Friends, Irviners, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Danbury, not to praise it.
The evil that markets do lives after them;
The good is oft interred in stucco boxes;
So let it be with Irvine.
William Shakespeare — From Julius Caesar (III, ii, 78-79)
(paraphrased by IrvineRenter)
Welcome to Oak Creek week at the Irvine Housing Blog. I will be looking at properties from this neighborhood all week. For those of you not familiar with Oak Creek, you may want to start with our Oak Creek Community Profile.
Personally, I like Oak Creek as I have rented units in two of the apartment complexes there. It will be one of the neighborhoods I strongly consider when I am ready to buy.
The prices in Oak Creek have been more resilient than in some other Irvine Villages. It has only been in the last several weeks that I have been noticing rollbacks, and pricing has just gone under the $400 SF level.
There is a cute neighborhood called Cobblestone at the intersection of Alton Parkway and Jeffrey Road in Irvine’s Oak Creek neighborhood. It features small, single-family detached homes arranged in a 6 unit cluster with 2 houses on the street and 4 units behind. This neighborhood is a model of good land planning for a small-lot, detached condominium project.
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The loop street is narrower than typical Irvine local streets with pockets of green with street trees located in what ordinarily would be parking spaces. The front setbacks are very tight with houses set back 5 feet from the sidewalk on the narrow street. It all sounds rather claustrophobic, but this neighborhood doesn’t feel that way. The judicious use of street trees, a slight bend in the street, and the abundance of landscaping makes this neighborhood feel more cozy than cramped.
Lets take a detailed look at what is happening in the market on this street…
Asking Price: $590,000
Purchase Price: $324,000
Purchase Date: 6/14/2002
Address: 50 Danbury Lane, Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 2
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,200
$/Sq. Ft.: $492
Lot Size: –
Year Built: 2000
Stories: 2
Type: Condominium
County: Orange
Neighborhood: Oak Creek
MLS#: M105109
Status: Active
On Redfin: 164 days
Unsold in 90+ days
From Redfin, “LIGHT & BRIGHT IN HIGHLY DESIRABLE COBBLESTONE, IN OAK CREEK! * EASY A CCESS TO 405 & 5 FWYS. QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD. LOW HOA’S, PINE LAMINATE & CERAMIC FLOORS TRHOUGHOUT. CUSTOM PAINT, ATTACHED GARAGE W/ OVERHEAD STORAGE & LOTS OF BUILT-INS. LARGER, MORE PRIVATE, WRAP-AROUND BACKYARD W/ NO HOMES BEHIND. WALKING DISTANCE TO ASSN. POOL, SPA, TENNIS, PARK, RESTURANTS & MUCH MORE! MOTIVATED SELLER. BRING ALL OFFERS!!! *”
Turn off the CAP LOCK, please…
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This is our low-price leader in this community. It has been on the market for 164 days, so this price is not done dropping: Bad news for our house flipping neighbor…
Asking Price: $598,000
Purchase Price: $610,000
Purchase Date: 10/10/2006
Address: 55 Danbury Lane, Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 2
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,200
$/Sq. Ft.: $498
Lot Size: –
Year Built: 2000
Stories: 2
Type: Condominium
County: Orange
Neighborhood: Oak Creek
MLS#: S489835
Status: Active
On Redfin: 39 days
From Redfin, “Absolutely Charming Detached Home w/ 2 Master Suites + Loft and Vaulted Ceiling at Cobblestone in Oak Creek with an Stone Arch Exterior Design. Highly Upgraded includes New Polished Travertine Flooring Thruout, 4′ BaseBoard Around inside of the House. New Berber Carpet and New Paint. Plantation Shutters Thruout and Crown Molding in 2 Bedrooms. New Professonal Landscaping in backyard. Close to the Gelsons’ Market & Restaurants in Walking Distances.”
Has “thruout” become a word now? I think “thru” has become accepted through extensive use, but I haven’t seen other forms yet. No matter…
This seller is hurting. They are priced $8,000 over an identical neighboring property, and that property is overpriced. In short, they are going to bleed some more before they bury this stucco box. If they somehow manage to get their asking price, they will lose $47,880 after a 6% commission. That is a great deal of money to lose after only 8 months of ownership. When you factor in holding costs and the additional $30,000 they will need to drop the price in order to sell this property, they will really lose more like $75,000.
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Also in this cluster is one of two properties priced at borderline WTF territory which are beginning a race downward to find the market. They still have a ways to go…
Asking Price: $674,900
Purchase Price: $488,000
Purchase Date: 12/19/2003
Address: 56 Danbury Lane, Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,360
$/Sq. Ft.: $496
Lot Size: –
Year Built: 2000
Stories: 2
Type: Condominium
County: Orange
Neighborhood: Oak Creek
MLS#: S492424
Status: Active
On Redfin: 23 days
From Redfin, “WOW!!You’ll Love this Detached Stunning Sweet Home in Highly Desirable Cobblestone Community in Oak Creek. The Home Is Upgraded w/ Amazing Designer Media Niche & In The 2nd Bedroom w/ Walk-in Closet, Crown Molding w/ Custom Paint, Laminate Floors Throughout, New Carpet, Professionally Landscaped Backyard w/ Mature Palm Trees and Inside Light Switch. 2-Car Attached Garage w/ Driveway. Quiet Neighborhood, Easy Access to 405 FWY & UCI. Walking Distance to Asso. Amenities, Restaurants and shops.”
You lost me at WOW!!…
Asking Price: $647,900
Purchase Price: $267,500
Purchase Date: 6/29/2000
Address: 33 Danbury Lane, Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,350
$/Sq. Ft.: $479
Lot Size: –
Year Built: 2000
Stories: 2
Type: Condominium
County: Orange
Neighborhood: Oak Creek
MLS#: S495255
Status: Active
On Redfin: 4 days
From Redfin, “MOTIVATED SELLER – WILL LOOK AT ALL OFFERS!!! Location! Location! Loca tion! Fabulous French Country exterior. Pristine detached 3 bedroom home located in the exclusive Oak Creek Community. Features include ceramic tile flooring, newer designer carpet, custom paint, built-in media & private rear yard. Great resort amenities and walking distance to Irvine schools, parks, pools spas and sport courts.”
I can’t believe how consistent realtors are with the three exclamation points. Is that on the realtor test?
So what do we have in these last two Danbury properties? These are two identical floorplans across the street from each other. The first seller hits the market with an almost $500 SF asking price. This is a wishing price bordering on WTF. Then seller #2 comes along and undercuts the seller #1 by $27,000. Now both of these sellers are well above the market. They will probably be closer to $600,000 to $625,000 before they sell. They might even break under $600,000. They both have plenty of equity to reduce price — assuming they haven’t HELOCed themselves into oblivion — so this should be an interesting race to the bottom.
They are not alone. on the street around the bend, Cherrybrook Lane, there are 2 pairs of identical houses having the same game of chicken.
Pair #1:
Price: $669,000
Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,357
$/Sq. Ft.: $493
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201 CHERRYBROOK LN
Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,350
$/Sq. Ft.: $496
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Pair #2:
Price: $699,000
Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,500
$/Sq. Ft.: $466
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Price: $699,000
Irvine, CA 92618
Beds: 3
Baths: 2.5
Sq. Ft.: 1,500
$/Sq. Ft.: $466
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So far, none of those sellers has blinked. We will see…
