The City of Lights

Siene Kitchen

Asking Price: $899,000

Purchase Price: $897,000

Purchase Date: 7/5/2006

Address: 15361 Siene Circle, Irvine, CA 92604

Beds: 5IrvineRenter

Baths: 3

Sq. Ft.: 2,982

Lot Sq. Ft.: 7,995

Year Built: 1969

Stories: 2

Type: Single Family Residence

View: Park or Green Belt

Neighborhood: El Camino Real

$/Sq. Ft.: $301

MLS#: S484070

Status: Active on market

On Redfin: 11 days

Redfin, Zillow

From Redfin, “Almost 8000 square feet lot in the center of Irvine. Prized end of cul -de-sac location backs up to greenbelt-lots of privacy!Park-like yard that includes a large patio with fire pit. Family room with fireplace, . No mello-roos, no HOA. Surroounded by greenbelt, park, & tennis courts. With nearby college & golf course. Newly remodeled with granite counter tops, new light fixtures, new carpet, travertine, and hardwood floor. New paint, sinks & faucets, new vinyle windows, scraped texture ceiling.”

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El Camino Real is one of the most “tractlike” neighborhoods in Irvine. There is a lack of parks, play areas and pools. It is probably the best value on a dollars-per-square-foot basis as there is little else to bring people to the neighborhood. As the description mentions, there are a few beltway greenspaces where they preserved the old windrows from the agricultural operation. Those neighborhood criticisms aside, this property is nice and updated albeit a bit old.

Siene River

Eiffel Tower at Sunset – Seine River, Paris

This property appears to be owned by a local realtor; either that or the owner coincidentally has the same name. This property is shown as one of her “featured listings” for $949,000. The property is empty, so it appears to be a flip that is bleeding cash. The seller has a first mortgage for $717,600 and a second for $89,700 through Countrywide. With a combined debt of $807,300 (and likely a 3% commission), the seller has some room to negotiate how much she is going to lose before this becomes a short sale. It doesn’t look like this flip will be financing any trips to Paris. Seine Circle is as close to the Siene as this seller will get.

Siene Painting

The Siene at Courbevoie – 1885, Georges Pierre Seurat

18 thoughts on “The City of Lights

  1. awgee

    How do you find out the mortgage information on a property? Such as the mortgage amounts and the lenders?
    —–

  2. IrvineRenter

    The information is all public record. You need access through a title company to obtain this easily.

  3. No_Such_Reality

    Another basically million dollar home in Irvine, where the REALTOR can’t be bothered to take the plastic pole thingy out of the front yard for the photo or even bothered to market the home with photos that are not blurry.

  4. David

    Irvine Renter

    Could you check out 7 Heather, Irvine. Is this a flip as well? I think the recent sales agent was discussed in one of Zovalls previous post about North Park. Who in their right mind would want to flip a million and half property in this market.

  5. buster

    Doesn’t anyone remember this was featured on this site in October, 2006 (Flip-Flop Go the Brokers in Irvine). This is owned by the listing broker. She paid $890,000 for it, put in granite countertops, laminate flooring, scraped the ceilings and tried to list it for $200,000 more.

    It was a 10% down deal and, according to the listing agent, she put $30,000 into it. So $89,000 down plus $30,000 = $119,000 into it. After failing to complete her flip, she rented it for six months for about $1,200 per month negative.

    SUPPOSEDLY it sold at $890,000. So the flipper/broker netted $863,000 after costs. Subtract this from the $807,000 due on the first and second (both with Countrywide) and you get net cash to the seller of $56,000. The broker/flipper has $119,000 into it and nets $56,000, net loss is $63,000 less $7,200 rental loss for a total loss of $70,200 or -59.00% on an eight month investment. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer flipper.

  6. Ranger Rick

    This property is ugly… but the price per square foot is getting closer to acceptable…. oh, but the price of ugly…..

  7. lowrydr310

    Oh but it’s IRVINE.. Everyone wants to live in IRVINE! Home values can NEVER go down in Irvine.

    By the way, my cousin owned a home just a few blocks away from this gem and I lived with him for several years, so I know the neighborhood very well. In 1998 he purchased the home for $255K. His job forced him to relocate and when he sold the house he got $450K for it, which I thought was excessive. It’s out of control now!

    Don’t fret.. things will come back to reality even if it takes a few years. I can’t wait until people stop thinking about real estate as a way to get rich quickly and begin to think of it more in terms of finding a place to call home.

  8. lendingmaestro

    with that lot size and age of the home you could make the argument that this is a tear down candidate.

    Not for that price of course. Maybe 500K??? You can get a construction loan for a nice 2500+ sq ft home for close to 270k.

    Or you can by the flophouse as is for almost a million.

  9. buster

    Update: This SUPPOSEDLY sold. Anybody want to figure out what’s going on?

    On April 3, 2007 the agent/flipper recorded a grant deed to Sandra J. Alper, Trustee (OC Recorder Document 2007-00213014). On April 18, 2007, the agent/flipper recorded a reconveyance (OC Recorder Document 2007-00248625). Something smells fishy. Why was it listed by the agent/flipper after the documents were already recorded?

    Posing as a potential buyer, we made a quick inquiry with the agent/flipper and she says, “It’s in escrow.” In this market, the agent (who is also the seller) should have been quick to say, “We’re taking back-up offers. Can I get your name? Do you want to see it?” Let’s face it, the probability of it falling out of escrow is pretty darn high. So if you are the agent, much less the agent/flipper/seller, you would certainly want to speak with someone who shows an interest in the property, right? NOPE – she specifically said, “I’m not interested in discussing the property because it’s in escrow.” Could there possibly be a hint of something not quite on the “up and up” going on here? Now, surely nobody would suspect FRAUD going on here…….

  10. David

    Buster/ Irvine Renter

    Could you check 7 Heather, Irvine whether this is in the same situation?

  11. graphrix

    David – I checked 7 Heather and it recorded 4/12/07 for $1.432mil and was just listed by Misuk Hysen of First Team for $1.539mil. They put 50% down which is very odd for a flipper. It was the original owner from 2000 so as long as they didn’t use all of their HELOC they made a mighty nice profit. Does that give you the info you were looking for?

  12. ollie4

    I believe what you’ve mistaken for a plastic pole is actually a tree swing, so it’s more a case of a poorly framed attempt to show off some bit of charm I suppose . . .

  13. Aeneid

    More like “Insane” circle when it comes to price and the esthetic of the place.

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