High end sellers seem to believe prices have already recovered back to peak valuations and are appreciating wildly.
Irvine Home Address … 24 PRAIRIE Irvine, CA 92618
Resale Home Price …… $1,480,000
{book1}
They were sitting
They were sitting on the Strawberry Swing
Every moment was so precious
Cold, cold water bring me 'round
Now my feet won't touch the ground
Cold, cold water what ya say?
When it's such…
It's such a perfect day
It's such a perfect day
Coldplay — Strawberry Swing
IHB News
The IHB News section of the weekend open thread is a place I consider an open forum for anything I want to say. If you want to read about real estate, skip this section today and go down to the Patrick.net links.
My copy of Garner's Modern American Usage arrived, and I set about finding my usage errors. I am begrudgingly dropping downpayment as a single word. I think it is a great compound, but I am not with the mainstream on this one, so I am breaking it up. I admit to three years of persistent and foolish misuse of downpayment for down payment. However, I will still use cashflow. Garner doesn't mention it, I like it, so I will keep using cashflow.
I am also going to start providing links to definitions for any uncommon word or uncommon use of a common word I looked up to write a post. Actually, this is one of the greatest strengths of the Internet and the blogging media; bloggers can make very obscure references and provide immediate lookup assistance with a hyperlink. It is also a good way to see if I am using too many of them….
After completing The Unceremonious Fall from Entitlement, I was spent, and I still have not fully emotionally recovered. I must admit, I cannot sustain that level of writing and prolificacy. It isn't that I am unwilling to put in the time and energy, I am, and I do, but when I tune in to complex emotional issues, sort through the meanings and present it coherently, it takes time and often more energy than I can muster.
I want to thank SK who left this gem in the astute observations:
I was also especially struck by your definition of wealthy people and their preferences, think you got it absolutely right.
Heres a very nice definition of being free, in case you like it as much as I did (unfortunately its not original)
The most precious sort of freedom you will not hear talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important form of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom.
When I read that definition of freedom, I wept; I felt the meaning beneath the words because recently, I have been feeling more freedom and abundance in my life.
Today's featured song is one of my son's favorites, and like many of Coldplay's songs, it just makes you feel good.
I hope you are enjoying this perfect day.
Housing Bubble News from Patrick.net
Realtors, lenders, government screwed California; now doing it again (pinnaclenews.com) Fitch Says Prime Jumbo RMBS Near 10% Delinquent (housingwire.com) California Housing Losses By County and City (Jas Jain) The Housing Double Dip Began In December (businessinsider.com) Losses Per Square Foot For Southern California (Jas Jain) Money pit: What buying a foreclosure really costs (money.cnn.com) Fannie, Freddie Exist To Lose Money, Keep House Prices Artificially High (businessinsider.com) Five decades of failed housing subsidies are enough (washingtontimes.com) Housing Crisis Getting Uglier in 2010 (cbsnews.com)Early signs of a 'double dip' in housing prices (marketwatch.com)
Foreclosures
Slumburbia (blogs.nytimes.com)Foreclosures surge on the way? (news.yahoo.com)
Millions approaching retirement 'in denial' over pension income (thisismoney.co.uk)
Every single human being should short U.S. Treasury bonds (Mish)
The Poor Are Better Off Renting (online.wsj.com)
Mortgage applications fall despite low interest rates (news.medill.northwestern.edu)
A look back…
Housing Bubble? That's Crazy Talk (Full of shit in 2002) (thestreet.com)Fed's Greenspan Doubts 'Housing Bubble' Thesis (Full of shit in 2004) (thestreet.com)
Market facts puncture myth of 'housing bubble' (Full of shit in 2005) (bizjournals.com)
Underwater and walkaway
American mortgages: Return to lender (economist.com)40 percent of South Florida mortgage holders 'underwater' (sun-sentinel.com)
One-Fifth of U.S. Houseowners Owe More Than Properties Are Worth (bloomberg.com)
House Underwater? Walk Away from Geithner's Perverse 'Relief' Plan (alternet.org)
Strategic Default: Smart For Wall, Smart For Main Street (gather.com)
Miscellaneous
Forget the Mortgage, I'm Paying My Credit Card Bill (usnews.com)Talking Aboot Canada's Housing Bubble (blogs.wsj.com)
Freddie, Fannie escalate insane purchases of their own crap loans (reuters.com)
The Unceremonious Fall from Entitlement (irvinehousingblog.com)
How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America (theatlantic.com)
False Profits: We Will Be Suffering from Fed's Ineptitude for a Long Time (alternet.org)
Alan Greenspan's Does Not Admit Error (theawl.com)
Sales of million-dollar-plus houses way down (sfgate.com)
Jumbo Mortgage Serious Delinquencies Rise to 9.6% (bloomberg.com)
Phoneix Real Estate Prices Still Falling On Foreclosure Sales (nuwireinvestor.com)
Ken Lewis: If I'm Going Down, Paulson and Bernanke Coming With Me (nymag.com)
Million-dollar houses in California suffer further sales drop in 2009 (latimes.com)
Large parts of California still in bubble (doctorhousingbubble.com)
LA area foreclosures jumped in 2009 (lacanadaonline.com)
Federal effort to help homedebtors revives risky mortgages (nctimes.com)
Mortgage banker group's massive losses on own mortgage for D.C. offices (washingtonpost.com)
Baby boomers trapped in bad housing market of their own making (chicagotribune.com)
Geithner Says U.S. Will "Never" Lose Its Aaa Debt Rating (businessweek.com)
Fed "might" buy more mortgage bonds with more counterfeit money (washingtonpost.com)
Irvine Home Address … 24 PRAIRIE Irvine, CA 92618 
Resale Home Price … $1,480,000
Income Requirement ……. $308,195
Down Payment Needed … $296,000
20% Down Conventional
Home Purchase Price … $1,351,000
Home Purchase Date …. 10/29/2007
Net Gain (Loss) ………. $40,200
Percent Change ………. 9.5%
Annual Appreciation … 3.7%
Mortgage Interest Rate ………. 5.05%
Monthly Mortgage Payment … $6,392
Monthly Cash Outlays …..….… $8,600
Monthly Cost of Ownership … $6,430
Property Details for 24 PRAIRIE Irvine, CA 92618
Beds 4
Baths 3 full 1 part baths
Home Size 3,577 sq ft
($414 / sq ft)
Lot Size 6,044 sq ft
Year Built 2007
Days on Market 13
Listing Updated 2/9/2010
MLS Number P720861
Property Type Single Family, Residential
Community Portola Springs
Tract Sera
Retreat to the comfort of Beautiful Portola Springs. Situated on Cul-de-Sac, this 2007 Standard Pacific built home has it all! Gracious Interior upgrades include Crown Molding, Baseboards, Oil-Rubbed Hardward and Granite Counters. Hardwood Flooring is Complemented by Stone and Granite in bath areas.Gourmet Kitchen has Professional Stainless Steel Appliances, Oversized Island that seats 4 opens to Great room with French door,Fireplace and Custom Built-in Entertainment Center. Private Office/Den. This plan offers separate living quarters featuring First Floor Master Suite with Double French doors extend your private living area to serene lush landscaped yard or relax in private interior courtyard. Oversized Master Bath with Dual Vanity, Natural Stone Shower, His and Her built in Dressers and Huge Walk in Closet. Upstairs Quarters bedroom 2 has private bath, juliette balcony,Bdrm 3&4 have Jack n Jill bath,retreat. Upstairs Laundry.Professional landscape includes Fireplace and Fountain.
Can anyone identify a pattern to the capitalization above?
BTW, does anyone think this owner has a prayer of selling for a profit?
Wow. This house is the very definition of “McMansion” — an overbuilt 3500sq foot monster on a 6000 sq foot lot. I have no idea what it will sell for, but it looks like a $900,000 house to me, at current, government supported market prices.
The sellers want 1.5 big ones for a McMansion in Portola Springs…still shaking my head. I have a feeling that it will sell for slightly over a million in this inflated market.
I was watching House Hunters on HGTV last night and the episode took place in Dallas. You could get a 3 bed 2 bath 1300 sq ft. rancher in a decent neighborhood for 123K. Some of the “hot pockets” in Socal are still inflated beyond comprehension.
Today, I am going to the gym and then for a nice run on the beach. I’ll enjoy my time renting until things return back to normalcy.
Love the hyper-link to the dictionary. Now I get to learn about real estate, the bubble, the economy AND maybe a new word or two everyday!
PS I like the multiple news links every Saturday too.
Why? Why on earth would anyone want to live on a lot that’s not even twice the size of your house? I grew up in suburbia, so I know of what I speak: suburbia means you have a backyard, some trees, and some privacy. You’re not in the middle of the woods, but you also can’t hear your neighbor’s alarm clock in the morning. Who thought it was a good idea in Irvine to plan development on such tiny plots? Bizarre, especially when you’re paying over a million dollars to have the experience of trailer park proximity.
Here’s where small lots makes sense: high density, urban living. Where you have storefronts and interesting shops accessible by foot, the excitement of daily quirkiness and activity on the street, in coffee shops, near clubs and shops. San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Santa Monica, parts of West L.A., uptown Minneapolis, etc. That’s where I’d live on a small lot, in a modest house or condo. But Irvine? You should have big lots and privacy. Otherwise it’s the worst of both worlds.
1800 sq foot home, 20,000-40,000 sq foot lot. Now THAT is suburban living.
That’s about a $300,000 house in the mid-west, except the mid-west house would have more land. Above average home and income level (about 4X the household income for mid-westerners as an assistant/associate professor. Or one income NEW MD income house or dual income blue collar working couple or single middle level engineer. Not a McMansion by mid-West standards only upper middle class.
That about 10X the level of comparable salaries in Irvine.
Can the debt levels be maintained in Irvine?
“The most precious sort of freedom you will not hear talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important form of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom.”
Great quote. And I agree. If more people were following this sentiment in the recent past, then we probably would not be in our current difficulties.
Two interesting statements about wealth I have heard.
“He who has enough is wealthy.”
and from a rabbi
“A successful life is not measured in what kind of car you drive or if you went on a fancy skiing holiday. It’s measured by how well off was the world when you entered it, and how much better have you made it by the time you die. That’s the measure of a successful life”.
Are crown mouldings really an upgrade on million dollar homes?
I figured this home – the building at around $500k. That is only slightly less than they are saying, about 650k each for lot and improvements. I don’t think building materials or labor are that much more expensive in so-cal than other places, so the price diff is the lot.
This seems to be directly competing with new construction – how does it stack up?