Irvine Housing Blog

One of my all time favorite songs.  Who cares about markets when listening to “The Summer Wind”.
——-

Not exactly the greatest curb appeal, but it is detached and has its own garage.

350k

What exactly is “custom paint”? Does that mean the guy st Sherwin Williams mixed the 5 gallons of paint?

Custom paint means two things:

1. You’ll never be able to match it if you need to do a touch up.
2. The only thing that looks good in a room painted with it was the one season trendy set bought at Z-Gallerie.

I always thought “custom paint” was code for “garish colors you probably won’t like.”

Custom paint means his 5 years old son has crayon all over the walls.

The scary thing is that a few months ago I would have bet that someone who put $222,000 down on a $622,000 property would never “lose it all.”  Now I’d give it better than 50/50.  He needs to get $425,500 just to satisfy the first (after selling costs.)  If he dropped to $425,500 right now, he might get out alive.  Also, someone who puts a quarter million down probably has good credit, so they have a lot to lose if the price drops below the payoff value.  That means MORE cash out of pocket, or trashed credit.  Not a pretty picture at all for this one.

Sorry for the double post, but just saw this:

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. home prices fell nationwide in August for the eighth consecutive month, offering little hope of a turnaround anytime soon, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.

“There is really no positive news in today’s report,” said Shiller, chief economist for MacroMarkets LLC, which collaborates with S&P on the indicator. “At both the national and metro area levels, the fall in home prices is showing no real signs of a slowdown or turnaround.”

Yes losing your 35% down payment must be scary…...banks must be looking at this and thinking….is a 20% down payment enough to secure our position in a home sale. Maybe banks should require a 30,  40 or even 50 % down payment to mitigate their risk.

Sounds like the French banking system.

You gotta love Shiller. He makes no attempt to candy coat the turd.

If he got his 1st fixed at 5% (or less) in 2005 when money was cheap then his payment is only $2,200, the same as had he borrowed nearly 100K less today so by monthy payment standards, he wouldn’t be too bad off riding it out as long as he wants to live in the house.

If he was dumb and got an adjustable then he’s a loser.

This is one of the strangest developments in Irvine- as most of the homes are 3 stories and they have driveways in the front.  Set too close to the street and almost no landscaping.  Like living in a cement canyon.  I remember touring the models and couldn’t understand the appeal of trying to live on 3 levels (500 sqft per level)  It’s a weird set up.  The pictures look good— but bet most buyers would be turned off on a drive by.

I wish they would start requiring this tomorrow.  I wonder how much prices would fall were that to happen… 70%?  More?

Better yet, do away with debt and mortgages entirely.

I love the picture of the autumn leaves.  It hearkens back to places far, far, away from this crazy housing bubble.

Peaceful.

But now the days grow short
Im in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year

It was a mess of good years [for the housing market]...

Great post, IR!

Pre great depression, usually was a 50% down payment.

And 1 in 10 homes in the US still went into foreclosure in the Great Depression…

I also never understood the appeal of the 3 level townhouse.  A buddy of mine has a 2/2 (1300 sqft) in westpark.  1st floor is all garage, and at least 300 sqft of the living area is stairs.  Why would anyone pay $350 a sqft for stairs?

I actually saw this home!

Interesting feature:

1st floor - garage and 2nd bedroom w/ bathroom
2nd floor - kitchen, dining, living
3rd floor - master bedroom and some loft

If this was a roommate situation - who’d want to be on the first floor? I would feel like an outcast. How would you setup the internet connections, if wireless doesn’t suit you? For people with kids, would they be OK with sleeping two floors below you?

Btw- this home is located at a T-intersection.. not desirable at all for people who have Feng Sui preferences.

Run!!

Kids couldn’t be trusted in their teens to be that far away from Mom and Dad and who would put a small child in a room so far away?  My kids are 9 and 11 and I still go in their rooms and touch their bellies at night and pull up the covers.  This set up is really only good for someone with no kids and doesn’t plan on having any in the near or 10 year future.  Downstairs could be set up for a nice office but it would be too much like going to a real job that it just wouldn’t be any fun.

I got some LPs from Frank Sinatra Live with the Nelson Riddle Band.

Those folks rocked and swang.  And on the LPs the cuts were not compressed for the radio so you can hear Frank stretching out and the band just a’blowing…. wonderful.

My old dear and sorely missed late neighbors saw good old Frank many times in Las Vegas, Reno, LA, Chicago, etc…..

For a while I thought you must have been just a punk youngster but now I recognized a kindred soul with a broad and eclectic taste of music.

Now you gotta hit Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett.  All different from each other but all equally enjoyable.

Luck be a lady tonight
So I can flip this mansion alright

And then. YOU MUST DO ELVIS…...

And his momma cries
Cause they’re moving today
Since the house got foreclosed
in their Irvine ghetto….

I think the French Banking system is postulated on frequent invasions from les boches<i> -ie: germans- and a Napoleonic figure nationalizing the cheese and cognac factories every so often.

<i>Mon Dieu Gaston!  La inflation rate zees too high.  Eet ees time to freeze zets asseets de les fromage et cognac imperilists.  Zat way nous pouvons lower zet eenterest rates, oui?

Or..

Zut alors Francois… here come les boches again…. let’s lower ze interest rates and preent beaucoup de francs again!  Then we can go to Eengland for a while.  Don’t forget to load le Citroen with cheese et cognac!

;-D

Housing commissions want density. High density is official policy. So builders have to toe the line, and purchasers get no options.

I agree that the 3-stories with steep stairs are horrible.  I would be worried if my grandparents had to visit or if I had small children that they might fall down the stairs.

I remember when I first heard about the $400,000 homes in Portola Springs I was excited that they were actually building housing that I might be able to afford.  That was until I visited them.  To think that you would have to be paying that much for a studio is completely insane - and that does not even include the HOAs and Mello Roos.

LOL!

I will keep those ideas in mind. Look for more Frank Sinatra as the week unfolds.

“...not desirable at all for people who have Feng Sui preferences.”

But what about astrological preferences???  I was in a model once, and heard a couple complaining about the “feng sui” of the layout.  That almost made me like the place more, for some odd reason.

We all want to live in a large spread-out home with a lot 10-times the size of the home in a beautiful area very close to urban office towers.  Unfortunately for me, purchasing this property is not a possibility at this stage of my life (if ever).  So, multiple level housing stacked right next to other housing in a dense area is where some of us choose to live.

Summer Wind is indeed a great song, but given the tenor of the times don’t you think you’d be better off with Yesterday and In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning?

You should also leaf through the Beatles catalog. The plaintive Ticket to Ride has some possibilities, wouldn’t you say?

Oh, I had forgotten all about Sinatra’s best! It Was A Very Good Year. Now Irvine Renter, please save that one for an especially tragic listing, because it’s impossible to listen to that song without crying.

Probably the start of it all?

The Tender Trap (and your first mortgage)

“And all at once it seems so nice,
The folks are throwin’ shoes and rice.
You hurry to a spot that’s just a dot on the map.
You’re hooked, you’re cooked,
You’re caught in the tender trap.”

That’s a great one. It occurs to me that there are all kinds of Sinatra songs that will work. Regret over lost love was his specialty. But he’s a survivor, so in another 10 years people can take hope from the words of That’s Life:

I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I’ve been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself, flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.

Or will they?

That’s life
That’s life and I can’t deny it
Many times I thought of cutting out
But my heart won’t buy it
But if there’s nothing shakin’ come this here july
I’m gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die

Oh, I guess I ought to comment on the substance of the posting and not just the music. Come on, $550K for a 1,500 sq ft, 2-bedroom shack? Sorry they screwed themselves, but I’m afraid they’ll be eating that whole downpayment and maybe some more.

You should really enjoy the rest of Frank Sinatra week!

IR, if you get a chance check out The Pope of Greenwich Village. Starts with “summer wind” while a group of Italian guys in suits play stickball at a schoolyard. Classic movie.

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Irvine Renter,
You have to take a look at 7 Chenile 92614!

As a black person, I love, love, love me some Frank Sinatra!  He was a bad a—, cool before the term “cool” was even invented and could sing his a—off.  Believe me - you were ahead of your time.  Frank was only off the grid for a brief period, but quality will always rise to the top and Frank was timeless quality.  Something that people who built housing stock in the past decade seem to have forgotten about.

I own exactly what you describe, for much less than this home is listed for.

There are some awfully nice suburbs in flyover country.

What?...no “ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL” ?! You think it’s tough being a white Sinatra fan?Try being a black one in the age of Hip-Hop.Indeed though my mode of transport is a pickup truck-I threw a club-worthy sound system in it…and I feel NO SHAME in pulling up to the light…next to some blinged out
B’mer on 22’s and blasting “LUCK BE A LADY”.What can I say?...It’s my world.“MYYY WAAAY”!
Unfortunately for the seller of this little gingerbread slice of suburbia-it is clearly NOT his/her tune to call these days.I don’t wish ill upon the owner…but it would appear that they got caught at the peak of the BIGGER FOOL THEORY.Call me when they’re ready to accept 350k.A fair price in my opinion for 1508 sf.

summer wind.
I would like to get a large (36x36) copy of this picture.  Is this possible?

so there is only one bathroom in this 3 story home?