Irvine Housing Blog

Hard to believe it’s after 8 a.m. on Sat and not a single post about San Clemente. Suspect it’s the 3 day holiday.
We bought in S.C. in 1978, sold to our son in 1999 and have been following the market for several years assuming that prices will eventually resume normalcy at which time we’ll probably buy again. An example: 102 Vial Zapata: bought in 2002 for $730,000, now asking $995,000 a short sale with backup offers accepted (for about a month or more so far - suspect it will be back on the market like 90% of s.s.).  Perfect fit for IR S.C. category 2 HELOC abusers. However, the $249 per sq.ft. price is substantially lower than most of the s.s. examples and approaching normalcy. My guess is that prices will eventually be under $200 p.s.ft. on a reasonable selection of homes not located within walking distance of the beach. We’ll probably pounce on something about then. The realtors we’ve talked to don’t think prices will go that low - anybody care to hazard a guess?
An aside: I understand that banks don’t rent out REOs. The realtors comment on one of today’s s.s. examples shows why:
“Great tenants would like to buy, and very private, so showing a tad difficult.”
One caveat on S.C. If you can see the freeway from any of the hillside views, you can hear it. Might be bothersome to some, particularly at night if you sleep with windows or sliders open.
Talega residents won’t have to be concerned about noise from the currently defunct attempted extension of the 241 tollroad (Foothill South Fwy) - at least for now. And the traffic congestion is significant through all of S.C. If you’re thinking about going to Irvine, particularly on weekends, pack a lunch!

I have a good friend in San Clemente who insisted until a couple of months ago that prices in the good neighborhoods would not go down.  I had been warning him for over 3 years.

He owns a lot of rental real estate.  He also took out HELOCs on a couple of them in early 2008 to maintain liquidity, i.e., he wanted to make sure he got the equity out before the offers disappeared.  He is likely to remain current on his loans.

What I don’t understand is why all of these people who took out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of HELOC money didn’t just set some of it aside to help pay the mortgage for a few years.  I guess if they were responsible enough to plan ahead for such a thing, they wouldn’t have ended up defaulting as soon as their teaser rate payments ended.

That is one ugly house….

Note to self….

Buy more gold bullion on Monday.

Seriously…is this making anybody else uncomfortable?

IR…if you get a chance…I’ll bet you dinner that the Ahmanson mansion in Hancock Park might be an interesting one.

401 S. Hudson 90020

I heard (from a reliable source) that the owner turned down an offer from Madonna a few years ago.

Lots of them are making money in my book.  Simple math:
original purchase price < current sale price

Loan abuse is another matter.  What happened to the cash?  Will the bank’s go after them or just bill the Feds, who will pass the bill to taxpayer?

Options: (trustee sale with quick foreclosure without recourse vs. judicial foreclosure-with possible lien against other assess), I think the banks will go with the former and stick the bill to the taxpayers.  The latter takes too much time and collecting requires work.  Why work when you can get money without working or risk?

Who needs the Ponzi scheme when the govt will make up the difference?

Is it still considered HELOC abuse if the property is sold for a profit?  Taking those loans is definitely a risky maneuver.  A the short sales are really unforgivable.  But if they manage to get out from under the property without stiffing the lender I’m not sure it should be called abuse.

I was helping the economy

Sorry for the late post thrifty.

These people make me want to vomit.

There, I said it ... I feel better now.

Very interesting post on SC. I never understood why everyone here is so obsessed with Irvine. If you add Aliso, Laguna Niguel, San Juan and SC to your roster you get 5-10 times the inventory of only looking in Irvine and a better chance for a good deal. You can also be closer to the beach. If you work in Irvine you can take the 73 and get there in 15-20 minutes for $200 a month.

Here is a great article on knife catchers in Phoenix.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/business/24phoenix.html?_r=1&hp;=&pagewanted=all

This quote summarizes the attitude of most buyers: “You need to buy when there’s blood in the streets,” he said with a shrug. “Even if it’s your own blood.”

Apologies as this is OT, it’s continued from the previous thread but IMHO it’s important so here goes - (IR, please feel free to delete this as it’s your (marvelous) blog. (about some ugly $hit that affects us all))

I wrote - “It wasn’t just the home “owners” who stole the money from us, the banks & mortgage brokers got hefty fees for their ‘services’ and the realtors got their their 6% as well…”

AZDavidPhx responded - “I am calling out fauxowners who are squatting after defaulting on their mortgages.

It is (and should be to you) just as offensive as AIG throwing parties after getting bailout cash.

These pigs on the other side of the spectrum don’t get a free pass.  These mother-fers were part of a two-person tango.

If this pig mailed back the keys after defaulting then I would chalk it up to another gambler biting the dust.  But no, she sat in the place stuffing herself and taking a dump at everyone else’s expense for two years.

This is B.S.  You should be outraged.  But hey, if you want to go the “all’s fair ho ho ho hah hah hah” and take to morals down a notch then who am I to stand in the way.  What do I care?  Let’s all get naked and go streaking through the local elementary school everyone - who are THEY to JUDGE US!”

& here’s why I posted this:

Yes, I blame all parties in this mess, those that ‘bought’ & those that ‘sold’, but my major beef is with those that ‘sold’. Why? Because it’s those that ‘sold’ these bogus mortgages & loans who knew what they were doing was fraudulent at the time they were doing it yet did it anyway because they knew they would get their cut in any case, knowing full well it was their client/(prey) and some lending institution somewhere that would get left holding the bag (& ultimately, responsible taxpayers aka chumps like many of the readers of this blog & myself).
  John Q. Public sees his neighbors make off like bandits w/their HELOC $. His mailbox is full of similar offers. Why should his neighbors’ houses ‘earn their keep’ & not his? Yeah, right, he should have known better, BUT, it’s the bank officers, the mortgage brokers, the realtors, they’re the ones who get paid the big bucks TO KNOW THIS STUFF yet they pimped these fraudulent products right down the line. Hate the homeloser all you want to, sir, but if you don’t first & foremost target those few with the power to have made it all happen in the first place, you’re both blaming the victims and setting the stage for the next bankster ripoff of “We, the people”. Priorities, man, priorities!

How many people in Irvine don’t own the land their homes are built on?...and don’t even know they don’t own the land?