Irvine Housing Blog

Where did we spend the millennium?  Given the tin foil hat-isness of some of the posters here, I bet you a sizeable minority spent it in a well stocked basement waiting out the Y2K fiasco!

A pedant would of course point out that the eve of the Gregorian 2^nd millenium was 31 December 2000.

Regardless, on 31 December 1999 I was vacationing in Kona, Hawaii.  Nothing of lasting significance happened to me.  Congratulations, IR!

I like seeing “not a short sale” in the description.  These days, if it’s owner occupied (that is, if the pictures show cars in the driveway and furniture and personal items in the house), I just assume it’s a short sale, even if it’s not marked as such.  Some real estate agencies seem to have a policy of hiding the fact that a listing is a short sale-here in Riverside, the local Prudential office does this.  Their listings keep popping up in my Redfin searches, even though I have filtered out short sales.

Note to self: do not bring in guest bloggers to spout realtorspeak.

Westminster home draws multiple offers in 1 week

Look at what is going on over there. Realtors have been given control of the OC Register Blog for “reporting” that is poorly disguised market cheerleading.

Here’s a recent sold comp that sold for more than the listing on this one:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/4-Longbourn-Aisle-92603/home/5711425

300 sq foot less, one less bedroom, one more bath.  .81 miles away, sold Feb 19th for $850k.  Doesn’t look like a foreclosure sale; looks like a real sale, although that’s hard to tell from the Redfin page alone.

comes complete with your own ‘‘grassy knoll’’ as a conspiracy theory conversation starter.

Not living nor buying in Irvine, I rarely have an opportunity to constructively chime in but here goes:

On the night people celebrated the Millennium, I was in the French Quarter of New Orleans with two of my brothers and one of my best friends.  It wasn’t a significant life moment by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a good time nonetheless.

I miss living there, but can’t complain too much about where I am now.

Mr. Mortgage has been sighted:

4-7 — CA Foreclosures About to Soar

“Are you ready to see the future? Ten’s of thousands of foreclosures are only 1-5 months away from hitting that will take total foreclosure counts back to all-time highs. This will flood an already beaten-bloody real estate market with even more supply just in time for the Spring/Summer home selling season - great timing!”

Looks like a bachelor pad…I’ll take the pool table though!

This property is in a good location of that development, with closer walking distance to the local schools.  I would think that would make this property a little more valuable than some of those further in, given the lack of sidewalks leading from the residences to the greenbelts.

We were asleep at midnight on the eve of the millennium.  Living on the edge, eh?

Anyways, Wow!  Turtle Rock is expensive.  $815,000 for a condo?  I guess the buyer will be paying $415,000 for the condo, and $400,000 for the opportunity to have his kids attend Uni.

I spent 1999 New Year’s Eve with friends in my brand new Irvine home that we had just closed escrow on 1 month prior.

It was a new 4/3 detached for $320k that I thought was very expensive at the time.

10 years later… I doubt we will ever see prices that low again… or will we?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123931996530606873.html#mod=testMod

Interesting story on the roll-out of the new Obama refinancing option for mortgage backed by a GSE.  Interesting that those with PMI are not able to avail of this.  Doubt many in the newer areas of Irvine qualify either.

I spent Dec 31, 1999 at a small party, stone sober hoping that my beeper (remember those?) wouldn’t go off and order me into the office.  Let’s face it, we really weren’t sure what was going to happen to the mainframes.

“Where did you spend the eve of the Millennium?”

I like this question, because it reminds me of a bygone time of innocence where we were all asking another question:

Will this be the end of the world?

And in a funny way it was the beginning of the end. I was in a largely empty airport (possibly Chicago), pondering that very question, the Christmas lights still strung up amidst the high arching glass and metal ceilings. I walked alone through an empty security line, the bored guard grumbling as I checked my watch for the time.

What would happen? Would my plane fall out of the sky?

I would have never have believed it would take 9 years for the world I’d know to end. Soon there will be riots and civil war as the world economy implodes, the bankers who started this will be stoned to death in the streets.

The real end is nigh.

At home being awaken by the kids for new years.

The location is great for those with kids, but WTF pricing.  IMHO, construction quality is ~$80-90 per sq ft.  High monthly HMO.  Let’s get real.  However, recents sales were slightly less.  They should make a huge profit from the purchase price in 1999.

I heard of some recent 40% cash down buying knife catchers buy SF bay area condo/duplex property for “investments.”  To bad the bounce is Fed and US Treasury manipulation.

The Grassy Knoll looks pretty from a distance but is a minefield of dog S%*t from the many inconsiderate people who walk their dogs there.

You know how WFC Wells Fargo said they made a huge profit and all the banks cheered yesterday?

How much of that was due to the change in Mark to Market accounting?  I heard the government is now letting banks say their assets do not need to be priced at todays prices anymore.  They can price them back to what was paid for them.

In anycase, I missed the boat on that.  I really was hoping for nationalization.  Still it may happen.  This recession is not over.

“Of course, we had no idea we would end up in Irvine when we came to visit. I lived in Florida at the time, and I had no thoughts of moving. We always remembered the great time we had here and what a wonderful place to raise a family Irvine is. As life worked out, we decided to move to California, and we finally ended up here”.

What market impact does this general consensus/feeling have on the SoCal Real Estate supply and demand (and pricing) in relation to “fundamentals” of pricing and affordability? When many people want to live in this part of the country…?  Does this buck the fundamental trend of thought?

I am a frequenct reader (almost daily).  I have always enjoyed reading a very objective analysis on the housing market.  Lately, things have seemed to get more personal (particularly in the comments). 

Today, you post a profile of a house who belonged to an old friend.  On top of that, you reveal personal details (irresponsible with the mortgage, motivated seller, etc). 

Please bring back the impersonal blog!!!

We made a ton of money back then providing Y2K compliance verification. Kind of like doing Loan Mods these days. Big Business. We went to a huge party in CM. Fireworks were legal there. Great time. Kid was only about 13 then.

$ 815,000 for a 30 year old Condo ??? Never gonna happen.

The end of the last millennium was on December 31, 2000 not December 31, 1999.  This is because there is no 0 AD.

This is a must-read from a local (new jersey) paper

“I’ve read about continuing price reductions in our area.  Is buying a home still a good investment”  Im thinking about making a move this spring.

Answer: Real estate continues to be a viable and reliable investment.  Our market is undergoing a recalibration after an unprecedented run up in prices during the 2000-2005 period.  That recalibration is opening the door to the American Dream of home ownership for many who were previously unable to buy.  The market is also creating opportunities for most sellers, who even after adjusting asking prices, are able to realize a profit on their invetment.  Today many buyers and trade up sellers are finding that they are able to get more house for the money than in the past.  It is important to remember that a home is more than an investment or a price it provides shelter, a place where memories are made and to raise a family.  Plus, homeownership provides significant tax benefits and with interest rates at 50 year lows its a good time to buy in New Jersey.

I love this stuff, I think even if you tried to parody this you couldn’t write it this well.

I used to live in Turtle Rock, sold in 2006 (lucky dog, I know).  I loved it there.  I lived in the Broadmoor and would go on the loveliest walks with my wife and dogs.  I miss it. 

That said, the condo section on Turtle Rock feels a bit on the run-down side.  Certainly not worth over 800k.  I sold my 4 bedroom SFR in Turtle Rock for about 900k.

Carl