Irvine Housing Blog

Here we go again with real-estate agents giving people financial advice:

where, over-time, real estate values are
maintained

Perhaps Donald ********* should put his money where his mouth is and put this all in the contract:

If purchased property loses value within first year of ownership, Donald ********* shall personally reimburse the buyer for the full amount of the loss.

Part of the way out of this problem is that real-estate agents are held liable.  If they want to dole out the advice to manipulate potential buyers then I think at the very least we need to add a check to balance the system.

“...where, over-time, real estate values are
maintained.”

Gotta love that “over time” pause. A not so subtle reminder that you will only have to wait until 2020 to get your money back, maybe.

I don’t know about updates/upgrades.  It doesn’t look all that spruced up to me.  And as far as staging goes, the furniture does not help showcase a place that is listed for $200k short of a million.

The lack of pictures of substance like the bedrooms and bathrooms, garage….Why are they not included?

NO AC.  The Fireplace is not pictured.  In fact, the garage information is confusing.  And without a picture of it, who knows what is going on with that.

# of Garages: 2
# of Spaces in Garage: 1
Covered Parking
Garage (Front Entry)
Garage (Single Door)

It is also nearly $300/square foot.  What exactly makes this place “all that” for the asking price?  I don’t think I’d even bother to look at this one for the price and the sales history.  It looks like someone just wants to unload the thing.

$800K for an attached property? purely delusional. So I’m supposed to spend a doctor’s salary on the down payment and I get to hear my neighbors snoring.

Agreed, $480K in Spring 2011.

there’s no one wanna be a loser right

It is a row house to me (I don’t see any condo association fees), and ugly from the street side. However I do like the interior atrium. Perhaps it is much more interesting to live in than the standard no-architecture boxes we usually see.

If the price comes down substantially it can be interesting. The staging furniture, not at all.

While no fan of banks, it’s nice to see the flipper really getting nailed with the loss for once.

Wait, sait, wait patiently.

The way I look at it is, what is the competition for the buyers $800K?  There’s no way in H*ll, this going to even come close to $800K.  If this guy, really has experience in RE, wouldn’t he know this?

Homeowners Association Information

  * Dues #1: $103.00
  * Dues #1 Frequency: Monthly
  * Dues #2: $153.00
  * Dues #2 Frequency: Quarterly
  * Association Pool
  * Association Sauna
  * Association Tennis Court

very high HOA dues

This is an attractive Vintage Modern place with interesting midcentury mod architecture, but how does it get away with calling itself a SF dwelling?

It could have used more sprucing up and staging, too. This place deserves better decor more in keeping with the architecture. That chandelier has to go. That’s just one item that would have been really cheap to replace, where having done so would make the place look much better.

But it’s still an attached home, and it’s still 40+ years old, with the maintenance and mechanical issues a dwelling that age will have.

$200/sq ft is the most this should fetch, given the trajectory of prices in Irvine and elsewhere, and the of the economy nationwide. The worst is yet to come.

DataQuick just released the month ending figures for November, and they’re really, really bad (was that an echo?).  I see what’s happening ... if you’re seller, and trying to get a price exceeding the conforming loan limit, it’s almost impossible due to the lack of available financing.  That isn’t to say you can’t sell your home to a buyer without the use of a conforming loan, BUT IT IS TO SAY you can’t sell that home without making huge concessions in the price.

BTW, The NEW median for Orange County is now $400,000.  A freshly minted 66 month low!

http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2008/12/16/oc-home-price-back-at-400000-in-nov/9264/

I would be curious to know what the OP’s assumptions were on this property. Did he think he was getting it for substantially under market and would be able to flip quickly or did he assume the market would turn around quickly and then he could flip it?

Agree this property has very little appeal.
I suspect the OP has significant regrets over this purchase.

The latest DQ News numbers are out.  Not pretty, unless you are a first time homebuyer.

“The median price paid for all homes combined last month was $285,000, down 5 percent from October and down a record 34.5 percent from November 2007. Last month’s median was the lowest since it was $298,000 in April 2003, which was the last time the median was below $300,000. November’s median stood 43.6 percent below the peak $505,000 median reached in spring and summer of last year.

The median price has eroded consistently over the past 16 months as price depreciation swept the region, discounted foreclosures ballooned in inland markets and sales stagnated in higher-end neighborhoods. The latter have suffered from, among other things, a difficult financing environment for large mortgages.

Foreclosures have accounted for about half of all Southland resales during the past three months. In November, 54.6 percent of all the homes that resold had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior 12 months. That’s up from 50.9 percent in October and 18.8 percent a year ago.

At the county level, these “foreclosure resales” ranged from 44.1 percent of November existing home sales in Los Angeles County to 70.4 percent in Riverside County. In Orange County foreclosure resales were 44.2 percent of sales; in San Diego 52.1 percent; San Bernardino 67.8 percent and in Ventura County 47.8 percent…
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southern California buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,323 last month, down from $1,413 the previous month, and down from $2,049 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 37.4 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 48.7 percent below the current cycle’s peak in June 2006.”  http://www.dqnews.com/News/California/Southern-CA/RRSCA081216.aspx

And yes, a 5% drop in the median in one month is an annualized 45% drop.

This place has zero curb appeal and the interior shows a complete lack of personality.  $800K for this?  Way, way overpriced.  I wouldn’t call this an SFR either.  I consider that to be false advertising.

Talking to my friends here in Irvine, I still get the feeling they are worried about me that I’m still renting. They keep asking why haven’t I bought something. To me, that tells me something about the psychology of the market, and that is, people are still relatively optimistic, and prices reflect that.

It still seems there is a quite a bit of “renters=losers” mentality out there, although that is slowly changing. I can now actually convince them, that renting can be better than owning. That would have been impossible a couple of years ago. My average friend still has equity in their home, which is why I think they are still a bit intoxicated with the SoCal kool-aid.

My momma taught me not to say anything if I couldn’t say something nice, so here goes:

I like the little atrium and the location.

(Feel free to interpret whatever else I don’t like)

No no NO!!!!

If youse goys would just stay better informed you would have seen the news idiot on channel 9 today reporting that with the new interest rate changes and low low prices that:

...wait for it…

...wait for it…

“IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!!”

Really you must try better to keep in touch-