Sweet Orange

22 Menlo Aisle #162

Here is a look at two homes in Irvine’s University Town Center neighborhood that are For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO). Both have been on the  market for over a year, but the prices have been reduced little to none. Can these owners hold on indefinitely without lowing the price? We’ll see. For that matter, even if these owners can wait, my guess is that the price that these homes will sell for will not return to higher levels for some years to come.

Now some background on the area: Although these two homes are listed as single-family, most homes in Irvine’s University Town Center are condos. Amenities in this area include closeness to UCI and Mason Regional Park. To see what else is on the market in this area, see  University Town Center housing map. To read a little about the history of the area, see one of my Redfin posts, “Irvine’s University Town Center: Then and Now.”

30 Wellesley, Irvine CA 92612

• Asking price:$549,000 ($371/SF)
• 1981 single-family with two stories
• 32beds/32.5baths with 1480 SF
• HOA fee: none listed
• Mellos Roos: none listed
• Days on Market*:  420

This home was listed in September 2008 for 549,000. As you can see, the price has not changed.

22 Menlo Aisle #162, Irvine, CA 92612

• Asking price:$691,990 ($349/SF)
• 1988 single-family with two stories
• 3 beds/3 baths with 1983 SF
• HOA fee: none listed
• Mellos Roos: none listed
• Days on Market*:  461

This home was listed in August 2008 for $694,990. As you can see, although this home has been on the market over a year, the asking price is currently only slightly lower than the listing price of over a year ago.

* Days on the Market is the number of days these homes have been listed on Redfin. It is possible that these homes have been on the market longer.

Many of the cities with the longest road to recovery are California cities, where home prices rocketed out of control, and entire economies were supported largely by a real estate bubble. Fresno, Modesto, Salinas, Bakersfield, Stockton and Los Angeles all saw home prices soar to unsustainable levels and then begin their inevitable plunge.
–”The Best And Worst Cities For Recession Recovery” by Joshua Zumbrun

According to Forbes, a median priced home in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area costs over five times the median income of this southern California area.

Here are some other economic stats from Forbes on the area that they call Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana:

• GDP at start of recession: $597 billion
• Projected GDP at the end of 2010: $581 billion (-2.6%, projected)
• Unemployment: 10.1%
• Median home/median salary ratio: 5.3

Forbes also states that although the southern California area was hit hard by the real estate bust, the area still “has a robust underlying economy” and the economy is growing. However, the area “still has some of the most expensive real estate in the country, indicating a housing recovery could be years away.”

Meanwhile, home buildeing company Standard Pacific is gung ho on housing in Orange County:

This [Orange County] is our best-performing area in the world.
–Ken Campbell, Standard president and CEO

According to First American CoreLogic’s August index report, the median selling price for houses in Orange County was 7.9% less than it was in August 2008. If the distressed properties (short sale and bank-owned properties) are excluded, the decrease is 7.1%. However, First American sees an increase for the Orange County median selling price in 2010.

Here is First American’s 2010 prediction for Orange County housing prices as well as some others. The percentages listed are the amount that the median home price in Orange County is predicted to increase or decrease by next year. I have listed them in descending order from the most optimistic to the least optimistic forecast.

• UCLA Anderson Center–up 15.9% to 16.6%
• First American CoreLogic–up 9.5% (California prices up 7.9%, U.S. prices up 4.6%)
• Veros–up 2% by year-end September 2010 for their benchmark, which is single-family mid-priced homes
• Anil Puri of Cal State Fullerton–down during the first half of 2010, then flat or up 2% to 3%

Keep in mind that a predicted increase for the median price of all Orange County homes does not necessarily mean that the price for your home or a home that you want to buy is predicted to increase. Rather it could just mean that more homes on the high- or mid-level will sell during the next year that did this year.

Up to this point most of the homes selling in Orange County (or the nation for that matter) were on the low-end of the housing market. As more homes on the mid- and high-end of the market are sold, the overall median selling price will increase, but the selling price of many of the individual homes in the mid- and high-end might decrease from what the home would have sold for in the previous year.

For more information, see “Forecast sees 9.5% price gain for O.C. homes,” Jeff Collins, OC Register November 3, 2009

Can you make sense of the price increases and decreases for the home at  1174 Boise Way in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Metro area?

Here is what is so confusing: At 1174 Boise Way is a1964 detached house with 3 bedrooms/2 baths, 1291 square feet, and no homeowner association fee. This home has been on the market for almost 500 days and is a short sale. In October 2004, this home sold for $540,000.

On July 10, 2008, it went on the market for $450,000, then, just two days later, it was relisted with a whopping $150,000 increase. This brought the price up to $600,000, but seven months later (January 16) the price was decrease to the previous $450,000.

So when this home didn’t sell, what did the owners do (or the bank required the owners to do)? Decrease the asking price? No, on September 15, 2009, they increased the price by $25,000. However, by October 25, 2009, the home had not sold at the new listing price of $475,000 and was relisted at $460,000

This was a lot of ups and downs just to arrive at an asking price that was near the original asking price that was listed over a year ago. The current list price is $460,000 or $356 per square foot.

A year ago the original price of $450,000 probably looked like a lot better deal than it does today. Perhaps if this home was left at the original list price of $450,000, it would have sold by now.

Listing History

• Oct 25, 2009 Price Changed $460,000 — CARETS #P646291
• Oct 25, 2009 Relisted — – CARETS #P646291
• Oct 20, 2009 Delisted — – CARETS #P646291
• Sep 15, 2009 Price Changed $475,000 — CARETS #P646291
• Sep 14, 2009 Relisted — – CARETS #P646291
• Jan 16, 2009 Delisted — – CARETS #P646291
• Jan 13, 2009 Price Changed $450,000 — CARETS #P646291
• Jul 12, 2008 Price Changed $600,000 — CARETS #P646291
• Jul 10, 2008 Listed $450,000 — CARETS #P646291
• Oct 20, 2004 Sold $540,000 20.6%/yr Public Records
• Mar 06, 2003 Sold $398,000 — Public Records

This energy efficient and ecologically built residence will demonstrate how homeowners can conserve energy and dollars by adopting and
utilizing green building products and services. It will feature an unparalleled display of energy-saving systems and environmentally friendly materials in a fully operational residence.–Living Green Homes Construction and Development, Inc. on its newly built Huntington Beach home

Saving money and energy. Sounds like a good combination for our economically-strapped times, or any time for that matter. Developer Living Green Homes is attempting to prove a way to do this with its newly built Huntington Beach home that they are seeking a GreenPoint Rated designation from Built It Green as well as the LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 3213 square-foot, three-story, single-family home has three bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. It is located in downtown Huntington Beach at 319 21st Street.

If you want to tour this new green home, you can attend today’s grand opening from 1:30 to 4:30. The grand opening will include speakers as well as food and drink from local restaurants. These include 118 Degrees Restaurant, which is located in Costa Mesa, as well as  Andrei’s Conscious Cuisine and Portola Handcrafted Coffee Roasters, which are both located in Irvine.

If you can’t make the grand opening, tours will available in the coming months. During the tours, the sponsors will provide product demonstrations for environmentally friendly building products, appliances, hardware, and services. Eventually, this home will go on the market.

Note: A YouTube video that provides more background on this project is available. Also, thanks to Evan Little of Surtterre Properties for the tweet that informed me of this event.

Related post: “Going for the Green–and Platinum–in Orange County: The Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach”

178 Flower

According to Redfin, the median price per square foot that a single-family home in Costa Mesa sold for in September was $403/SF. Here are some Costa Mesa homes that are currently on the market that have list prices that are near this median price per square foot.

458 Swarthmore Lane

The square footage for these detached houses range from 1470 square feet (458 Swarthmore Lane) to 3504 square feet  (178 Flower Street). The house on La Playa has a $90 monthly homeowner association (HOA) fee listed; the other houses have no HOA fee listed. None of these houses are listed as a short sale; however, the Swarthmore Lane house is listed as corporate owned.

178 Flower Street: 5 bed/5.5 baths in Eastside Costa Mesa 92627
Asking price–$1,399,000 or $399 per SF

2189 Tustin Avenue: 3 bed/2.5 baths in Eastside Costa Mesa 92627
Asking price–$1,249,000 or $416 per SF

157 Del  Mar Avenue: 3 bed/2.75 bath in Eastside Costa Mesa 92627
Asking price–$599,000 or $408 per SF (update: changed November 2 to $579,900 or $394/SF)

2296 La Playa Drive: 2 bed/2 bath in Eastside Costa Mesa 92627
Asking price–$574,900 or $396 per SF (update: changed November 2 to $549,900 or $379/SF)

458 Swarthmore Lane: 3 bed/1.75 bath in Central Costa Mesa 92626
Asking price–$539,000 or $393 per SF

Note: According to DQNews, in September, Costa Mesa’s overall median selling price for condos and houses combined was $485,000. According to Redfn, the overall medain selling price in August for Costa Mesa houses was $551,000, and the overall medain selling price for Costa Mesa condos was $300,000.

As a follow up on one of last week’s post, here is a comparison of two single-family houses that are priced near the September median price per square foot for their cities. One is in Irvine; the other is in Costa Mesa.

Irvine house that is priced near the Irvine median price/SF ($338/SF):

64 Rockport, Northpark Neighborhood

• Asking price: $839,000 ($336/SF)
• What: 2000 detached house with 4 bed/2.5 bath with 2500 SF
• Lot size: 4317 SF
• HOA fee: $175/month
• This is a short sale.

Note: An open house is being held for this home on this Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Open house hours:

• November 5 at 11am-1pm
• November 7 at 12 pm-5pm
• November 8 at 1pm-5pm

Costa Mesa house that is priced near the Costa Mesa median price/SF ($403/SF):

2039 Phalarope Court, Mesa Verde Area:

• Asking price: $899,000 ($415/SF)
• What: 1966 detached house with 4 bed/2.5 bath and 2166 SF
• Lot size: 7035 SF
• HOA fee: none listed

Note: In June, this home was listed for $1,050,000. In May 2005, this home sold for $810,000.

I have posts that take a deeper look at Costa Mesa and Irvine homes that are priced near the median price per square foot in the works.