I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
White Christmas — Elvis Presley
.
.
Asking Price: $600,000
Income Requirement: $120,000
Downpayment Needed: $150,000
Purchase Price: $700,000
Purchase Date: 3/7/2006
Address: 6 Silvermaple, Irvine, CA 92618
First Mortgage $560,000
Downpayment $140,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 3
Sq. Ft.: 1,600
$/Sq. Ft.: $375
Lot Size: –
Type: Condominium
Style: Contemporary
Year Built: 2000
Stories: Three or More Levels
Area: Oak Creek
County: Orange
MLS#: L23942
Status: Active
On Redfin: 121 days
Unsold in 90+ days
From Redfin, “A stunning, detached home on a culdesac in the gated Oak Creek Community of Irvine. Three generous bedrooms with 3 full baths. Elegant upgrades including designer floors, custom paint, crown molding and custom window treatments. Large, sparkling kitchen with center island and sit-up bar. Great Room style floorplan with separate living room, family room, full-size dining area and dining alcove. First floor bedroom and bath. Lushly landscaped yard with beautiful slate accents.”
This description is well written. I particularly like the adjectives: stunning, generous, elegant, sparkling, lushly, beautiful…
.
.
It is sellers like these who make me rather sad. They did what you are supposed to do; they put 20% down and got a conventional mortgage. They obviously customized the home, so I don’t think they were flippers. Whatever life circumstances have caused them to need to sell, the volatility of house prices in Irvine is going to wipe them out. I know people believe real estate only goes up, but the fact is that it sometimes goes down. A stable market with boring 4% appreciation is better than the roller coaster ride we are on here in Irvine. Perhaps it is a good time to review Houses Should Not Be a Commodity.
For the record, if they get their asking price and pay a 6% commission, they stand to lose $136,000 of their $140,000 downpayment. There is probably a reason this price hasn’t dropped further despite being on the market for 121 days. Do you suspect this price is as low as they can go?
For a little fun, what does this photo tell you about the occupant…
Female mid-thirties to early forties. Single. And, now sadly, flat broke.
—–
Smells like D-I-V-O-R-C-E, looks like Granny’s house
Regardless of the Irvine market, this home is in dire need of some staging, a la “Designed to Sell”. Candles, pictures, large wooden words, silk flowers and MAUVE everywhere–too much! Especially after 122 days on the market and really no place to go with the price…
Regardless of the Irvine market, this home is in dire need of some staging. Candles, large wooden words in several rooms, silk flowers and all that MAUVE–it’s just too much. Especially after 122 days on the market and really no place to go with the price…
I HAVE AN IDEA!
I would like to run an idea with my fellow bloggers on this panel, and of course you too IR…
Besides writing our government officials to complain of this proposed bailout for the newly rich and irresponsible, what if we staged a mass boycott of all the banks that are involved in these very corrupt and unfair policies (starting of course with Countrywide). Future first-time homebuyers like myself could choose from a list of banks that were not involved in these sleazy and foolish loan practices, and people selling their homes and moving elsewhere could go with these select banks as well.
In addition, the poor responsible homeowner, who is stuck paying a higher interest rate for doing the right thing, could take recourse by canceling any credit cards that they have that are giving business to these insitutions. Certainly there are more honest companies that are more deserving of our business. How about the credit unions? They were not nearly as involved in this lending mess were they?
Give me your thoughts dear bloggers, and tell me what you think. What I’m thinking is, that this could very quickly persuade banks to ignore the “advice” from the communistic FED. We could bring this foolhardy bailout to its knees! MMMOOOOHHHAAAAAA!!!!!
By the way, IR, I completely agree with you about this seller. I wish the family well…
Another idea. We can all dial 1 – 888 – 995 – HOPE, tie up the phone lines, and demand our own personal bailout!!!
“..looks like Granny’s house”
Yeah, it does look a little busy, and the color choices dont help, but the place overall is quite nice.
I think it should be valued somewhere between the 2001 and 2003 sales price. Around 425k.
Someone paid 700k….OMFG! I bet they freeked when they got their first property tax bill.
Yes, but before you call, make certain your fico score is presently below 660, otherwise you will not be given priority. All you have to do is miss a couple of credit card payments to achieve this goal.
“For a little fun, what does this photo tell you about the occupant…”
I can’t figure out why this photo is even part of the listing.
Questionable decor aside, the pic tells me that when you purchase this home, your bed is going to partially block the windows and there is *just* enough room on either side of the bed to crawl in at night.
Actually, I tried to find this out and couldn’t. I think most everybody participated to some extent.
““For a little fun, what does this photo tell you about the occupant…”
At first I thought it was a child’s room with the stuffed animals, but then the bed is too big. How can you have a bed that is so big that it blocks the natural sunlight? The dark colors on the wall are depressing. The entire home decor is nauseating. It looks like someone spent a tad too much money on little trinkets and junk and not enough saving for a rainy day
This suggestion wouldn’t work well for many of the large banks. Some banks have very wide ranging units. They might do mortgages, small business, foreign nations, investment banking, even insurance.
If you boycott the whole bank, you are hurting divisions and employees who never touched a mortgage.
If you want to have a deterrent effect against future irresponsible behavior, go after the CEO. If there was illegal behavior (rather than just bad business judgment) go after the General Counsel.
Simply start petitions to fire, without a termination package, the people running those organizations.
Also, if you are rather detail-oriented, encourage a modification of policy which all employees must sign “Employee shall never assert that home prices always rise, even in the long term. Any transactions which are reasonably expected to result in a loss to the firm if home prices do not rise require upper management approval”.
Wonder what the circumstance are here? Looks like they just paid their supplemental tax bill from the purchase last year. Paid it in 10/07 and it cost them an additional $250 in penalties…
Man, that one just makes me sad.
Looks like grandma is headed for greener pastures living home where she can listen to her Elvis Christmas albums in peace.
Cute little place. I would almost buy it for my mother, if I could stand those cheezy little Irvine neighborhoods. I bet the neighbors in an area like that are mostly assholes – even bigger assholes now that they are going broke too.
That’s what makes this bailout plan so stupid. Encourage people to miss payments intentionally so they qualify? Insane!
It’s almost like the situation a struggling single mother runs into when she gets a nice raise only to make too much money to qualify for government assistance. Better to keep that crappy job to get the handout than to try to improve her situation…
Q: For a little fun, what does this photo tell you about the occupant…
A: A couple from from Modesto moved to Irvine and divorced?
Oh, yeah, don’t misunderestimate Orange Countians in their ability to become assholes their financial weather changes.
Just picture David Banner: “Don’t make me broke. You won’t like me when I’m broke.”
I can’t believe the density of that neighborhood on the aerial view.
That’s alot of sewage.
Looks like a teenage girl’s bedroom. Is it the master bed? If so, I’d say a woman in her 30s with undeveloped taste.
Sadly, I don’t feel bad for these sellers. 20% downpayment or not, their mistake was paying a hyperinflated price in the first place.
If people would use a little common sense and didn’t pay ridiculous asking prices in the first place we wouldn’t be in this mess.
All the trinkets and junk in that condo look like they’re from the discount bin at Marshall’s.
Wow, I am a bitter man today.
The first thing I saw was the sign that said ‘Dream’. Almost a freudian slip I guess. This seller dreamt a little too much like the kool-aid drinking buyers of the pre-bubble era. Hey, I think all of us buyers who were careful and adhered to financial prudence deserve a pat on our back. I am such a happy renter! And I do feel bad for my friends who got into the peer pressure trap to buy a home at peak prices just because they thought they would be outpriced or because they thought that prices would keep going up into oblivion.
1600 sq ft and 3 stories – I toured a lot of new properties similar to this one and I can’t stand the 3 stories. Each story feels so small and cramped.
Based on my observations, the min. you need for 2 stories is 1500 sq ft and min. for 3 stories is 2500 sq ft. Any thing less than the min. will feel very tiny.
I believe the second sign that says ‘Relax’ came in after the bubble burst as something to wake up and read literally as the occupant smelt the coffee.
I’m a little confused about what this mortgage plan involves. I have been reading that there will be no direct $ assistance to lenders or borrowers and it is simply that the lenders have agreed to not subject borrowers that fall into a very narrow category to any rate resets for 5 years. Does this mean that they have agreed to not reset “teaser” rates too ?
Obviously if it was in the lenders interest to not reset these loans they would have already started doing this on their own. If all of this is true then one would think that lenders will simply pay lip service to this “agreement” and quietly fail to follow through.
There is a good description of how the program actually works at http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to the New Hope Plan.
The program provides some help to certain classes of borrowers. However, it also provides better cashflows to the banks by reducing the number of foreclosures. Instead of insanely high interest rates that result in foreclosures, the banks will use rates which are still high enough to be profitable.
The banks who issued these subprime ARMs were betting that the borrowers would sell or refi before the resets. With declining home values, most borrowers can’t do that now. Therefore, they will keep the moderately profitable initial rates in place for certain borrowers for another 5 years. It is my understanding that even if these loans were converted to fixed rate for the rest of their 30 year terms, they would be pretty profitable if paid on time.
That can’t be the master can it? Do they make master bedrooms that small?
Lawyer,
We could at least go after the bigger names, that way the smaller companies might be the firts to turn around and stop the insanity…
“For a little fun, what does this photo tell you about the occupant…”
Mmmm… i’d say no man ever lived there!
As you quoted, “occupant” without “s”.
I’m surprised that a house can look that dated after only 6 or 7 years. Just amazing.
My guess: Divorcee (Mid 50’s) that had a decent amount after the split. Wanted something of “her own” and is now suffering financially.
Malibu,
It wouldn’t hurt the innocent folks though, if it would stop this bailout from even starting in the first place, don’t you think? Even a grand-scale threat of a boycott might get them to stop. Think about it. Won’t our economy be hurt more in the long run, if the foreclosures are not allowed to run their course faster? As it is some people are taking their homes off the market this week because they are anticipating their mortgage freeze.
A boycott is the American Way! That is how the Revolution began. I hate having to do this, but what other recourse do we really have? To wait till the next bailout, and the next, and the next….
First off, so much customization is just plain STUPID unless you are 110% sure you will never move. Resale beige, please, and never such dark colors for a small room, just shrinks it tremendously. Whoever the agent is, they should be shot immediately for allowing this photo in the ad and for not TELLING his or her client to get 50% of the crap out of the house.
As a military/airline pilot’s wife, I have shopped for lots of homes in 20+ years of marriage. I would NEVER in a million years even enter this dump. All the homes we built/bought decorated in resale beige and sold easily since we UNcustomized them to the nth degree. We wanted buyers to see themselves, not us, living in their potential new home. The house we live in now (longest ever at 10 years and counting) is STILL resale beige and could easily be uncustomized by removing 10% of the stuff.
I agree with IR. This is a sad case, where somebody drank the KoolAid and believed the “if you don’t get in now you never will” story. But then, everyone who gets taken by a con is a sad case.
There’s a fool born every minute and two to take him, as the saying goes. This person was a fool and got taken. An expensive lesson but hopefully by bailing out now, they won’t ride it to a short sale and ruined credit.
But then, is she any worse off than any other homeowner who has seen their equity evaporate? Hasn’t every homeowner (myself included, unfortunately) lost the same or more real wealth by seeing their equity disappear? This person has just “realized” her loss instead of having it sit there as an “unrealized” loss. The the loss is the same, and just as real, whether or not you sell or hold. It’s like a stock you buy at $50.00 and it drops to $30.00. You’ve lost $20.00 per share whether or not you choose to sell.
Finally, saw a new term. Since a “homeowner” is really only such if they have equity, every “homeowner” who has less no equity is really just a renter. But — unlike real renters who can move, don’t have taxes, insurance, mello roos and maintenance to pay, the homeowner renter is in a much worse position. And if they’re upside down on the mortgage, the new term for them was “Subprime Renters.” Cute, eh?
IrvineRenter, great blog. But it’s meanspirited to invite folks to comment (criticize) the owner’s taste/situation/status, even when you label it “a little fun.” Stick to the analysis – you do it better than just about anyone else I’ve read.
I don’t see that much customization. With the exception of the bedroom in that too dark red, the rest of the apartment was left in neurtal color. The obnoxious thing hanging in the bathroom looks like a shower curtain which can easily be changed. The other problem with the bedroom besides the too dark color is that the bed makes the room look too small.
The price is still wishfull thinking, the owners must be in denial.
If the o/o had tried a little less dreaming & a lot more researching before buying, they wouldn’t be losing over $100K.
Whether you luv or hate it, she really went all out personalizing it.
She has all kinds of pictures on the fridge, so I’m thinking single mom with kids trying to pick up the pieces and move on with life after a divorce. The flowered quilt and teddy bears on the bed is cute. I also like the Dream affirmation, nice reminder to live in the moment rather than allowing your past to tie you down. Very Empowering!
There’s nothing wrong or mean spirited at all about poking fun at someone’s house on an internet blog. Its not as if we are walking in to an open house and pointing and laughing at the gleeful owner hoping and praying on their knees that they sell their property.
lol@ Empowering:)
(1) This occupant NEVER shopped at IKEA.
(2) There’s no TV.
(3) Why is there a table where the den is supposed to be?
(4) The kitchen faces the living room.
I live in Irvine and my buddy was looking to buy a small place in Irvine, but he ended up buying a bigger place in Murrieta. He payed 535K for a house out there in the summer of 2005. Have you ever seen that south park episode of the Mormons. He reminds me of the song they sing in that episode. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb
http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/712/All-about-the-Mormons?.html
Before we get too jovial about the decor, imagine this scenario:
Female, late 40’s, just widowed. Husband died in Iraq. No longer has enough income to sustain her life in Irvine. Must sell. One of the kids on her fridge also has cancer. She’s insured, but the insurance company is starting to deny some of their medical claims because that’s what insurance companies do.
And you thought the writers strike hadn’t ended yet.
That’s probably a worst case scenario, but I sure would feel bad for picking on her decor if that were her situation.
The developers are trying to save land and maximize there profits, and you can tell when you drive by these homes.
I think you nailed it. It looks like she didn’t do much but shop for junk to fill up this small house. Must of been a stay at home wife without much work experience.
I don’t think paint is a big deal. You don’t have to live with “resale beige” all your life just incase you might sell one year. I would paint the house into my home, then if you want to sell, paint it back into a house.
that’s what struck me as well: from the air, so much of Irvine looks industrial because the condos cover the land like a carpet. This place has nowhere to go but down.
I don’t picture any such maudlin circumstances: I say she is out of the “real housewives of orange county” mold but only had the bucks for a cramped Irvine condo. Hopefully she got some implants with her alimony money and has a little left over for a much-needed home makeover.
I agree, don’t make fun of her, she’s probably a recovering knick-knack addict. That’s a disease.
I remember when those were first built. They are awful. They show much better in pics than in real life. Three stories make the 1600 ft very unlivable. Gets annoying after about 10 minutes.
given 3 floors with just 1600 sq ft makes me wonder: what percentage of the floorspace has to be dedicated to stairwells? no wonder they are cramped dungeons.
I agree. This property desperately needs some staging. All the tchotchkes and patterned fabric makes the rooms look small and dim. It would look a lot better sleeked down and de-cluttered. Isn’t suggesting something so obvious a part of the Realtor’s job?
No, honestly not picking on the decor. Just believing that the house would look better and have a better chance of selling faster if it was decorated to make the rooms look as bright and spacious as possible.
Simple Marketing 101. Strictly business.
I feel sorry for this seller too.
Probably a responsible person who put down 20% which is rare these days, but got caught up in the real estate buying frenzy.
I will say a little prayer for this seller tonight.
Wow, I just checked Countrywide’s REO site and they have over 3700 properties now just in CA… My guess is that they are the proud owners of $1.25-1.5B of CA real estate.
Another 20% decline in value will cost them $300M just in CA. Yikes!
Why don’t you realtors leave “lot size” blank? too small ?
I personally like the picture of the front entryway. The rounded doorways remind me of Hobbiton.
I agree with lessismore. No need to insult the homeowner personally, especially if IR is sincere in feeling sympathetic for her. I actually think it IS like going to an open house just to make fun of the decor. It’s a distraction from the valuable analysis normally found on IHB.
I hate beige. I didn’t buy a house once because it had just been entirely recarpeted in beige, and I would have felt guilty ripping up new carpet. I bought a house with 19 year old really ugly carpeting and had the pleasure of buying carpet colors to suit myself. Which now needs replacing again. And not with beige. Beige also shows dirt easily.
I do go to open houses, partly for the pleasure of dissing the awful taste of the owners. Sad but true. But, not to their faces!!
Lots of very nice, amusing people have simply awful taste.
I was not making fun of this owner or their tastes. Generally you do not see photos with so many unique personal possessions. You can learn a great deal about a person from a photo like this one, and the speculation can be entertaining. If some people want to make fun of them, that is their business.
Personally, I thought the big letters spelling out words all over the house were fascinating. It would seem inner peace is important. The person is also drawn to glamor and glitz as evidenced by the Tiffany style lamps. The profusion of flowers suggests it is a woman. Also, the picture on the headboard is of a single woman with nobody else in the photo. There are other pictures look like a small boy, so I surmise this is a single mother. The four teddy bears and the overall level of clutter suggests she likes to collect things. I don’t know what to make of the deep red master bedroom. It is a very sexual color. The overall “country” styling suggests she may be from Texas.
That is what I see.
This unit is a condo and/or townhome, and thus has no lot size since you don’t actually own the ground a condo/townhome sits on. You own “air”.
Frankly, it’ll probably sell around half a mill. The 2001 to 2003 forecast is probably an unfair prediction on Irvine and, in particular, Oak Creek. I used to own a 2 bed/2 bath condo there. I still miss that place even though (and luckily) I sold the condo 2 years ago.
Why an unfair prediction? Well, I do recall that Irvine in particular wasn’t appreciating that fast during that period because of the uncertainty of El Toro conversion (airport or great park). That kept a lot of potential buyers on the sideline while the rest of the California was experiencing RE appreciation. When the voter passed the initiative that would convert El Toro to a great park instead of an airport, Irvine RE prices zoomed up (2004 in particular). I would think that the price will come down to around either late ’03 or early ’04 price unless there’s a national crisis (which then macro-economy takes over and God knows what the price will be then).
Anyway, there will be price support at that level due to the desirability of Oak Creek in particular. That’s JMO anyways…..
Wow, I don’t think I would admit that. That is sad. Sure you have nothing better to do with your time? If you actually get “pleasure” from dissing what other people buy you are truly pathetic.
I’ve read your earlier posts. Why don’t you spend more time working on your CCIE and less time on this blog. Maybe then you can afford to live in the lap of luxury here in OC. Listen, just because you work on some user helpdesk does not make you an “IT Guy”. There are those of us that actually make a fine living in this field. Change your name to IT Minion, it would be more appropriate.
Sure you were. Just as you do in every post. You say you are not a “bitter renter”. Stop acting like one. And yes, I’m sure the sheeple on this blog will come rushing to your defense. Pathetic.
JAFO,
I just read your three hate-filled comments. It is you who are pathetic.
JAFO should stay true to his handle/nickname and keep the useless comments to himself…
Don’t want to be too cryptic, but showed this post to a coworker whose significant other is a RE agent based in Irvine. They own, and rent, a unit right next to this one. To say the least, he was flabergasted by the asking price. Didn’t even know it was up for sale, and was fairly adamant that he was going to look into it further. I am curious too as to why they are asking much less than they originally purchased it for. The devil is in the details, as they say. And for the record, he thinks this sight is full of lunatics and wishful thinkers. Even gloated about Bush’s proposed bail out plan. How does your Irvine Housing Bloggers feal about that, he says. Suffice it to say, I think IR has laid out in great detail that it’s all about the fundamentals. Keep up the good work on this very informative site.
“For a little fun, what does this photo tell you about the occupant…”
Uh, hmm, yeah, they obviously don’t know anything about Feng Shui! Look, all their energy is draining out of those small windows at the head side of the beds. So, no surprise they ain’t got no energy left to fight for keeping the house…
Only sadly joking, of course. This really looks like the home of nice people who took pride in ownership. If the freeze plan could really save such mortgage customers, it would be a good thing. Even though it would lead to the eligible borrowers grossly overpaying for their property, I guess many would shrug this of if only they could keep their dream home, into which they invested so much money, efforts and love…
Let’s hope that there will be some happy endings for people who deserve it. This would be good news in these horrible times.
Me, too. I like the outside of the 3 story houses because three story houses are so rare in South Florida. the inside, as pointed out, is another story.
First of all: this is top-notch blogging, writing, and analysis. Crank comments are a negative externality of success. Many, many more us are paying attention and appreciate the work behind the blogging.
My first reaction was to go back and make sure IR really had just expressed empathy for the o/o before asking, BagNewsNotes style, for commentary on the meaning behind the photo. But, now I get it.
The first thing I see is DREAM. It’s up high, close to heaven — but in ALL CAPS, which implies shouting, which would seem the opposite of dreaming. Then the teddy bear & monkey, the ruffled things, and the Rose Red color palette. Paging Dr. Freud, stat. It’s also kind of fascinating that she (for this cannot be a man, nor a gay of either gender) chose not only to keep the double-bubba-size bed, which blocks 25% of each window, but (poignantly) compounded the error by attempting to soften the effect with potted pothos plants — hereby eliminating another 25% of the light.
Diagnosis: acute wishful thinking. No one will notice the blocked windows. My home equity will double every five years. The bed won’t be too big again, someday. Hope is not a plan. It’s tragic, human, and predictable.
Now, where’s my vodka …
$535k 2005 Murrieta Ouch!
Murrieta is another town littered with bank owned properties. Easily down 40% from 2005.
Not much of an update other than I inquired further about this property to my coworker. He had asked his Irvine RE wife and was told it’s owners are foreigners and wanted to upgrade. But to sell for such a loss? He was perplexed as I was.
Reminds me of the song by John Lennon with lryics that include “Strange days” and “Most peculiar”.
And can we officially say that Elvis has left the IHB?