I can’t believe it has already been 1 year since we started the Irvine Housing Blog. A lot has changed in that time: lending standards have tightened, OC inventory has continued to pile up, OC builders have reduced their pricing, foreclosures have picked up, sales have slowed down, 160 major US lending operations have “imploded”, and the US Dollar has set record lows.
Although not as drastic as what has happened to the housing market, IHB has gone through a number of changes as well. ISM and I began this without knowing whether anyone would be interested in what we were going to write. Lucky for us, two sites that provided our inspiration (OC Fliptrack RIP and Bubble Tracking), linked to us and that really got things moving.
Take a look at our stats:
We went from less than 50,000 pageviews in October 2006 to over 550,000 pageviews in August 2007. Do a Google search for ‘housing blog’ and IHB is the 5th site (6th link) listed! There are a few items on this chart I’d like to point out (1, 2, and 3):
- The IHB Forums were launched on January 2, 2007. What began with a slow start eventually turned into a very active and knowledgable community. We have 525+ members, 940+ threads, and 17,000+ comments and every day these numbers continue to grow. There is a wealth of information here ranging from Irvine tract and village information to discussions about architecture and design to threads devoted to wine and beer. The forums also gave rise to our IHB T-shirts (thanks Nude!). More recently, we implemented a live chat (thanks Caycifish!) that has proven to be quite popular.
- Irvine Renter joined the IHB team with his first post on February 27, 2007 and he’s been simply incredible! Although I realized he knew his stuff, I was still surprised by the sheer volume and depth of topics that he has educated all of us on. He has taken this blog to another level and we’ve received tons of positive feedback from people who have enjoyed and benefited from his writings (especially his analysis posts). The community profiles that he has written clearly show his love for the City of Irvine; take a look at the beautiful pictures and you may discover a park or tract that you weren’t aware of before.
- An article by Daniel Gross of slate.com linked to IHB on July 26, 2007. The article was syndicated in the Washington Post and Newsweek/MSNBC and brought some great national exposure to our site.
Many thanks to ISM, graphrix, and socalhousingbubble for their solid contributions. In addition to the main blog posts, there have been numerous blog comments that have provided insight into the feature properties. An interesting stat is that our spam blocker has caught 20,072 spam comments as of this moment. I also want to thank Redfin and our other site sponsors for their support!
Thanks everyone for a fantastic year! All of your contributions are what has made this site become what it is. What’s next? We want to keep the momentum going and we’ve got some ideas for the site that we are planning to implement soon. As always, we’re happy to listen to your suggestions on how to bring more value to our readers.
Go IHB!
Congrats on the success.
Anybody else notice that the page views neatly tracks recent housing price trends. Are we in the buildup phase of an IHB bubble as well?
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Congratulations!!!! Keep up the great work!
Gee……I though IHB meant …….”I’m home baby”………
Thanks for correcting my perception and for the great reading.
Zovall- thank you so much for all that you have done to create and grow this fantastic blog. I am honored to have had a small part in it and of course I am thrilled about the rapid evolution we have experienced due to IR’s amazing blogging as well as all of our members’ wonderful insights, analysis, and humor. You guys are the best!
Happy Birthday! This site is awesome.
I monitor 13 similar sites daily and this blog is definitely number 1!
I’m thankful to be a small part of such a great site.
Super thanks to IR for keeping the posts coming. I’ll try to step up my game in between now and the end of the year!
Shout out to Eff/OCFliptrack for inspiring a local, cynical look at this crazy market.
*ass-kissfest concluded*
SCHB
Congrats! I have been a reader for the entire year and this blog has proved invaluable. It’s the only website I make sure to check everyday!
Congratulations! Thank you for your excellent site. Consider how much money you’re saved your readers, the servers are worth their weight in gold :).
Glut: 5.1 million homes for sale
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2007/09/glut-51-million.html
U.S. Economy: New-Home Sales Decline 8.3 Percent (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aP_FgVT8toj0&refer=home
Housing Slump to Last Beyond 2008, Fannie’s Mudd Says (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=af9YqD5uAGPo&refer=home
I think it’s obvious that Irvine Housing Blog has won the hearts & minds of us bitter renters. But I guess it’s somewhat expected, considering that Irvine, CA is the mecca of the subprine ponzi scheme, and located right in the center of housing bubble USA.
Irvine Renter is the best at what he does, and should probably write a book to be distributed to the local REIC, discussing how and why we got here. By the sheer number of realtors in this town, it would probably debut #1 on Amazon & The NYT.
Congratulations, IHB, the next year will certainly bring more fireworks!
I think you may have saved my financial life and my marriage.
Happy Birthday! I’m so glad you folks created this place, very happy to have joined the community, and very grateful that I was able to contribute my own little bit to it.
Bring on the birthday suit!
Interesting graphs over at Calculated Risk on August home sales
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2007/09/more-on-august-new-home-sales.html
Sorry to clarify – August NEW home sales.
That’s to say, it’s about brand new home sales and it’s effect on the economy.
I visit the site daily to read IR’s articles, they are always excellent and insightful. Getting IR on this blog was the best move..keep up the good work.
Cheers. Great Blog.
This blog is saved under my faves and look forward to reading it every morning. The comments from the others are informative and often provide a chuckle. Thanks much and Happy Birthday!
Thank you, all of you, for making this blog such a great community.
BTW, I have a post coming out at noon, so check back later…
Happy 1st birthday IHB! I appreciate all the hard work from IR, BK, Zovall and everybody else on this site. This is one of only a few blogs that I actually learn something new each and every day.
Happy Birthday! I left SoCal 8 years ago and am considering heading back. For me, this site has been a God-send!!
Cheers! [clink]
skye
Humor: It’s traditional to have noise makers at bithday parties right?
Cramer reacts to realtors demanding an apology for saying “don’t buy now”.
Cramer on Homes
As interviewed by CNBC Squawk on the street
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=533257614
He’s also won the hearts of those of us homeowners who loved Irvine, but decided it was time to cash out and move on before the big popping sound. Thanks IR for keeping us updated on how things are going. I look forward to returning someday and enjoying the great weather again! Oh, and reasonable prices too. 🙂
Happy first birthday from all of us at Redfin!
Been lurking for a few months now. Good to see that not everyone in the OC is crazy. Happy Birthday and thanks for a great site.
Keep up the great work.
Congrats to IHB, and thanks to all of you that contributed
Happy birthday and many more to come!!!
I really don’t know how Jimmy made it so big on Wall Street. I know it wasn’t a result of his instinctive mindset:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5zAvh-iFfU
Oh, he made it big because he’s a “professional”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fn_rQm7EmQ&mode=related&search=
But then he admits to something like this, and you realize, Jimmy ain’t no “professional” after all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8vS973rcGQ&mode=related&search=
But then it all comes into focus; Jimmy made it on Wall Street by simply knowing the right people, and, knowing there isn’t much difference between begging, demanding and crying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWksEJQEYVU&mode=related&search=
Just in time for Oktoberfest!
It’s great that I can spew out my ramblings here. I can’t really say this kind of stuff to customers faces, or I’d get the boot!
Thanks for creating this forum of fun. And by the way, we should use the term Happy Renter instead of bitter renter.
ciao.
Congratulations IHB.
This is by far one of my favorite sites.
Just think what the price of Irvine Housing will be a year from now?
Bet its a whole lot cheaper !
Loved that Cramer interview on Today. Just classic stuff.
Then later on CNBC telling the NAR to call his mommy !
I just noticed that it is Google’s 9th birthday today. Coincidence? Hopefully this blog will enjoy equal success!
Is this your version of a teaser? jk.
I said to the other contributers of IHB that I am impressed by how much IHB has grown. That is thanks to all the readers and commenters who have come here to get an alternative insight to an extremely bias industry.
I have to say thanks to zovall for inviting me to be part of this awesome blog along with ISM and SCHB. Thanks to zovall he also got IrvineRenter to join. He deserves a special thanks for the time he takes out of his life for his very dedicated posts. His insight has been a great addition and significant reason for the growth.
I look forward to the next year and the schadenfreude that it brings!
Congratulations! Your hard work on this blog is evident.
Congrats on a great site that keeps getting better and better
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, happy birthday, etc.
Thanks for keeping me entertained and for injecting a dose of reality when I get the itch to move up.
Happy Birthday IHB!
I came to this site because it gave me hope, and I keep coming back for the joy and laughter. IR: I bow down to your greatness. Z: glad to be of service!
Happy Birthday, IHB!
Yeah! Happy Birthday. What a great year it has been. I’m a happy renter savings 1000’s monthly because of you. Thank You!
You are the best. Which I could check a site as good here
in Miami, home of the weird.
Irvine Renter, what will you do when we do hit bottom and prices
start going up? Write for a different blog? Tell everyone to buy?
Everybody who contributes seems to be so with-it and smart.
Happy Day IHB !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3IzpazVl-I
Well done. I drop in most every day. I don’t know where i used to spend that 15 minutes, but whatever it was your blog is time better spent! (Was probably work, or something ….)
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY! GREAT JOB ON EVERYTHING SO FAR!
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happy birthday. congrats on everything so far.
Wow! That’s a real success story. Congratulations, IR, and thx for providing all these important informations for potential houseowners in these critical times!
While I’m not gonna move to California soon (not even sure if I’ll ever make it), I love this site for its entertainment values.
Job well done so far, IR, and keep up the great work!
🙂
Oops, sry, of course the congratulations go to the whole team, especially the founders!
“As always, we’re happy to listen to your suggestions on how to bring more value to our readers.”
I would be interested in reading some personal accounts from the house sellers whose property is portrayed here. While we often ridicule flippers and knife catchers, I’m certain not every seller deserves to be painted in that way. There sure are some lessons to be learned from those people who got manipulated by agents or lenders into a financial adventure where the risks where very much left in the dark. It’s easy to dismiss lunatically high estate prices as “seller in denial”, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that in many instances it’s actually the bank that is in denial and prevents the property from being attractive in a short sale.
It would not only be fair to give houseowners a chance to tell their side of the story, I think there’s also much to be learned from this. Of course, most ‘victims of the imploding bubble’ won’t want to come forward, but there sure will be at least some who would like to correct the picture. How about that?
A belated Happy Birthday.
Many thanks to the creators and participants of this site. All deserve the recognition and accolades this site has obtained.
Special thanks to IrvineRenter. You are IHB’s tireless crusader.
Forgive me if already mentioned, but for featured properties how about the following:
The Doors
Riders on the Storm
Talking Heads
Burning Down the House
Thanks again,
HAL
Congrats to all! Thank you for everything and your tireless efforts. It gives me confidence in my own housing and economic beliefs and also a great source of entertainment at the office when I’m not bogged down. 😉 For a young guy who is jaded by Southern California lately, it sure gives me hope.