Irvine Housing Blog

doesn’t an “estate” require “grounds” i.e., some land that extends more than 4 feet around the house.  9,000 sq ft lot?  and 3 million bucks for that?

Interesting article on the opposite end of the market from the Register.

“For a few delirious years, subprime mortgages brought fat profits to Orange County lenders – plus Mercedes, Beemers and the occasional Lamborghini for their salespeople.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/subprime-percent-home-2233845-lending-loans

How many people who own houses in Shady Canyon made their millions in the subprime biz?

They seem awefully proud of that music room ... and the alley on the side has become a “side courtyard”, which does at least show some creativity on the part of the realtor.

I wonder if the asking price is for some other reason, like to list the house as a $2.8 million asset on the family balance sheet.

What a sham we’ve been running.

Nothing in Irvine is worth 2.8 million.  That includes Turtle Ridge, and the vastly overpriced Shady Canyon.

The tide is rolling out, and exposing a decade of skinny dipping!

In the meantime, I continue to rent and watch the fireworks.

Oh well, hate to say “I told you so”.  Ha-Ha!

A couple of observations. Does a piano and two chairs make a music room? Is that a fish tank dividing the wall in the living room. Rich people do not have a 10 year old TV. I had a TV like that one in 1988. No pics of the kitchen, interesting. It is a nice house but not an estate. And just under $3 Mil? These people are very very proud of their home.

One more thing, in the one photo of what I assume is an office, you see nothing but tile roofs through the windows. $3 Million right?

Maybe it’s a realtor who wants to say “40% off” in a few months.

I’ve seen 50%+ off of some high end homes recently that had been listed for over a year.  The initial asking prices were in some cases WTF.  Some of them were just chasing the market down forever from a mildly high initial asking price.  I’ve also seen bigger reductions after they become REOs.

You think for your 3 mil you’d get a decent view.

These sellers need to put down the crack pipe and kool-aid.

A modest proposal.

So, there’s been talk of whether Obama should initiate interest buy-backs for new buyers, reducing their interest rates to 2.9 or 3.9 or 4.9 or whatever by the government paying points on the mortgage. That and buyer tax incentives.

In not irvine, this has me scared that house price declines could be stopped prematurely.

So here’s my idea of the moment for your consideration:

Only give such subsidies to buyers who can prove one of the following:
1) That they provided the new neighborhood low comp with dispensation for sales within 2 weeks of your closing.
2) That even at the normal interest rate the property would be cash-flow positive as a rental.

This would help chase the market down, while providing additional incentive to buyers. And with clause (2) would still increase buyer activity in hard-hit midwestern areas where owning never got more expensive than renting but where sales are getting slammed by lack of financing and buyer hesitancy. This would also help make sure prices didn’t overshoot too much, because I think that truly underpriced homes are the root of the next bubble (provides the psychology of rent being money thrown away while interest just being, well not worth mentioning).

lol Redfin: No similar recent past sales could be found.

something something about the high end being immune? yeeaa….
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prime24-2008nov24,0,6174050.story

I know of one house that’s been sitting for well over a year. The word was they didn’t need to sell, the house being paid for. At least that’s the word. They bought another in Rancho Santa Fe and the one they left behind in Olivehein. All high end.

The first house, the one they didn’t need to sell, was put on the market for 1.3 million. Now, the glossy flyer, says they’ll take 800K. Of course, they’re still in no hurry.

IR,

Your line about “the rich and famous live by a different set of rules than the rest of us” reminded me of a story.

My friend works as a paramedic in LA and was called to the scene of a pretty bad car accident.  It turns out a famous rapper, apparently due to a seizure, had crashed his luxury ride into a tree.

As his partner was tending to the dazed rapper, my buddy noticed the distinct odor of marijuana. After just a cursory look he found an enormous bag of weed peeking out of a gym bag in the back seat.

My buddy told a nearby police officer he might want to check it out, but the cop quickly shut him down, insisting, “Nope, didn’t see anything.  You know how much paperwork that would take on a celebrity?”

Sadly, this isn’t even the most overpriced home in Turtle Ridge.  IMO, that “honor” goes to 25 Hedgerow.  For just $1,699,000, you too can own 2,240 square feet of “luxury”.  At that price, 25 Hedgerow is $115 per square foot HIGHER than the ridiculously overpriced Blue Summit home profiled!

The scariest part is that someone actually paid $1,625,000 for 25 Hedgerow in July 2005.  I would hate to be that person right about now.

It seems to me that the 2004 price is a pretty fair price for this place.  I don’t understand how they cam to a price equal to and exceeding $/sq.ft. for ocean view properties in NC.

Perhaps they are hoping to help out a neighbor who is Actually trying to sell, by making the other place look like a bargain!

Just speculation…

I’ve seen cases of divorce where one side (often seems to be the wife) tells the court the husband’s assets are (large number) when in fact they are much smaller number.  So to prove the assets are less, the property is listed at the inflated value that one side claims to prove that it can’t be sold for that price.

So, my guess here is that this a divorce price listing.

Alan, this is a good guess.  My brother has been fighting his soon-to-be-ex to lower the price on their house and is finally going to be able to go back to court to force the issue. Amazing.

Great house and great price. It is my dream house. :B

The only thing wrong with this house, other than the price, is the utter lack of land.  For a house this size, a 9,000 sq. ft. lot is a postage stamp.  This should be on an acre or more, with at least a garden and a pool on site.

The photos are beautiful, but what really grabbed me was all the empty space in the house.  Most homes like this one are usually crammed with furniture and knick-knacks.  This one could be a single’s pad for all the lack of “stuff” in it.  (Not that I’m complaining; I hate clutter.)