Ghost Town — The Specials
Did you see the recent CNN article on Irvine, Welcome to subprime’s ghost town? How about the post at Calculated Risk on the See-through buildings – reminiscent of the ’80s. The Business Week article The Other Orange County about the boom town gone bust? We are becoming the center of attention as the housing bubble deflates because the activities here were largely responsible for inflating it. Are we reaping what we sowed? The rest of the nation seems to think so…
Today’s featured property was featured before back in November of 2007. It is back now as REO. Last year it was offered as a short sale for $529,000. Anyone who thought about buying that one will be happy they didn’t. Now it is for sale for $459,900.
Asking Price: $459,900
Income Requirement: $114,975
Downpayment Needed: $91,980
Lender Purchase Price: $535,500
Lender Purchase Date: 1/28/2008
FB Purchase Price: $567,500
FB Purchase Date: 12/29/2004
Address: 109 Reunion, Irvine, CA 92603
| Beds: | 2 |
| Baths: | 4 |
| Sq. Ft.: | 1,447 |
| $/Sq. Ft.: | $318 |
| Lot Size: | – |
| Type: | Condominium |
| Style: | Mediterranean |
| Year Built: | 2005 |
| Stories: | Three or More Levels |
| Area: | Quail Hill |
| County: | Orange |
| MLS#: | U8001710 |
| Status: | Active |
| On Redfin: | 10 days |
IT IS HERE AT QUAIL HILL. THIS IS A TWO BEDROOM TWO BATHROOM CONDO THAT
PRESENTS WHAT AN UPSCALE HOME SHOULD BE. YOU HAVE AN OUTSTANDING
ASSOCIATION THAT CREATES A RESORT STYLE OF LIVING. YOU ARE CLOSE TO ALL
THE GREAT THINGS IN THE CITY OF IRVINE; THE BEST SCHOOLS, PARKS,
RECREATION, ENTERTAINMENT, SHOPPING AND TRANSPORTATION. SO COME HOME TO
QUAIL HILL IN THE CILTY OF IRVINE, AND START LIVING THE ORANGE COUNTY
LIFESTYLE TODAY.
When I see ALL CAPS, my eyes glaze over and I don’t even want to read it. I force myself to only for the blog.
THIS IS A TWO BEDROOM TWO BATHROOM CONDO THAT
PRESENTS WHAT AN UPSCALE HOME SHOULD BE. WTF? When did two bedroom condos start representing upscale living? This is one of the more ridiculous statements I have seen a realtor make in a while.
START LIVING THE ORANGE COUNTY
LIFESTYLE TODAY. Has anyone else noticed this statement appearing in REO descriptions lately?
.
.
The owners in Quail Hell are underwater. This comp is being offered for 20% off its 2004 purchase price which is the new value in the neighborhood. I know, not all of Quail Hill can be valued by this one comp; I am sure some neighborhoods are “different.” At least that is what residents will be telling themselves.
This was a 100% financing deal (aren’t they all?) Countrywide originated the refi that went into delinquency and foreclosure. Some bagholder represented by the Bank of New York is going to lose some money. If this property sells for it asking price and if there is a 6% commission, the bagholders stand to lose $135,194. Not a big loss by Irvine standards. That is rather amazing when you think about it. We have been watching this for so long that a loss of less than $200,000 hardly seems worth noting. $135,194 is a lot of money. These bankers could have gone and bought themselves a fancy sportscar instead of making this loan, and they would have been much better off.
.
This town, is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place, is coming like a ghost town
Bands won’t play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor
Do you remember the good old days
Before the ghost town?
We danced and sang,
And the music played inna de boomtown
This town, is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place, is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can’t go on no more
The people getting angry
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
Ghost Town — The Special
The redfin link comes up as this having already gone off the market. Did someone snap this “bargain” up that quickly? Or is someone that unhappy with IHB publicity? Or is the listing just being revised? Hard to say.
That is strange. It was there last night. Maybe Ipop can tell us if it went into escrow.
70K haircut in a matter of months. Not bad.
That can’t make last year knife catching crowd feel very good about their purchases.
The original builders of these apartments must have made out like bandits on the original FB’s.
This place still has quite a way to fall, but it’s good to see that your prices are on their way back to reality.
For almost a half a million bucks, it *should* be upscale living!
Is it 2 bathrooms or 4 IR? I think you have a typo.
I think the next big milestone is when QH falls below 300 a sq ft.
I have been noticing that problem with Redfin lately. It seems like they have the bathroom number wrong quite often. I just copied and pasted off their listing screen.
It took four toilets to drain away that much value so quick….
Another 25% haircut will do on a property like this.
$250 per sq ft … probably worth around the $350k area when all is said and done.
Right on. $2200 monthly rent with 160 GRM comes out $352k.
“START LIVING THE ORANGE COUNTY LIFESTYLE TODAY. Has anyone else noticed this statement appearing in REO descriptions lately?”
A number of times, yes. Perhaps this is the agent’s trademark?
“START LIVING THE ORANGE COUNTY LIFESTYLE TODAY”
Whenever I see that phrase, I get that feeling of being embarassed for someone. Like someone telling a joke met with awkward silence.
It comes off as extremely cheesy and juvenile. I imagine 3-4 high school kids doing a presentation for their marketing class trying to be cute/funny for the entertainment of their peers doing corny advertising slogans like “Start living the OC lifestyle TODAY!” met with snickers from the audience.
To think that a “professional” realtor would engage in this kind of gratuitous monkey-business is pretty amazing.
What an embarassment to realtors everywhere.
Man, Ghost Town!
I used to listen to this song when i was playing Text Based MUDs on AOL back in the early to mid 90’s. I slayed many a text based cave gnome to this song.
This seems like an excellent deal. Looks like the kitchen is all upgraded. I doubt you will find much better deals in the future as this is already a big drop from ’04 prices.
Also, it’s a few steps away from Shady Canyon. You start in QH and move up to SC!
Hahaha! That’s funny.
Long-time lurker, but I just had to post today for two reasons:
Reason #1: The Specials! What a great call, IR. Used to love listening to this stuff in the early 80’s during my OC childhood.
Reason #2: Anyone see the NAR’s press release this morning? It was full of the usual suggestions that the market will stabilize any minute now and that we should all jump in and buy, but it also had two quotes that were noteworthy:
1) The absurd comment from the head of the NAR that blamed slow sales on lenders requiring unnecessarily high down payments. This is a guy who clearly thinks that 5% down should be the maximum limit. Not gonna happen, friend. Banks have to shrink the liability side of their balance sheets any way they can right now, and they are simultaneously going through hugely dilutive capital raises in order to shore up their finances. In this environment, higher down payments will become the norm (as IR has pointed out). Get used to it, NAR.
2) The first intelligent comment ever to come from Lawrence Yun, who pointed out the risk to inflation from further Fed easing, and the likelihood of increased long-term interest rates (and mortgage rates) as a result. Congratulations, Lawrence, for being one of the few to realize that Fed easing will NOT save the housing market. Yun suggests the gov’t offer tax credits to home buyers. Not sure I like this answer either (I’d rather just the market work things out), but at least I appreciate that this is the first time someone has pointed out that the answer is NOT to pander to the debtors who are in are over their heads (bailing them out will only delay the inevitable). No, if you want to make something happen in a hurry you need to pander to the people who actually have cash – those rare savers sitting on cash, the ones who will be most hurt by inflation as it erodes the purchasing power of their carefully saved cash. So Lawrence is right on this count: if you want to boost the market, don’t keep lowering the Fed funds rate, which will degrade the value of our savings through inflation. If you want us savers to save the real estate market, you’re gonna have to make it worth our while. A tax credit might help.
High gas prices ($4 gallon) are directly related to high oil prices ($117 barrel) which is directly related to the dollar being in the toilet. Europeans aren’t seeing the run up in their gas prices because the Euro is holding stable. Low interest rates are keeping the dollar in the toilet hence low interest rates are keeping gas prices high, along with causing a small bubble in other commodities. High commodity prices will cause political revolts forcing the Fed to raise interest rates. Rising interest rates is to only way to bring down gas prices. You can’t have it both ways anymore, low interest and low gas prices.
Great post.
The NAR is well known for its unbiased and extremely accurate portrayal of the current housing market.
Check out 51 Appleglen, 92602.
I guess when every SFR is described as an estate in the RE listings, it probably makes sense to refer to a 2 bed 2 bath condo as an upscale home.
“Start living the Orange County life style” sounds like it was written by an out of towner who watches too much reality TV.
400 THOUSAND DOLLAR LOSS-
Didn’t we talk about how bad people were underwater in Woodbury…..
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1163873
Ahh..”Ghost Town” from the Specials, that song was written about my hometown in England where the Specials are also from.
Actually, Coventry is doing pretty well now even though they have no Manufacturing Industry left.
It was the Home of Jaguar, Triumph, Rolls Royce Aero Engines and one very famous Person who lived there, Lady Godiva.
Sorry, this has nothing to do with Blog, just a little side-note.
They did however go through a massive recession during the late 70’s-early 80’s.
YES! This is it! This is the property I was saying I used to walk by all the time. In its garage was an E 500 Mercedes Benz and a 6 series BMW. 120k worth of automobiles.
Ahhhh the schadenfreude is flowing this morning!
Quail Hell?
That row after row of yuppie-pink flipper condos that metastasized that hillside on the 405 near Irvine Spectrum?
Die.
Flipper.
Scum.
I have to say that I was the original QH comp Killer, and ended up selling my place more than 10% below the lowest recent comps. Still made a tidy sum mind you, but I was certainly able to coax a knife-catcher by leading the market down. I have to give credit some credit to the IHB for helping me come to terms with the dramatic price drops necessary to sell (that and my wife is the most gung-ho price dropper ever).
So I went and read that link to Quail Hell the thing that jumped out at me was.
WTF are people in Irving doing paying San Francisco prices for housing?