Redfin layoffs

If you've not heard already you really need to read this: http://forums.redfin.com/rf/board/message?board.id=LA_OC&message.id=3042#M3042
Redfin is the type of real estate company that consumers have craved for. They are transparent and upfront about everything even when news is sometimes not that good, or in this case, lousy.
I just hope they are able to continue with what they are doing because I'd hate to have the few options homebuyers have had in the past.
Good luck Redfin.

After reading this I came upon a blog in Redfin where the CEO posted about the layoffs:
http://forums.redfin.com/rf/board/message?board.id=LA_OC&message.id=3042#M3042
His comments are as follows:
The reductions were mostly focused on our Seattle real estate group and our marketing department. We have grown revenues nearly 50% this year, and increased market-share by more, but our Seattle business has not grown as much, and we anticipate that overall transaction volumes will not increase as much as we had once hoped, prior to the credit crisis.

That said, our Southern Calfornia business has grown, turning a profit for the first time, and now shows signs of sustained increases in revenue even through the downturn.

We aren't trying to whitewash a setback in our business, or minimize the pain it caused our former colleagues. We of course recognize that startups lead perilous lives that could end in unexpected ways. But we do think our Southern California customers should know that business in this area has increased beyond our expectations, that Redfin overall has out-performed the market, and that we are well-equipped and well-capitalized to be a stable long-term partner.


Regards, Glenn

Glenn KelmanCEO, Redfin

AIG- Arrogance, Impudent, Guilty

Perhaps the title more aptly describes what AIG stands for.
If the thought of your IRA or 401k or investments losing a lot of money lately doesn't piss you off enough already here comes a story from the AP press today about AIG:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCBEplezRU4MUlI3wKRd0IZ9GCgQD93M2CP00
Seems an 85 billion loan from the taxpayers gave them a new lease on life and what better way to celebrate..I mean..collaborate on how to spend it then to go the most expensive place you can and spend $440,000. You read that right. Sickening. These people don't live in the same world as you and I and still can't accept reality. They spent $23,380 on spa treatments alone. Even Charlie Sheen couldn't spend that much on hookers. Give me a break. What do you think?

Triple 7's- Good luck or ?

Normally if you're in Vegas and you hit three 7's you'd be ecstatic. Not today. With the DOW dropping 777.68 it's like three 7's in a jackpot. Heck let's round off the .68 to .7 and call it four 7's in a row. Only the results were in reverse. Big time. In fact the market lost about 1.1 trillion today. That's a lot of Wall street bonus's that are not going to happen and more.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the market bounce back up tomorrow but not back to the level it started today.
Still there's a big part of me along with lot of other people that hope this bill or the new form of this bill never passes. Let prices drop down to normal levels. Let people learn, albeit the hard way for some, that you need to save and be prudent before taking out loans that you can't afford to pay. And giving out loans that are unreasonable also. It's time to pay the piper.

Trash can sales-Knucklehead of the week

With all the seriousness of the bailout plan I couldn't resist throwing in some pictures of why some places probably never sell. Pick any of the following for the knucklehead of the week.
Here's a brand new listing today at 9846 Coral Cove Cir. http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/9846-Coral-Cove-Cir-92646/home/3775846

Could you have at least picked up the s*** in your living room? (or is that a bedroom?) I bet some of the better realtors in the area laugh when they see this also.

Do you like the gin bottle on the dresser? How about the fraternity brothers inflatable Coors-like bottle in the center? And WTF is that thing hanging from the ceiling? I think it's a noose so the owner can hang himself. Maybe he already did and the leftover rope is for the realtor who was too stupid to post this picture. They must think their place is so special they don't even need to clean up their crappy, boxy 1965 place. And the realtor's last words in the description: "This one's a winner." Umm..right.

I'm on a roll tonight so I'll throw another one out there in a minute. Today I took my wife out to test drive a car. She's never gone through the fun experience of dealing with car salespeople. I figure some of the ex realtors are probably working at some of these places now since they are loaded with slimeballs galore. She took one for a testdrive of which I asked her beforehand to have them give back the copy of your license they made when you are done. When she returned she watched our kid and I took it out. When I was done I walked inside and asked him for a copy of the license back. You can't be too protective of your personal information these days. Think I'm kidding? Read about Douglas Nissan of Orange: Four defendants: 43 counts of forgery, 31 counts of grand theft and one count of conspiracy to defraud. Sounds like a nice place to do business with. http://orangecountyda.com/home/index.asppage=8&recordid=1015&returnurl=index.asp?page3D8

When we were driving back home I asked my wife did she get the copy of her license back? She told me the guy said he never made one, he just entered the information in their computer. Lovely. I then handed her the piece of paper and told her rule number one: all these guys are liars and they will do what they can to sell you a car today.
Pretty much like many realtors. Here's a listing with only two pictures and this is one of them. Can you believe it?

And here's one for a backyard in Fountain Valley. I can see the realtor now. It has "plenty of potential."

And here's one with curb appeal in Long Beach. Just that someone ran over the curb a little too far in their excitement to see this place I guess:

Maybe the flip side of putting pictures up here like this is that the realtor doesn't want you to have any surprises when you see the property. The only surprise I would have is if one of these dumps actually sold.

Unemployment up up up

The unemployment numbers came out on Fri. and like I said in my previous post it was going to go up out here in la la land. For CA the July unemployment number was revised from 7.3 to 7.4. The new preliminary number for August is 7.7%. Not good. The O.C. fared a little better than it's neighbor up north at 5.8% while L.A. County climbed to 8.2%. Yikes!
In CA. that accounts for a total of 1,417,175 people unemployed. That doesn't account for the "underemployed" and for those that didn't file which would push the truer number over probably 10%.
Interesting none of the news stations I watched on Fri. said anything about this. Too giddy about the 700B bailout. Did anyone ask them how the taxpayers are going to pay for this if we all keep losing jobs?
http://wwwedd.cahwnet.gov/About_EDD/pdf/urate200809.pdf

Two years ago we were at 4.9% with 873,145 unemployed people
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=LASST06000003
It's going to be a bleak Christmas season for a lot of people this year and I'm not talking about the wingdings on Wall St. I'm talking about the average Joe having to cut expenses. Wait until stores report earnings and see how many of those have to lay off more workers or close entirely. Do you see how this downward spiral is going to affect sector after sector more and more?

Oh and by the way, it'd be nice if the goonies in Sacramento pass a budget soon.

Black Sunday? Should be Red Sunday

I haven't posted in quite a bit. My summertime vacation is over and now I'm back at work. In addition everything that's been happening with housing and the financial markets is a bit depressing. I'm not sure why they called it Black Friday. With Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy shouldn't it be titled Red Sunday? Afterall, being in the black to me always meant you were running a profit while being in the red was losing money. Or maybe they should have titled it "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," with my apologies to U2.

While what's happening at the National level is amazing and will have some profound effects down the line I'm looking with as much interest at California where I live. The unemployment numbers for Aug. come out this Fri http://www.bls.gov/LAU/ and I can't imagine it's going to be good. I'm sure it will go up from July's 7.3%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated: In July, 43 states and the District of Columbia recorded over-the-month unemployment rate increases, 6 states registered decreases, and 1 state had no change. That's not what I call a good track record nationally either.

Take a look at some of these graphs from the bls site:

As you can see here the labor force for CA has increased every year since 98. No big surprise there.As you can see with the next one that employment was steadily growing until 1/08 when all those running the Ponzi scam in the mortgage industry started losing jobs. Along with construction, etc..it continues.

Next we have the unemployment growth chart. Yikes! I haven't seen that steep of an incline since I climbed Mt. Baldy. Noticed when it started climbing. Right about the time people had to start paying the piper for the subprime mess:

Lastly we have the unemployment rate expressed in percentage.

The last four months have been grim. While March and April were at 6.2%, May moved to 6.8%, June jumped to 7.0%, and July was a juggernaut at 7.3%,. August might be the start of the Apocalypse we'll have to wait and see what Friday brings.

Greed, Greed, Greed

“Greed is Good” according to Gordon Gecko. It seems some people are still living with this mantra. Here’s an example of something I hate. Change your listing by a stupid amount so that it remains on the “hotsheets” or e-mailing lists. WTF? Are people that stupid?
Here’s an example of what are you thinking?
This place only was listed three days ago. In the delusional land of Newport Beach where legend has it that parties thrown by Dennis Rodman can exceed most people’s mortgages a month this guy will be throwing a party if he could find a sucker for this place.
For a “close” to $1.5 million you can have this one in Newport Heights
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Newport-Beach/501-Tustin-Ave-92663/home/3242013
Now don’t get me wrong, the place looks nice but if you think you can get close to a million profit from the $541,000 you paid in 1999 then good luck.
What ticks me off is that it showed up as a price change today from it’s original list price of $1,499,999 to $1,499,998. That’s right…one Frickin dollar change. What an a***hole realtor and greedy owner.
I have now figured out what we should all do for listings like this. Submit an offer!! Not the normal low-ball offer but one where you sneakily move the decimal. So instead of $1,499,999 submit an offer for $149,999.99. If you do this often enough you might find a stupid and greedy person that might accept it. After all, how do you think people get scammed from Nigeria for thousands of dollars? Greed and stupidity. A deadly combination to say the least.
They might be so excited that they think they got an offer for “full price” that they will fax over that acceptance reply right away. Then when they realize it’s not right you can sue for breach of contract. That should float some of that greedy equity out of them.

Here’s another delusional kool-aid sipping Coke-A-Mesta head that thinks his place is worth over a million:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Costa-Mesa/1789-Capetown-Cir-92627/home/4583934
While this one didn’t drop his place by a stupid dollar like above he is still in la-la land. Check out his own personal golf course in the backyard. This complex sold an exact model like this recently for $650k. That’s right, half of what he is asking. Does he think the sunset that you can see from over a mile away counts for ocean front?

Not to mention that there are plans eventually to build Banning Ranch with 1,375 homes and shops in development in the park area which is his view. Now what will that do the view?
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/development-one-newport-2138154-ranch-banning

Since he is asking 1,249,000 I think we should submit offers like this for $124,999 or $124,900. At least it will waste the realtor’s time since if they do see the decimal in the wrong place they may actually call you to see if was accidently placed wrong. Good for a laugh at least.

Condo conversions-reversions

Conversions to reversions. A bad investment. UGH!
One thing that worked during the housing boom was owners of apartment buildings turning them over to condominiums. Can’t say I blame them. Huge profits, don’t have to deal with tenants. Except some of them came late to that game.
Maybe they should have read an article like this one first describing the downturn in condo conversions. True it’s in Florida but the same thing happened here too:
http://www.floridahomeloan.com/2006/08/condo-conversions-reverting-back-to.html/
Here’s an excerpt:
Condo conversions nationwide peaked in September 2005 and by June of this year levels had fallen back to those last seen in early 2004, before the bulk of the conversions happened. Nearly 28,000 units costing more than $4 billion were converted in September, while only 3,354 units were converted in June at a total of $449.4 million, according to Real Capital Analytics.
From an article in the Grunion Gazette which is in Long Beach:
http://www.gazettes.com/condoboom07262007.html “In 2006, 1,073 apartments were approved to be converted into condominiums in 78 different buildings, and since 2004 more than 2,000 condo conversions have been approved. This year owners have sought conversions of just 350 units in 18 buildings, although half of the unit total comes from one building (110 W. Sixth St., near Pine Avenue)”. Yikes! With those type of numbers, trying to convert to condos right now is just utterly foolhardy. Fifty-six percent of LB’s 173,000 housing units are rentals. That’s a lot of people who just cannot afford the high prices on their wages. Prices are still going to have to drop to come back to affordability.
Here are a couple of examples in Long Beach:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/1200-Ohio-90804/unit-4/home/12111632
This building has eight units. I can find 5 of them still listed after 95 days. Take your pick. Unit 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8. I’m not sure if the other three have sold since I didn’t find any info on those. Since the pictures are all the same for each one I’ll spare you the redundancy other than to say that who is going to jump into this knowing that their neighbors will be paying less when they get desperate to unload these? Throw in a $225.00 HOA fine with no amenities that I can see and you got a recipe for disaster.
I’ve read in some places that the owners “have re-converted” buildings back into apartment rentals after extremely poor sales. That doesn’t bode well for the poor sap that buys then finds a few months later it’s being converted back. I’m not sure what their legal options are at that point but I know it wouldn’t be fun going through that.
A question posted on Trulia asked If a condo conversion reverts back to rentals does it hurt my value?
Here is the reply posted by a realtor in Baltimore that I believe is right on:
The problem you may run into is that when you try to sell it, the buyer may have a hard time getting financing. Condo projects are either considered insurable or uninsurable by fannie mae. This makes a difference because Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are the largest purchasers of loans on the secondary mortgage market and without their blessing, it can be difficult to find an entity to purchase the loan. Especially with the recent changes in mortgage guidelines, it will be more difficult to get financing for an uninsurable condo. Projects that are less than 50% owner occupied are considered uninsurable. You can check with the property management company as to whether or not the property is Fannie Mae insurable, they should be able to tell you. It is certainly possible to get financing on an uninsured condo, but your buyer has to be in excellent financial shape, and could be required to put more down than usual, so you might end up with a smaller pool of potential buyers. All of that could certainly hurt property values some.

It’s not that the units here in Long Beach look bad. Though describing the neighborhood as the Eastside or Circle Area is a stretch. This is the center of Long Beach where it gets to be a much more densely populated area. I would put Redondo Ave, as the furthest to go over and still label it “Eastside” but even that could be argued is a stretch. Here’s a better map of what is considered the Eastside:
http://www.lovelylongbeachhomes.com/map_areas_long_beach.shtml#EastsideCircle
The problem for these building owners now is to recoup their investment for remodeling these units. If they go back to renting them out they’ll probably be trashed over time and when or if this market recovers so it’s viable to sell them they will have to sink some more cash into remodeling again. Can you say fire sale?
Here’s another example:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/1200-Ohio-90804/unit-4/home/12111632
Example #2: 3440 E. Ransom St, Eight units all listed in a row, all have been listed for over 190 days now as of this listing. Throw in a $237 homeowners fine and you can see why people in this neighborhood are renting instead of buying. I love the street name- “Ransom” That sure in heck doesn’t help. Conjures up pictures of Nigerian scammers and others asking you to fork over your hard earned money. Oh wait, that would be the realtor. Again, while these units are closer to the famed traffic circle area of LB this still isn’t Eastside to me. Another central high-density area of LB changed over in a Johnny come lately to the party attempt in cashing in on the housing boom.
The pictures look nice but there are no amenities and it’s in a neighborhood I wouldn’t be jumping on anytime soon.
So far sales have been one big goose egg after half a year. What does that tell you? Guess everyone else agrees.
Need another example?:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/2925-E-Spaulding-St-90804/unit-204/home/12290785
These units are on 2925 Spaulding Ave. There are currently as of this posting 12 of these units for sale with different sizes and prices. They’ve been listed almost 180 days. That’s right folks. A half a year of no sales. The surprising point is that there have been no reductions either in an attempt to move these. Another building with a $207 HOA fine with no amenities. At least if I’m going to pay that give me a pool. This realtor was too lazy to put descriptions on most of the listings. On a one bedroom that is overpriced at 424 sq. ft. In fact in this description they put possible 2% back at closing. What do you mean possible? Either it is or it isn’t. I don’t know about you but give me a lower price over the 2% back as it will mean a lower tax base on the property every year. More savings in the long run.

Maybe buyers or investors are scared of what happened in Huntington Beach with the illegal condo conversions that involved an ex-mayor:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_726105.php

These are just three conversions that were in denial about the housing market or drinking too much of that kool-aid spun out from people like Lawrence Yun of the NAR. Either way here’s another article from San Diego that showed conversions were a bad idea even two years ago:
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2006/07/24/housing/974conversions.txt

On top of this we have luxury condo projects downtown not selling with some of them having exorbitant HOA fines of $700 or more. One place is trying to “auction” their units off. Nothing more than a euphemism for unloading these money pits as fast as possible. I guess that’ll be a subject for another day. Stay away from these condo conversions in LB or anywhere right now. If you’ve got money to burn give it away to a good cause.

Knucklehead of the Week! Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals

I sometimes wonder what goes through people's heads. Who is worse, the realtor or the seller here?
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/2841-E-64th-St-90805/home/7509697

Are realtors that desperate, (yep), that they will post pictures like this and expect the unit to sell? Congratulations you get the gold medal for this week's worst attempt to sell a unit

First of all this 2 bed/1 ba cramped hell hole is located in one of LB's more desirable neighborHOODS- 2841 E 64th St. , just a stone's throw away from Paramount and even better Compton. I once got a summons for jury duty in Compton. I threw it away figuring there were more people for outstanding warrants than for outstanding no-shows for jury duty.

Neighborhood aside, let's look at the realtor's description: "This is a great starter home or great for investor. The tenant is out and property is cleaned up, come see for yourself." Really?? Then why don't you get your lazy realtor a** over there and take some decent pictures?All that's missing is the trash bins in that extra storage area in the back you show kindly showed us.

Again are realtors that desperate to take this kind of listing? At least have the person clean it up before posting it. The realtor needs to take charge and say "Lakeesha it's time to clean your room" And don't come out until it's clean. Check out the food that's on the tray in a plastic bag on the bottom right. Wonder if that's still there?

Now these people if they didn't take out some greenbacks in refinancing have some equity in this place. Based on only the $586 they pay in property taxes they should have some money left over to hire a cleaning service at least. It doesn't get any better in the living room:

Do the extra fans come with this place? Because it's hot as hell when you get north of the 405.

I love this line from the realtor: Has a huge lot for room to add on or for that pool you've always wanted. Like that will happen in a million years. Someone buying this small dump built in 1948 has dinero left over for a pool? Our rookie realtor continues: "Hardwood floors throughout and new vanity and faucet in bath. Lots of possibilites here."Are those hardwood floors in the living room? No, really are they? Because I can't tell. It looks like the living room used some of that left over linoleum from the kitchen.

With the median wage earner in this neighborhood earning as much as the local drifter in my neighborhood that collects cans they'd have to put down $53,000. Figuring payments, taxes. and insurance you're looking at approximately $1,750/mo. Too much for even an investor to bail these people out on a 60 yr. old building. I assume this realtor has another job because she isn't going to be selling many homes with listings like this.

Update: I just finished posting this when I came across this picture:http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/232-E-Louise-St-90805/home/7514689

Too funny. Nothing says buy my house more than throwing in a couple of extra couches and a recycle bin. Again, another realtor so desperate for a listing that she couldn't wait a couple of days after trash day. If this was an Olympic event than you get the silver for "stupid realtor pictures". Congratulations.

Not to leave the Huntington area out of the mix. This one is in Fountain Valley actually. The listing agent describes this as built in barbecue. Looks more like a rejected toaster oven taken out of the trash bin. Too you Fountain Valley we give the bronze medal for an overpriced 70's disco era house with some bad kitchen linoleum and other accessories. But this is not a barbecue for summer outdoor eating.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Fountain-Valley/18916-Mount-Walton-Cir-92708/home/3826083

Here's the latest numbers from Data Quick for all of the O. C. Remember when the real estate pundits were saying how we hit the bottom when July's foreclosures dipped in comparison to May? Umm..not quite. And August's numbers don't look much better on the horizon. We are over 10 times the Foreclosure rate of 2006 with 5 months still to be tallied. Yikes!

Year 2008 2007 2006

Month Defaults Forec. Defaults Forec. Defaults Forec.
January 2,352 802 847 153 384 25
February 2254 732 811 164 316 14
March 2476 698 986 204 407 28
April 2598 898 855 234 374 22
May 2468 1131 1021 276 444 37
June 2282 1056 1108 311 462 13
July 2320 1351 1167 367 440 44
August 1476 469 498 59
September 1239 444 588 78
October 1448 530 599 104
November 933 364 665 102
December 1895 644 688 121
Total 16,750 6,668 13,786 4,160 5,865 647

One for the ROAD!

Sometimes you just got to laugh. This was posted recently on Google Street map, though it's been since taken down. Seems this Aussie passed out next to his Mum's house when the cameras were rolling. Oops. I guess they should just be glad that they weren't having an open house for their property that day. Here's the full story:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2008/08/12/drunk-australian-s-kerbside-nap-caught-on-google-earth-86908-20693777/

Pompano Ranch and my Gold Gucci watch bet

On July 22nd I wrote about the Gold Gucci watch bet with my wife:
http://hbrealestateandmore.blogspot.com/2008/07/gold-gucci-watch-bet.html
Sad to say she won this one.
Let me summarize. We saw a place in HB that I said would not get an offer in 30 days and she said it would.

I thought I was in the clear until they got an offer around 25 days after listing. Here is the property:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/7402-Coho-Dr-92648/unit-111/home/5556829 (love that linoleum floor and 1980 stove)

This is the Pacific Ranch community of HB. Nice community built in the mid to late 80’s. Most of the units are tri-levels, which doesn’t appeal to everyone. Prices here have been dropping almost as fast as world records when Michael Phelps swims.

Just over a year ago a 2000 sq. ft. model sold for $712,000:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/7371-Seabluff-Dr-92648/unit-111/home/5556882
Need another example? Here’s one that in April of last year went for $719,500
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19521-Pompano-Ln-92648/unit-109/home/5559287
The models can differ a bit. They all have a downstairs “bonus room” that can have a bathroom added if one wants. (Most don’t since they already have 2 ½ baths). But they all have right around 2,000 sq. ft.
Fast forward 9/27/07- same model- down to $640,000
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19512-Pompano-Ln-92648/unit-111/home/5561139
By Dec of last year that price is dropped down to $625,000
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19481-Pompano-Ln-92648/unit-103/home/5559311
These are not short sales that I can see either. Just people that have equity and want to sell before the bottom drops out further.
Well, the bottom is still dropping:
In Feb. one closed under what was inevitable: under $600k. This one for $599k
This looked like a short sale but it wasn’t. The owners might have taken a little hit on this one. They were moving up north for a job change and had to get out quickly. They started their listing at $675k and dropped.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19451-Pompano-Ln-92648/unit-108/home/5559377
One more under $600k a few months later in the “peak selling summer season” and then:
This one started at around $620 and endured a few drops before settling at $560k
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19561-Pompano-Ln-92648/unit-105/home/5559822
There’s another listing that was at $580k and probably sold close to full price, as this home was immaculate.

So why did I take this bet with my wife? Well the property was priced right based on recent comps. The inside was terrible though. Linoleum kitchen floor. No window coverings. Quick industrial carpet slapped down, kitchen appliances that came from probably Gemco (for those of you that remember that defunct store in the 80’s). I’ve visited probably most of these units in the last year and the serious sellers have at least put in wood (or laminate) floors, plantation shutters and made some attempts at upgrading. Though most have a ways to go with their kitchens. This one has quite a bit of work and I figured even at $565k it was a bit overpriced and still had to come down.
I don’t know what the final accepted offer was but it will set a new comp low for these models. From $712,000 to under $ 560,000 represents over a 21% drop in this community in just 15 months. And these were not short sales!! Now what about those with Alt-A, option loans and the pressure these loans will put on the market?
I predict these 2,000 sq. ft. homes in Pacific Ranch will eventually approach under $500k. Probably by the second half of next year.
My only mistake with the bet with my wife is that I should have said it had to close, not just get an offer. Oh well ..shoot ..Now I got to go shopping.

I was already to post this late last evening when I decided to go to bed and wait until today. I’m glad I did. After perusing the listings I saw something more I need to add about Pacific Ranch.
This idiot in self-denial:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/7402-Coho-Dr-92648/unit-105/home/5556811
A little info about this listing which is trying to sell at $639k when they haven’t had one sell above $600 in quite some time now. In fact the last 5 comparable comps are all under $600k (two of them still waiting to close).Wake up pal! This realtard actually posted it originally for $649k and after around 88 days on the market took it off for what was probably no more than an hour and put it up as a new listing. Don’t you just love that? I actually called them when they first listed it since I was interested in seeing it and then waiting to see if it would drop after that. The original listing agent is from this same group, HOM Real Estate Group. What does HOM stand for anyway? They couldn’t spell Home? Or maybe an acronym for Happily Orchestrating Manipulators as that’s what this group seems to do.
When I called the original agent, Sue Saffarans, she was more than happy to show it to me. A few minutes later her assistant, this lap dog Chad called to say she was busy but he could show it to me. He was more than happy until I mentioned I was working with Redfin. Then the a**hole turned arrogant. He said if I’m working with them it’s not worth my time showing it to you. Excuse me? I tried to constrain myself and explained that he would still get his 3% commission. He again repeated it’s not worth his time.
What an arrogant S.O.B. Not worth around $18G they would pull in from the listing? Or maybe the fact that when the listing was under Sue’s name it said that she was the owner/related in the listing. Hmmm..H.O.M.- Happily Orchestrating Manipulators.
Another realtor that wanted to play both sides of the fence. Do they think all buyers are that stupid that we won’t recognize they won’t be representing my best interests? Sheesh.
I was really shocked when the status changed to backup offers. How could someone give them an offer when all around them were better priced listings? Well today that changed back to active. Perhaps the buyers realized they were getting taken or the bank came back with an appraisal that was oh..Let’s say about 80G’s less then what they want. Whatever the reason, I hope this one goes back to the bank; realtors like this deserve to get it stuck to them.

I was on bankrate.com today and saw this ad:

I'm guessing they were paid up well in advance..don't think there are too many takers for this offer though.

Bad Bad Investment

I’ve been relaxing lately watching some of the Olympics like probably many of you. Had an interesting conversation with this guy that recently bought a one bedroom/one bath in LB for $405/sq. ft. A little pricey for Long Beach for this particular property. For privacy sake I won’t disclose the exact property.
He had just gotten done fixing the property up for a rental and we struck up a conversation. I asked him did he think he overpaid for this property. His reply was that in 5 or 10 years the value will go up and plus it’s a great write-off.
I didn’t want to burst his bubble but I had to shake my head. He seemed like an okay guy and I hope he has the money to cover the amount that he’s bleeding every month but I had to wonder.
I know this building well and the rental on this property is about $1100 average though he said he was renting it to a friend for around $1,000. His payments per a month are $1700. Whoa Nelly! He told me his real estate broker did a great job and now he has a “real estate portfolio”. Let’s add a couple of hundred for association dues and a bit over $200 for taxes and he’s paying $2,100+ a month. Yikes, a thousand a month plus whatever he put down?? Why does this have “short sale” written all over it in a year or two?
Maybe he knows something that I don’t? Like there will be an amazing real estate turnaround and prices will go up astronomically again? I don’t think so. I absolutely cannot fathom how somebody could buy that property with these numbers. I can’t. And I’m pretty good in math.
Maybe if some others of you have a CD coming due and you don’t know what to do with your money, contact me. I’m sure I can get you a better return than this. (Disclaimer: this is sarcasm, I’m not a financial advisor but heck send me your check anyway, or blow it on a “great rental property” like this.)
Thinking like this is what got people in trouble.

Piss off your neighbors- Follow up

A while ago I posted on this place, titled how to piss off your neighbors.
This property on Milos drive:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18862-Milos-Dr-92648/home/3835443
Since coming out with a price that was $70,000 lower than your neighbors there’s been a few twists to this property. After starting out with a price of $530,000 they dropped it quickly to $498,000 a little over a week later. At first I said Wow..They really want to sell. Two days later they dropped it to $459,000 and I began to wonder. Was this done to get multiple bidding going? Now they are approaching 2003 prices on this.
Just to keep it up on people’s mailings and radar they dropped it again $1,000 to $458,000.
So what gives? Under the notes that the realtor sees the listing agent wants to have it close by Aug. 19th. Ok, what planet do you live on that you can get banks, inspections, and what not coordinated to get it all done in less than two weeks? Even with an all cash buyer it would be difficult at best.
My guess is that the NOD, oh did I fail to mention that? Let me back up then. This guy has received a NOD. How the heck do you get a NOD when you have that much equity built into it unless you’re an idiot?
If this were Jeopardy it would go like this:
I’ll take new cars for $50k Alex
I’ll take European Vacations for another $10G Alex
I’ll take shopping spree for another $25k Alex. And so on.
My guess is they tapped out the equity like so many others now they can’t pay the piper.

And since you’re going to default anyway you might as well rent it out to someone and see if you can get some rent money while you’re at it. That’s right, for the past 6 months they have been pulling in the rent money. Now the tenants are getting the boot and these characters have only a blemish on their credit report.

The listing agent, (we believe them don’t we?), says that the list price covers the back payments, interest and everything they owe so there isn’t any additional costs. Sure, if you say so.
Someone might jump on this one but I hope they are careful. Otherwise back to the bank you go.

Knucklehead of the Week! Aug 5

Nothing says I want to alienate any possible woman from buying your place by putting a urinal in your condo...way to go LB! No wonder it's been listed for over half a year.

From Greed to Entitlement?

I posted earlier about this property on 7305 Arcadia Dr. in the Bel-Air tract of HB. This is a group of 102 houses all built and sold around 2005-06 and all upside down now. After unsuccessfully trying to contact this listing agent I called a realtor friend of mine. This husband/wife team in LB I’ve known for over 20 years and their good ethics is why they are probably able to work in this market. I also asked her to check on another property in this same section.
Anyway, she wrote me back the following:
After we spoke yesterday, I pulled up both of those listings. I called both agents and only the one Asian Lady Lillian got back with me regarding Arcadia Drive. It is a newly listed short sale, and she priced it at "Value Range Marketing" from $639,999.-$779,999. She said she did this for marketing reasons and now has two offers around $700k. She said you would have to come in at or above that price for the bank to look at you. There is no lockbox, and the owners only want people to drive by only- they don't want to be disturbed. The other Roxbury Lane in the Bel Air complex is a short sale also. The agent has a voice mailbox that is full and not accepting any messages, and the office number I've left 2 messages at with no response. As you can see from the PRIVATE COMMENTS FOR BROKERS ONLY at the bottom of the MLS I sent you, it seems that they have reduced to a bank-approved price of $799000. No lockbox, and no answer for showing either... I'd say that both of these are a waste of time for you..... Keep searching though.

I thought the “listing price” price was 639k since Redfin had it as that and not the “value range marketing”. All I have to say after that is “Are you kidding me”? Who sets a “value range marketing” spread of $140K?
Secondly, no lockbox?? And the owners don’t want to be disturbed? WTF?? Are these people putting in an offer without even seeing the place? In addition I checked it out on the OC assessor’s site and found they still owe over $12,400 on taxes. Who’s going to cough that one up? Throw in the homeowner’s dues that they probably are behind on and you see this baby starts to add up.
Still assuming they got a couple of offers and these people didn’t see the place it just perplexes me. The place could be totally trashed inside. Would you buy a car without test driving it? Of course not! Then why are there people that would do this with a house? Seems like plenty of stupidity out there to go around still.


The other property is just as bad as it’s been listed over 150 days and they don’t want to show it? And their “bank-approval” price is way over priced.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18756-Roxbury-Ln-92648/home/5955330
Love the last line of the description “must see to appreciate” Oh yeah..well how about a freaking lockbox and show the place!!

I’m not sure if we are seeing the start of a disturbing trend or these are just isolated incidents. What we have it seems is owners, (if you can really call them that), that bought their house with greed and now feeling that they are “entitled” to stay in this house as long as possible. Almost sounds like a scam to me if you can get the bank to accept a price for a short sale and then the bank will wait it out for offers. After all they are swamped in many cases. Then you don’t allow anyone to see the place!

Here is an example from a Redfin forum:
http://forums.redfin.com/rf/board/message?board.id=LA_OC&thread.id=1681
I've seen some similar strange dealings. One 2-story home that has been listed as active on ALL the sites for about 4 months, yet there is now people in it who at least give the appearance of believing this house is theirs. They are doing work on the place, live there, have their vehicles there. If you call the listing agent (it has never had a For Sale sign in front) she comes up with all sorts of creative excuses for why the house can't be toured, even though it's supposedly still available. She went so far as to tell our agent that we wouldn't be interested because the former owner died in it.I had to laugh at that one.On a similar tack, two weeks ago we went to see a short sale near us. Our agent set up the time, we met them there...and were greeted at the door by the owner(s) who acted like they had *no* idea the house was being showed. Turned out that was a lie (our agent immediately called the listing agent who called the owners who begrudgingly let us in abut 3 minutes later). They were contentious and surly the whole time, but I suppose we ought think they actually liked us, as another agent/buyer team showed up right as we were finishing up (with an appointment), and they actually REFUSED them entrance. Turned 'em away. Sent 'em packing.We made an offer that was at the high end of the neighborhood comps, yet fell about 75k under asking. I expect a refusal from the bank, but who knows. Nice place, nasty owners. No wonder ours was the only offer on the place that has been made in over a month.

Are we seeing greed changing now to “entitlement”? Feel free to comment and tell me if you’ve had similar experiences.

Knucklehead of the Week!

This one was just too funny to pass up. Apparently this guy was under here for around 12 hours. Must have been a former Countrywide underwriter...

From the AP:

This handout photo released Thursday, July 31, 2008, by the Dillon County Sheriff's Office, shows the legs of a man who became stuck under a trash bin after what deputies called an attempted copper theft gone wrong. Gibson Cook, 56, was rescued from under a trash bin Wednesday. Deputies said he broke into a landfill Tuesday evening.(AP Photo/ Morning News via Dillon County Sheriff's Office)

Congreswoman Richardson- Please recall this woman!

You wonder why the US is in the mess it is with the economy, the housing market, etc? There are plenty of people to point fingers at, that’s for sure. I have one in particular that needs to be singled out. Rep. Laura Richardson. This lady is the poster child for what’s wrong with our country, a model for poor ethics and one of entitlement.
No surprise that the bail out housing bill has been passed. In fact look at the voting for CA in the house:
CALIFORNIA: Democrats -- Baca, Y; Becerra, Y; Berman, Y; Capps, Y; Cardoza, Y; Costa, Y; Davis, Y; Eshoo, Y; Farr, Y; Filner, Y; Harman, Y; Honda, Y; Lee, Y; Lofgren, Zoe, Y; Matsui, Y; McNerney, Y; Miller, George, Y; Napolitano, Y; Pelosi, Y; Richardson, Y; Roybal-Allard, Y; Sanchez, Linda T., Y; Sanchez, Loretta, Y; Schiff, Y; Sherman, Y; Solis, Y; Speier, Y; Stark, Y; Tauscher, Y; Thompson, Y; Waters, Y; Watson, Y; Waxman, Y; Woolsey, Y.

Republicans -- Bilbray, N; Bono Mack, Y; Calvert, Y; Campbell, Y; Doolittle, N; Dreier, Y; Gallegly, Y; Herger, N; Hunter, Y; Issa, N; Lewis, Y; Lungren, Daniel E., Y; McCarthy, N; McKeon, Y; Miller, Gary, Y; Nunes, N; Radanovich, N; Rohrabacher, N; Royce, N.

That’s right, every damn Democrat voted for it especially Richardson which I’ll get to in a minute. The Republicans aren’t much better though there are a few that have the cojones to step up and vote against it. I’ll remember this when these people run for reelection next time and I hope you will too.

Nothing says abuse the system more as a Congresswoman that has at least seven defaults on two other houses she owns and one foreclosure with special treatment.
Read the article from the Press Telegram:
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_10002817

Richardson lost her house to foreclosure only to have WaMu rescind the sale after the new owner poured some money into it to fix it up. Preferential treatment to a Congress person? Umm..Yeah.. Evidently the new owner thought so also and sued. Bottom line: There was a settlement and Richardson ends up getting the house back with a new mortgage (with more favorable terms, you think?). Best of all, her foreclosure is wiped off her credit history. Can somebody, anybody tell me of one other person that has gotten that treatment from a bank. Please..E-mail me and tell me.
At least she should have abstained from voting on this bill.

I don’t think this bailout bill will help people from CA for the most part because of the huge hits the banks will have to take. (And I’m glad..Let the market fall on these homes!).
You wonder why the US is trillions in debt, there you go. Representatives that can’t keep their own fiscal house in order making decisions that affect billions of dollars.
Do you really think the presidential election will make much of a difference?

Some people should never be homeowners!

There are those that have had unfortunate situations in losing their homes: a sudden major illness with huge medical bills, or a loss of a job and I understand these. (With the exception of some of those Countrywide type loan underwriters who I have no sympathy for). Then there are others that should never be homeowners. I mean never!
Case in point: Most “reality shows” are just mindless entertainment though yes I have watched a few. But the one that I always have liked is “Extreme Makeover” home edition not to be confused with “Extreme Makeover” Barbie needs a boob job show.

Today I read an article, however, that one of the homes built in Georgia in 2005 went into foreclosure. Seems the family used the equity to take out a $450,000 loan to start a construction business that failed. If this family was so good in construction why didn’t they build their own damn house? Not to mention their timing. Start a construction business when new construction starts, etc. are drying up?.


(Picture from GuelphMercury.com)

Here’s the article”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_en_tv/tv_extreme_makeover_foreclosure
Over 1800 volunteers for this house, $450,000 donated in materials and labor to build it and an additional $250,000 in contributions raised for the family including scholarships for the couple’s three children and a home maintenance fund.
And they blew it? I feel bad for the kids when you got stupid parents like this. The house is up for foreclosure sale on Aug. 5th. Buy yourselves a good tent and enjoy living in your car…you don’t deserve this!

Piss off your neighbors

Want to know how to really piss off your neighbors? Loud stereos, late night parties, letting your pet rooster roam around at 4.am. (I’ve seen this last part in both Fla. And Hawaii), are all child’s play compared to this.
Try listing your home for $70k less than your neighbors that have the same exact floor plan. Or better yet how about $120k less?
The nice part is that none of these three following places seem like short sales unless they tapped into their equity like an ATM machine.
First up is 18858 Milos Dr. listed at $650k:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18858-Milos-Dr-92648/home/3835442
Coming in at 352 sq. ft. for only 1846 sq. ft, two bedroom/3 ba. Please don’t push and shove like a Chinese national trying to get the last Olympic tickets. I know..what a bargain.
Next is 18859 Kithira, a street over from Milos Dr. coming in at $600k:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18859-Kithira-92648/home/3835480
This one has an offer! Its current listing is changed to accepting backup offers and it’s been up there for 69 days. They may have to get one of those backup offers because if the current buyer finds out about the next listing they should be walking away quickly. I just don’t know how an appraisal could come in when your neighbor is listing at 70k less. I mean if there were honest appraisals being done.
Finally we have the one to piss off your neighbors:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18862-Milos-Dr-92648/home/3835443
This works out to $287/sq. ft, still a bit high for a two bedroom home but much more reasonable then their neighbors. They purchased it in 2000 for $256,500 so they stand to make over approx. $230k at that price.
I bet their neighbors won’t be helping them move though!

Bait and Switch??!

Yesterday I posted what has to be one of the worst real estate pictures ever. So imagine my surprise when I see the same address listed today in Long Beach and a different picture. At first I thought well they changed the picture. Then I realized it was a duplicate listing with another lazy ass realtor.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/3301-Santa-Fe-Ave-90810/unit-42/home/7628170

This is a 2bd/1ba. condo located on the second floor for sale. Not quite what I see. This lazy realtard put some stock photo he had on his computer instead. And of course there is only one picture.

Here's the link from yesterday: same exact unit

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/3301-Santa-Fe-Ave-90810/unit-42/home/7628170/mrmls-S08104791

Sort of reminds me of "bait and switch" with car dealers. You see that nice car advertised in the newspaper only to get to the lot and have them say that one is sold but we can put you in this beauty hoping you will overlook the fact that that beauty has 30,000 miles more on it and is $5G more than the one advertised.

Now we know the owner of this place is not too bright considering he paid $187,000 for it last year. But do you think he could at least find one realtor that can post a decent picture? Perhaps these guys aren't willing to shell out a few bucks for a bodyguard or armor to travel into that hood to get the shot. Sheesh..pathetic.

Worst realtor picture ever?

When I started this blog the reason I called it HB real estate and more is so not to limit myself to just HB, after all I still live in LB. (that’s Long Beach not Laguna for those behind the Orange curtain).
I was perusing listings in the LBC from the $0-350k range. (Some of these places they should just give away for 0), and I came across one picture today that has to rank in the top 10 worst pics of all time to sell real estate.
I would save this for the “knucklehead of the week” posting but this should probably go out to the “worst realtor of the year award” Or at least a nomination.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/3301-Santa-Fe-Ave-90810/unit-42/home/7628170/mrmls-S08104791
There is only one pic for this gem that sits along industrial buildings, freeways, ghetto crap, etc.

Considering they can’t sell other units in this building that are listed around 80k what makes them think someone will buy it at $109K? Who in their right mind bought this peace of crap in 2006 for $229K?
They must have been thinking it was a good place to set up a meth lab after all half the other units in this place were going to be empty sooner or later.
Perhaps I shouldn’t slam this realtor, Andre Tabacco of Re/Max Beach cities, (or is it Tobacco because he might have smoking some funny stuff to post this picture). At least he did provide some truth to the listing that none of the other units that are listed did. “HOA states all future units must be owner occupied per CC & R's. This unit is located on the second floor and is in a secure building. Sold "As Is" "Where Is".” Where is? What, is it going to get up and walk away in the middle of the night? I know most things in that neighborhood that are not bolted down might..but c’mon, a whole condo? Seriously though, the HOA, which has a $215.00 fine for this dump every month is now going to say you, have to live here too? You just killed any chance of investors saving this building. Another description for a unit in this building describes it as “maintenance deferred”. Wake up people, keep it up and this place will be ready to bulldozed over in a few years.
The only thing dumber then the people that bought here are the inmates running this asylum.

Follow up to Bel-Air

First a short follow up to yesterday’s post about the Bel-Air section of HB. No sooner did I write that and bingo! Another one popped up today on the MLS: This listing:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18782-Sinclair-Ln-92648/home/5950276 at 18782 Sinclair is listed for $769,900 in line with the other short sales. Notice the recent sales price on May 1 of this year of $839,815. I’m assuming that’s the bank taking that one back. A drop from the former price in 05 of $959,500. The list price is a 20% drop from the 05 price but with 10% of the units all in the same boat this baby will sit here for a long time. Take a look at the great kitchen picture:

Seems like our previous disgruntled tenants, (can you really call them homeowners?), thought they were entitle to a few good appliances on their way out. Why not take the stainless steel refrigerator and microwave or oven, whatever was in that nice other blank square. Needs some paint and cleaning up…umm..yeah and a much bigger price drop still.

Bel-Air in HB

I was actually disappointed in Bush today to hear that we will not veto this housing bill that passed the Senate. I actually thought he might do something good before he leaves office. Alas, no such luck. Instead of letting the marketplace run it’s course so those of us that were responsible not to jump on the housing bandwagon, the bill will let the FHA back 300 billion in new loans so an estimated 400,000 homeowners that cannot afford their house payments can try to escape foreclosure by refinancing into safer, more affordable mortgages.
You mean the type they should have had from the beginning? God, there is too much entitlement mindset in this country. Lenders still have to agree to take a substantial loss on the existing loans, and in return, they walk away avoiding the expensive foreclosure process.
So let me get this straight. You can’t pay your mortgage because you took out something you couldn’t afford in the first place so now the government will bail you out into a lesser mortgage with a smaller percentage loan so you can keep your house despite your ineptitude. What about the couple next door that pays their bills on time? How fair is it to them?
How do we teach fiscal and personal responsibility to little Johnny and Susie in our high schools when they see their parents getting bailed out by Uncle Sam? When the heck does this stop?
This will also increase our national debt to 10.6 trillion! I suppose that’s no big deal as long as the printing presses work and we can keep printing that funny money. I’m going to start putting my money in Euros or something else, who knows.

Here’s a house for sale from a tract of homes called Bel-Air in HB. A nice little community of 102 homes built and sold mostly in 2005-06. I’ve been watching these for a while now and all I can say is they are in big trouble.
Listed for $639k bought for bought for $1,000,500. Check out this property at 7305 Arcadia Dr. http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/7305-Arcadia-Dr-92648/home/5955287

Assuming it sells at that price it represents a loss of 36.2%!

This is from the Builders website: http://www.christopher-homes.com/BelAir/belair_index-new.html

Most of these houses sold from somewhere around $950k- to a million plus. They average about 2400-2600sq. ft. That means everyone here bought at or around the peak of the housing market. Everyone! This housing tract has 102 units, nice units, all with upside down mortgages. That doesn’t sit good. Around 10% of these are listed as short sales. Many of them in the 700k price range. For example:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18765-Sinclair-92648/home/5950213
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18737-Sinclair-Ln-92648/home/5955258
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/18756-Roxbury-Ln-92648/home/5955330
Some others are no longer showing as listings. Talking to a realtor she said many of these were bought for investment with many of the loans through Countrywide. Investment? Million dollar homes..and they thought the rent would cover it when it reset? Hello!! Is this where some of that 300 billion will be spent? To bail out these idiots?
I predicted that these would fall in the $600’s but I wasn’t expecting to see one listed that soon. Since jumbo loans have all but dried up this housing tract is a ticking time bomb. I’ve waited over two days for the listing agent, Lillian Thai from Firststar Realty and Mortgage, to answer my e-mail or call me back but I haven’t heard from her. Great service, thank you. How do you expect to even sell a place in this market if you don’t return calls or e-mails?

By the way, at least there's a nice park next this tract, perhaps the owners can camp out there after they lose their place. Oh yeah, HB doesn't allow that..oh well..there's always Riverside.

The Gold Gucci Watch Bet

I was going to save this for a little later but decided to post it now to make it more interesting. About a week ago my wife and I bid on a property. I know..I know. What are you thinking, you ask. Prices are only going to drop. I agree. The price we offered reflects somewhat on that and also takes into condition some of the upgrading work it’s going to need.
My wife quickly pointed out that “we” can do this and this, etc. but as I already know and some of you married men do too that “we” means you and I wasn’t sure “we” wanted to take on this unless we get it for the right asking price. We offered 40k under their asking price. The dingbat sellers countered only 5k under their asking price. While their asking price is not that delusional for this almost 2,000 sq. ft. house they are probably under the influence that since they just recently listed there will be a floodgate of buyers wanting their “special” property.
I didn’t feel like getting in a pissing contest with counter bidding their offer so I dropped it. I wonder if they tossed and turned that night wondering if they should have taken that offer. In 30, or 60 days if they don’t have an offer they will be yelling at each other how they should have taken it.
Lately my wife has been nagging..err..hinting to me she wants a gold Gucci watch. Personally I prefer a watch that has big numbers, a light to read it in the dark and a stopwatch for when I go for a workout. That means a $25-30 Casio or Timex is perfect for me. But hey, she’s a woman and if I buy her the watch then maybe she doesn’t push for a new car anytime soon.
We were discussing our offer on the house and she thought they would sell it within 30 days. I replied no way. To prove my point I offered to buy her the gold Gucci watch if they get a buyer within 30 days from the time they first listed and if they don’t drop their price before then. What a deal for her! The buyer doesn’t even have to close. Just if we see the status changed to backup offers accepted then she wins. What do I win if I’m right? Nothing. That’s right, nothing but the pure intrinsic satisfaction of being able to say..see..I told you so. I won’t show you the link to the property until after it’s been up there for 30 days.
I will say this, however, it’s almost halfway through the 30 days with no offers yet. I have no plans to go to the mall anytime soon.

"Knucklehead of the Week"

Time to get rolling. I’m going to start with something that’s been itching at me for a couple of days. I’m going to call it “Knucklehead of the Week”. While knucklehead of the week might be someone that is trying to sell a house for way over price this time I’m going to focus on one that bought it way over price.
Over the past year my wife and I have bid on three different places. That’s okay if you want to write and say why??! The prices are bound to go down. The first one was fun low balling with all sorts of contingencies. The second was a short sale that I learned a lot from. The third is one that is almost reasonably priced but will drop in value over the next year so I went lower. While I will talk about two of those some other time I want to focus on the second one..the short sale.
This short sale was at 19452 Riverdale Ln http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19452-Riverdale-Ln-92648/home/3138463. It recently sold at $710,000

If you look at the price history you see that the owner that bought it in 2005 bought near the top of the market. The townhome is a nice place. At the time we looked at it, several price drops had occurred until it listed at $700k. Now the Seacliff area in HB is nice but it is still overpriced. Yes, I know it’s very close to the ocean but many of those units in there they plastered together and made them 2bd/2ba instead of 3bd which I think most families are looking for. Then the builders added a den. Every realtor loves to say, “can easily be converted to a third bedroom”. How come none of them are however? Because it’s a pain in the you know what and if I pay over 600k I don’t want to be dealing with some contractor even if it is a “simple conversion’.
We bid 625k, why? Because that’s what we felt it was worth. This place actually did have a third bedroom, a bit more sq. footage, a nice deck area and was in good condition.
We later found out it had seven bids on it. One was at 675k, another 640k, ours at 625k and four others under 600k. After 14 weeks we finally got a response from the bank.


Sales History

Date Price Appreciation
Aug 01, 1989 $272,500 --
Oct 10, 1990 $350,000 23.4%/yr
May 04, 2005 $765,000 5.5%/yr
Jun 30, 2008 $710,000 -2.3%/yr

Who held the note for this gem? Countrywide of course. A little history about it. The poor soul that bought it in 05 was a mortgage appraiser. Seems his business dried up quite a bit by 07 and he was looking to move back to the Green Bay area from which he came. He seemed like a nice guy and was in the unit when we looked at but hey..he’s a cheeshead fan.
Countrywide finally came back and told everyone that they were raising the price to $750K. That’s right..after all that time, close to 300 days now on the market, they were going to ask 75 grand more than the highest bidder, who I’m not sure was even sticking around at this point. Well everyone said “you suck Countrywide”, or some other expletive and they relisted it at 750k. The final result, they got a buyer and closed at $710k.
I actually pity the realtor on this one. She did call Countrywide everyday but got nowhere with them half the time. So kudos to Sharon of Tarbell Realty, I think you earned your commission (reduced) on that one.
We went through Redfin, which was patient also. The only reason I put this in is after looking at as many houses and listings as I have I will be commenting on some of these HB realtors in some upcoming blogs.


Well the story doesn’t end there. While you say so what, it’s only one place over sold..whatever..the place next door went up for sale. This place, which had less sq. footage, listed at over 100k more! WTF? What makes the place next-door with a few less sq. feet and closer to the pool, (noisier), worth more. Granite counters? I’m not sure. I’m perplexed, someone please tell me! While I never stepped foot inside that one I did go inside the first one and it was a decent place. It wasn’t like some foreclosure in Santa Ana that had a tagging party like this picture posted in the OC a while back. (It sold at auction for $175k by the way) (originally posted in the OC register)

This is why this guy is my knucklehead of the week. He paid a full 100k over what his neighbor next door paid. WTF!!??http://www.redfin.com/CA/Huntington-Beach/19456-Riverdale-Ln-92648/home/3138459 He paid $810k while his neighbor paid $710k! That ought to be an interesting discussion when he invites his neighbor over for a barbecue. Gee Ralph..so you must be paying at least $700 more a month in mortgage payments when you add your tax bill too. Don't worry the beer's on me...knucklehead!!

My first posting

This is my first posting for this blog. What qualifies me to be writing about Huntington Beach real estate? Let me answer by saying what qualifies some of these realtors to be selling real estate? Not much but a few hour course on the weekends. As for me, I’m not in the real estate industry, mortgage industry, etc..so my fear of an indictment on fraud is not forthcoming. Plus I sleep much better at night. I have a masters degree in another area but that’s a topic for another day.
My wife and I started searching for a house about a year ago now and I’ve developed a lot of opinions and observations, which I thought I would share.
I’m calling this blog HB real estate and more because at times I will venture outside of HB and talk about other areas. For one, I still live in Long Beach and follow that area closely also. For another I might just go on a rant about some off topic if I feel about it.
Now for the disclaimer crap: This blog is meant for information purposes only and does not construe any advice to buy or sell any real estate or other financial element. The writings expressed are those of the author(s). Any action that you take as a result of this blog is of your own doing and ultimately your own responsibility. Consult your investment advisor or other guru before making any decisions and later blame it on them.
Example: If you are stupid enough to have bought a house for way over the market value don’t blame me or anyone else for your untimely judgement..aka..stupidity.

Let’s move on…