Date of Purchase: 7/1/2005
Purchase Price: $1,466,810
First Tax Installment Due 12/11/06: $10,561.49
First Supplemental Tax Due 12/11/06: $2,603.74
(Above information from OC Tax Assesor site)
Days on Market: 108
Price Reduced: 07/02/06 — $2,195,000 to $2,095,000
Price Reduced: 08/17/06 — $2,095,000 to $1,999,999
Price Reduced: 09/11/06 — $1,999,999 to $1,939,900
List Price 10/1/06: $1,939,000
So I finally took a look inside this house today. Not that I haven’t had lots of opportunity – it has been open practically every single weekend, all summer long. For several weeks, there were about 6-8 signs plus several large flags parked on the lawn. Today’s open house was a bit more toned down, with only a couple of signs. Guess they finally realized how transparent that made their desperation (as if having an open house every single weekend doesn’t smack of desperation all by itself).
The house is absolutely beautiful. Other than its lousy location (on a very busy corner right near one of Woodbury’s main entrances), I just love this house. I always try not to let myself be distracted by nice interior decorating but this house is staged so fantastically that it’s hard to do so. Yeah, that’s right, it’s staged. As in, ain’t nobody livin’ in this house!
Notice the $13,000+ tax bill coming due in a couple months…the Realtor was very friendly but seemed a bit, oh I don’t know, stressed? Gee, I wonder why?
Serves the owner right. They expected to post a >$700,000 gain on a house they had owned for one year? Listen up, folks – your house is gorgeous. Cut the price down to a more realistic, non-gouging profit level and I’ll bet it’ll finally move. Keep it at 2 mil, and that’s fine by me since I’ll be happy to check back in on your open houses throughout the winter and spring to enjoy seeing what kind of house I plan on owning one day (using a fixed rate 30-year mortgage of course).
My wife and I checked out this home a couple weeks ago. What funny is how you can tell the home is staged, including the evidence of cobwebs on the backyard grill & fridge. I think it was one of the models, as the house next door has a front yard landscape that looks very, very impressive and artsy.
A little birdie told us that the owner of this property is a serial flipper, buying homes & selling them after the one-year contract is up. He’s got another one at 27 Enchanted as well, purchased at $1.488MM. Good luck to him!
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I don’t blame you for not posting a photo. The *one* pic on MLS is crap. You’d think the presentation of a friggin $2M home would be taken a little more seriously.
What’s up with the fake New-Englandy sounding names? Woodbury indeed.
That’s one of the reasons why I left California (my home state). Not that the Boston real estate market is any better, but at least we have the good sense to recognize a housing crash when we see one and respond with the appropriate level of surliness.
Hi Irvinesinglemom, I live in Irvine so I look forward to continue reading your log.
I am in the same boat as you, sold last year and waiting to get back in after the correction. I saw this same house also this past weekend. Nice place but not for close to 2 mil. I have looked all over Woodbury and Portola Spring. All of them are way overpriced with suffocating taxes. I would love to buy in Orchard Hills next to Northwood Highschool in a year or 2 but my guess is that the combination of high prices and high taxes will steer me to established homes in Irvine or Tustin Ranch.
Keep up the good work!
Speaking of Orchard Hills and little birdies. I was told that because of the housing glut, The Irvine Company is slowing down development in Orchard Hills and won’t require the homebuilders to build on the original schedule. I would think the city would have some say about this, given that the area is now a large graded dustbowl, but since they are in bed together, who is to say? As much as I would love to lay all the high price blame on the home builders, TIC should get get its fair share. If Forbes is to be believed, TIC is charging $500K per entitled lot. Guess that is why the HOA fees are so high in the new developments, too, as the HOAs have to buy the common area land from TIC. I think Bren’s houses are wallpapered with Franklins.
Just a message for the host of this blog… any dirt, gossip, or buyer bewares about Woodbury? I have been searching for anything… and couldn’t come up with much more than the apparent deluge of rabbits in the Woodbury area…any hints on where to search?
My wife and I are looking for a nice home in Irvine – largely for public safety and excellent schooling reasons… not to mention that I have parents nearby… new child and all.
I do appreciate the “flipper in the spotlight” posts… those people make me sick to my stomach… I can’t seem to help but hope that they get caught in a loss.
As for specific models, we have been looking at the Stonecreek Manor models, and some of the Northwood models (until we saw it was the Tustin School District)… I really like the layouts, it seems that most of the money was paid to the architect… but I have been less enamored with the “basic” features included in 800-950K homes… I’m sure if we got a place, I’d be doing some bit of internal remodeling (floors, counters, etc).
It’s pretty dangerous in Woodbury.. if you’re a rabbit 🙂 They’ve been using pellet guns to deal with the rabbit problem. But I read something recently in the paper that said they will stop using pellet guns because people were complaining.
Woodbury is a great area and the idea of having parks, schools, shopping within walking distance is nice. The Commons at Woodbury is like a resort with all the pools and other amenities. Keep in mind the total costs you’ll have to pay to live there though. Some (if not all) neighborhoods have 2 HOAs and make sure to review the Mello Roos/property taxes.
One thing about Woodbury that irks me is something irvinesinglemom brought up in this post. It’s that the High School for Woodbury is Irvine High as opposed to Northwood High. I haven’t looked recently but in the past University High and Northwood High were ranked a few above Irvine High and Woodbridge High.
If you are open to buying an older home, take a drive through the village of Turtle Rock. It’s an excellent area and the kids will go to University High. Also, there typically won’t be any Mello Roos assessments so property taxes will be lower.
If you are looking for a newer (not brand new) home, look in the Northwood Pointe area. I believe they feed into Northwood High but I’m not sure about the elementary schools. Northwood is east of Culver and Northpark is west of Culver. I think Northpark feeds into the Tustin School District.
Feel free to send me an email if I can help with any other questions.
Just a note on the Irvine School District Planning – I can’t help but think that a “South Irvine High” will ultimately be built on account of the Woodbury, Portola…(basically all construction south of Jeffery)… and in 13 years when this will be a concern, I am sure that the landscape will have changed… but you are right, as for now, having to go to Irvine High seems like it would be “over populating” the school…but doesn’t Irvine have an open enrollment policy?
Anyway, the IUSD already has the plans on its website for the elementary and the middle school… in Woodbury… which would buy me enough time to figure things out!