Every Rose Has Its Thorn — Poison
Northwood II is speculator central. I have heard that the builder was requiring owners to have downpayments and good credit to purchase in this development. Perhaps they knew we were near a peak of the bubble and didn’t want to face lawsuits when prices crashed. There are many homes for sale in this neighborhood, and most of the properties are distressed. Some knife catcher will step up and buy this one — at least the lenders hope so. They are already looking at close to a half a million dollar loss.
Do you ever stop to ponder the massive losses the lenders are absorbing? It is difficult to get to worked up over the losses from faceless corporations who conjure money out of thin air, but these loss figures are simply staggering. I am amazed none of our major banks has declared bankruptcy yet.
Today’s featured property is a beautiful, high-end domicile. When the price gets down to $650,000, it will be a good buy. I wonder if someone will step up and take the next $300,000 loss? I think I will wait.
Asking Price: $950,000
Income Requirement: $237,500
Downpayment Needed: $190,000
Monthly Equity Burn: $7,916
Purchase Price: $1,161,000
Purchase Date: 7/19/2006
Address: 59 Fire Thorn, Irvine, CA 92620
| Beds: | 5 |
| Baths: | 4 |
| Sq. Ft.: | 3,070 |
| $/Sq. Ft.: | $309 |
| Lot Size: | 5,350
Sq. Ft. |
| Property Type: | Single Family Residence |
| Style: | Contemporary/Modern |
| Year Built: | 2004 |
| Stories: | 2 Levels |
| Area: | Northwood |
| County: | Orange |
| MLS#: | R806000 |
| Source: | SoCalMLS |
| Status: | Active |
| On Redfin: | 1 day |
 New Listing (24 hours)
|
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Lovely executive home in a gated community with an inviting open floor
plan featuring a central gourmet kitchen as well as a resort-like
backyard and dramatic motor court. Custom stone, water features, and
tropical plants throughout all provides the resort feeling in your own
home! Separate guest quarters with back entrance over the garage is
perfect for guests, live-ins or a get-away office. Enormous master
bedroom with spacious retreat, spa bath and large walk-in closet. Stone
floors throughout with rich black walnut hardwood in the bedrooms.
Additional interior and exterior insulation added in walls, floors and
ceilings at the time of construction to conserve energy and reduce any
sound. Two air conditioning units to maximize zone efficiency. Rare
Custom back yard spa with fountains and many extras! Entire home wired
for sound and routed for any use, computers, TV’s etc… Cul-de-sac
street with tree-lined neighborhood.
That is a well-written description. There are a few sentence fragments, clichés and minor errors, but it did not pain me to read it.
This owner has already “put” this property to the lender. The property was purchased near the peak for $1,161,000. The owner took out a first mortgage for $870,478, and got a HELOC approved for $450,000 the same day. If he borrowed this money, he cashed-out $159,478 at the closing. On 4/23/2007 Chevy Chase Bank loaned him $1,065,000 and National City Bank gave him a second mortgage for $284,000 leaving a total debt of $1,349,000. The total MEW was $188,000. Not bad for a guy who bought at the peak. I wish I knew how he got his loans approved. If this property sells for its asking price, and if a 6% commission is paid, the total loss on the property will be $456,000. The brilliant lenders who made these loans just over a year ago are eating a huge loss while this owner walks away with $188,000.
I have to remember to screw the lender at the top of the next bubble California inflates…
.
We both lie silently still
in the dead of the night
Although we both lie close together
We feel miles apart inside
Was it something I said or something I did
Did my words not come out right
Though I tried not to hurt you
Though I tried
But I guess that’s why they say
Chorus:
Every rose has its thorn
Just like every night has its dawn
Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song
Every rose has its thorn
Yeah it does
I listen to our favorite song
playing on the radio
Hear the DJ say loves a game of easy come and easy go
But I wonder does he know
Has he ever felt like this
And I know that you’d be here right now
If I could let you know somehow
I guess
Chorus
Though it’s been a while now
I can still feel so much pain
Like a knife that cuts you the wound heals
but the scar, that scar will remain
Solo
I know I could saved a love that night
If I’d known what to say
Instead of makin’ love
We both made our separate ways
and now I hear you found somebody new
and that I never meant that much to you
To hear that tears me up inside
And to see you cuts me like a knife
I guess
Every Rose Has Its Thorn — Poison
I would like to be the first to say that the new graphic is REALLY graphic!
Ewwwww!
OK, so what is their deal with red? And if you are sitting on that red couch, aren’t your eyes maybe 5 feet from that 50″ screen? Isn’t that a little much?
I really like that house. I doubt it will get to $650,000, that would be $212 / sq. ft. Maybe it will drop to $250 / sq. ft. I would probably jump on it at that price.
I really like this house … it pretty much meets my needs, and with a price tag of $650,000, I would buy it … if it were located South of the 405, instead of North of the 5.
I have been meaning to bring up the concept of “resort living” ever since I have been redoing some of our landscaping. Its very expensive to have resort living landscaping! š
Some people need resort type property for important guests and to impress business contacts. Well-heeled folks who like the Newport Coast, Shady, Coto, Nellie Gail, come to mind. Most people, however, don’t “need” it. And I think in the longer term, many simply cannot “afford” it.
Who among us would travel to a resort and stay there, at resort prices, for several years? Well, resorts are lush because they attract people who will pay top dollar for (usually brief) visits. The costs associated with resort living is divided among many visitors who are paying top dollar for their stays. If you actually OWN the resort living, then you are paying those expenses, over and over again each day that you live there. By yourself and on your own.
This is a beautiful home. I was disappointed that the promised special spa and water features were left out of the pictures. I love looking over resort landscaping and admiring the beautiful planning that goes into selecting just the right hard and soft scape for yards that belong to these beautiful homes.
I like to take trips to actual resorts. Staying in those little casitas with their own pools and patios to view the nightly sunset over some ocean is so decadent and fun! But I can only afford to do that every once in a while. I certainly cannot add all those features to my own Irvine property all at once if I am going to take yearly vactions – money here has to be prioritized. I understand the desire to put in all these lovely features into yards right away and all at the same time. I just have not mastered how to work all that into a normal budget here. In fact, that place looks to be a lot more costly to heat/cool than my own home. And I think paying several hundred dollars for monthly energy costs is substantial.
HOA, Mello Roos, inflationary gas and food, water and power to run pools/spas/water features, price rises in health care, climbing utility prices, etc…
A million point three for a home in the flatlands of Irvine just doesnt match most of the demographics and “real” qualified buyers imo.
I’ll take my resort landscaping in the form of our association pools and parks. That way the cost is subsidized…
Yes, I was wondering about the viability of putting tropical plants in a low rainfall environment that is having yet another drought. If they manage to put a dent in the illegal migrant population, the cost for the gardeners to keep it all green, clean and tidy will go up too.
Keep on watering with kool aid perhaps?
I have been meaning to bring up the concept of āresort livingā ever since I have been redoing some of our landscaping. Its very expensive to have resort living landscaping!
Resort landscaping? Some nice resorts are located in the desert with native plants, and it looks great. Nothing like fake “Tropical” backyards in SoCal using too much water and energy. Let the “well heeled” along the “Newport Coast” go visit the Jungle Cruise.
Let me tell you how I manage resort living, and still have tons of money, and no maintenence or landscaping worries.
I go to a resort — once a year. It is a great way to see how the other half lives. Yes, it is very expensive, but I only do it once a year, not 24/7/365.
There’s more wisdom in your words than meets the eye. I will typically take the wife and kids down to Dana Point to the Ritz Carlton to just hang out at the beach or pool and then take in a nice lunch at the restaurant. The wifey will sometimes get a spa treatment if she’s feeling particular to it. Resort living without paying for the resort!
Graphic sucks. I think message would be just as clear if you had a pic with someone juggling knives or something.
Yes, I actually find the fake blood disturbing enough that I have to avert my eyes. I know, I’m a wimp. I think you should replace it with the teddy bear dumb waiter to represent the fantasy of riches that is proving to be nightmare.
I think the graphic could do without the blood for sure.
I say keep the blood. It better represents the carnage we are seeing…
“I am amazed none of our major banks has declared bankruptcy yet.”
Welcome to bank accounting–even though the money was gone the day the loan was issued, the loss isn’t “realized” until they actually foreclose and then sell the property (or until closing of a short sale). I suspect this is why so many foreclosures aren’t being marketed and short sale closings are dragged out for months–the banks are trying to delay having to report the losses until they can “afford” to (i.e. after raising enough capital so the loss won’t technically make them bankrupt).
When a bank takes back a home, it impacts their reserve ratio, and makes it more difficult to do business.
JMHO
I believe they (at least the big one’s) are trying to spoon feed the market with just enough comp killers to allow for an orderly decline, but it’s obviously failing. The banks are very concerned about destroying the values in neighborhoods because of the damage it will cause for them in the future. Most of the asshats that run the banks, are fully aware that negative equity causes more REOs than financial distress.
Either way, the banks are losing control of the situation.
“I am amazed none of our major banks has declared bankruptcy yet”
One or two of them might do straight bankruptcy. There will be more takeovers and consolidation. However, as someone who works in banking and has followed the housing bubble since 2004, there are some safeguards which are surprising. 1. For most banks, mortgages are only one of their products. Their credit card poortfolios are generally profitable. Their auto loans portfolios are generally profitable. Until recently commercial real estate was profitable. 2. Many banks got rid of most of the mortgage risk by securitizing. 3. A surprising number of the junk loans were paid off. I am looking for the citation, but about 1/2 of 2005 vintage subprime loans were refinanced or the homes were sold. 4. The loan portfolios had a decent tolerance for defaults before they lost money. 5. Mortgage insurance handled the first 20% of loss in many cases. However, I still don’t understand how the PMI firms are solvent.
It is my personal opinion that banks’ worries are somewhat misplaced. Their real worries should include: mortgage insurers going bankrupt; rising short term interest rates hurting margins on all of their retained fixed rate loans; counterparty risk on their credit default swaps; and merger risks.
The merger risk is especially threatening. Regulators encourage a solvent bank to take over an insolvent one, where the target did dumb things. Then, the consolidated bank has to fix problems with loans that have already been made, with a declining volume of new loans. The consolidated entity has more risk in the wrong places than the acquirer, has a lower growth rate, and has employees from the acquisition with the wrong skills and specializations (origination rather than workouts, real estate rather than something else like credit cards).
As somebody who wants to enter the housing market, but doesn’t have much for a down payment, I think it would be good if the PMI companies went out of business and the whole PMI factor disappeared.
I would think that if PMI went away and banks required 20% down from everybody, housing prices would remain reasonable for most buyers.
I have nothing meaningful to say, but I have to say, those Global knifes are really sharp and nice to handle.
I would recommend play knife catching with duller knifes.
Kanchou, I also have some Global knives and they can be dangerous. Perhaps our knifecatchers should get some steelcore mesh cutting gloves. I wear them when using really sharp knives.
/Users/Mike/Desktop/knife catcher.jpg
I like this one better.
http://contrarycanary.blogspot.com/2007/12/knife-catching-is-for-carnies.html
Sorry this is the correct URL.
Not a bad house, but I really don’t care for these lots. For $1mil I’d like to have a view of something other than just my neighbors’ houses. That would be the deal breaker for me.
I like when they keep garage doors away from the front elevation. I’ve always been curious if there was a term for this.
That is a far better house description than we normally see. Only two exclamation points — what’s with that? Everything was spelled correctly and there were no capital letters randomly inserted in the text. Far more professional than the majority of listings we see here, even with a couple of minor errors.
HOUSING BAILOUT INTERNAL DOCUMENTS RELEASED!!!
Somebody got a hold of a document for Bank of America execs dated March 11, 2008. Funny how this Banking “discussion” document looks just like what Sen. Chris Dodd is pushing through the congress as a bailout for the housing bubble.
http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2008/06/20/bofa.pdf
If I recall correctly, isn’t B of A acquiring Countrywide? And isn’t Chris Dodd one of the “VIP” members at Countrywide with a loan rate of 4.25% oh his million dollar plus home?
Boy our government is crooked. It’s too bad they aren’t a reality T.V. show. That would be the most watched show in history.
Why don’t we all plan a march on Washington and throw out the trash that makes our country look bad to the rest of the world?
Interesting read. I just gave the document a quick once-over and it is of course yet another example of “privatize profits, socialize losses”.
I wonder if it’s a genuine BofA internal doc meant to be used as public policy or just a wishful thinking presentation?
BofA isn’t of course a Wall St. firm but they all swim in the same scummy pond, just not the same end. To me this simply represents the financial geniuses trying to figure out how to stick Joe Taxpayer with the bill and not get caught holding the bag. Frankly I’m against any bailout. Sure I worry about all the folks losing their homes but I doubt they gave a damn about me while they were bidding up prices and they sure don’t have any compunction about my taxes being used to remedy this mess.
In the end, any plan that attempts to address the falling market merely delays the pain and ultimately fails to accomplish it’s goals. Not only does it fail but it would serve to set housing at artificially inflated levels, clearly not in line with the free market principles these same “wizards” are always espousing when a whiff of government regulation wafts in the air. Curious behavior.
mmm Poison. <3 IR.
you’re a perfect example of why I believe that prices – even in ‘special’ places like Irvine – will fall below ‘reasonable’ levels (but not for at least two or three more years). Once we get past the irrational knife-catching, buyers will be conditioned to continue to wait, and wait, and wait some more because there’s always a better bargain to be found. Seller capitulation by 2010 will make today’s prices look as extravagant as 2006 prices look today. It’s the same conundrum which happens to retailers who have too many ‘sales’.
IR’s recent chart which tracked the knife-catching bounces from the last RE crash, captured my thinking perfectly. Irrational depression follows irrational exuberance as surely as night follows day. The bad news is, we ain’t there yet; not even close. What we’re experiencing now is merely the approach of dusk, metaphorically speaking.
JMHO…
I agree.
In fact, I’m willing to wait indefinitely.
At this point, prices in Richmond CA have come down something like 25-50%. Or more. Too bad it’s the murder capital of California. And that the schools suck.
But I can buy, right now, with 50% down.
Within about 3 years I will be able to buy in El Cerrito or Albany with 50% down. Very good schools. Nice neighbors. Ok, a little dyky in Albany, but still.
5 years, San Fran should be in reach. Not sure I ever want to pay San Fran taxes though. Not for any price. Ludicrous. Actually, a couple of neighborhoods in SF are in reach right now with 20% down, but again, I prefer discretionary spending over being saddling with debt.
Didn’t Mick Jagger say something like “Why buy when you can rent?”
The process just seems absurd.