Irvine Housing Blog

I think people did nominal improvements to flips during the bubble so that they’d feel better about their gamble.  If they thought the price increase was from their effort, then they could ignore the bubble.

This guy, however, represents the worst of the bubble.  Know-nothing (by his own admission) speculators.  I mentioned my in-laws 20% street foreclosure rate.  Half those foreclosures were property speculators.  One was an early purchase by a couple that heloc’d and multiplied their property holdings, and the other was an investor that bought at the bubble, and then RENTED the home to the prior owner (obviously at a cost below the carrying cost of the home, but price appreciation cures everything).

If we’re going to require 20% down for owner-occupied homes, we should require at least 40% down for non owner-occupied homes.  And if you’re found lying about it, you enter default and the note becomes payable in full.  Tack on the fees and strip a good chunk of equity.

I don’t like the actions of speculators.  Especially th eones that lived large and went as ponzi with as little total equity as possible.  The ‘hoods that saw the most ponzi were the new construction coming online in 2006/7.  That was where the speculators were pushing each other out of the way.  Whatever I think of speculators, it was the banks that enabled them, and who deserves the most blame, and whose rules should be changed to prevent this from happening again.

If I were him, I could still flip the house by selling it at $30k and get the hell outta Dodge.

70K, a drop in the bucket for the taxpayer.

Hmmm, the story raises suspicions of hardball tactics and underscores the power in personal anonymity when banks displace families from their homes. Loss of residence is a serious situation over which some would resort to credible violence as a negotiating tactic.

Is it implausible the defaulted owner may have gotten to someone at the bank and made them an offer they can’t refuse?

Theoretically any employee in the chain of the processing the default could be compromised to make an “administrative error,” especially if they could be bribed, blackmailed over sex, drugs, excessive debts, broken thumbs, the usual stuff.

Have I been watching too many movies? Or is this why the DoD investigates contractors and employees for all this kind of potential compromise?

On the flip side…the county I grew up in does its foreclosure auctions online.  One sale I saw today was for $12k to a third party bidder on a home that would easily sell for $300k.  The owner’s address is listed as out of state, and the only mortgage outstanding was a heloc for $60k.  Foreclosure judgment was for $11.5k. 

What are the odds that the third party is not the out-of-state owners?  How would the home not have been bid up higher?  There is a HOA lien, but that is maybe $5k.  I couldn’t pay cash for a $300k home, but could easily write a check for $20k, and I imagine there are plenty more people who could do the same.  Is there a catch?

LawyerLiz said that she too had NTS cancelled in a David Stern case, so I suspect that the large servicers are evaluating Stern’s foreclosure mill product and making a financial judgement about whether it is worth it to invest in the legal services to correct the foreclosures legally.

Also, remember that the mold issue in FL is a big problem.  That house will have to be gutted to the studs, the studs remediated, and then rebuilt.

How much will the servicers invest in a property that may sell for $75k?

I see their walking away as a reasonable business decision.

Am I missing something here? It’s obvious why they gave him the house free and clear, the entire structure, walls, floor, ceilings, was infested with mold, and unsellable and unrentable as an asset (at least legally). A house on that same street sold for $30,000 and didn’t have mold all over the house.

The cost of a complete mold remediation for the entire house, and the cost of repairing the house to a livable condition after the remediation would probably cost twice the recent comp of $30,000.

Sure he gets a free house, but unless he can get it to pass inspection, how will he sell/flip it for profit? I say this house eventually gets abandoned and torn down.

“We get a little riff raff, a few prostitutes will walk down the street, but when they see us watching, they scatter.”

My, that does sound like a “good neighborhood”!

“If this house truly has no economic value, then you are probably right…”

I beleive that this neighborhood may have achieved a durable floor

“Hugh Patio” !!

AZDavid we need you!

SB

“A few commenters thought the North Las Vegas neighborhood from a recent post was suspect. Wait until you read this description.”

on that…  the SW seems to be turning into a major focal point for LV urban designers.  the recent widening of blue diamond along with the construction going on the 15 are suggest that this is slated to manifest into the next summerlin.  lots up for grabs in mountains edge.

As for homeboy, I’m sure there’s something here we’re missing, like during the BPO they found that the entire house was infested with black mold, or some shit.

-dig your blog

Irvine Renter

I recommend you have a “Price is Right” contest on a future post for a WTF priced property.  Allow people to “bid” what they feel will be the actual selling price of the home.

So for example, let’s take a look at 47 Midnight sky in Woodbury.  For a mere 854,750, you can get a 3 br /2.5 ba tract home (with no granite in the kitchen) at $439 a square foot!

I will start the bidding, I think this house will eventually sell for $649,900

If I were to buy this house near its asking price, I would be paying $2500 more a month, to have 500 less square feet of home, 1200 less square feet of lot, and less amenities than the current home I am renting.