$149,900 and Falling ** Update **

This property was already the low-price leader in Irvine, but it must not have been low enough. The listing prices has been reduced to $114,900.

Yesterday, when I described the ratings of properties and the cashflow levels to which they should fall, I mentioned that the bottom of the Irvine market is defined by condos that only make sense as a cashflow rental. Today’s featured property is one of those.

338 Streamwood Kitchen

Asking Price: $149,900

Address: 338 Streamwood, Irvine, CA 92620

Skeletons of Society — Slayer

Armageddon

Nothing here remains
No future and no past
No one could foresee
The end that came so fast
Hear the prophet make his guess

Shades of death are all I see
Fragments of what used to be

People seem to be recovering from the weekend’s nuclear blast. I knew the announcement would have some shock value, but I did not anticipate the level of heightened emotion it would cause. If I had it to do over again, I would do it differently. I apologize to everyone who was upset and hurt by my foolish decision. I am completely human.

{book6}

Remember our little graphic from yesterday? I have updated for today’s property. A property like this should fall to cashflow investor levels. Who wants to coup themselves up in 475 SF for any period of time? This is a student rental or perhaps a 20-something professional just starting out, and then the only motivation to own would be to save on rent for a couple of years while saving for a nicer property.

Even at $149,900–which is the least expensive unit in Irvine–I doubt this is even at rental parity, particularly after all the discussion we had yesterday about declining rents. Even though this is already a 2003 rollback, it will drop much further, IMO. This property sold for $50,000 in 1998. If you allow for a generous 4% rate of appreciation, this place would be worth $75,000 now. Factor in lower interest rates and perhaps a slightly higher rate of appreciation, and it might justify $100,000, but that is about it. This property could conceivably see a 50% reduction from its 2003 purchase price.

The scary part for Irvine’s market is that these are the investment properties that should bottom first, and they are nowhere close to where they should be. One unique phenomenon of The Great Housing Bubble was the extreme appreciation at the low end. At one point, this property appraised for $270,000. That represents a 540% increase in price in less than 10 years. There is so much air under these prices, that it will take a 70% price cut to bring them back to affordable levels. We have already witnessed price declines of this magnitude on properties in other markets. These are the least desirable properties in Irvine, and it will happen to these too.

338 Streamwood Kitchen

Asking Price: $149,900IrvineRenter

Income Requirement: $37,475

Downpayment Needed: $29,980

Monthly Equity Burn: $1,249

Purchase Price: $171,000

Purchase Date: 12/19/2003

Address: 338 Streamwood, Irvine, CA 92620

Beds: 1
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft.: 475
$/Sq. Ft.: $316
Lot Size:
Property Type: Condominium
Style: Traditional
Year Built: 1977
Stories: 1
Floor: 2
View: Pond
Area: Northwood
County: Orange
MLS#: S569908
Source: SoCalMLS
Status: Active
On Redfin: 3 days

FABULOUS VALUE!!! Quiet & Serine Studio Unit. Newer kitchen with
newer applicances, including dishwasher (unique for this complex).
Cherry wood cabinets. Granite countertops accentuated by
state-of-the-art decorative lighting. Nice tile floors. Contempory
kitchen opens to living & dining area for those who like to cook
& entertain. Enclosed patio overlooks running steams & peaceful
trees. Vaulted ceilings for open & bright feel.

Serine? A hydrophilic amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins. Hmmm…

applicances? Contempory?

including dishwasher (unique for this complex). Real nice.

for those who like to cook
& entertain? With 475 SF, you better be entertaining Lilliputians.

ALL CAPS AND THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

My observation of HELOC abuse is that it crosses all economic classes. I have profiled properties where people spent more than $1,000,000, and then there are properties like today’s where the owner of the tiniest condo in Irvine managed to borrow and spend almost $100,000.

Stop and think about that for a moment. The owner of the least expensive property in Irvine was able to tap the housing ATM for $100,000 in under 3 years. If you want to understand why we have so many knife catchers right now, one of the reasons is because many people think the housing ATM will be turned on again soon. It won’t.

  • This property was purchased for $171,000 on 12/19/2003 (I wonder if there is room for a Christmas Tree?) The owner used a $162,450 first mortgage and a $8,550 downpayment.
  • On 9/1/2004 he opened a HELOC for $9,000 to “liberate” his downpayment equity.
  • On 11/1/2005 he refinanced with a $180,000 first mortgage.
  • On 9/22/2005 he opened a HELOC for $47,000.
  • On 10/12/2006 he opened a HELOC for $90,000.
  • Total property debt is $270,000.
  • Total mortgage equity withdrawal is $107,550 including his downpayment.

This appears to be a short sale although it does not say so in the description. I doubt the owner cares; he has his $100,000.

{book7}

Minutes seems like days
Since the fire ruled the sky
The rich became the beggar
And the fool became the wise
Memories linger in my brain
Of burning from the acid rain
A pain I never have won

Nothing here remains
No future and no past
No one could foresee
The end that came so fast
Hear the prophet make his guess
That paradise lies in the west
So join his quest for the sun

Shades of death are all I see
Fragments of what used to be

Skeletons of Society — Slayer

55 thoughts on “$149,900 and Falling ** Update **

  1. cara

    Where’s the door??? Ahhh!!! I’m trapped, trapped I say!!! What, do you leave and enter by the balcony? I know, it must be hidden behind those mirrored closets that lead to the living/room dining room/bedroom. I love the duplicate pictures, did they think someone would be fooled into thinking there was another room? I mean it says studio.

    Hurry, buy your own hotel room in Irvine. Only 1000x the nightly rate.

    1. brea

      After studying the pictures, my guess is it through the kitchen. That is more likely than next to the toilet, which is the only other possiblity.

  2. AbroadThankGod

    About the “change of tone” comments:

    It was/is inevitable that the nature of this blog will change. It can’t be permanently bearish as the market will, eventually, become more rational and reasonably priced. Moreover, remember that IR has profiled nearly 700 homes in a city with a population of only 200,000. Just how many more WTF prices can he find? (And does anyone realize how much time and effort has gone into this blog … for free?)

    No one is saying that the market has “bottomed”. No one is saying “now is a good time to buy”. But there has clearly been a move in the direction of affordability (I’m not saying this are affordable NOW, just that prices have dropped). That shift will only grow in the coming months and years. Thus, the IHB can choose to be a haven for those that simply want to complain about the status of the country and the negative impact of banksters and irresponsible buyers, or it can continue to chronicle the housing market in an open and honest way. Perhaps it can be both. But it can’t just be the former.

    Look, I do think the country is a mess. Some terrible politicians, businessmen and public policies, not to mention irresponsible consumers, have caused the problems we have now. But I don’t think the IHB should only be a clearinghouse forum for such a dialogue.

    I want to know when IR thinks the tide has turned and prices are reaching fundamentals. If every time he even alludes to that possibility someone is going to call him out, then eventually he’s going to lose patience and give up on us all. Please, can we just hold off on judgement for more than 3 days? My gut instinct is the IR and Zovall have always had our best interests at heart. I think it’s worth giving them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

    1. AbroadThankGod

      And yes, I did wait until today to write this because I knew I would be first and would have everyone’s attention. If you don’t like it then you can wake up in the middle of the night to beat me to the punch. Or move to Europe.

      1. movingaround

        I agree – if the blog doesn’t change with the times it will become useless. I had mixed feelings about this whole thing; however, I do believe that there are enough people out here that will call IR when they feel he is wrong on a calculation or predictions and IR is great at maintaining decorum in response – that is what makes this blog good!

        1. Dejnov

          One of the other blogs that I love tracking also is the Dr. Housing Bubble Blog. While the blog is better known for its entertaining Real Homes of Genius articles, he also publishes a great retrospect series comparing similarities between the present crisis and the Great Depression.

          The real meat of his blog is contained within that article series; namely, that we’ve seen this before, it’s not unexpected, and there is a rational end that occurs to financial crises like the one we’re currently experiencing.

          It’s actually a very somber series that examines the Florida real estate market in comparison to the current one. In the 1930’s without MBSes, real estate was localized and Florida was the only prominent credit-fueled real-estate bubble that occurred. The similarities between then and now are overwhelming. If history is any guide, and it surely is, then the misery the country went through in the Great Depression is probably going to occur this time also.

          The major difference we have right now is that the economic pain is much more global in nature and, for better or worse, America is better situated to weather the storm due to its lack of manufacturing infrastructure (Naked Capitalism had a great article on this). Also, we’re currently going through a real estate price collapse at a much faster pace. While the stock market took four years to implode, Florida real-estate took six years to reach rental parity and another four to five to reach investment parity.

          One truth that was self-evident by the end of the Great Depression that will be apparent this time around also is that prices for goods depend upon earnings, not on credit or debt levels.

          IrvineRenter has done a very good job of stating that fact countless times and making it the foundation of his articles. So far, none of his advice can be construed for ill intent and he’s been spot on with his analysis. I’m very confident that he’ll maintain the same integrity and rigor years from now as when he first started the blog.

          Dejnov.

  3. MalibuRenter

    70% price cut. Yep, people will slowly come around to numbers like that. I was saying 40-45% drop in 2006 to the bottom. By late 2008, I had raised that to 65-70%, because of the recession and the high portion of homeowners with cashout refis and helocs.

    The high end bottoms later than the low end, but neither one increases before 2012.

    1. IrvineRenter

      Do you have one of those great graphs showing the rise and fall based on different market segments? I remember it was you that pointed out to me the unusually large amount of appreciation at the low end versus the high end during the bubble rally.

      Also, I have noticed over at Piggington.com the graphs showing Plummeting Price Tiers. The downside showing the low end crashing harder than the high end is obvious.

      1. Major Schadenfreude

        “Plummeting Price Tiers”

        I’ve heard that “plummeting price tiers” can cause “plummeting price tears.”

        Whether these were of joy or sadness was not specified.

  4. MalibuRenter

    A note on realtor descriptions. I have been outside of CA looking at houses. I was quite surprised that here the photos were all pretty good quality, most of the descriptions made sense. There was not a single ALL CAPS listing, and I didn’t notice misspellings.

    I have a feeling that other MLS systems have much different standards, maybe even have spellcheck. The several realtors I met seemed much more professional than your typical LA realtor. Maybe stable markets lead to professionalism, instead of people who got into real estate out of greed now living in fear.

    1. Walter

      The SoCalMLS system force converts some of the fields to upper case. This may be way many of the agents just leave the caps keys pressed the whole time. That or they like the bold statement all caps makes.

    2. thrifty

      Malibu Renter:
      I agree with your observations. Patrick.net website had an interesting post by a (stated to be) realtor that I think is right on the money. Regarding the 6% commission: as I understand, it is a hold over from many decades ago when home prices were much, much lower and the absolute amount yielded by a 6% commission commensurately reasonable. Here’s the link if you’re interested:
      http://patrick.net/wp/?p=16245

      1. Bitter Renter

        That post doesn’t seem to talk about the origin of the 6% (your explanation makes sense, though only to the extent that housing prices have outpaced inflation even during non-bubble periods), but the realtor’s revelations are certainly illuminating.

  5. Mike Fernandez

    Regarding changes to IHB, I agree — you should make decisions that will benefit you, even if that upsets people who’d prefer to say that everyone in a given industry is evil. It’s never true that everyone in a particular industry is evil. I’m in the process of “hurting” my present management because I’m transferring to another area after 24 years. The reason? There are better opportunities for advancement, and the potential for making more money for myself. These are selfish considerations, but they’re the ones that people say are the most important ones.

    Moving into real estate sales is a change, but as others have noted, the change itself is a logical outcome of the gradual return to sanity of our markets, and it’s likely a signal that we’ve gotten to a particular stage in the process. IR has not, in the past four days, reversed himself and become a mindless cheerleader. He’s just saying that, from his perspective, and for the things he wants out of life, it makes sense to him. IR has given many reltitively objective analyses of particular properties, and has taught me some things. What if he were a realtor who actually made his objective analyses for his clients? What would be wrong with that? I hope he retains his objectivity, and I have seen nothing to suggest otherwise. Now we might have blog entries that show, from a relatively objective perspective, what goes on from the realtor’s viewpoint as well. Good luck, you’ve earned my respect and I’ll continue to read the blog to see the results.

  6. Lee in Irvine

    IR

    I don’t know what you’re apologizing for … being a capitalist or joining the REIC?

    And how would you have done it differently … not disclose the business venture, or just not join the REIC?

    You didn’t do anything wrong.

    1. ockurt

      I agree with you Lee. No need for him to apologize.

      If I knew as much as he did, I’d do the same thing. We all have families to feed.

  7. thrifty

    Irvine Renter:
    The S.F. Chronicle had an article yesterday about the large shadow inventory. One of the comments stated that wealthy investors are cherry picking foreclosures by banks, some of which are advertised for rent before the foreclosure process ends. The implication is that foreclosures ultimately listed by banks are not the cream of the crop. I suspect this is true but have no idea how extensive the practice is among banks. Do you have any thoughts?

    1. IrvineRenter

      I wish there was a good way to measure this. I do know the FED keeps good statistic on defaults, and it is defaults that are causing the problems. There are many of these. Defaults turn into foreclosures that turn into inventory. Very few defaults are being successfully cured right now. So this inventory will be coming to the market; it is only a matter of time.

      One hidden economic stimulus is all the people in the US and in California in particular who are not paying any housing costs. Many people are living free in their McMansions waiting for the foreclosure and eviction. The money that used to being going somewhere else in the form of debt service is staying in the local economy. At some point, the economy is going to have to absorb the shock of these people going back to paying for their housing.

      I don’t know about the cherry picking of REOs. If a lender has to buy a property at auction, they will want to get top dollar for it in the open market once it is listed. Giving special favors to people it a good way for banks to get busted for not acting in their shareholders best interests; although, it may happen anyway.

      1. BurnedbyToll

        One of the owners of the company my husband works for is in an investment group that is buying groups of homes from the bank (sometimes up to 100 homes)for much less than the bank would have listed them for because they are getting rid of them in bulk. This group has allready made profits selling these home. Not large profits, but small amounts made bigger by the quantity of properties they are selling. Will this keep individuals from reaping any “great deals” on bank owned homes? Any opinions?

        1. IrvineRenter

          It is always going to be hard for individuals to find great deals on any property because they will be competing with others looking for the same. Pricing will almost always rise to fall to the level of the current market comps. Extreme outliers are rare.

          These bulk purchases are one way for the banks to offload the headaches of managing and preparing properties for sale. Someone at the bank has analyzed their costs associated with REOs and concluded it is better to discount and sell in bulk than to hold and sell them one at a time. You will see more of this because the banks do not want to bring on the staff necessary to effectively deal with this problem, particularly when they will just need to lay off all those people a 3-5 years from now.

      2. thrifty

        Irvine Renter:
        Your answer leaves me unclear about where in the “foreclosure leading to auction” process the investors are cherry picking homes. Can a foreclosure be bought from a bank before being auctioned? If so, then this is how the cherry picking is happening. On the other hand, if an auction is required in order to buy a foreclosed property, the implication is that a number of banks are engaging in shenanigans – which seems highly unlikely to me. Check the post by BurnedbyToll which relates to the cherry picking matter.

        1. IrvineRenter

          The public auction is the result of the foreclosure process. A transaction prior to the auction would be a short sale, and banks do sometimes allow them, but not very often. Anyone with cash can go bid at the auction, but since it does require all cash, it is a very limited buyer pool and prices are depressed. The banks would rather not acquire properties at auction. After the auction, the property is REO (Real Estate Owned). Once it is REO, the bank must manage the property and prepare it for sale in the open market where people can use financing. Once the bank owns the property, they are going to want to obtain maximum resale price for it because they want to minimize further losses. They generally will not make special deals with people on the inside because it does not maximize shareholder value.

          If “cherry picking” were to occur, it would have to go like this. Let’s say a broker gets 20 listings from a bank. The broker is going to have special clients that may get shown the properties before they hit the MLS. If these clients are willing to pay the price the bank wants for these properties, they may be sold without ever being listed. This would appear to the outside world like cherry picking; however, it really would not be. The lender is going to set a high initial asking price for all its properties. It will instruct the broker to list for this price and lower it periodically until it is sold. The people who are “cherry picking” are basically paying the maximum bank asking price. This does not sound like a particularly good deal to me.

          1. thrifty

            Irvine Renter:
            Thanks. The appearance of cherry picking is due to a broker arranging a sale to an investor without notice of a short sale or REO ever reaching the public via MLS or other public communication. The broker, as I understand it, has no obligation to publicize the property. The potential jeopardy is the bank’s; it might have to explain its selling price to shareholders; poor judgment is not illegal.

          2. IrvineRenter

            Exactly.

            If poor judgment were illegal, we could arrest some of the people who worked to create this mess. There was a lot of greed prompting a lot of poor judgment.

  8. christian

    I have been thinking about the comments lately that there has been a bubble in rents at this time they are falling as well. To me rents are not the best input to the system because it is not the controlling variable it is dependent upon income. It seems that you could buy a home at the rent/own break-even point and still over pay for the home because rents were inflated. I was looking at your post “Fundamentals at a Market Bottom” and the graph of price to income ratio looks like it could hold some of the answer. The bottom of the last few bubbles was when the ratio was at about 4.2. I take it this is for a single-family residence. If we assume that this works for all residential property, then all we would need for pricing homes is the more stable income for the demographic of buyer.

    Is there information out there for the average income in Irvine for the different demographics of buyers (AKA one bedroom condo, two bedroom condo, small SFR 2-3 bedrooms, large SFR 4-5 bedrooms, what ever they break it down as)?

    1. NOT

      I think you are suggesting that house prices can be determined by the median income at the location of the property. I think you have something interesting here, but in order to do this you would have to place each house on a curve and say that house X is better than house Y on that curve. Very difficult to do. The best way to do that would be based on what folks paid for it in the past or are willing to pay for it now or it’s rental equiv.. This puts you back into the original problem of moving rental equivs..

      1. christian

        Yes I am suggesting that you look at the average income to determine the value of a place. You would need to drill down to a more detailed level for properties. People are suggesting this already today, by saying that a young professional can afford some thing. What does the average young professional make? 45000 a year multiply by 4.2 from the income to price ratio on previous posts and you have it. 4.2 I take is for a SFR so it is probably less for a condo maybe 3.2 X 45000= 144000. That is what I am talking about. There seems to be the info for the average house and the average income, but what is the average buyer of this property and what does some one like that make? If you had that info you take out any bubbles in rent, and it comes down to income. We all seem to think that people by a house based on income.

  9. Geotpf

    This amount of money will get you an older 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,600+ sq ft house on a 8,500+ sq ft lot in Riverside, with no Mello Roos or HOA fees. I just put in an offer on such a property.

    I think that’s a factor to continue to drag down prices on the low end-people will decide which do they want-minimal commute and a studio condo, or a longer commute and an actual house. Many will choose the house. And maybe not as far as Riverside; Anaheim or Corona might be compromises, for more money for less square footage than out here, but still an actual house.

    1. brea

      When I was looking to buy in 1985. After seeing what I could get in Irvine, I looked in Corona. Then I saw what I could get just a little farther East in Riverside, and I bought there. There was hardly any traffic then until I got to the 55 fwy.

      At the time, I feared being stuck with HOAs on top of a larger mortgage. Just starting out, if one of us lost our job, there was not a lot of savings to fall back on. The appeal of Riverside for me has been more about security and not so much about the size of the house.

      BTW, the traffic has been a lot better in this last year. When you hear about the 12% IE unemployment, keep in mind that if a commuter losses their job, it shows up in the stats for their hometown, and not in the town they use to work in.

  10. SoCal78

    Thank you, IR. I think your readers will be happy to see you made an effort with the apology and also surprised at the revelation that you are human. 😉 I am sure many bloggers will regret letting themselves get too heated too quickly, as I know I did. Sorry for that.

    1. IrvineRenter

      I agree with Mitoman below, this probably would rent for about $1,200. When you factor in the $206 HOA fees, the effective rent would be about $1,000. This might be near rental parity, but to a cashflow investor, it needs to fall to $100,000 to $120,000 to make any sense. If rents continue to deteriorate, then the value drops accordingly.

  11. Mitoman

    475 square feet is a little too small, I don’t think you can rent this over 1,200…

    But its coming to a point where its affordable =)

  12. OCRefugee

    These rented for about $600/mo in the mid 90s. They’re fine if you’re under 30, probably a litle cramped beyond that. But still, its important to note, mid 20s professionals can finally buy somthing again.

  13. freedomCM

    Several apartment companies are now offering studios in Irvine and NPB for $900.

    If you think you are going to get $1200 as a private landlord, you are in for a rude awakening.

    I’m thinking more like $750.

    So $550 x 100 puts it back in the mid 90s price range.

    $60k.

  14. bltserv

    Brand new IAC Studios 500 Square can be had for $ 1200.00. This place is like $ 800.00 in this market. Its one step above being a Maytag box under the freeway. As rents fall places like this
    are just a trap for an owner to rent. Also take into consideration the type of renter your going to get. Short term rental with questionable credit. Hope you like to clean this place every few months.

    As far as the changes in the board. Natural evolution would suggest that as the market changed so would this board. Maybe in 2012
    as prices started appreciating. By default this board would follow the lead of the market.

    But by turning his “Mantra” on a dime. IR was peceived by by many long time contributors
    to have taken a role similar to Benedict Arnold. He had won many battles and now was suddenly on the “other side” for monetary gain. Look at his posts and the design of the IHB Brand. Even his little Bear Icon.

    I dont think the board will change much. Prices will continue to fall as the next round of forclosures and layoffs continue. And if IHB can make a dime it will. But there are 100`s of RE Sales people who are far more sagacious in front of them.

  15. newbie2008

    mid 90’s rent of 600 less 200 HOA. $400 net rent to go to bank, county, vacancies and repairs. should of been $50k in the 90’s with “low interest rates” of 6.5 to 7.5%.

    $316 per sq. foot is no bargain. That’s like having a $50k condo claiming afordability — Only draw back it’s only 150 sf.

  16. Chris

    “People seem to be recovering from the weekend’s nuclear blast. I knew the announcement would have some shock value, but I did not anticipate the level of heightened emotion it would cause. If I had it to do over again, I would do it differently. I apologize to everyone who was upset and hurt by my foolish decision. I am completely human.”

    You don’t have to apologize for this. However, I don’t think removing comments from your blog (unless they’re personal attacks) was done properly. I didn’t do much as to deserve all that Backspaces from you even though I don’t recall doing any personal attack whatsoever. But then it’s your blog…..

    I never said that you should not be in RE business…I’d do it too if it would generate some cash flow for me.

  17. irvine_home_owner

    I don’t think IR is apologizing for the announcement… just the way it was done.

    Many of you who post regularly on the blog comments don’t frequent the forums where there is a rather tight-knit community who were not pleased by the surprise factor and the perceived exclusion of certain members/mods.

    I appreciate his apology and I wish him the best of luck in his RE venture.

  18. priced_out

    I just saw the most obsence WTF asking prices I’ve ever seen and had to come rushing to this blog to share.

    The wife and I just spent a weekend outside of Seattle in this little fictional village resort called Suncadia. It’s about 90 miles east of Seattle near a town called Roslyn.

    The resort has a pool, so it sounded like a nice place to relax in the evenings after a day on the slopes. Fireplaces in the rooms. Fun for a few days when you want to pretend you’re rich.

    Anyways, this isn’t just a ski lodge — it’s a new construction resort village where they’re building tons of houses in the middle of nowhere with obscene asking prices. They left a pamphlet for what they had for sale. Here’s the obscenity: they’re asking $450K for a 450 sqft condo. $1K/sqft! I couldn’t get over it.

    We drove into Roslyn to see the surrounding area. That’s the town where they filmed “Northern Exposure”. Its a small Washington town that played the part of a small alaskan town. Not the knock their lifestyle, but I’m about 90% certain nothing was selling in that town for $1K/sqft.

    My wife tells me she heard Suncadia is already having to lay off a lot of people. It made me sad that the extremely friendly staff at the lodge were likely 6 months from unemployment.

  19. occdude

    People are making the same mistakes calculating RE affordability as they’re making in the stock market and that is the economy is deteriorating.

    Affordability is partly based on peoples CURRENT income that does not speak to the fact that unemployment is going up almost exponentially from month to month. Incomes should drop, how much is uncertain at this point, but from a real investment perspective that desires positive cash flow, you should factor in some degree of income contraction.

    My sentiment is that when real estate becomes a toxic investment that noboby wants to invest in, that will be the time when it is opportunistically priced. Until then, I don’t think real estate (or stocks) are realistically priced for a contracting economy.

  20. Mitoman

    finally breaking 100,000 in irvine, everybody happy! everybody would be able to afford something soon

    1. Geotpf

      Admittedly, this is a STUDIO condo. Not even a 1 bedroom. I’m actually mildly surprised such a thing even exists outside Manhattan.

  21. Gindy

    The studio aspect is bad enough, but check out the area picture at the bottom of the listing. Are those sludge ponds to the upper right of the property??? I know that’s what they look like out here in Indiana. And what is the meaning of a nursery to the direct right of the property? In Indiana it usually means power lines or land not suitable to build on.
    When I look at these listings I don’t bother to check the actual inside photos until I check the satellite image below. Sometimes that tells you all you need to know…

  22. tacoshark

    Even though it’s a studio, one could buy this for less than $500 a month at this price. If you claim the first time home buyer credit you get close to half your down payment back as well.

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