George Winston’s version of Carol of the Bells has been a favorite of mine for years. The somber tone captures the bleak beauty of December. The degree of difficulty to play this must be very high. You can hear each of his hands are playing something completely different and very complex. Beyond that, it is just beautiful. I hope you enjoy it.
Carol of the Bells — George Winston
Asking Price: $549,900
Income Requirement: $137,475
Downpayment Needed: $109,980
Purchase Price: $570,000
Purchase Date: 5/28/2004
Address: 15 Moonstone, Irvine, CA 92602
First Mortgage $450,000
Second Mortgage $60,000
Total Debt $510,000
Downpayment $60,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,500
$/Sq. Ft.: $367
Lot Size: 1 sq. ft.
Type: Condominium
Style: Contemporary, Spanish
Year Built: 2001
Stories: Two Levels
Area: West Irvine
County: Orange
MLS#: S495371
Status: Active
On Redfin: 135 days
Unsold in 90+ days
From Redfin, “Stunning 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath luxury townhome with attached 2-car garage. Marble-look Italian porcelain tile floors, recessed lighting through-out, custom beech-wood cabinetry and durable Corian counter tops in kitchen. Romantic raised fireplace in living room, fire and security alarm, custom-finished floor in garage, slate hardscape in front and much more! ”
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This is the first owner we have seen in a while that actually put money into the property. Of course, they are about to lose all of it, but the lender will not get hurt on this one. If this property sells for asking price — which doesn’t seem very likely after 135 days on the market — and assuming a 6% commission, the seller will lose $53,094. I guess with $6,906 in equity left over, they can afford to pay a mover to take them to their rental…
To Florida me, this is housing for the midmiddle to slightly lower middle class. It would have sold here at the height at $250,000, and now be headed for $125-150. Even if it were reduced by another 10%, the qualifying income would be $124,000, and how many peope even in the Land of High Salaries could come up with that much?
My almost out of business broker buddies have a listing for $297,000 and have had it for a year. Only sale in area is more than $60,000 less. The buddette told the seller that if she doesn’t lower the price to a reasonable amount, she’s not doing any work on it. So the Seller had
it lowered to 235. My budette said she’d have some open houses and tell anyone that comes that they should make whatever offer they want.
They are stuck with the ofc rent until February. They are thinking they are going to work weekends and nights. I think that you have to be there when the phone rings, and that they need to let go. The business was quite successful until August, so it is hard to let go of something that you’ve been doing so long and you enjoy.
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This may be one reason people went for those zero-down loans. If your house goes down in value, you lose less.
I almost made a comment on this being a well written listing, but they closed with an exclamation point, so I couldn’t bring myself to compliment it.
I don’t know if you know anything about option trading, but what these people did was take out a call option. If the property went up, they made lots of money, and if the option went down, the option expired worthless and someone else eats the losses. The only cost for this option: a blemish on their credit score — at least until the collection departments gear up.
I wonder if you get a years supply of crack pipes when you buy this place?
Here is a story of people getting “free” money to help buy their first home:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1927394.php
One commenter calls it the most Idiotic story of the year heh!
There is no free money. The “gift” set restriction on sale (can’t sell in three years), and there is a lot of cost associate with the lost of liquidity.
I make a comment about what if they file for divorce in less than 3 yrs. How will such restriction has on the restriction?
How much discount will you need if someone require you to live in a house for 30 years? 75% off? Remember, you can’t rent it out either.
It would be so valuable to list what some of the featured properties ultimatel sold for assuming properties are actually selling.
The board is great – but without seeing the ultimate sales price – we are only seeing half the picture.
But I am very appreciative for the board.
Using ultimately twice including mispelling it once.
Maybe I could be a Realtor and all I would need to do is use caps and exclamation points.
We do updates on our properties periodically. The vast majority have been taken off the market unsold.
“luxury townhome”
This seems to reflect the post 2000 conventional wisdom that owning a house, no matter how small, is a luxury. Imho a 1500 sqft condo is the entry level for a young couple with kids, hardly an extravagancy, but, ok, I’m an old fashioned guy…
:-/