Livin’ on a Prayer — Bon Jovi
I remember the atmosphere in the real estate market in 2004. There was excitement in the air, fortunes were to be made, and everyone had kool aid intoxication. It would have been impossible for those who drank the kool aid to even imagine they could lose money on the deal, particularly after the market continued higher for another 2 years. Fast forward to 2008, and most of these purchasers have less asset value than they paid, and prices are going lower every day. There is much denial in the market still. Everyone is livin’ on a prayer.
Asking Price: $609,000
Income Requirement: $152,250
Downpayment Needed: $121,800
Monthly Equity Burn: $5,075
Purchase Price: $679,000
Purchase Date: 6/29/2004
Address: 9 Hollyhock Dr., Irvine, CA 92602
| Beds: | 3 |
| Baths: | 2.5 |
| Sq. Ft.: | 1,700 |
| $/Sq. Ft.: | $358 |
| Lot Size: | – |
| Property Type: | Single Family Residence |
| Style: | Other |
| Year Built: | 1998 |
| Stories: | 2 Levels |
| Area: | West Irvine |
| County: | Orange |
| MLS#: | S514086 |
| Source: | SoCalMLS |
| Status: | Active |
| On Redfin: | 177 days |
 Unsold in 90+ days
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Great entertaining floorplan! Spacious open kitchen with Euro whitecabinets & center island. Roomy Master Bedroom with large walk-in
closets. Upgraded Wood Floors, Plantation Shutters. Master bathroom
with separate shower and bath tub and dual sinks. Home is light and
bright with an inviting feel…..and no HOA Dues!
They certainly know how to chase the market:
Listing Price History
| Date | Price |
| Nov 30, 2007 | $829,000 |
| Dec 02, 2007 | $759,000 |
| Dec 11, 2007 | $699,000 |
| Jan 27, 2008 | $649,000 |
| Feb 07, 2008 | $619,000 |
| Feb 19, 2008 | $609,000 |
.
.
These owners purchased the property with a $543,200 first mortgage and a 20% downpayment. They opened a HELOC for $98,000 on 8/9/2005. I hope for their sake they took the money out. If this property sells for it’s asking price, and the sellers pay a 6% commission, they stand to lose $106,540. If they took out the HELOC, then the property is a short sale.
These owners are going to eat a big loss because they did not game the system and withdraw all their equity and leave the bank holding the bag. What do you think about that? The prudent get punished while the irresponsible get away clean?
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Once upon a time
Not so long ago
Tommy used to work on the docks
Unions been on strike
Hes down on his luck…its tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love – for love
She says weve got to hold on to what weve got
cause it doesnt make a difference
If we make it or not
Weve got each other and thats a lot
For love – well give it a shot
Chorus:
Whooah, were half way there
Livin on a prayer
Take my hand and well make it – I swear
Livin on a prayer
Tommys got his six string in hock
Now hes holding in what he used
To make it talk – so tough, its tough
Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night
Tommy whispers baby its okay, someday
Weve got to hold on to what weve got
cause it doesnt make a difference
If we make it or not
Weve got each other and thats a lot
For love – well give it a shot
Chorus
Weve got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when its all that youve got
Livin’ on a Prayer — Bon Jovi
Still pricy I guess but not bad for a 3 + 2.5 SFR behind the Iron Curtain.
Things r getting interesting.
When is the bottom again?
They are chasing the market down from $829k 177 days ago to current asking of $609k. (purchased in 2004 for $679k).
Where is the market on this today? Let the market speak for itself. But I think it will be around $400k in 2010-2011.(GRM160 and $2500 monthly rent)
Not only is this house a box. From the map photo it’s a square box. A square box that is located at the base of the foothills: far away from what makes Irvine, Irvine. If anything screams median income, it’s this one. 4x Irvine median household income has this at less than $400K. In fact, based on the 1999 selling price of just less than 300K and a price rollback to 2001/2002, this house should be less than 350K.
Did I just predict an additional 40% drop?
Would like to know more about Irvine. What does make Irvine, Irvine? What neighborhoods specifically would a family of four find ideal? Thanks.
It’s complicated. An outsider driving through Irvine will just see a very clean and well-master-planned community of sameness. But if you live and/or work here, you get to know the idiosyncrasies of the neighborhoods and each can than “feel” very different.
The drugs are different. Less working class crystal meth, certainly no urban crack, more professional prescriptions and educated hallucinogens. Speaking of Bon Jovi, has cocaine made a comeback?
Okay, I’ll bite. But as Perspective posted, it is really too complicated to capture. Try and give a quick description of Disneyland to someone who has never been there – it’s sort of like that, but not that flashy. You’ll get the idea, but you really need to have the actual experience.
If you have a family to raise, its a great place. Tons of parks, lots of family friendly activities and sports groups to join. Bike trails everywhere. Good libraries. Things are organized. Really well organized. People who work and live in this city seem to care and have strong talents and abilities.
It’s safe here. We ususally make the top safest city in the country – somewhere in the top 10 for sure- but we’ve been number one on a number of years. The downside to that, of course, is that the cops are bored and will pull over your teen on a regular basis. And don’t even think about having one too many drinks and driving home. They’re looking for trouble before it even has a chance to develop. Super safe.
You don’t need to pay for private education for your children. There are a variety of schools with differed focuses and if you want a year-round school over a traditional one, for example, you might have to be put on a wait list, but you most probably will get your choice of school situations.
School district and city government personnel are RESPONSIVE. This is huge. You call with a concern and it becomes their concern. And they’ll get back to you. This city is the most results-driven, results-oriented city that I know of. If a concern comes up, you stand a better chance to get it resolved in Irvine, than any other place around.
It’s tidy and organized. Even when they are tearing up landscaping to refurbish the center mediums or the grasses bordering the roads and sidewalks, the city workers will place small informational signs explaining the work being done. And stuff gets done promptly and in a calculated fashion. Roads being reslurryed? There are signs giving plenty of notice of alternative routes. And it seems like the work is always done on time and even ahead of schedule.
You can attend ANY church or religious service here. Really. There is a “church row” down on Barranca, but there are tons of places of worship that host services of many different cultures and languages, too.
You like ethnic dining? OMG. Irvine is a very short drive to ANY kind of ethnic restaurant or market. The schools and the neighborhoods look like the UN…. every ethnicity and language is spoken here. You want your kids and family to be exposed to extreme tolerance? Live in Irvine. Groups that traditionally have been abused and discriminated against like the elderly, the disabled, gay/lesbian, mixed races…. they are not only tolerated, but protected by the community at large. There are even city sponsored advisory committees to help address issues that discriminated groups face.
Money is managed well here. You don’t have financial fiascos created by idiots in charge like the ones in Santa Ana. SA looks like a third world country with roads in perpetual disrepair, dangerous road conditions, unresponsive government officials on the take, police who are overwhelemed with calls, a school system that has been so poorly managed that they demand their teaching staff take pay cuts so that they can balance the budget, ONE library, you get the idea…..
You get what you pay for. But I really think with the house price correction, that smart families should keep focused on getting into Irvine. Just living in an organized city saves the homeowner a whole lot of money by not having to pay for services, security and convenience that are absent in the neighboring cities.
Oh Yeah….. And Santa Ana regularly raises property taxes to help prop up their financial mismanagment of the schools and the city infrastructure. If you live in a financially savvy city like Irvine you save yourself $$$$$$ and the headaches that occure when you have financially irresponsible city government weenies in charge đ
I agree, Irvine is nice, but, uh, it’s not the Emerald City! I live in a neighboring city (Laguna Beach) that has all that you’ve described, plus the Ocean, plus Culture and the Arts, plus no big box retail (I realize that while I consider that a plus, some people may not…). True, the mailboxes are not all equidistant from one another and the street signs don’t all match, but I’m OK with that lack of tidiness. You will get less house for your $ in Laguna Beach, but if you’re like me and don’t like to clean the house, that’s OK. To an out of towner, I’d suggest that Irvine is a great place – for some people. Some people thinks it’s Stepford-like. The appeal/dislike of Irvine is in the eye of the beholder…
When our children were small,their godparents lived in laguna beach. This couple began overseas adoptions and promptly sold their home and moved into a neighborhood just across the street from ours. They now have five children. One of the ladies teaches at the local school that they all walk to and her partner retired early to be a stay at home parent.
Laguna is an awesome place to live. Irvine is more affordable for the average family, tho.
You also don’t mention the horrific summertime crowds, lack of parking and the dangerous laguna freeway that sports a history of fatal accidents.
Big boxes are a staple for a busy, growing family that participates in sports and other community activities regularly.
Laguna Beach is an island of liberalism in the John Birch ocean of Orange County. Irvine tends to be republican, with a sprinkling of Libertarian. Except for UCI, which skews far left.
All of the churches are on the same big street in Irvine. All lined up, one after another, in a sort of religious ghetto.
Santa Ana is bound by Proposition 13, just like everybody else. That means that they all raise the assessed valuation by the maximum 3% automatically every year.
No disagreement on that traffic issue – we walk or take the trolley into town on weekends in summer. But an advantage of living here is just walking to the beach (no need to ever sit in traffic in the canyon to actually get here on a weekend). I agree Irvine is more affordable for the ‘average’ family – but i’m just amazed at how many $750M + homes sold and still for sale in Irvine over the past few years…bottom line, for us, having a smaller home in a beach community is more appealing than having a larger house in a non-beach one (just different strokes for different folks). I am part of what I’d call an ‘average family’ and we opted early on for smaller quarters in Laguna than we could have had in Irvine. I have three very young children – somehow we still accomplish sports and meeting kids’ needs without having to go to a big box retailer weekly…
Thanks for the response. We are in a special situation, moved here a year ago with corporate relocation and now may be looking at long term disability due to illness, so we are looking to stretch our dollar as far as possible with a purchase. We think Irvine may have what we need for the children for the long-term. We always look for college towns as we find that we usually find like minded people that way. If you think of anything else, we’re all ears. Thanks.
You don’t mention if the disability is with a child or one of the adults in your household, but you should know that Irvine has an “Irvine Residents with Disabilities Advisory Board” (IRDAB) that meets each month. There is also a city employee who fields calls for this particular area of concern. IRDAB is a voluntary group of individuals who have assisted our community in getting sheltered bus stops, Universal Housing design options from local builders, business accessibility for all as well as parking guidelines and other ADA enforcement/promotion practices.
There is an array of housing options for senior citizens and the neighboring Laguna Woods is world class in retirement housing/living options.
Small things, like curb cuts and adequate accessible parking are taken for granted here in Irvine. Take a stroller or wheelchair around to the neighboring cities and see how inconsistent and challenging those environments can be. Accessibility has been master planned into Irvine.
Best of luck in finding a home for your family. We’ve been active in the Irvine Swim League (ISL) for many years. You can go to their site and see which neighborhoods are members. I would suggest that those neighborhoods are good for families. If they have a swim team in place, they have parent volunteers and organized age groups of swimmers in place. In particular, I have found that Greentree, College Park and Colony (older neighborhoods) have exceptional family dedication and focus. Some neighborhoods still have traditional 4th of July parades made up of homemade floats and decorated bikes that course thru the neighborhood while neighbors clap and wave.
I’d like to thank all of you for your comments and observations. To answer NoWow!way, our situation has to do with an illness with my spouse. Won’t even go there with the whole disability thing right now, we’re in the first stage of denial at this point.
Anyway, I just wanted to say how informative and nice the comments have been compared to answers we have received on the blog where we currently live. The South Bay has been an interesting place for the past year and has its merits, but we don’t feel a strong sense of community or the pull that would keep us here. And, prices here (in our humble estimation) are very out of control–even for SoCal.
Excellent summary of Irvine. Thank you for taking the time to write that, NoWow!way.
Thanks for the compliment, CK.
I do what I can around here đ
Of course the mayor is a communist. Is Larry Agron still the Mayor?
What does make Irvine, Irvine?
The “Irvine Attitude”, i.e. SNOBBERY.
Around ten years ago, there was a car commercial for Mercury — “Fred vs the Vista del Condos HOA” that exemplified the Irvine Attitude. In the commercial, the new Mercury Sable owner gets in big trouble with the “Vista del Condos Homeowners’ Association” for owning a Mercury Sable when the CC&Rs;spell out he has to own a Beemer or Benz. The fight spills out over his interior furniture also being forbidden by the CC&Rs;, and ends up with “We’re all Attorneys, Fred; how come you’re not one?”, which is also a violation. All dripping with “We can’t have the Wrong Kind of People moving in” snobbery.
I agree, this house is the definition of Irvine median house, in an Irvine median neighborhood. We drove by this one a few weeks ago, just to get a sense of what $600k gets you in a SFR today. The house and neighborhood are ok, but nothing you will ever get excited about. Like the Honda of houses — gets the job done, but with no frills.
$550-$575k today, $450k in 2010-11, at the bottom.
I’ll also add that as the owner of two Honda’s — I appreciate a good appliance. If the seller is reading this, I’ll buy today for $525k. A median house like this is a perfect starter home for my median 1 child family.
I would buy this for a decent 525k too. Better than buying a condo like the ones on Lockford for 558 (say offered 525k).
People, is anyone making any offers or everyone just waiting right now? Who are those people that are buying the houses currently? Everything I lay my eyes on seems to vanish in a day or two..
CZ
Hey. Hondas happen to be very good cars. Technologically and manufacturing wise Hondas have few peers, and when you factor in their price point they have none.
Example, the current USDM Civic Si: 81000RPM, MT6, LSD all for $20K! And reliable unlike a Ferrari or Porsche. Then you got the Civic Hybrid, the Civic CNG and now the fuel cell Clarity.
Hondas may be simple in the interior (Acuras are nicer) but under the hood they do not cut corners.
Good luck in a Honda during an accident. Apparently, all the Hondas somehow like to end up being CRXes after accidents.
A Honda Accordian? Seriously, I think they perform pretty well.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
all cars are designed to compact like that these days. “crumple zones” instead of the big steel of years past.
You’re comparing Ferrari and Porsche to a Civic? Haha you must massive myopia! See a doctor today! Ferraris are hand-built artwork on wheels. Porsches are barely legal racecars. Civics are mass-produced econoboxes with a slightly enhanced engine and gear ratios to give the illusion of performance without offending your grandmother on Sunday. Get some sense man and get with reality.
My wife and I were at an open house this weekend, same floor plan, just down the street on Copper Leaf. It was a preview open house, the owner is a realtor, and her friend another realtor is selling it for her. Her tentative asking price is $699K (very motivated). Well it looks like this comp just destroyed that price. She did have granite countertops. I have to admit, it is a lovely floor plan. Three bedrooms upstairs with a loft that can be easily converted to a 4th. A small backyard, that comes with a corner fountain and a small piece of grass. For my wife and I, who are going to be first time home buyers, this would be a good home to shoot for when the time is right. We can skip all those town homes, tri-levels, and dinky 1400 sq-ft SFRs â detached condos. What is the deal with the âNO HOAâ. Is it possible? This West Irvine neighborhood has no HOA? Is it built in somewhere else? The track sure looks like it does have some sort of Association.
There are no association dues in this tract… Very little to maintain, i.e. no pool. There is a small park. Maybe it got funded via mello roos?
This is in Tustin school district. I think that could be a factor to its longer market time. If you’re going to pay that much, make sure to check your schools of residency first.
The schools in this part of town (Pioneer, Peters Canyon) are well above average. The hills are in view and its across the freeway from Northpark.
Its still too high but a 27% drop is over halfway down. A 40% drop ($497K) will get me kicking the tires.
A lot off topic, but I wonder if anyone can find out if this home is in any state of forclosure?
31 Campanilla, San Clemente, CA 92373
Two handguns found in house with dead family
UPDATE: Autopsies on five bodies are under way. No identities have been released.
By ANDREW GALVIN and DOUG IRVING
The Orange County Register
SAN CLEMENTE –Two handguns were found in a house here where the decomposed bodies of five family members were discovered over the weekend, Sheriffâs officials said today.
The five were found late Sunday afternoon after relatives went to the house on Campanilla Street in the gated Sea Point Estates neighborhood overlooking the ocean, officials said. The bodies could have been in the house for two to three weeks, said Sheriffâs officials, who believe the deaths resulted from an isolated incident and that there is no danger to the community.
Sheriffâs Lt. Erin Giudice declined to give the exact street address for the house, but neighbors said it was 31 Campanilla. That house is owned by Manas Ucar, property record show. A Margaret or Margrit Ucar also lived at the address, according to property records.
The neighborhood, set on a hillside, has large homes worth between $1.5 million and $2 million, according to Zillow.com.
Found dead in the house were a man and a woman in their 40s or 50s, twin sisters in their 20s, and an older woman in her 70s or 80s, Giudice said.
The sisters and the older woman were found in a first-floor bedroom, while the middle-aged man and woman were found near a closet on the first floor, Giudice said.
One handgun was found near the middle-aged woman, and the other was found near the middle-aged man, Giudice said. She didnât know whether either gun had been fired. One of the guns was registered to the middle-aged woman, she said.
The middle-aged man appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound, Giudice said. One more of the dead also might have been shot, she said. Itâs unknown how the others died she said.
Autopsies of the five bodies began today at 9 a.m., Giudice said. The bodies were so badly decomposed that itâs unlikely any results from the autopsies, including the identities of the dead, will be available before Tuesday, she said.
Can’t find any foreclosure info on this particular home, but there are several preforeclosures (same street) and at least one foreclosure in the neighborhood, and a recent short sale.
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I appreciate all of the info I have read on this site about Irvine. I am looking for information on the neighborhoods.
My husband teaches at OCC we want to live in Irvine-not Irvine that is in the Tustin Marketplace area and we want to live in the older area. I have a friend who lives in University Park. I love the area where she is but I want a detatched home-no common walls. Turtle Rock seems unaffordable. Is there a map that shows the areas? A lot of the listings I see are so far away from being where I think we want to be. We are going to start looking this next weekend to sort out the area and I guess just wait because the prices are so high.
I agree with Cubic Zirconia and wonder who the heck is buying the homes I see in the upper 700’s that I think won’t move and then they do. These seem to be in the areas I am considering the few I know about. Woodbridge included-we are a family soon to be a family of four who want to benefit from the safe community with great schools and parks and convience to work.
I love this site it is always good for a laugh and I am learning so much!
THANKS!
If you want to exchange phone numbers and talk, I am a long time resident and have some suggestions on where to start: mrswilson105@yahoo.com