Category Archives: News

Paved Paradise

They paved paradise and put up a parkin’ lot

With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin’ hot spot

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum

And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you got till it’s gone

They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

Big Yellow Taxi — Counting Crows

Link to Music Video

Isn’t this the story of Irvine? Haven’t we planned, designed and paved over the whole valley?

Works for me, but then again, that is my job.

There is nothing special about today’s property. I just thought it had the ugliest picture I have seen on the MLS in a while, so I thought I would share it here.

Just a suggestion for the photographer: perhaps you could select the angle that shows the front door and some grass and foliage rather than the garage door, water stains, an antenna and power lines.

In case you are interested:

5052 Dutcher Ave, Irvine, CA 92604

Price: $625,000IrvineRenter

Beds: 4

Baths: 2

Sq. Ft.: 1,480

$/Sq. Ft.: $422

Lot Size: 5,543 sq. ft.

Type: Single Family Residence

Style: Other

Year Built: 1971

Stories: One Level

Area: El Camino Real

County: Orange

MLS#: P588169

Status: Active

On Redfin: 63 days

Lowest 4 bedroom house in Irvine!!! One level with large well maintained yard. 4th bedroom was converted from dining room with city permit. Brand new airconditioner/heater just installed, all windows replaced a year ago. Just need new carpet/paint per your taste.

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Lowest 4 bedroom in Irvine? Is it below sea level? Oh, they mean the price is low… {smacks forehead}

Judging by the picture, I thought they were having some drainage problems.

Irvine Income Data

This was posted in a thread on Thursday, but it is such important data, it deserves its own post. The blogging software does not do tables very well, so I apologize if it a bit difficult to follow.

The first column is the income range.

The second column is the percentage of the total in each income range.

The third column is the cumulative total. It shows you the percentage of households that makes at or less than the specified range. I find it interesting that 78% of the households in Irvine make less than $150K.

The fourth column is the most expensive house someone who makes the maximum in the range can afford with a total price of 4 times income. Some will argue this is too conservative, and some will argue it is too high. I think it is a bit too high, but the market bottomed at 4 times income last time, so it is a useful point of reference.

The fifth column is the downpayment that would be required assuming 20% down.

B19001. HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (IN 2006 INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS) – Universe: HOUSEHOLDS

Data Set: 2006 American Community Survey

Survey: 2006 American Community Survey

Estimate — Percentage — Cummulative — House Price Limit — Downpayment

Total: 63,646

Less than $10,000 ——– 4,633 — 7.3% — 7.3% —- $40,000 —- $8,000

$10,000 to $14,999 —— 2,015 — 3.2% — 10.4% — $60,000 —- $12,000

$15,000 to $19,999 —— 1,159 — 1.8% — 12.3% — $80,000 —- $16,000

$20,000 to $24,999 —— 1,973 — 3.1% — 15.4% — $100,000 — $20,000

$25,000 to $29,999 —— 1,233 — 1.9% — 17.3% — $120,000 — $24,000

$30,000 to $34,999 —— 1,069 — 1.7% — 19.0% — $140,000 — $28,000

$35,000 to $39,999 —— 2,021 — 3.2% — 22.2% — $160,000 — $32,000

$40,000 to $44,999 —— 2,071 — 3.3% — 25.4% — $180,000 — $36,000

$45,000 to $49,999 —— 2,353 — 3.7% — 29.1% — $200,000 — $40,000

$50,000 to $59,999 —— 3,108 — 4.9% — 34.0% — $240,000 — $48,000

$60,000 to $74,999 —— 6,169 — 9.7% — 43.7% — $300,000 — $60,000

$75,000 to $99,999 —— 8,666 — 13.6% — 57.3% — $400,000 — $80,000

$100,000 to $124,999 — 7,924 — 12.5% — 69.8% — $500,000 — $100,000

$125,000 to $149,999 — 5,279 — 8.3% — 78.0% — $600,000 — $120,000

$150,000 to $199,999 — 6,495 — 10.2% — 88.3% — $800,000 — $160,000

$200,000 or more ——– 7,478 — 11.7% — 100.0% — $-

Irvine’s median income is approximately $85,000:

$85,000 * 4 = $340,000 house with a $68,000 downpayment.

Price to Income Ratio

I know I should modify this graphic to fix the title, but it is too much work. Just know it is 1986-2006.

I would like to thank a reader for updating this graphic for me. I am not sure if I can post your name, but thank you.

It is what it is. What do you think?

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FYI,

This is for households and not individuals. These are gross income numbers, not after tax or otherwise adjusted.

Methodology:

The ACS program was fully implemented in 2005 in every county of the United States and in Puerto Rico, with an annual sample of approximately three million housing units.

The ACS is conducted using the best mail self-response techniques of the decennial census combined with follow-up techniques that produce high-quality data. For households that do not respond by mail, the quality of data is improved by using well-trained, permanent interviewer staff using computerized interviewing, which incorporates edits into the collection process. Using a permanent coding staff provides additional improvements in data quality.

Households that receive the American Community Survey are required by law to respond. As with all other census answers, a Federal law, Title 13 of the U.S. Code, provides strong confidentiality protections for all individual information collected by the Census Bureau. Violating this law is a Federal crime with serious penalties, including a prison sentence of up to five years and a $250,000 fine. For more information, visit the American Community Survey Web page at http://www.census.gov/acs/www.

Nice Pictures… of the Neighborhood

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight

gonna grab some afternoon delight.

My motto’s always been; when it’s right, it’s right.

Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night.

When everything’s a little clearer in the light of day.

And you know the night is always gonna be there any way.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Afternoon Delight — The Starland Vocal Band

Link to Music Video

Or Not…

I don’t know why, but this song popped into my head while writing this post. Enjoy…

All publicity is good publicity, right? Well, our seller at 14 Carnelian in Irvine has found a way to get some free publicity at the Irvine Housing Blog — put something stupid on the MLS.

14 Carnelian 2

14 Carnelian 3

14 Carnelian 4

14 Carnelian 5

Aren’t those pictures beautiful.

WHERE IS THE HOUSE!!!

Is this house such a POS that you can’t put any pictures of the house on the MLS? Is this supposed to pique our interest and make us arrange to see it? Well, here is the data, in case your interested…

Price: $999,900

14 Carnelian, IRVINE, CA 92614

Beds: 4

Baths: 3

Sq. Ft.: 2,600

$/Sq. Ft.: $385

Lot Size: 4,750 sq. ft.

Type: Single Family Residence

Style: Traditional

Year Built: 1985

Stories: Two Levels

Area: Woodbridge

County: Orange

MLS#: S504136

Status: Active

On Redfin: 2 days

From Redfin, “Your clients will love this highly upgraded immaculate home! Remodeled kitchen & baths, travertine & hardwood floors, plantation shutters, added walk-in closet in master. Excellent inside the loop location close to school, park, pool (salt water), lake & tennis. Fabulous Community with unmatched amenities named ‘Best Place in America to Raise a Family’ by Parents Magazine. Irvine has again this year been named ‘Safest City in America'”

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Why not some pictures of the ocean? How about Catalina Island? Yosemite? California is beautiful, you know.

Just to make this listing complete, I thought they could add some images they forgot…

Earth

The house is the on the planet earth…

Milky Way

In the Milky Way Galaxy…

Honey, I Lost the House

Since it is a holiday, I thought we could try something a little different.

When I first saw the cartoon above, I could imagine the final scene played out in millions of households across America as the bubble deflates. At some point, it will become painfully evident to each family that they are about to lose their home. It will not be a happy moment.

How do you feel about that? Sad, mad, glad?

Home Sales Data thru 8-27-2007

Median sale price

Sales volume

ZIP

code

Prev. 4 weeks

% change

from 06

Prev. 4 weeks

% change

from ’06

92602

$850,000

10.4%

19

-38.7%

92603

$865,000

-17.6%

32

-5.9%

92604

$630,000

-3.8%

24

20.0%

92606

$727,500

-3.0%

20

-4.8%

92612

$685,000

3.4%

43

79.2%

92614

$531,000

-11.5%

11

-62.1%

92618

$590,000

-3.7%

22

22.2%

92620

$750,000

-9.0%

58

-1.7%