1%. 2%-4% maybe.
Also, I wanted to mention that my Case Shiller percentages are month over month if anyone was confused. The media generally references year over year which I suppose is useful for something. I personally don’t care about year over year.
All the candidates are pandering, and proposing bailout plans.
I’ll write in the name of the first bum who walks through the turnstile at the nearby el train station, when I vote.
We’ve become a country of whiny, self-indulgent crybabies and their enablers; and of entrenched elites who will destroy the population to take care of their cronies.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 02:27 PM
I agree with you IR. My parents were in an ARM when rates were high and it worked out for them as rates fell, but I probably would not have done it. You can always refi a fixed loan if rates go down. In addition, some credit unions will apparently just adjust the rate for a flat fee without going through a whole refi. But, I never verified this myself. People that chose ARM’s when rates were at record lows did not put enough thought into their purchase. We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them rather than try to make excuses.
That’s nothing…..they also bought WORLD SAVINGS! Ouch!
Posted by Boston2TheBay on 03/25/08 at 04:22 PM
Whenever I hear “White Lines” it takes me back to my youth in the 80s and massive DJ house parties in the Pasadena/San Marino/Arcadia area. Hundreds of people would be at these. The big ritual was the Pasadena Police helicopter flying overhead and everyone in unison flipping them off.
I always wanted to DJ. Looked like a blast.
Posted by Genius on 03/25/08 at 04:35 PM
Glory days my ass, I’m still spinning at the ancient age of 31. It’s always been about fun; I sure as hell never intended to make a career about it. When I stop caring about having fun I’ll stop flipping records.
If Morrissey tries to hang me I’ll choke him with his pompadour.
Kirk was the man. Some people prefer Picard:
I was out at a club on ‘Sci-Fi Night’ and saw some guy dressed up as Picard. I commented that I liked his costume, to which he responded “I prefer Slut Trek,“ and walked past showing that his pants were, in fact, assless. I laughed and wept simultaneously.
Posted by granite on 03/25/08 at 04:41 PM
IR,
I entered 92620 in a Foreclosure Radar search. The 11 Bull Run didn’t show but a nearby Bluecoat did as Preforeclosure. Has it been taken off that quick?
Posted by Genius on 03/25/08 at 04:47 PM
I assume with your gains you paid cash for your house?
Some of my friends moved out to Raleigh and really seem to like it there.
Posted by irvinesinglemom on 03/25/08 at 04:51 PM
Who buys a house in 2007? Well, you can start with my ex and his new, young, blonde, thin wife. A McMansion, no less. In Coto. Tee heee hee, I just can’t help the schadenfraude, just for a minute…
Okay, I’m composed again and once again have them in my thoughts and prayers, for the good of my son.
Posted by former_irvine_resident on 03/25/08 at 05:32 PM
I didn’t pay full cash but have a very reasonable 30 year fixed at 4.75% plus a more substantial savings slush fund. I admit that while I did recognize the prices in Irvine were insane which was a primary motivation to cash out and leave, I was tempted to keep the home and rent it. I was intoxicated like a lot of people in thinking that prices might continue to go up. Thank goodness my better senses kicked in and I dumped it when I left. I could only imagine being a long distance landlord right now. Financially it would have worked because I bought in 2001, but it would not have been pleasant. I’m far better off having sold it obviously.
The Charlotte area definitely takes some getting used to, but the job was just too good to pass up. I make 25k more than in Irvine and I get to work from home full time so I enjoy my McMansion every day. I don’t plan on being here forever but while I am here I might as well live the good life. This will definitely be the nicest home I ever own - no doubt about that.
Posted by belle waring on 03/25/08 at 06:23 PM
is Beaumont a total shithole or something? that’s actually a somewhat attractive, free-standing sfh, one of the most reasonably priced I’ve ever seen on this blog…must be in the middle of nowhere? 2/3 of the way to vegas?
Posted by belle waring on 03/25/08 at 06:47 PM
LOL
Posted by Brea on 03/25/08 at 06:58 PM
When they built this bike trail, it sounded like the place to go if you were looking to get attacked.
Posted by centralcoastobserver on 03/25/08 at 07:08 PM
Beaumont is 2/3’s the way to Palm Springs, east on the 60. It used to be rural, lots of retirement mobile home parks, but now it’s just part of the IE sprawl. Way too far to commute to OC.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 07:21 PM
Beaumont is a total $hithole, no offense to any Beaumont lurkers. It makes Riverside look metropolitan and Corona look downright sophisticated. Beaumont has a very high redneck / WT quotient…
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 07:29 PM
This shows the picture a little better skekker:
http://www.ipoplaya.com/92603bank.pdf
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 08:44 PM
Thanks ... no Shady yet. It has to be coming, right?
Posted by ex-tangelo on 03/25/08 at 09:34 PM
“CATCH YOU FALLING KNIFE TODAY”?
Posted by Surfing in Newport on 03/26/08 at 06:47 AM
This is the most disturbing part of the whole housing bubble. Complete neighborhoods that make absolutely no sense for the area. Doesn’t matter what the features or sq. ft. of the house; you can only spend what you can afford in the long run. There are going to be some pretty happy Redneck/WT’s enjoying the good life in a couple of years.
I guess this is one way of transferring wealth.
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 08:46 AM
Wow! Few houses on my list like 92 Chantilly, 75 Chantilly, Nightbloom and 27 Crestline are all inactive. Oh, add 65 Ardmore to that.
I almost got hit by the “inventory panic” and came to visit my shrink at IHB, and guess what, my mind was read, and blog was rolled already
Does anyone know how to find out if those houses are in escrow or just pulled out of the market?
Thanks,
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 08:59 AM
Thanks for the list. But most of these properties are in a distressed condition, have poor planning or other non-salable issues. I am still waiting for the day when everything is perfect, including the price
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:02 AM
There are builder direct sales in Valencia too. Almost give-aways.
Also, John Laing homes is sending emails about their 4.85 fixed 30 yrs with another cheaper first year rate to sell their homes in Santa Ana and other places. No sign of that yet in Woodbury/ Quail Hill.
But, it will soon be done everywhere.
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:03 AM
Have you noticed that once you start going North of 5 (towards valencia) and towards Palm Springs, home prices fall at least 100k for every 15 miles that you travel?
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:06 AM
Debatable.
I know a few people who knew that it would all end very soon, and cashed out immediately two to three years after they bought, rather than wait to sell till the ARM reset. They made big money!
I think it is always advisable to know the in-s and out-s of the deal you are getting into and plan accordingly rather than “trust” your Realtor and lender, and their experience of so many years.
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:10 AM
Some people trusted their ever-optimistic Realtors who sold the idea that “Irvine only corrects so much- because Irvine is different from rest of the OC”.
A point to ponder is how would you make the biggest decision of your life based on what your Realtor has to say- you won’t even buy Jimmy Choos without cross-checking the price on froogle- Right? I have no sympathy to people who make a long face on evening news and blame it all on the Realtor.
CZ
Posted by NoWow!way on 03/25/08 at 05:00 AM
Relatives of a coworker were lamenting that they have to come up with $60k in taxes for last year. They were in the mortgage business and it had been booming. Now they need to find the means to pay those taxes. Probably won’t be done with some equity line or a re-fi this year.
I wonder what will be happening this tax season in relation to all the RE and mortgage related events and trends.
That photo looks like Westpark I with the cypress tree in the background and the more traditional (dated) look. It’s about the same oldness as the El Camino and Walnut properties.
No close ups or interior shots to share. I guess that rules out broken cement features like the more “well ventilated” home we just saw that was about the same age as this one
Kirk - you really missed your natural calling as a Real Estate Agent!
——-
Posted by ochomehunter on 03/25/08 at 05:30 AM
That $175,000 that was put down in 2006 could very well be a cashout/HELLOC from other property by the flipper who may now end up losing that home as well. Wow! 25% in 14 months! We got a loooong way to go. I predict 60% at least looking at CDS’s market that no one seems to know what that means or is worth but its $45 trillion as compared to US Treasury of $4.5 trillion. 10 fold. Ouch!
Posted by Larrygg on 03/25/08 at 05:39 AM
It’s no doubt the market is in a death spiral seeing how these buyers in the past 5 years would pay $800K to $900K for a house that would hardly fetch $300K in most other parts of the country. Property in the southland has always sold at a premium price but not three times. And looking at the number of repos and foreclosures just proves how insane the market was. Anyone that bought within the last 5 years is pretty much undewater. This will take several years to sort itself out.
Posted by George8 on 03/25/08 at 05:40 AM
There are many incredible and creative ways to fudge the data and statistics. Here is one way:
Pasadena Cancels All Homes Listed “For Sale”, Lack of Interest Cited
http://www.up2daterealestate.com/2008/03/11/pasadena-cancels-all-homes-listed-for-sale-lack-of-interest-cited/
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 06:03 AM
Man! The MLS ad is oozing and dripping with snake oil. Good lord. I think the realtor has too much time on their hands and is watching a little too much television. I suppose that not having much income for the last year probably makes you start acting a little goofy too.
COME HOME TO IRVINE AND START LIVING THE ‘O. C’ LIFESTYLE TODAY.
Nice sales pitch!
Let’s try this one instead:
COME HOME TO IRVINE AND CATCH YOU FALLING KNIFE TODAY.
or
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS DEAL BEFORE A BETTER ONE COMES TOMORROW AND YOU HAVE MISSED OUT FOREVER
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 06:14 AM
It’s no doubt the market is in a death spiral seeing how these buyers in the past 5 years would pay $800K to $900K for a house that would hardly fetch $300K in most other parts of the country
Exactly right. The unfortunate part of the whole thing is that most of these buyers did not have the opportunity to realize how much money they were actually playing house with because the mortgage hustlers were playing creative financing games with monthly payments which is all anyone cared about anyway.
With the creative financing, house flipping orgies, and 24 hour HGTV housing pornography polluting the challenged brains of our fine citizens, prices ran into stratosphere.
Nobody bothered to think about how much money they were really borrowing until pop went the house bubble.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 06:15 AM
May have to sell the Hummer H2 and pawn the chrome rims.
Posted by IrvineRenter on 03/25/08 at 06:24 AM
REOs Still Increasing
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/03/reos-still-increasing.html
Foreclosures are occurring at the highest rate in decades—and as a result, lenders are acquiring homes faster than they can sell them off.
Last year, sales of foreclosed homes rose just 4.4%, while the supply more than doubled, according to First American CoreLogic.
...
This year, sales of homes owned by lenders will likely total 480,000 properties, or 10% of all sales of previously occupied homes this year, [Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com] estimates.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 06:30 AM
The latest Case Shiller Housing Index numbers are out and January 2008 was the worst price decline yet - in percentage terms:
01-07 268.68 -0.50%
02-07 266.63 -0.76%
03-07 264.58 -0.77%
04-07 263.36 -0.46%
05-07 263.19 -0.06%
06-07 262.12 -0.41%
07-07 260.84 -0.49%
08-07 258.07 -1.06%
09-07 254.79 -1.27%
10-07 249.50 -2.08%
11-07 240.43 -3.64%
12-07 233.03 -3.08%
01-08 224.41 -3.70%
These are from the L.A. index. There is a two month lag with this index.
Posted by zoiks on 03/25/08 at 06:41 AM
“105 Mission, 9 Timberline, 14952 Greenbrea, and 11 Bull Run”
Cool. So we have 4 places to choose from to have our IHB housing crash party. We should double-check that they are vacant of deadbeat former owners, first.
Who brings the keg? Shall we get Elliot Spitzer to order the strippers? Who’s gonna DJ?
Posted by kis on 03/25/08 at 06:45 AM
We are documenting $1,000,000 a week in lender losses. It it any wonder the banks are in trouble?
And that is just one microcosm of the nationwide problem.
When does the next batch of Subprime and Alt-A’s reset?
Posted by zoiks on 03/25/08 at 06:49 AM
“Blessed are the savers, for they shall inherit the earth.“
Posted by tenmagnet on 03/25/08 at 07:01 AM
I like the comment the guy made about Pasadena only accepting Euros for payment of taxes.
Posted by Alan on 03/25/08 at 07:12 AM
I’m just shocked that no one has posted on Hillary’s $300+ billion Wall Street Banker Buddy taxpayer bailout plan unveiled last night under the guise of a homeowner bailout. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing, what I heard just made me sick.
Posted by jhill on 03/25/08 at 07:21 AM
Snake oil apparently doesn’t just grease the realtorese in Irvine. I couldn’t help noticing that what looks like a bike path between the backyard of this house and the sound wall on the 405 is described as the “Culverdale Wilderness Park”. “Wilderness” has shifted in Irvine to the same Orwellian section of the lexicon as “estate-sized lot” and “gourmet kitchen”.
Posted by jerry1921 on 03/25/08 at 07:48 AM
This is very related with today’s discussion but I can’t agree that banks actually are selling homes anywhere near the 45-60 days they are hoping for:
Bank Sees California Dreaming Turn Nightmarish
Wachovia Corp., with its acquisition of mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. in October 2006, exposed itself to greater delinquency and default risks on the West Coast when the mortgage crisis erupted last year.
“California is the big gorilla right now,” Wachovia’s chief risk officer, Don Truslow, said during a conference call last week held by Deutsche Bank.
“The most problematic markets we’re dealing with right now are the Central Valley of California and the Inland Empire,” he said.
Truslow calls a subset of Wachovia’s mortgage loans “sticky non-performers.”
“In the Golden West and the residential real estate portfolio, we are seeing extended periods of time to go through the foreclosure process – either driven by [state] requirements or because the process has backed up,” he said.
In these cases, the loan defaults and the home forecloses but the bank can’t do anything until the title is returned, which can take nine months or a year following foreclosure, after which “we are acting very aggressively to get the property sold.”
The lag means Wachovia will record an increasing amount of non-performing loans throughout this year, and that may “distort somewhat our loan loss allowance to non-performing loan ratio … because of the stickiness.”
Wachovia, he said, is trying to get foreclosed homes sold within 45 to 60 days. The bank provides the servicing, has its own appraisers and strong relationships with real estate agents, “[so we] can make very quick decisions. We think we’ve got a [slight] competitive advantage in getting properties moved.”
Because home values appear to be slipping yet, appraisals are extremely individual, by market, said Truslow. Appraisals are difficult in a less-certain market and because Wachovia is adjusting its “loan-to-value hurdles, you can imagine [the appraisals] would tend to get pretty conservative.”
There is no silver bullet for the mortgage market’s recovery, said Truslow.
“There’s an overhang of inventory that built up because there was a lot of speculation. I think there was far more investor buying than a lot of participants in the market understood was going on,” he remarked, adding that this was true for Wachovia as well.
“It’s going to take awhile for the market to absorb that inventory. Until that happens, we’re going to continue to see softness in housing prices.”
Meanwhile, however, Truslow acknowledged that some homeowners are just walking away, even those who can afford the payments, because of the inverted loan-to-value ratio. “We are seeing it, and you’re seeing Web sites popping up [that offer to] help people to do it. That’s unprecedented,” he said.
Wachovia forecasts a 20% decline in housing values between mid-2007 to the end of 2008, Truslow said, adding that “there are markets in California where we are seeing 25%, 35%, 40% declines in values, particularly in certain neighborhoods.
“2008 is going to be a pretty choppy year,” he said.
© 2008 CreditandCollectionsWorld.com and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
Posted by cdm on 03/25/08 at 07:49 AM
In regards to the many REO’s that are not yet listed. One of the reasons why there is often times a lag between Trustee Sale and a listing is that California Tenancy Law favors the tennant.
I have been told by people that work with REO’s that if there is any evidence that someone is living at the property (i.e. personal belongings at the property after the trustee sale), the bank will go the extra distance to insure that there will not be an eveiction issue while the property is being marketed.
Posted by buster on 03/25/08 at 07:50 AM
Thanks for the addresses. Tax time is coming up and I need to sell some scrap copper piping and wiring and some brass plumbing fixtures to pay my taxes. Hopefully I can beat the vandalizing kids and move-up junkies to the good stuff.
Posted by Mr Duncan on 03/25/08 at 07:52 AM
K-Fed?
Posted by buster on 03/25/08 at 07:55 AM
Anybody know how long someone can stay living “rent-free, property tax-free, HOA-free” after they decide (wisely) to quit paying on their debt-anchor home? Are there techniques (like bankruptcy, renting to your son or daughter, donating the property to sisters-of-homedebtor church, etc.) that can be used to drag the process out? A friend of mine was “just asking.“
Posted by camsavem on 03/25/08 at 08:02 AM
I noticed that bike path too, so I zoomed out on the map to see where it goes and saw that it was actually a “Wilderness Park”. Since when is a green belt or freeway easment and Park?
I too, got a good chuckle out of that one.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:02 AM
Foreclosures are a significant portion of what is moving in today’s market, at least in Irvine. Here’s a good recent example:
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1576858
3 days on MLS before it went into escrow… Took them three months to spin it out to the market though.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:10 AM
I’ll take care of the DJing zoiky. It’s been quite some time since I spun, and all the vinyl I have is 80’s and early 90’s, but I can probably still work the Technics. Wow, I’m old… DJs now probably don’t even use coffins. A laptop would probably do.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:12 AM
If Irvine is a good indicator, I think February CS numbers will show over a 4% decline, but the March decline will be significantly lower, like maybe 1-2%.
Posted by irvine123 on 03/25/08 at 08:53 AM
IR, you mentioned you have a sub now for foreclosureradar.com. Can you share the list for Irvine?
I actually noticed several bank owned homes are not listed on MLS in woodbury.
Posted by Jim Jones aka Angry Renter on 03/25/08 at 08:58 AM
Mortage meltdown! housing crisis! foreclosure disaster!
I don’t quite understand why what is happening in the mortgagereal estate industry is being characterized as a crisis that requires government intervention and bailouts of lenders and homeowners. The fact of the matter is that those who took out 30 year fixed loans with affordable payments and who resisted the urge to treat their homes as an ATM are not being impacted by the current mortgagerealstate downturn.
The only people who are being impacted are those who took out loans that would offer an affordable payment for only a limited time period. Why did these people take out these types of loans? Because they couldn’t afford the payments on a 30 year fixed. They chose to do this. I don’t understand why when a group of people individually make poor financial decisions that this rises to the level of a “crisis.“ Ditto for the lenders. They chose to give loans to people who they should have known could not afford them beyond the teaser period.
Enough with all this bailout talk. I’m a Democrat but when I hear Hillary or Obama talk about assisting homeowners with loans they never should have taken out in the first place I get pretty irritated as this is just going to make it harder for responsible people to ever afford a decent home. The cold hard reality is that frequently there are consequences to making poor financial decisions. Enough with all the Realitor housing Bull snake oil. Some of us just want a nice home to live in and don’t see a house as a financial vehicle that can be leveraged to pay for vacations and Bling.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 08:59 AM
Here’s a list of the last 50 Irvine places to go back to the bank per realtytrac.com:
68 Oak Tree Ln
1608 Terra Bella
28 Desert Willow
9 Helena # 26
37 Olivehurst
9 Helena # 26
6 El Cajon
144 Saint James # 54
6 El Cajon # 16
2401 Ladrillo Aisle # 50
305 Streamwood
1 Helena # 22
21 Nightshade
39 Alcoba
105 Mission
115 Remington # 327
70 Oak Tree Ln
237 Huntington
14 Carlyle
115 Remington # 327
125 Islington
370 Monroe
3 Acorn
27 Kelsey
56 Arborwood
111 Remington # 332
2238 Watermarke Pl
33 Streamwood
106 Kazan St
40 Greenmoor # 20
106 Kazan St # 48
43 Redwood Tree Ln
16 Salton # 65
4 Moss Gln # 13
210 Tuberose
4052 Belvedere St
13551 Espirit Way
609 Newcastle
3732 Claremont St
3 Zuma
15 Windarbor Ln
17 Greenleaf
7 Andalucia
2406 Scholarship
36 League
97 Remington # 219
10 Columbia
7 Milagra
3 Zuma # 34
23 Rossano
This list only goes back to February 11th, so more than one property in Irvine has been foreclosed on since that date…
Posted by tenmagnet on 03/25/08 at 09:17 AM
That’s quite a list. Any idea which ones are over $1M?
Preferably, Northpark, NW Pointe, or Woodbury locations.
Just curious
Posted by Surfing in Newport on 03/25/08 at 09:27 AM
How dare you be so unpatriotic! Don’t you know that real estate speculation is something to be admired. If those that we admire can get in trouble, isn’t that a crisis?
http://bubbletracking.blogspot.com/2008/03/if-you-know-cromers-then-you-know.html
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 09:34 AM
Sorry ten, no $1M properties on that list. The last $1M property I see went back to the bank in January. That was in Quail Hill. Most of the properties in Irvine are smaller or older or smaller and older…
Posted by tenmagnet on 03/25/08 at 09:38 AM
Wow, no kidding, didn’t know you DJ’d.
Can’t picture you lording over a club so my guess is you were a bedroom DJ, maybe a wedding or two.
Either way, my impression of you is constantly changing.
All this time I thought you were the guy that was president of the Captain Picard Star Trek TNG fan club.
Posted by Genius on 03/25/08 at 10:03 AM
Dammit Ipo, I was gonna do it. And yes, the true djs still work the Tech 12s, although most have moved over the CDJs or laptops.
All the vinyl I have is from the late 90s and 2000s :D We could probably throw down quite the set.
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 10:03 AM
It looks like there are some blues and greens in Shady Canyon and Turtle Ridge. Can anyone elaborate?
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 10:11 AM
Here’s a picture of ipop and his crew from back in the day when he was a mini-trucking, Krush Grooving DJ in the IE:
Rock steady, y’all.
Posted by frosty j on 03/25/08 at 10:29 AM
Translate this into Russian for true irony. =`:^o
Posted by Major Schadenfreude on 03/25/08 at 10:30 AM
“Blessed are the savers, for they shall inherit the earth.”
- The Bible
“Blessed are the savers, for they shall pay for the mess.”
- Future President of USA?
Posted by Trooper on 03/25/08 at 10:32 AM
Ah, the IHB boys reliving the Glory Days !
Posted by cosmo kramer on 03/25/08 at 10:33 AM
How I managed to lose 100k on a $452,000 investment in only 3.7 years. YIPPIE! (Well not me….)
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1538187
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 10:37 AM
Isn’t a concrete jungle considered wilderness?
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 10:45 AM
Holy cow, does a member from the HOA come over once a month to clean your place, do your dishes, and walk your dog? That’s only way I would ever agree to those junk fees.
Posted by Kanigetts on 03/25/08 at 10:52 AM
If you own a home, you are being impacted. Your house is losing value every day even if it is totally paid off. If you sell it now you can buy it back in a couple of years and pocket a couple hundred grand. Just because you can pay doesn’t mean you should. Opportunity cost is real if you act on it.
There is no bailout of homeowners, they are just trying to get as many people as possible to keep paying their mortgages when it really doesn’t make financial sense to a homeowner. All of these plans are simply trying to soften the landing of the world economy into the worst recession since the 1930’s. I think these things are necessary even though they are mostly ineffective. They keep panic away a little longer. Unfortunately, we can’t let our investment banks fail even though they screwed up royally. The worldwide financial turmoil would probably drive us into a depression. These banks are not going to be allowed to fail if there is anything we can do about it. That being the case, they should be tightly regulated to keep us out of this mess again in a few years. There is probably a commodity bubble being created right now partly caused by financial innovation in derivatives.
Posted by irvinerealtor on 03/25/08 at 10:55 AM
www.youwalkaway.com
Posted by cosmo kramer on 03/25/08 at 10:56 AM
Aw that’s nuthin. I managed to lose that much in less than two years…
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1284419
(If I’m annoying anyone, or stealing IR’s thunder please say so and I’ll stop with the listings. But gosh this is kind of fun, in a schadenfreude sort of way)
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 10:59 AM
LOL skek. I was probably the only mini in the IE crankin’ Joy Division, Bronski Beat and Art of Noise. My poppin’ and break-dancin’ days were over before I could ever drive…
Ten - I spun during high school and the first few years of college, mostly because it is one of the best ways to make some great side/party money. IE house parties, weddings, high school dances, etc. then frat and house parties in college… Free booze, free food, access to the ladies. Truly a great gig. I was a kicka$$ Dungeon Master when I was younger, not too far removed from your Trekky characterization, but every geek has to hit puberty right?!
Two Tech 1600s somewhere in storage Genius along with crates of vinyl. They are probably so warped from heat/cold that they’d not even be usable. I dug out a Gen-X album a year or two ago to convert to MP3, and it was in rough shape.
Posted by Major Schadenfreude on 03/25/08 at 11:02 AM
OMG! I had the Simpson’s theme song playing in my head while I read that article (that dude is Homer all the way) and the other one about additional RE “professionals” who lost their shirts.
Thank you for that schadenfreude hit.
Posted by Priced_Out_IT_Guy on 03/25/08 at 11:17 AM
I hate pulling the big brother card, but you really do need to protect idiots from themselves. Not only do they drive up home prices, which will ultimately collapse and ruin them financially, they price the financially responsible out of the market.
Everyone in the Southland during the last 8 years was winning the lottery every year. And we all know what happens to most lotto winners a few years after they get their payout—they spend everything and go broke.
With all of the money banks were throwing around during the bubble is it really a surprise that we’re in this mess? A fool and his money…
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:20 AM
Granite Counter Tops.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:44 AM
And we all know what happens to most lotto winners a few years after they get their payout–they spend everything and go broke
A fool and his money
Look no further than people buying a house in today’s market with their bubbly lottery winnings. It’s all being sucked back into the system. Or as I look to call it “PFFFF!“
Posted by IrvineRenter on 03/25/08 at 11:45 AM
Did you know that the average increase in the median house price from 2000-2006 exceeded the median income? Literally, it was as if every homeowner had another breadwinner in their household bringing in the median income.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:45 AM
Fed-X?
Posted by IrvineRenter on 03/25/08 at 11:46 AM
I was the dork watching Star Trek…
Posted by IrvineRenter on 03/25/08 at 11:50 AM
That Woodleaf property is 20% off and it has still been on the market 135 days…
Keep posting.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:52 AM
they are just trying to get as many people as possible to keep paying their mortgages when it really doesn’t make financial sense to a homeowner.
They are also trying to shake the tree to get as many knife catchers as possible to fall out and piss their money back into the system. Could you imagine if everyone stopped buying today? It would be catastrophic.
Right now we need a lot of knife catchers to step up and give back their bubble money for the greater good of society and help soften the landing.
I salute them.
Thank god I don’t have to be one of those suckers! I’m keeping my CA$H.
Posted by Priced_Out_IT_Guy on 03/25/08 at 11:59 AM
Well said Angry Renter!
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 11:59 AM
Man, who seriously “BUYS” a house in 2007?
That’s like picking up a gun, checking the chamber to make sure a bullet is there, double checking the chamber to make sure a bullet is there, attaching a laser site, aiming the red dot at your foot, and pulling the trigger.
It’s not like it was bad timing and buying at peak. The cat was LONG out of the bag!
Posted by kis on 03/25/08 at 12:02 PM
Why did these people take out these types of loans? Because they couldn’t afford the payments on a 30 year fixed.
False assumption. There are actually really good reasons for not always doing a 30 year loan. For instance, if you only plan on staying in a house for 5-10 years (say a small starter house, and you plan on kids later), you can often get much better rates on 5, 7 or 10yr ARMS (fixed for that period, then switches to an ARM).
Why should I pay the points and rate premium on a 30year if I only need the loan for 5-7 years? It’s not always about affordability, it’s about being smart with your financial and family planning.
Don’t presume that everybody who doesn’t do a 30year is poor or stupid.
Posted by Mr Duncan on 03/25/08 at 12:02 PM
golley, she’s perty!
Posted by ice weasel on 03/25/08 at 12:20 PM
As someone who made his living in the music industry during that time I just wanted to thank all of you. The checks were great while they lasted.
Posted by Jack-Booted EULA on 03/25/08 at 12:22 PM
You make it sound like economic depression is a bad thing, whereas others view it as a long overdue wakeup call.
Our economy is a house of cards, too dependent on dwindling resources.
:o)
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 12:24 PM
RIP, Gary Gygax.
Posted by Fishhead on 03/25/08 at 01:13 PM
OK Trekkies - Kirk or Picard? Who was cooler?
FH
Posted by Jim Jones aka Angry Renter on 03/25/08 at 01:15 PM
If their decision to take out an ARM leads to unaffordable payments and subsequent foreclosure then obviously the results speak to the wisdom of their choice.
Posted by former_irvine_resident on 03/25/08 at 01:17 PM
Looks like I made the right move when I sold in 2006 and took my money to Charlotte. I do not expect the trend to hold of course. The housing market will suffer here as well but price corrections will not be nearly as severe as other parts of the country.
http://tinyurl.com/3agds9
I posted a picture of my “McMansion” here last year and was teased about it. Let’s just say that I am very comfortable and don’t feel a bit bad about it.
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 01:18 PM
Pretty shocking.
I just figured that there was a sudden influx of talented/wealthy people into the area while all of the local talentless failures/malcontents earning the median incomes left for Arizona.
Posted by former_irvine_resident on 03/25/08 at 01:19 PM
Definitely worth an extra 100k!
Posted by AZDavidPhx on 03/25/08 at 01:20 PM
Smart move! The correction won’t be as bad there. Enjoy your lotto winnings!
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 01:26 PM
Kirk FH, definitely Kirk… He had a way with the ladies!
Posted by 25w100k+ on 03/25/08 at 01:32 PM
You mean you can’t play D&D when you’re married? Or you won’t get married if you play d&d….hmmmm….
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 01:36 PM
Yeah that was sad to hear… Gygax’s games (I started playing his first RPG Boot Hill) kept me out of trouble for a good 4-5 years and got me thinking there was more to the world than the helacious heat and smog of the IE.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 01:40 PM
“You mean you can’t play D&D when you’re married? Or you won’t get married if you play d&d….hmmmm….“
Man that would so hilarious if my wife came home one day to find me sitting at the table with some buddies, a Dungeons Masters Guide, some 20-sided dice, lead figurines and graph paper. I should rig that up just to see what she’d do!
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 01:47 PM
We had a local book store that after hours once a week would host a D&D session. About 20 regular players. My dad was friends with the owner of the bookstore, so even though the group was teenagers and older, little 12-13 yr old skek got dropped off to play and picked up when it was over. Good times.
Come to think of it, some of those guys were in their late 30s, single and still playing D&D with 12 year old kids…Yikes, Dad, what the hell were you thinking?
Posted by Food on 03/25/08 at 01:55 PM
Yes, I have noticed that one as well. It is a good reason to keep the likes of her out of the office if we can.
The homeowners f*cked up by buying properties at stratosphere prices. They rightfully get their homes foreclosed. Clinton and her evil cohorts just want to use government money to bail out her elite friends.
This proves once again the United States is not a country for the people and by the people but a despotism disguised as a democracy for the elites by the elites.
Thanks for bringing it up again. I am very angry now.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 02:09 PM
Hmm, will this comment post…
Posted by IrvineRenter on 03/25/08 at 02:14 PM
We had a long debate about this on this blog and in our forum. I am of the opinion everyone who takes out an ARM, particularly with interest rates at historic lows, is foolish. You are almost guaranteed to be facing a higher payment in the future or an inability to refinance. Who “knows” for certain they are only going to live in a house for 5-7 years? That is the normal tenure, but how can you predict your life circumstances that far in advance? You may need to stay in a property longer than you would like, and taking out a time-bomb loan just limits your options.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 02:15 PM
Weird… my other replies never showed up. I think it’s because I had at signs in them. Oh well.
I was just saying that I don’t see March declining at 1%. 2%-4% maybe.
Also, I wanted to mention that my Case Shiller percentages are month over month if anyone was confused. The media generally references year over year which I suppose is useful for something. I personally don’t care about year over year.
Posted by Laura Louzader on 03/25/08 at 02:19 PM
All the candidates are pandering, and proposing bailout plans.
I’ll write in the name of the first bum who walks through the turnstile at the nearby el train station, when I vote.
We’ve become a country of whiny, self-indulgent crybabies and their enablers; and of entrenched elites who will destroy the population to take care of their cronies.
Posted by Kirk on 03/25/08 at 02:27 PM
I agree with you IR. My parents were in an ARM when rates were high and it worked out for them as rates fell, but I probably would not have done it. You can always refi a fixed loan if rates go down. In addition, some credit unions will apparently just adjust the rate for a flat fee without going through a whole refi. But, I never verified this myself. People that chose ARM’s when rates were at record lows did not put enough thought into their purchase. We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them rather than try to make excuses.
Posted by DeadBeatRenter on 03/25/08 at 02:30 PM
There giving them away now in Baumont
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1118510
some are down to 90.00 a square…
Posted by lendingmaestro on 03/25/08 at 04:19 PM
That’s nothing…..they also bought WORLD SAVINGS! Ouch!
Posted by Boston2TheBay on 03/25/08 at 04:22 PM
Whenever I hear “White Lines” it takes me back to my youth in the 80s and massive DJ house parties in the Pasadena/San Marino/Arcadia area. Hundreds of people would be at these. The big ritual was the Pasadena Police helicopter flying overhead and everyone in unison flipping them off.
I always wanted to DJ. Looked like a blast.
Posted by Genius on 03/25/08 at 04:35 PM
Glory days my ass, I’m still spinning at the ancient age of 31. It’s always been about fun; I sure as hell never intended to make a career about it. When I stop caring about having fun I’ll stop flipping records.
If Morrissey tries to hang me I’ll choke him with his pompadour.
Kirk was the man. Some people prefer Picard:
I was out at a club on ‘Sci-Fi Night’ and saw some guy dressed up as Picard. I commented that I liked his costume, to which he responded “I prefer Slut Trek,“ and walked past showing that his pants were, in fact, assless. I laughed and wept simultaneously.
Posted by granite on 03/25/08 at 04:41 PM
IR,
I entered 92620 in a Foreclosure Radar search. The 11 Bull Run didn’t show but a nearby Bluecoat did as Preforeclosure. Has it been taken off that quick?
Posted by Genius on 03/25/08 at 04:47 PM
I assume with your gains you paid cash for your house?
Some of my friends moved out to Raleigh and really seem to like it there.
Posted by irvinesinglemom on 03/25/08 at 04:51 PM
Who buys a house in 2007? Well, you can start with my ex and his new, young, blonde, thin wife. A McMansion, no less. In Coto. Tee heee hee, I just can’t help the schadenfraude, just for a minute…
Okay, I’m composed again and once again have them in my thoughts and prayers, for the good of my son.
Posted by former_irvine_resident on 03/25/08 at 05:32 PM
I didn’t pay full cash but have a very reasonable 30 year fixed at 4.75% plus a more substantial savings slush fund. I admit that while I did recognize the prices in Irvine were insane which was a primary motivation to cash out and leave, I was tempted to keep the home and rent it. I was intoxicated like a lot of people in thinking that prices might continue to go up. Thank goodness my better senses kicked in and I dumped it when I left. I could only imagine being a long distance landlord right now. Financially it would have worked because I bought in 2001, but it would not have been pleasant. I’m far better off having sold it obviously.
The Charlotte area definitely takes some getting used to, but the job was just too good to pass up. I make 25k more than in Irvine and I get to work from home full time so I enjoy my McMansion every day. I don’t plan on being here forever but while I am here I might as well live the good life. This will definitely be the nicest home I ever own - no doubt about that.
Posted by belle waring on 03/25/08 at 06:23 PM
is Beaumont a total shithole or something? that’s actually a somewhat attractive, free-standing sfh, one of the most reasonably priced I’ve ever seen on this blog…must be in the middle of nowhere? 2/3 of the way to vegas?
Posted by belle waring on 03/25/08 at 06:47 PM
LOL
Posted by Brea on 03/25/08 at 06:58 PM
When they built this bike trail, it sounded like the place to go if you were looking to get attacked.
Posted by centralcoastobserver on 03/25/08 at 07:08 PM
Beaumont is 2/3’s the way to Palm Springs, east on the 60. It used to be rural, lots of retirement mobile home parks, but now it’s just part of the IE sprawl. Way too far to commute to OC.
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 07:21 PM
Beaumont is a total $hithole, no offense to any Beaumont lurkers. It makes Riverside look metropolitan and Corona look downright sophisticated. Beaumont has a very high redneck / WT quotient…
Posted by ipoplaya on 03/25/08 at 07:29 PM
This shows the picture a little better skekker:
http://www.ipoplaya.com/92603bank.pdf
Posted by skek on 03/25/08 at 08:44 PM
Thanks ... no Shady yet. It has to be coming, right?
Posted by ex-tangelo on 03/25/08 at 09:34 PM
“CATCH YOU FALLING KNIFE TODAY”?
Posted by Surfing in Newport on 03/26/08 at 06:47 AM
This is the most disturbing part of the whole housing bubble. Complete neighborhoods that make absolutely no sense for the area. Doesn’t matter what the features or sq. ft. of the house; you can only spend what you can afford in the long run. There are going to be some pretty happy Redneck/WT’s enjoying the good life in a couple of years.
I guess this is one way of transferring wealth.
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 08:46 AM
Wow! Few houses on my list like 92 Chantilly, 75 Chantilly, Nightbloom and 27 Crestline are all inactive. Oh, add 65 Ardmore to that.
I almost got hit by the “inventory panic” and came to visit my shrink at IHB, and guess what, my mind was read, and blog was rolled already
Does anyone know how to find out if those houses are in escrow or just pulled out of the market?
Thanks,
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 08:59 AM
Thanks for the list. But most of these properties are in a distressed condition, have poor planning or other non-salable issues. I am still waiting for the day when everything is perfect, including the price
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:02 AM
There are builder direct sales in Valencia too. Almost give-aways.
Also, John Laing homes is sending emails about their 4.85 fixed 30 yrs with another cheaper first year rate to sell their homes in Santa Ana and other places. No sign of that yet in Woodbury/ Quail Hill.
But, it will soon be done everywhere.
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:03 AM
Have you noticed that once you start going North of 5 (towards valencia) and towards Palm Springs, home prices fall at least 100k for every 15 miles that you travel?
CZ
Posted by CubicZ on 03/26/08 at 09:06 AM
Debatable.
I know a few people who knew that it would all end very soon, and cashed out immediately two to three years after they bought, rather than wait to sell till the ARM reset. They made big money!
I think it is always advisable to know the in-s and out-s of the deal you are getting into and plan accordingly rather than “trust” your Realtor and lender, and their experience of so many years.
CZ