Irvine Housing Blog

Irvine Renter, we totally need to get a graphic for “hardwood”.

Sold in 2007 for $525K.

According to irvine renter current market value is only 5% off peak for this strategic location - LOL.

But low and behold they are asking 10% over 2007 price.

Let’s see where this closes, the “epic crash” in Irvine continues.  It may sell for 5% off peak or the same, maybe 10% more… Report on the devastation quickly.

You may want to update and be more precise with your price per square foot numbers.

Redfin shows an up tick to $355 per sq ft for 92602.  For recent comps for this gem it’s showing $361.

The epic Irvine crash continues.

This “strategic location” makes me think of other threads we’ve had about the fun health implications of living next to a major road like Jamboree: http://goo.gl/eEIZp

Here is a question that has perplexed me:

I fully understand why large banks would want to
throttle the shadow inventory sales rate to
keep prices artifically high. (as explained
above)

From what I can tell, the banks are emulating
the Debeers diamond business model. IE. keep
the huge oversupply of diamonds in the vault
and meter them out to create an illusion
of scarcity and force prices high.

What I don’t understand is why small/medium
size banks with limited R/E exposure would
not dump their entire portfolios on the market
to recover as much cash as *quickly* as possible?

In others words, why don’t the small banks
jump off the cliff first and thus maximizing
their total possible return?
 
Are all the banks linked together as a cartel?

School Information

  * Elementary School: Myford
  * Middle School: Pioneer
  * High School: Beckman
  * School District: Irvine Unified

Beckman is Irvine Unified?

Yeah, tell that to the unsuspecting FCBs.

Maybe someone has suggested this before, but periodically, you should have a “Price is Right” contest on polling for the actual sales price on a recently listed WTF price such as this

Closest to, without going over gets some kudos from you, and on their death bed, they will maintain total consciousness, which is nice….

My bid is 489,900 with a closing date of 8/1/2011

Why does the Nar get quoted anymore? Aren’t their numbers suspect by definition?

A few years ago, there was a front page article in the OC Register that had a cool map. It detailed the distressed properties/foreclosure problem by zip code in Orange County. For example, if a zip code had more than 6 months of inventory, it got shaded red. Buried in the article, the writer talked about how he came up with the months of inventory….# of foreclosures + distressed properties divided by the sales per month. I thought, “WTF”.  I wrote to the guy and asked what the rates would be if new inventory and existing (non-distressed) properties were factored in.  And then I began my plans to sell our house.

I’ll say short sale of $470K in November of 2011.

boy, boy, boy, prices in a double dip with the fed buying bonds and interest rates at serious artificial lows….  We have a long hard slow grind ahead of us for a decade or more.  Prices slowly deflating as rates rise at best.  The almighty help us if we get anything other than a slow rise in inflation and rates.  Imagine buying any of this with 9% money….  pobre si!

B

Wow… what would happen if rates just went back 7.25% - what I paid in 1999 with perfect credit and 20% down??  Most don’t really realize that rates falling for 20 to 30 years - depending on your definition - also, enabled this ginormous bubble.  Now we will likely see a reversal to mean.  Not all at once but, slowly.  Rates will just rise slowly (if we are lucky) for as long as you can see….  I’m guess a 3-4 point rise in long term rates over the next 10-12 years. 

Why do you think gold is going through the roof??  Just like the 70s…stagflation.  Rising rates, rising commodities, rising inflation.  And, declining values for anything and everything that requires borrowed money. 

Yikes… I’m not happy about it.  I own property but, also rent a place.  Just a very tough decade or two in front of us….

BD

Interest rates will not go to 7% or 9% by magic or because it is the ‘mean’.  10-year rates were very low for much of the 50’s, so we can have today’s low rates for a while.  Rates were higher in 1999 even in the face of an improving deficit situation - why?  Maybe it is because investment dollars were gushing into stocks?  Which also coincided with a very healthy job market?

Rates will rise with two factors: rising inflation and an economy moving closer to full capacity.  What could produce higher rates is the fed saying its inflation target is now 4% instead of 2% (it gives more flexibility in the zero-bound situation we are currently in).  We had rough 4% inflation in the 90’s and that was a decent decade economically (really, compare it to the 00’s), so 4% inflation would not hurt.  If the fed did this, you’d have rates spike 2% higher…but you’d have 2% more inflation, keeping real rates nearly constant.  Higher rates, with higher inflation are easier to handle than lower rates with zero or negative inflation.