Irvine Housing Blog

Crazy!  Mr. Young thinks that it is a great time to buy a house!  Who would have thought!?

ah yes, a vintage 2006 post on the North Korea Towers.  aged well after 5 years:

http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/comments/marquee-park-place-high-rise-hell/#comments

i’ll leave a few classic comments from 2006.
these dumb asses got what they deserve.
i’d love for any of these losers to comment on today’s post.

Astute Observation by Roya
2007-01-03 04:56 PM
It is very simple, for those of you that don’t like Luxury living in a place like Marquee, hey, no one is forcing you to buy here. stay where you are and be happy, what is with all the bitterness. Your bitterness is in result of ENVY. 

Astute Observation by George
2006-12-30 11:51 PM
I live at Marquee Park Place and must say, it has been the best move I have ever made.  Obviously, the negative comments about this high-end style of living is precipitated from people that simply can’t afford this lifestyle and have no clue about the cornucopia of amenities that are offered here.

Astute Observation by Dr. E
I think you’re best suited to live in Fresno or somewhere else where prices are falling at a higher rate. You can look up, point and scream all you like, the sky’s not falling. And for us who are writing in here, responding to ugly comments and foaming vitriol, at least we’re typing in the comfort of our secured and well-maintained condo. I guess you can view Marquee as an Ivory tower. People at the top will always have people commenting about them. So just get used to it and enjoy that view Marqueeans! Happy Holidays!

Astute Observation by HAVE VISION
2006-11-25 11:29 AM
It seems from one negative comment all the wal mart people of the world jump on the coat tails of that naysayer and add to the negativity.

Astute Observation by Dr. E
2006-10-24 04:51 PM
What I can say is that this building is for a different class of people.  Yes there are investors and the like, but I really don’t see people who are your average OC citizen.

Why deny it?

New home sales in Irvine in 2010 of half the normal resale volume is impressive.  Where else did this happen?  And their building more, where else is demand that strong?

“This condo doesn’t have a view, but….”

It’s funny when the description is accidentally accurate.

This brought a wide smile to my face!  I remember some of these folks and how obnoxious they were.

We live in Ave 1 and see these want to be uber rich next to us at 3000 the plaza all the time.  Always in a hurry and always angry.  True story: my friend stopped her car in front of plaza with blinkers to get mail from ave 1 box and guy pulls up in porsche and proceeds to yell at her for stopping her car near his building.  He says stuff like the poor people shouldn’t park near his building and all sorts of nonsense.  No joke…

Regardless if one thinks the market is inflated or not. This is great news for buyers and should make sellers somewhat nervous. One of the biggest factors besides the artificially low rates that has kept prices from falling further is lack of viable product that can transact.

    Using zip code 92614 as an example, there are 101 properties in some stage of the foreclosure process.

    While there are only 45 active non short sale listings;

  Moreover, supply is steadily increasing as one can see on the Irvine inventory chart

    That said, although new construction can be really nice. Typically, they are not the best deals in Irvine. The mello roos tends to be high, they usually have small yards (if any), upgrades are really expensive, and one normally pays a premium that will likely wear off by the time one sells. That said, a lot of these have nice floor plans.
    I generally recommend resale over new construction. Good deals on new construction typically occur when there is standing inventory and the Irvine Company does an excellent job so this rarely occurs. That said, there will be buyers that are taken out of the resale market as a result of this, leaving more resale deals, selection, and likely better pricing for buyers that have waited.

“However, as I have stated on many occasions, the shills who trumpet the blistering sales rates are talking nonsense.”

I’m not sure who you’re referring to here.

Whenever I’ve mentioned the surprising sales pace of the 2010 New Home Collection, you don’t respond to me. Do you think selling 1200 new homes in ONE city is nonsense? Irvine has sold as many new homes as all of Orange County combined and that is notable.

I still remember when TIC was planning on the 700 new homes for 2010 and all the doubters (myself included) didn’t think they could sell through that in the 2 years time TIC estimated it would take. Instead, they sold 500 more homes in half the time. Don’t hate the player… hate the FCBs.

“We are emerging of[f] historic lows, and the year-over-year percentage increases sound great, but building 62% less homes in 2011 than we have on average for the last 30 years is hardly a runaway bull rally or a new construction boom.”

Maybe not for OC… but what about just for Irvine?

And they really only have 1250 homes planned for this first phase (although there is a second phase in Stonegate they can ramp up and also a new neighborhood called Cypress Village in waiting).

Too many new homes? Maybe… but I thought 700 was too many. The numbers prove there is demand for new housing in Irvine, whether that can be sustained for the next 2 years, we’ll see. Personally… I hope not because I feel TIC’s benchmarks are too high, but that doesn’t seem to stop the FCBs.

You can already see the land being graded in Google Maps for Laguna Altura:
http://goo.gl/XRzOa

>and access to some of the highest quality schools in California draw a wide market audience.

Well, the highest quality can be a hyperbole very soon. Does it mean the highest quality among all CA schools, including private schools with 10 students per teacher and individual attention?

Proposed California budget slashes education
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/cali-f21.shtml

Jerry Brown is considering $1,000 per school student cuts. 40 students per teacher in the highest quality school? Are you kidding?

The UC budget won’t receive billions. Not a good sign for foreign home buyers who want to send their kids to the UCI inexpensively.

North Korea Towers physical location is not bad for some folks, single or elderly.  Within walking distance to some restruants, small organic food store and other shops.  The negative are cost per sf, too close to the freeway (noise, fumes and dust), high HOA and the high likelyhood that the paying equality owners will be stuck with the non-payers’ HOA for the last 4 years (a raise in fees by 2x for 6 years?).  If you have no kids living with you and lots of money, it might suit you well.  To each his own or to each a large bank loan.

For overbuilt area’s the real number to look at is vacancy rate.  IE area with 30% vacancy is definately overbuilt and will need bulldozers to estiblish a bottom. 

What’s the current vacacy rate in Irvine (please include empty non-paying houses).  I don’t see very many except a few in Quail Hill and Turtle Ridge.

Like I said to each his own. 
I know some people who don’t mind lossing $50K to $100K on a house.  They just want it now and can afford it (2 income and parents).  I think most of IH blog readers are also not on that boat.  I’m not in that boat either—just an educated working stiff.

Since the HOA covers utilities, I think the non-payers will have little to no incentive to save on the use of water, electricity, heating, cooling, and other free items as squatters.  I have observed the lack of shame in America for behavior in the last 30 years.  The sense of shame has been limited to not have the latest and best in material goods.