Irvine Housing Blog

It’s about time.

what does this mean for irvinehousing blog?  do you write for both or only for the new blog?

Congrats on the new blog venture. How long until OCAr attempts to take credit for “finally” shutting down Irvine Housing Blog?

how come a new blog vs IHB becoming OHB or whatever.  are you and zovall parting ways?  what will IHB be like without you?

I’m guessing IR is updating his book, and that’s why his focus is widening to OC.

I hope that he has a chapter on homeloaner psychology based on interviews and anecdotes.

:(
Glad you’re progressing onward to bigger things, but didn’t realize it meant the end of IHB until I saw your comment above.
Wish you could do both or make IHB a WEEKLY post at minimum to keep it active! Please consider it…

Moving to Irvine next month. I’ll need to change my user name

It was inevitable that you had to expand out… Irvine is too boring (and I imagine you will eventually run out of HELOBusers… hehe).

Sad to hear you won’t stay active on the IHB… but you know where to go if you want to talk about Irvine stuff.

Good luck on the new venture… I assume will have to create new logins for comments (is “AZDave” taken?”).

I’d like for IHB to continue with a focus on Irvine and am currently looking for writers and ideas for posts.  If there is something you want to see discussed or if you are interested in participating, you can reach me at zovall@gmail.com.

Sounds Interesting!

There’s 2 good Frontline shows on PBS this week:

1) Sick Around America (US Health Insurance)

Even the most knowledgeable companies, like benefits analysts, are at the mercy of the insurers, after even 1 employee has a major illness.

There’s 5 US states that offer guaranteed issue (health care to all who want to pay), but the average cost is 3x states that do underwriting.

One strategy for those who can’t get affordable individual insurance is to move to another country that has universal health care (any other developed country), and move back to the USA at age 65 when Medicare kicks in.

2) The Madoff Affair (wrapup on Madoff)

Since the SEC is so toothless, one has to wonder: why not just shut it down and tell everybody “buyer beware”?

Enron’s executives actually died of natural causes before the SEC could jail them.

Irvine Housing Market - 1
Irvine Renter - 0

Game Over

OK.  Here’s a study for you, Larry.  Given that of late you have made many references to Irvine approaching “rental parity” (I think your formula must include HOA/Insurance/Mello-Roos which is sometimes more than taxes regardles of tax breaks); and given that TIC currently owns 39,000 apartment units with another 6,000 permitted and under some stage of development, thereby allowing them to control rents (and patient capital to run vacancy rates no one will ever know about)which has the effect of boosting prices of “for-sale” housing; please research and apply that to the coming development at Rancho Mission Viejo.  The nearest comps there show 63% of listings in Ladera Ranch as distressed, apartment rents all over the place with ‘incentives’ to further distort the picture.  Lennar could benefit from Bren’s strategy, provided they build the right product.  But RMV is a different horse.

SEC Sues Former Fannie, Freddie Executives

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733304577102310955780788.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Rents are already at ridiculously high levels in Irvine, so raising rents is not the issue.  And Bren, having such control over most all apartments in Irvine, and having owned many of them for a long time, can afford to run a vacancy level not acceptable to other apartment owners.  If you read any of the OC Register’s interviews with him when he received the ULI award recently, it is obvious that he enjoys total control over all that happens and he has the deep pockets to exercise that control.  In the early 1980’s when it appeared that the market was out of balance, and there was little move-up activity that he needed for the future communities in Irvine, he embarked on a program of condo-conversion that brought all other condo projects in the County to a total standstill.  Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo….all died.  If the apartments are not producing, the retail will; if the retail does not produce, the commercial will.  It is a giant monopoly.  But RMV does not have those cards in hand.

Georgia Couple Pleads With Bank of America in Music Video

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/12/georgia-couple-pleads-with-bank-of-america-in-music-video/