Irvine Housing Blog

And #404 is listed at $374k for almost exactly the same square footage, HOA $1,125/month. Comped!

That is the problem with these-the huge HOA.  I’m curious as to what these actually rent for.  You know some of them are being rented out.  I’ll bet they rent for less than twice the HOA.  Factor in insurance, taxes, and maintenance, and these things are almost completely worthless.

I am paying $1,800 a month rent for a beautiful two bedroom Tustin Ranch townhome.  I didn’t understand the $1,200 HOA then and I don’t understand it now. 

The only explanation is somewhere along the line the buyers of these condos completely lost touch with reality in a period of absolute mania.

The front lines of this battle have already moved to lower price points. There are some units in these towers priced below $400,000.

Well, there is a refrigerator included with that!

There’s also a very nice, prefabricated fireplace included.

No, the income requirement I calculate takes the current interest rate and plugs it into a formula and uses a 28% DTI to come up with an income requirement. It does not consider the other costs that might increase the DTI beyond the payment.

The future at Marquee Park Place is bright!  So says El Presidente Tom Testa!

http://www.marqueeparkplace.org/ActionWeb/Documents/Document.ashx?d=903

Tom Testa…real state agent?

http://10aberdeenstreet.com/

(btw- I hate using a domain name like that…)

I wonder how many of those 40 high rise developments are moving forward…

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/16/local/me-vertical16

Oh man

http://www.marqueeparkplace.org/

They are cutting off the heater in the for the duration of the winter in order to save money.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I pay like 600 bucks a year to our Park and Rec HOA and the pool is heated year round.

If I were paying 1000 bucks a month, that damn pool would have to be not only toasty hot in those cold December nights but there should be fresh towels around.

Not only that, but if you look through their HOA meetings you will note that on September 2009 “The Board authorized the filing of liens and foreclosure liens per the Association’s Collection Policy”

Things are no rosy as good old Tom was saying, huh?

When you night time photos of the earth from space, there are very few lights on in North Korea.  The other surrounding countries are lit up pretty well.

When driving by these towers at night…there are almost no lights on due to low occupancy.  These towers are a symbol of everything that went wrong during the bubble.

Check out the picture at the top of this post:

http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/comments/michelson-towers-airport-area-irvine/

It will answer your question.

There was also a giant pyramid looking hotel that was built in NK…I don’t think it was ever finished, it’s this gigantic unlit building.

Anyone have that forum/website handy where the residents were complaining about their HOA?

The HOA fee can only go down if the board stops paying for services or creating a reserve fund for future maintenance.  So they can stop paying for their 24-hour concierge, pool maintenance, insurance, heat and electricity for the common areas.  And/or they can stop saving for repairs in the future. 

Having run an HOA, I can tell you that the board’s duty of fiduciary responsibility trumps people’s complaints about sales prices.  Owners signed on to the HOA fee when they purchased; they have a legal duty to pay it, and can get foreclosed on if they consistently don’t.  In that case, the HOA is behind the other lien holders in order of collection of unpaid fees. 

So this place may soon offer many less amenities, or have a heavily indebted corporation in charge.  Look for prices of about $250K after a major upheaval, in about 5 years’ time.

Investing in a condo seems like a good idea when real estate prices are going up, especially for younger, single professionals who can’t afford the overpriced detached homes.  The only problem is that once the bubble pops and prices start falling, no one wants to buy the condo from you because they can just rent one for less, without getting stuck in a falling equity situation.

Detached homes don’t fall as quickly (or as far) because the buyers are different.  They are somewhat more immune to price swings because they are more likely to want to live there long term.  Detached home buyers are also more likely to be dual-income couples, who can support relatively higher prices when loan standards inevitably tighten in the downturn.

I live in this tower on the upper level. That fireplace is a fake. There’s a light switch that makes it glow. It looks stupid to me since it partially blocks my view of the Prudential building next door.

And yes, I’m quite happy living here. The $1,200 HOA pays for upkeep and friendly concierge/staff. It’s definately is a clean building. If you need a bachelor pad, this is definately a good building.

You do want to live on the upper level though…a lower level unit just doesn’t say sexy.

Now, you guys are probably thinking: is it worth it? My answer: Yes, if you’re renting.

So they get to get out from under their debt and get back in debt immediately.  All supported by your nice tax payer.  Where are the protests?  Where is the outrage?

That frosts me…

Let’s just relive the mess we got ourselves into.
This e-mail is exactly why I hate most mortgage brokers. I really hope there is a law against this. They are playing a high stakes game with someone else’s savings.

Despicable! I guess without flipping realtors the mortgage brokers would have to get paid for doing something productive.

This is breathtaking.

Spite is not the way to live your life, but I think I’ll just continue to save until I can write a check for my next house. The thought of paying money to mortgage brokers and interest to banks makes my flesh crawl.

I probably won’t carry out my spiteful plan, but reading this makes it look like the right thing to do.

(For those of you mortgage brokers reading this: it isn’t personal. Hell, it isn’t even rational. This whole business just makes me sick.)

IR,
Why where is your compassion?
It looks as if the nice realtor is arranging an alternative loan modification (recourse loan) in which a HELOC abuser or ATM house abuser can short sell and thus retire the resourse loan and moved into a new house with a non-recourse loan.  Hopefully with essentially nothing down.  Later,  they can stop paying on the non-recourse loan, they will get free rent for a half to two years. You understand that the loan will likely go through a GSE, so the taxpayers will need to cough up some change in the future. 

Remember, you don’t pay enough taxes.  The USA has lower tax rates than Europe.  We need more taxes to support these programs.  Where do I sign up.

Sign,
Foolish Renter,
Paying rent while I could be getting a stimulus package.

This is disgusting and should be against the law.  These people incurred no penalty for their poor financial decisions.  The tax payer foots the bill for the bank’s loss and these people get to move into their bigger, nicer house.

The new America is really starting to piss me off.  Playing be the rules gets you nowhere.

I can’t believe you didn’t save this to use as an entire post of its own!!

I’m speechless…. Stated (verbal verification of employment), with only 20% down??? And f*cking the lender (and taxpayer) on the short-sale whilst moving right into a more expensive home with 3.5% down???

In-f-ing-credible.

Thank your gov/t for keeping Roger employed with your money.  “Alright boys, dig them holes and tomorrow fill em up.  Payday’s friday.”  Roger is due for a factory job.

IR, if you could forward that email to the LA Times, the OC Register, The CA DRE, and every politician you can find, I would be grateful.  This real estate ‘professional’ shouldn’t mind the extra publicity, right ?

this is truly BS for sure… but wouldn’t this option make a ton of sense for the those who had/have their finances in solid order and with money saved, to partake in this scenario?

in the example above, say the homeowner was having no trouble making his/her mortgage payments on the current home - the original $400k ($380k after the 5% down payment).  now she wakes up to find her house is worth $225k in a short sale.  well f*ck it, if sir douchewad Roger can get the original lender to eat it and agree to a $225k short sale, doesn’t the prudent homeowner come out ahead?  if she could make the original mortgage payments without fanfare, then the mortgage on a $375k place looks even better to her (plus most likely the interest rate that she’d get would be lower than her original in the past 3-4 years on a 30yr fixed).  what is her incentive not to hit Roger up on his offer?

yes, the system is f’ed up.  but in the hypothetical example, the homeowner bought the $400k home conservatively, and did not get to live in her dream home.  if she chooses to stay in that current home, it will most likely be many years before she can upgrade.  in a sense, she got screwed the first time around years ago, by being prudent, taking a 30yr fixed, budgeting within her means, and right now will get screwed again by being principled.

of course, the current market could double-dip, but if the homeowner could service the monthly mortgage payment easily, what does that matter?  at least she would have upgraded to a bigger house.  so the question is becomes, how difficult is it to get the lender to agree to a short sale that is favorable for a prudent homeowner that has never missed a payment?  obviously, there are people in this scenario getting wise, as strategic defaults are starting to grow.

and if there is systemic collapse, we are all screwed anyway.

what am i missing?  would love to hear you all… and no, the hypothetical situation presented above is not me.  i have equity, which means i’m even more screwed by all that is going on.

IR,
Why would Fannie Mae be holding “non-Fannie Mae mortgage securities held in our portfolio”?  Is Fannie just taking bad loans off the bankers’ hands and sticking it to the taxpayer?

Where do I sign-up to be a HELOC abuser and short sell and pocket the cash?  I’ll also want to sign-up for a nothing down house and get purchase loan with my new stimulus package.  Free rent for a few years?

NorCal, House prices can go up with nothing down, tax credit and low interest rates.  With no skin in the game, the pseudo house buyer will be either turn a profit or just a walk away from the non-recourse purchase loan.  The latter will result in bad credit, but free rent.

Norcal, haven’t you heard?  The banks just are not lending!  Astute Observation indeed.