This property is worth at most $200/sqft

Only if the RE bubble had continued to inflate, the asking price would have been $1.1 million for 14% increase a year. And it would have been sold in a day with multiple offers over asking. The owners would have walked away with additional $250k from the closing table after paying off $850k in mortgage and HELOC. The price would have been $740/sf.

At least, that was plan A.

Well, plan B is not too bad either. The owner walks away with $196k-$296k already consumed in luxury. The lenders and other tax payers hold the bag.

I remember thinking in 2004 when prices were totally WTF, “Can you imagine what prices would be if this continued? People would be selling for $500/SF and tract homes would be going for over $1,000,000.“ Then 2006 rolled around, and people were paying the laughably stupid prices I thought were impossible in 2004.

The market in Quail Hill must be better than I thought—it looks like they actually increased the price by $50K  

I think it is pretty obvious that they parked renters in the unit.  Absolutely no pictures that show the interior that would have all those pride of ownership upgrades on display.

I remember going thru the models in Quail Hill and being astounded at the amount of activity and the high prices that people were willing to pay.  Many shared the idea that this was entry housing and they’d sell it in a couple of years for a whole lot more and move up or cash out when their kid finished up in college. 

Some of those condos had three levels in them and the RE estate agent told me that grannies were buying those up.  If that is not some kind of short term $$$ scheme cooking, then I’d like to meet those grannies and see how spry they are and how many years exactly did they plan on being a little mountain goat in their own homes. 

There are elevators that can be placed in older homes with staircases, but these units are not designed with that in mind.

The three level thing did attract UCI students and beginning professionals because they could jointly purchase the unit and live on their own level for an illusion of privacy. 

Quail Hill didn’t do much in the way of negotiating with buyers back then and all those people who overpaid because they just wanted a piece of the action are in for some nasty travails ahead.

I’ve been following Quail Hill for some time. Although I love the location, that area has some of the most WTF prices in all of Irvine. There must be oil sitting under that development or something. Reality will hit them eventually, but it is going to hurt a lot more the longer that community stays in denial.

Don’t underestimate the power of Denial and ego.      Especially in a city that prides itself on image and perception.

Even Ed McMahon drank the HELOC Kool-Aid!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121254369208443705.html?mod=blogs

“ReconTrust, a unit of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, on Feb. 28 filed a notice of default on a $4.8 million Countrywide loan backed by Mr. McMahon’s home. The notice was filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office but hasn’t previously come to light. According to the filing, Mr. McMahon was then about $644,000 in arrears on the loan. It isn’t clear whether Countrywide still owns the loan or is acting on behalf of investors who acquired it. Public records also show that Mr. McMahon had a separate home-equity line of credit from Countrywide of up to $300,000 secured by the same house…“

Why you make fun my friend Engrish. listing make perfect sense. He good agent. work hard. support family. make good money for self and for investor. why you make fun of “countertops with full back flash”? you see picture of camera flash in window no? that what he talking about. you lucky they no have platinum sound package. then this condo sell for one million $$$

As our local Grand Dragon Cal has so slyly tried to point out, QH is a magnet for Asian buyers.  A lot of them are from outside the U.S.  With the weakness of the peso, uh, I mean dollar, QH must look absolutely dirt cheap for them.  But eventually even FOBs must figure out that they can be living in Beverly Hill vs. Quail Hill for the price.  Make no mistake, QH is going down, and the longer the slump is, the harder will be the fall.

The fact is that prices have dropped more than 20% and they continue their downward decent

Uh… I think that’d be descent.

I hate that when neither my eye nor my spell checker catch an error.

$800,000.  Probably $48,000 in commissions if it would sell for that.

For the possible $48,000 commission.  We get a photo of the outside. A picture of a valance.  A cheap valance at that which they probably paid $200 for at Z Gallery that has $5 of cloth and workmanship in it.  And a second picture of an outside which looks to be a completely different unit.

Either way,  $800,000 and the best they have to show is a picture of a valance.

This is just me but I always feel a little twinge for the realtor on these things.

They have to pay the MLS listing fee, print the fliers and buy chicken wings at Ralphs for the broker open and all that.

And then it expires.

Like it had never been….......

Great cal and you’ve managed to offend everyone. The realtor is a she.

“...owners would have walked away with additional $250k…“

Still, what was the plan beyond that?  If you believed (prior to 2006) that housing would appreciate in the double-digits indefinitely, then sure, you could get out with a cool $250k, but then what?

Assuming an option ARM was used to make the payments affordable, then this borrower would be priced-out forever.

Here’s a plan (for a builder): do a 2-for-1 sale!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/06/in-escondido-bu.html

I have no idea if it’s coming for Irvine as well.

Is that Holly Nguyen (Realturd (TM)) at it again ???

I think they moved on from kool aid to crack.  Note to idiot homeowners, your house is not an ATM.

My Offer
After giving this property a thorough look, my offer today is $170,900.00. I believe this is what this property is worth.

I heard from my Great Aunt, who lived on the peninsula from the 1950’s, that they ended up doing a 2 for 1 sale on the lots on the newly built Lido Island. So it’s happened before in the OC

Kal - Now me offended two.  Me asian peopel and bring many money to USOFA.  By house from yu round eyes, save you buts so you can pay credit kard and by more aisan crap.

Actually, I am Asian but find Cal’s humor funny.  Hey, if you are a foreigner and want to hold yourself out to the public as a “professional” then you have an obligation to learn to speak and write correctly.  In English.  And the whole “PC” police stuff is way over done.  People need to just get over themselves.

The way the “free money” was printed back then without any documentation, the owner could have rolled the $250k into $2.5 millions real estate holding and become a small RE guru.. Soon, he would have refinanced for a $3.5 millions 1st and another cool 0.5 million HELOC…

And, life is good and easy forever and ever.

Lido Island is one minor temblor away from liquifaction heaven.

Good thing everything there is “leased land”.  YOu can stop paying once it disappears.

Chuck Ponzi

I’m in the same boat. I always viewed quail hill as a good place for a starter home. The location is great and the layout and style reminds me of aliso viejo (when starter homes were going for 250K in ‘94-‘95).

...

So when I finally looked at prices in Quail Hill my jaw dropped. 650K for crappy 3 story condos? Pshhhhff. 300+ for association dues? That whole community is going to sink and stink.

Nothing above $250,000.

Or, since the owner still keeps INCREASING his asking price, he could rent it out.  He’ll only need $8000 a month rent to break even; with 3BR, 3BA, and separate Family room, there shouldn’t be a problem with turning it into a Mexiflopper and putting four or more full Mexican FAMILIES in it to make that rent.  That big pergraniteel kitchen could keep several five-gallon pots of menudo going at all times…

then you need to look somewhere else..  anaheim seems like the place for you PIG - PricedoutItGuy

The realtor could certainly decline the listing at a price they deemed too high.

Why aren’t they?

Thanks for remembering Holly’s name. I couldn’t think of her name, but I do remember her great listing with the RE sign in the front yard with her picture on it.

And thanks Buster for your support and appreciation for sarcasm. Why home sellers would tolerate a poorly written sales listing I cannot figure out. If a person’s strengths are not in copywriting or photography, they should hire out for those services. Or at least have someone to proof-read. Is that too much to expect from a professional?

My father-in-law speaks five languages, but his writing is horrible. So he has an assistant to whom he dictates when he needs something written. But he does send me emails occasionally so I had some material to work from. And yes, he’s Asian too.

Amen.

Beverly Hills is way more expensive than Quail Hill, WAY more.  If you can buy in BH proper for under $600/sqft I suggest you do it and flip immediately.  The west side of LA county has leveled off, but not crashed (yet).  You folks down there in Irvine don’t know how good you have it

Hey, wait a minute!

Don’t we have highly paid real estate professionals on the case here?

Don’t they use finely tuned tools to determine a realistic price that’s expected to result in a successful sale in a reasonable time at the best possible price?

WTF?

Does Holly just need a bunch of busy work to keep her off the street? without making any real money?

If so, I think she should take a listing for everyone posting here starting at $2M…

We can help with some lovely pictures too.

On a serious note, this is one great reason why the bubble will take so long to deflate.

Any agent valuing their time should honestly tell the owner what’s it’s worth and walk if the number doesn’t fit into the plans.

This “vanity” listing is wasting 0’s and 1’s—and lots of everyones time.

Some used car salesperson, I mean real estate professional she’s turning out to be.

“...their decent downward descent” was what I was thinking.

OFF TOPIC: My friend recently had his HELOC reduced from 100K to 30K.  He was shocked.  Not that he was using it, but he likes to have it around just in case.

I am not sure that realtor knows what they are doing (or is this something that the owner listed).  Who takes picture of a window treatment to sell a house? And while I am on the subject of window treatments, that is not a good one for the kitchen. That is one for the living room, dining room, or master bedroom.

Maybe he should have cashed one of those Publisher’s Clearinghouse checks.

have to agree with Marian above, this should not sell for no more than 350k tops (all 1500 sf of it   )

but ofcourse I expect many to say IRVINE IS DIFFERENT, minimum wage here is 100 per hour

IR…

Maybe you should add the Zillow estimate to your listings for comparison.

Zillow estimate is $577k and the other service was $615 so these owners are asking $300k over zillow.  In the past Zillow was estimating on the high side but since their update last month they seem to be tracking much better with current sales.

Don’t you think people look a zillow before they list?

That “just in case” is usually the precursor to bankruptcy which is one of the reasons lenders are reducing them even on properties with plenty of equity.

Full Back Flash?

I think they mean back splash:) Am I now entitled to a 6% comission?

Indeed, all the hip people know that it’s smart to overpay for a ‘lifestyle’.

Does the house actually make ATM machine beeps when you rob it?

“OFF TOPIC: My friend recently had his HELOC reduced from 100K to 30K”

And this time next year, that $30k HELOC will be reduced to $2k or maybe $500.

Pay the man!

I feel bad for Holly (if she is the listing agent).  I think someone should pay her the asking price of $800k plus another $100k on top of that for just gracing us with her presence, their first-born child and a promise to wash her car every Saturday.  Priceless gems like her are getting rarer by the day…..appreciate them people…before they go extinct!

It’s a Jumpin’ Back Flash, the stove’s gas gas gas!

I can relate.  Several weeks ago I posted that my HELOC was cut from $715K to $0… E-Trade ‘suspended all additional extensions of credit’ and since I had no balance outstanding the line was frozen at… yes, Zero.  The letter informing me of the suspension said that E-Trade took this action based on its estimate of my home’s value using an AVM (Automatic Valuation Model).  I called E-Trade to complain, because while the loan docs do allow them suspend or reduce additional advances if the value of the home declines significantly,  the value is to be evidenced by an appraisal obtained by the lender (per the docs)...  and an AVM is NOT an appraisal.  I am familiar with the regulatory requirements so when the rep tried to give me the ‘Reg Z gives us the right to do this’ speech, I described why E-Trade was not compliant with its docs, and requested reinstatement.  They refused my request to reinstate it unless I obtained an appraisal at my cost (which they reserved the right to dispute anyway, so it was no guarantee that any portion of the credit would be reinstated).  Their compliance department was to call me back…but has not yet…and I called again today because I’d just forgotten about it until I read your post !  Now I’m riled up again.  E-Trade won’t give out a phone # for the compliance department, and will not put you through to even leave a message after 5 pm EST.  While I am not disputing that it’s likely my home’s value dropped since the date of the appraisal used for the loan, I am ticked that banks are so blatantly not complying with their own docs.  For example, AVM’s work well for cookie cutter mass developments (no slight to Irvine) and not well in places like Laguna Beach where every house is different and attributes like ocean views impact value significantly.  But more importantly, you’d think lenders struggling to survive would try to preserve the core, quality earnings they might derive from prudent users of HELOCS in a time when they need income more than ever to stay afloat.  They could have run credit reports on borrowers that have good payment histories, relatively low usage of credit lines, etc. and reduced the line availability instead of putting a blanket freeze for credit worthy borrowers.  At least your friend’s lender didn’t prohibit all additional advances, but instead reduced the available credit line based probably on recalculating an LTV.  My lender was too lame to do even that (because if I cut 30% off the last appraised value, and limit the total LTV to 80%, I should still have more than $300K on a HELOC).  For these banks that were so creative in offering financing, you’d think they could figure this out.  Sorry for the ranting!

Oh yeah Quail Hill is going down like the Titanic. The Shady Canyon people are going to be real glad they put those manned gates at the entrance at Shady Canyon Road - it’s only a matter of time before the foreclosure zombies of Quail Hill make it up the few blocks to where the high falutin’ types hang out.

The gate guards should remember to aim for the heads of the zombies.

That is freaking hilarious!

There sure a lot of Redfin house dots on both sides of the gate ... 

BH and the (West side) of LA is only holding up because there are so many people constantly moving there to follow pipe-dreams. While 90% of LA is going to shit and the gangs, everyone else is trying to live in the last live-able areas.

It’s like rats running aways from a fire in a sewer. LA is BROKE.  The city is falling apart. If
God forbid, but Hollywood leaves, LA will officially become a 3rd world city like, New Orleans, and my favorite Detroit. 

I wonder if the OC is looking good to Hollywood now?
We’ve got those giant airbases just waiting to become soundstages and studios!

Ha ha ha, that killed me.

We live in Tustin and have a Mexican family(s) living in the SFR accross the street. I cant tell you who actually lives there because there are so many people, cars etc. coming and going.

It seems like every other weekend its a birthday party complete with pinata, bouncer and 12 oz cans of bud.

A couple of months ago they started cleaning out the garage (full of junk, no cars) and I thought for sure they were going to start hanging some sheetrock to make room for more!!!

Oley!