Sweet Orange

Here is a look at some of the most affordable housing that is currently on the market in Costa Mesa’s Mesa Verde area. To make it easier for you to compare the current sold prices to the current asking prices, I have included the current price per square foot that Costa Mesa detached homes and condos are selling for. (I would like to narrow this information to Mesa Verde instead of all of Costa Mesa, but this information is not readily available. More on that in a later post.)

Currently, the median sold price for detached Costa Mesa homes is $309/SF. The median sold price for Costa Mesa condos is $189/SF. The current median price per square foot for all homes sold in the previous 90 days is $284.

At 1461 Deauville Place is a 1965 detached home with 2 bedrooms and 950 SF. The asking price is $200,000 ($211/SF). Homeowner association fee is $220 per month. Note that this home’s asking price is currently half of what this home sold for in 2005.

At 1646 Iowa Street, Unit D is a 1971 condo with 2 bedrooms and 909 SF. The asking price is $259,000 ($285/SF). Homeowner association fee is $265 per month. Note that this home has been approved for a short sale.

At 1646 Iowa Street, Unit B is a 1971 condo with 2 bedrooms and 890 SF. The asking price is $255,000 ($287/SF). Homeowner association fee is $250 per month. Note that this home sold  for $413,000 in 2007.

Tomorrow: more information on which Costa Mesa homes are the most affordable

At times, I will be writing about the Orange County Great Park development, so I thought that I would provide a brief overview that defines the transformation of this approximately seven square miles of this former airbase. This overview will provide a reference point for the future posts.

PHOTO OF CONVERTED HANGAR COURTESY LENNAR’S GREAT PARK NEIGHBORHOODS

The Orange County Great Park, which was once the El Toro Marine Air Base and is approximately twice the size of New York’s Central Park, is being developed by the City of Irvine as one of the first great metropolitan parks of the 21st century. The City’s vision is to provide a recreational, cultural and social gathering spot for Orange County residents as well as others who are near to or far from Orange County. As Central Park, Balboa Park and Golden Gate Park are great metropolitan parks built in previous eras, the City’s vision for the Orange County Great Park is that it will be a great metropolitan park built in this era.

Homebuilder Lennar owns and is developing the land that, roughly speaking, surrounds the publicly held city land. Lennar’s vision is to create housing adjacent to the public development as well as build commercial, educational, and recreational features. Lennar is calling its development The Great Park Neighborhoods. While Leannar and the City of Irvine are responsible for the development of their respective areas, these two entities are working cooperatively in this development.

With the recent submission of the Comprehensive Park Design to the Great Park board, development of the park is ready to move from planning to implementation.

“Design and engineering of Park’s elements and infrastructure are contained in the Comprehensive Park Design. Design elements include the Sports Park, Wildlife Corridor, Agua Chinon, upper and lower canyon, the Lake, the Bosque, agriculture elements, and many other features identified by a variety of stakeholders throughout the planning and design process.”—from the Orange County Great Park website

• Video of an overview of the development of the Orange County Great Park
• Video of the free Orange County Great Park balloon rides

Awards received:

• American Planning Association, National Excellence Award for Innovation in Regional Planning
• American Society of Landscape Architects, Professional Award of Honor for Analysis and Planning

Note: This overview is mostly a reprint from one of my Redfin posts. To read the complete post, see “The Orange County Great Park: Is This Thing Buildable?” and “Building the Orange County Great Park: Do You Want Common, or Do You Want Visionary?”

“Edge city is an American term for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional urban area in what had recently been a residential suburb or semi-rural community. The term was first used in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and popularized in the 1991 book Edge City: Life on the New Frontier by Joel Garreau, who established its current meaning while working as a reporter for the Washington Post.”—Wikipedia

Look high, look low, it is hard to find buildings from the past that preserve Irvine’s history.

This is typical of edge cities, which tend to tear down anything that is the least bit old. However, one building in Irvine that is quite old still exists. In fact, it is one of the oldest wood buildings in Orange County. What I am writing about is the building next to the San Joaquin golf course that houses the Irvine Historical Society.

This wood structure was built about 1880 and was the cooking quarters for what was once one of the largest private working ranches in the country, the Irvine Ranch. At one time, the Irvine Ranch covered not only the area currently occupied by the City of Irvine, but covered over one-third of Orange County.

Today the Irvine Ranch still exists but as a land development company, not a working farm. The Irvine Ranch of today includes all or part of the cities of Laguna Beach, Anaheim, Tustin, Orange, Newport Beach, and Irvine.

The Irvine Ranch cooking quarters was not the first wood building on this site. At one time, attached to this cooking wing was the living quarters that James Irvine, founder of the Irvine Ranch, used when he came to southern California from San Francisco to oversee ranch operations. These living quarters, which James Irvine had built in 1868, were the first wood structure built between Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano.

I have heard two stories on how this 1868 structure was destroyed. One is that it was destroyed in a fire. The other is that it was removed to facilitate the grading for the San Joaquin golf course. (If the reason is the second, then this would be prime edge city behavoir. If anyone has information on this, please leave a comment.)

So something of the past has survived in this edge city, and signs that the City of Irvine may be moving away from its tear-down-anything-slightly-old mentality exists. For example, some of the hangars at the former El Toro Marine base (and now the Orange County Great Park) are being converted for other uses instead of being destroyed.

The City of Irvine’s evolution includes the Juanenos (Acagchemem) and Gabrielino Indians dwellings, Spanish and Mexican rancheros, one of the largest grazing ranches in the country and later one of the largest agricultural farm that used cutting-edge farming practices, and one of the country’s largest master-planned community that has been the subject of many books and studies.

The evolution continues today. Former ranch land is being converted into new suburbs; industrial land is being converted into mixed-use urban living, and the former El Toro Marine Air Base is being converted into the Orange County Great Park, a metropolitan park for the twenty-first century. The intention for the Great Park is that it will serve Orange County in a way that is similar to the way Balboa Park, Central Park, and Golden Gate Park serve their communities.

We will see what the future brings, and I will be documenting some of it on this blog.

For more information on the evolution of Irvine, see my past Redfin post: “Irvine at the Crossroads.” And to read contrasting views on possible development in Irivne, see one of Joel Garreau’s articles and an Irvine Company’s publication.

Tomorrow: a brief description of the Orange County Great Park and current plans for the Great Park development

PHOTO COURTESY THE IRVINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

All work and no play makes us all dull boys and girls. Likewise, all numbers…well, you get the idea.

With that in mind, at times, I am going to forget about the housing numbers, statistics, and development news. Instead, I am going to focus on a little of our history.

Our past has a lot to do with who we are as people, and this also is true for cities. Therefore, remembering the past is important to understanding who we are and what we might become.

For this reason, at times, I will write about the history of Orange County, Irvine, and Costa Mesa. Most likely, I will start with Irvine, because I live in Irvine and, therefore, know more about it. But I will get around to Costa Mesa and Orange County in the future.

If any history buffs out there have information that they want to send over here to the Sweet Orange, please do. I am particularly interested in learning more about Costa Mesa. So calling all interested parties: The Costa Mesa Historical Society, The Orange County Historical Society, The Irvine Historical Society, history buffs. Any input?

Note: The photo of the interior of the old Orange County Courthouse is courtesy OC Parks. The courthouse was built in 1901 and is a California State Historic Landmark and a National Register Historic Place. For a look at the exterior of this building, which is one of Orange County’s most interesting and historic buildings, see Rudy M Photography’s photo on Flickr.

Some influential cases decided at the old courthouse:

• In 1933, People v Termo Corporation: The court ruled that the State of California is entitled to easements for off-shore oil drilling.
• In 1941, Irvine Company v California Employment Commission: The court ruled that employees of a large agricultural farm were still agricultural workers and, therefore, were not entitled to unemployment insurance.
• In 1947, People of California v Gollum and Overell: Although the defendants were acquitted, the circumstances of the case lead to new regulations for the sale and purchase of explosives. This trial generated much public attention in its day.
• In 1965, Chimel v California: New rules for search and arrest were enacted. This case was eventually heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

 That’s it for this week’s posts.

Monday (unless I change my mind, which is always possible): a little history about one of Orange County’s edge cities—Irvine, California

The flowchart found in the my next post will explain the foreclosure process, including the difference between a trustee sale and a bank (REO) sale. (If the flowchart image isn’t clear, try viewing  it at 125%, especially if you are using the Internet Explorer browser. Missing lines magically appear when viewed at the larger size. Or better yet, try using either the Mozilla FireFox or Safari browsers.)

For more information on understanding the foreclosure process, avoiding foreclosure, and investing in foreclosures, see these articles:

• Yahoo Real Estate Foreclosure Center— provides an overview of the foreclosure process, information on buying a short sale, information on buying at a trustee auction, and information on buying bank-owned property
• US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Guide to Avoiding Foreclosure—as the name implies, provides information on avoiding foreclosure
• Wikipedia’s Foreclosure entry—provides a overview of the process and  a link to information on how we got to where we are today (Real Estate Bubbles)
  

You might also be interested in California Foreclosure Institute’s free foreclosure investment workshops at the Irvine Heritage Park Library. The next Irvine workshop is scheduled for June 30 at 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Another workshop is scheduled for Brea on July 1 at 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. These workshops are ongoing; therefore,  if you can’t attend on these dates, more options will be available.

Finally, to get a sense of what is happening with foreclosures in Orange County, see these articles by The Orange County Register’s Matthew Padilla and Jeff Collins:

• “Banks holding more O.C. foreclosures“
• “Foreclosures filings hit record in O.C.“
• “Foreclosures account for 4 out of 10 O.C. home sales“

Tomorrow: the foreclosure flowchart

Chart Courtesy The Orange County Register

Following is a list of some of the most affordable housing in the Irvine Business Complex, based on the price per square foot. The median price per square foot that homes in the IBC are selling for is currently $219. Looks like these IBC condos will need to have the price lowered even more. As always, keep the HOA fees in mind. Note: See last week’s posts for more information on the IBC.

1134 Scholarship (Avenue One) is a two bedroom, 1037 square foot condo, built in 2006 with an asking price of $299,000 ($288/SF). The HOA fee is $390 monthly.

1262 Scholarship (Avenue One) is a two bedroom, 1037 square foot condo, built in 2006 with an asking price of $319,900 ($308/SF). The HOA fee is $390 monthly.

2330 Watermarke Place (Watermarke) is a two bedroom, 1123 square foot condo, built in 2003 with an asking price of $355,000 ($316/SF). The HOA fee is $316 monthly.

2233 Martin #311 (Metropolitan) is a one bedroom, 934 square foot condo, built in 1992 with an asking price of $299,000 ($320/SF). The HOA fee is $392 monthly.

3131 Michelson  #802 (The Marquee Park Place) is a two bedroom, 1367 square foot condo, built in 2006 with an asking price of $430,000 ($315/SF). The HOA fee is $1,200 monthly.

3131 Michelson  #606 (The Marquee Park Place) is a two bedroom, 1367 square foot condo, built in 2006 with an asking price of $399,000 ($292/SF). The HOA fee is $1,124 monthly.

3131 Michelson  #303 (The Marquee Park Place) is a two bedroom, 1293 square foot condo, built in 2006 with an asking price of $348,888 ($270/SF). The HOA fee is $1,069 monthly.

PHOTO OF THE IBC’S SAN JOAQUIN MARSH COURESTY FORGET ME KNOTT PHOTOGRAPHY

Many of Orange County foreclosures fit into one of two categories. One are those homes at the low end of the housing market, such as much of Santa Ana; the other are newly built homes that have a relatively high price tag. Apparently, many investors thought that the newly built, higher-priced homes would make a good flip. Well, we all know what happened with that.

An example that fits in this second category is the Irvine neighborhood that I have been writing about this week, the Irvine Business Complex (IBC).  As I wrote in those posts,the IBC is Irvine’s evolving, mixed-use, urban-living neighborhood.

A look at the public notices always shows a large number of IBC homes set to go on the trustee’s auction block (Note: See one of next week post for a flowchart that shows the difference between a trustee sale and a bank or REO sale.). As yesterday’s post showed, the selling price per square foot in the IBC has taken a sharp drop. The high number of investors taking a loss and the numerous foreclosures are the most likely reasons for the large price drop. The median selling price is currently $219 per square foot.

The following IBC homes are not necessarily in default, but are examples of homes currently on the market in the IBC. Note that a comparison between the current selling price per square foot and the list price per square foot of the homes shown below are not a good match up. These sellers will most likely have to drop their price, if they want to sell.

At 3267 Watermarke Place (Astor Court), a one bedroom, 635 square foot condo, built in 2005 with an asking price of $225,000 ($354/SF). HOA fee is $286 per month.

At 2330 Watermarke Place (Watermarke), a two bedroom, 1123 square foot condo, built in 2003 with an asking price of $355,000 ($316/SF). HOA fee is is not listed, but my guess is that it is similar to the HOA fee listed for 3267 Watermarke Place (see above).

At 5045 Scholarship (The Plaza), a one bedroom, 1175 square foot condo, built in 2007 with an asking price of $573,580 ($488/SF).  HOA fee is not listed. I’m looking for this one to have a sharp price drop before it sells.

At 8115 Scholarship #903 (The Plaza), a two bedroom, 1675 square foot condo, built in 2007 with an asking price of $849,000 ($507/SF).  HOA fee is $1,093. I’m looking for this one also to have a sharp price drop before it sells.

That’s it for this week’s posts.

Next week: a look at the most affordable housing in the IBC, a flowchart of the foreclosure process, and maybe a few other things

Irvine Business Complex (IBC) Median Price per SF

Following are recent numbers for the live-work-play district, the Irvine Business Complex (IBC). All the homes on the market in this urban, mixed-use area are condos, which have a wide range of prices. For example, one of the most affordable IBC homes that is currently on the market is a one bedroom at 1331 Scholarship with an asking price of $234,900. The most expensive IBC home on the market is a three-bedroom penthouse at 5150 Scholarship #1204 with an asking price of $3,499,500. When shopping for a home in this area, it is wise to keep in mind the homeowners fees, which in these examples are $308 and $1,850 monthly.

Note the recent sharp decline in the median price per square foot (as shown by the black line in the top graph, the blue line is the list price) and the increase in the number of homes on the market (as shown by the blue line in the bottom graph). To see what other homes are currently available in the IBC, see the Irvine Business Complex map.

March 28, 2009

• Median List Price: $500K/$429 per square foot
• Median Sold Price*: $280K/$219 per square foot
• Median Days on Market: 112
• Number of Homes on the Market: 133 (5 foreclosures)

• Median List Price: $550K/$429 per square foot
• Median Sold Price*: $435K/$435 per square foot
• Median Days on Market: 132
• Number of Homes on the Market: 131 (10 foreclosures)

• Median List Price: $624K/$446 per square foot
• Median Sold Price*: $435K/$387 per square foot
• Median Days on Market: NA
• Number of Homes on the Market: 117

• Median List Price: $699K/$495 per square foot
• Median Sold Price*: $450K/$340 per square foot
• Median Days on Market: NA
• Number of Homes on the Market: 103

*Based on homes sold or taken off market in the previous 90 days.

Irvine Busines Complex (IBC) Number of Homes on the Market

Source: Redfin