Terror & Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard — Lamb of God
It is a recurring theme in our culture that the rich and famous live by a different set of rules than the rest of us. Once you achieve wealth and fame, people treat you differently. They look up to you with respect and envy. Many people desire wealth and fame for the status it brings — at least in their own minds. Some people want to be envied, they want to believe everyone wants what they have, and they find it very empowering to be able to put themselves above others. For these people, the lure of a prestigious neighborhood is their belief that living there makes other people envy them. The pretense of owning a McMansion in Turtle Ridge or Shady Canyon makes some people do whatever it takes to purchase there — including paying ridiculous prices. There are people who buy in these neighborhoods because they are nice places to live, and they want a beautiful home just for their own enjoyment. Many people do not care what others think, and they do not base their home buying decisions on those considerations. However, there is a significant group that does, and these people often have artificially inflated opinions of themselves and the value of the properties they own.
Kill my hopeless life I cannot be hypnotized. You owe me.
Push aside the veil to welcome in the visitors.
I don’t know the owners of today’s featured property, and I have no idea why they bought in Turtle Ridge. They may be very nice people who bear no resemblance to the profile above. However, the asking price they have put to their property says something about them: they do not live in a reality-based real estate market. The high-end of the Irvine market has shown the least stress so far. Very little is selling, but those few properties that do sell do not show large losses. I recently profiled a $5,000,000 property selling for 10% off in Shady Canyon, so prices are starting to fall, but by and large, the high end has not seen the carnage witnessed at the low end so far. However, these properties are certainly not appreciating, and to believe they have doubled in price, well… that is a little crazy. The kool aid still flows in Turtle Ridge.
Asking Price: $2,860,000
Income Requirement: $715,000
Downpayment Needed: $572,000
Monthly Equity Burn: $23,833
Purchase Price: $1,433,000
Purchase Date: 9/29/2004
Address: 28 Blue Summit, Irvine, CA 92603
| Beds: | 5 |
| Baths: | 6 |
| Sq. Ft.: | 4,450 |
| $/Sq. Ft.: | $643 |
| Lot Size: | 9,388
Sq. Ft. |
| Property Type: | Single Family Residence |
| Style: | Tuscan |
| Year Built: | 2004 |
| Stories: | 2 |
| Area: | Turtle Ridge |
| County: | Orange |
| MLS#: | S546325 |
| Source: | SoCalMLS |
| Status: | Active |
| On Redfin: | 83 days |
gated community. One of the best and most comfortable floor plans with
large family room, open kitchen area, breakfast nook, large private
master suite with extended study room, all five bedrooms with own
bathrooms, three fireplaces, an added music room, and a floorplan that
opens to courtyard gardens. Excellent lighting throughout. Highly
upgraded from top to bottom with granite kitchen counters, crown
moulding, wood trims, built-in cabinets, travertine and wood flooring
and a newly added music room, plus many more… Exceptionally
landscaped yard with natural stone patio, beautiful water fountains,
outdoor fireplace, lush green trees, wrought iron accents, and a large
multi-car driveway. Private and quiet backyard facing open hill side.
Private and open side courtyard facing single story neighbor.
prestigious Turtle Ridge… of course it is.
Did you notice all the meaningless adjectives? Exquisite, Gorgeous, prestigious, comfortable, Excellent, Highly
upgraded, Exceptionally,
beautiful, and lush.
This property was purchased on 9/29/2004 from the builder for $1,433,000. The owners used a $250 first mortgage and a whopping $1,183,000 downpayment. They were not pretending about that part. Later they opened a HELOC for $500,000, but it doesn’t look like they spent it. They did refinance the first mortgage twice. Each time it was for $1,000,000. Since this is the tax deductible limit, this was probably a tax decision used to free up capital for other purposes. They still have the $500,000 HELOC. In short, these people really are rich, and they are not in financial distress.
So why are they selling now?
They’re not. They have put a WTF asking price on their property that will never sell. They have no need to sell, and since they are priced so far above the market, they will not sell it. I am sure most owners in Irvine would sell tomorrow if they could get twice what they paid.
So why are they listing now?
That is an item open for speculation. I have no idea.
{book}
All the f@#$%ed up things trap & punish me I cannot explain my problem.
Kill my hopeless life I cannot be hypnotized. You owe me.
Push aside the veil to welcome in the visitors.
Eyes like halogen illuminate the soma peering out of spherical night mask.
Paleolithic subconcious icons lumber through dreamscape archetype of archangel.
Topside its far worse- infants painted gauze peer through murky jars; soon I’m wearing the skin
of the morning star.
Green locks my name fills an empty banner. Frank, what have you gotten me into now?
I am not afraid to speak my heart & mind it cannot be saved sell me over. F@ck your hopeless
world, I am blacker than the sun. Tragedy. Have you seen the speedy, yes?
Bleeds through the sleep onto the page. I’m sailin’…
Terror & Hubris in the House of Frank Pollard — Lamb of God
doesn’t an “estate” require “grounds” i.e., some land that extends more than 4 feet around the house. 9,000 sq ft lot? and 3 million bucks for that?
I agree on the lot size, not even enough room to install a pool.
These are complete poser pads, why would anyone buy a McMansion at this location for any reason other than those stated in IR’s post.
House is totally overpriced considering it has no pool—
Interesting article on the opposite end of the market from the Register.
“For a few delirious years, subprime mortgages brought fat profits to Orange County lenders – plus Mercedes, Beemers and the occasional Lamborghini for their salespeople.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/subprime-percent-home-2233845-lending-loans
How many people who own houses in Shady Canyon made their millions in the subprime biz?
They seem awefully proud of that music room … and the alley on the side has become a “side courtyard”, which does at least show some creativity on the part of the realtor.
I wonder if the asking price is for some other reason, like to list the house as a $2.8 million asset on the family balance sheet.
What a sham we’ve been running.
Nothing in Irvine is worth 2.8 million. That includes Turtle Ridge, and the vastly overpriced Shady Canyon.
The tide is rolling out, and exposing a decade of skinny dipping!
In the meantime, I continue to rent and watch the fireworks.
Oh well, hate to say “I told you so”. Ha-Ha!
A couple of observations. Does a piano and two chairs make a music room? Is that a fish tank dividing the wall in the living room. Rich people do not have a 10 year old TV. I had a TV like that one in 1988. No pics of the kitchen, interesting. It is a nice house but not an estate. And just under $3 Mil? These people are very very proud of their home.
Yes, they do. That’s how they got rich.
You got this right. Many of the millionaires I know are so cheap they have a hard time enjoying life.
The big spenders often don’t stay rich for long.
I save most of what I make, but still working on the first mil. I sometimes force myself to buy something I don’t need so I don’t fall in to the state of not being able to enjoy life from time to time.
It is a tough balance to keep over a life time.
Yes, exactly! 🙂
I know what you’re trying to say, but this isn’t an example of that. That’s a VERY expensive old TV. They blew a lot of cash on it then and they built a very expensive entertainment center to match.
Does anything else in the house say to you, “these guys got rich by being frugal”?
One more thing, in the one photo of what I assume is an office, you see nothing but tile roofs through the windows. $3 Million right?
Maybe it’s a realtor who wants to say “40% off” in a few months.
I’ve seen 50%+ off of some high end homes recently that had been listed for over a year. The initial asking prices were in some cases WTF. Some of them were just chasing the market down forever from a mildly high initial asking price. I’ve also seen bigger reductions after they become REOs.
You think for your 3 mil you’d get a decent view.
These sellers need to put down the crack pipe and kool-aid.
A modest proposal.
So, there’s been talk of whether Obama should initiate interest buy-backs for new buyers, reducing their interest rates to 2.9 or 3.9 or 4.9 or whatever by the government paying points on the mortgage. That and buyer tax incentives.
In not irvine, this has me scared that house price declines could be stopped prematurely.
So here’s my idea of the moment for your consideration:
Only give such subsidies to buyers who can prove one of the following:
1) That they provided the new neighborhood low comp with dispensation for sales within 2 weeks of your closing.
2) That even at the normal interest rate the property would be cash-flow positive as a rental.
This would help chase the market down, while providing additional incentive to buyers. And with clause (2) would still increase buyer activity in hard-hit midwestern areas where owning never got more expensive than renting but where sales are getting slammed by lack of financing and buyer hesitancy. This would also help make sure prices didn’t overshoot too much, because I think that truly underpriced homes are the root of the next bubble (provides the psychology of rent being money thrown away while interest just being, well not worth mentioning).
lol Redfin: No similar recent past sales could be found.
something something about the high end being immune? yeeaa….
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prime24-2008nov24,0,6174050.story
I know of one house that’s been sitting for well over a year. The word was they didn’t need to sell, the house being paid for. At least that’s the word. They bought another in Rancho Santa Fe and the one they left behind in Olivehein. All high end.
The first house, the one they didn’t need to sell, was put on the market for 1.3 million. Now, the glossy flyer, says they’ll take 800K. Of course, they’re still in no hurry.
IR,
Your line about “the rich and famous live by a different set of rules than the rest of us” reminded me of a story.
My friend works as a paramedic in LA and was called to the scene of a pretty bad car accident. It turns out a famous rapper, apparently due to a seizure, had crashed his luxury ride into a tree.
As his partner was tending to the dazed rapper, my buddy noticed the distinct odor of marijuana. After just a cursory look he found an enormous bag of weed peeking out of a gym bag in the back seat.
My buddy told a nearby police officer he might want to check it out, but the cop quickly shut him down, insisting, “Nope, didn’t see anything. You know how much paperwork that would take on a celebrity?”
Sadly, this isn’t even the most overpriced home in Turtle Ridge. IMO, that “honor” goes to 25 Hedgerow. For just $1,699,000, you too can own 2,240 square feet of “luxury”. At that price, 25 Hedgerow is $115 per square foot HIGHER than the ridiculously overpriced Blue Summit home profiled!
The scariest part is that someone actually paid $1,625,000 for 25 Hedgerow in July 2005. I would hate to be that person right about now.
It seems to me that the 2004 price is a pretty fair price for this place. I don’t understand how they cam to a price equal to and exceeding $/sq.ft. for ocean view properties in NC.
Perhaps they are hoping to help out a neighbor who is Actually trying to sell, by making the other place look like a bargain!
Just speculation…
I’ve seen cases of divorce where one side (often seems to be the wife) tells the court the husband’s assets are (large number) when in fact they are much smaller number. So to prove the assets are less, the property is listed at the inflated value that one side claims to prove that it can’t be sold for that price.
So, my guess here is that this a divorce price listing.
Alan, this is a good guess. My brother has been fighting his soon-to-be-ex to lower the price on their house and is finally going to be able to go back to court to force the issue. Amazing.
Divorce is a great way to leave the middle class and its comforts forever despite having great income. squabbling over a house while the market tanks is a great way to make sure both parties fall an extra socioeconomic notch or two.
Great house and great price. It is my dream house. :B
The only thing wrong with this house, other than the price, is the utter lack of land. For a house this size, a 9,000 sq. ft. lot is a postage stamp. This should be on an acre or more, with at least a garden and a pool on site.
The photos are beautiful, but what really grabbed me was all the empty space in the house. Most homes like this one are usually crammed with furniture and knick-knacks. This one could be a single’s pad for all the lack of “stuff” in it. (Not that I’m complaining; I hate clutter.)