Columbia Square – University Town Center Investment

Address: 14 Columbia #6, Irvine, CA 92612 (University Town Center)

Plan: 980 sq ft – 2/1

MLS: S459193 DOM: 42

Sale History: 9/7/2005: $483,500

8/21/1986: $131,000 <- per Zillow

Price Reduced: 10/10/06 — $498,000 to $475,000

Current Price: $475,000

We had some good comments on the other University Town Center condo so here’s another one. This condo in the Columbia Square tract was purchased as an investment about a year ago. It was subsequently rented out and will be tenant occupied until the end of November (according to the private remarks in MLS). The ‘investor’ (flipper) purchased this property with 100% financing and get this.. the lender’s name was Zero Down Mortgage! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?

I’m pretty sure the rent received on this property won’t be anywhere near the monthly cost of owning this home (this is clearly a negative cash flow situation). This ‘investor’ is losing money every month and since prices didn’t increase 15% in the last year, he’ll be losing money on the sale as well. If the condo sells at the current asking price (and assuming 6% in selling costs), he’ll have to bring about $37,000 to the table to get rid of this property.

3 thoughts on “Columbia Square – University Town Center Investment

  1. NanoWest

    With the inventory of houses in Irvine above 8 months (October ended with 1120 listings and 133 sales) I am sure that there will be a rush to purchase this little condo. I wonder if there will be an increase in hard liquer sales in Irvine so that the people that own these bad investments can numb the pain.
    —–

  2. zovall

    Great post! 116% financing?!?  That’s just wrong.  What’s really unfortunate is that companies like Zero Down Mortgage are the ones making tons of money in this bubble with very little risk. As soon as they close the loan, they sell it off to someone else. They don’t lose any money when the borrower defaults.

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