Sweet Orange

Up today are the Costa Mesa housing numbers. This includes all areas of  Costa Mesa: Eastside, Westside, Central, Southwest, South Coast Metro, Mesa Verde. Unless otherwise noted, the stats are provide by DQNews.

Median Sold Price/SF–Houses

Median Selling Price in Costa Mesa

• October 2010: $495,000 (down 5.58% y-o-y)
• September 2010: $477,500 (down 1.55% y-o-y)
• August 2010: $462,000 (down12.00% y-o-y)
  Redfin’s numbers: $482,000  (up 1.4% y-o-y) or $304/SF (up 4.4% y-o-y)
• July 2010: $505,000 (up 0.3% y-o-y)
  Redfin’s numbers: $485,000  (down 4.9% y-o-y) or $318/SF (up 4.4% y-o-y)

Median Sold Price/SF–Condos

Number of Sales in Costa Mesa

• October 2010: 45
• September 2010: 66
• August 2010: 49
  Redfin’s numbers: houses=41 (down 34.9% y-o-y), condos=29 (up 7.4% y-o-y)
• July 2010: 59
  Redfin’s numbers: houses sold=49, condos sold=26

Graphs Courtesy Redfin

Up today are the Costa Mesa housing numbers. This includes all areas of  Costa Mesa: Eastside, Westside, Central, Southwest, South Coast Metro, Mesa Verde.

Median Sold Price/SF--Houses

Median Selling Price in Costa Mesa

• September 2010: $477,500 (down 1.55% y-o-y)
• August 2010: $462,000 (down12.00% y-o-y)
• July 2010: $505,000 (down 1.94% y-o-y)
  Redfin’s JuLy 2010 numbers: $485,000  (down 4.9% y-o-y) or $318/SF (up 4.4% y-o-y)

Median Sold Price/SF--Condos

Number of Sales in Costa Mesa

• September 2010: 66
• August 2010: 49
• July 2010: 59
  Redfin’s numbers: houses sold=49, condos sold=26

Source unless otherwise noted: DQnews

Graphs Courtesy Redfin

An Eastside Costa Mesa Building

I my previous post I stated that the median price per square foot numbers often give a more accurate picture of the housing market in an area than the overall median price of housing in that area does. I also gave the price per square foot numbers for Costa Mesa’s 92626 ZIP (South Coast Metro, Mesa Verde, and part of Central Costa Mesa).

As a continuation of that thought, here are the recent price per square numbers for Costa Mesa’s other ZIP, 92627. The 92627 ZIP includes Eastside, Southwest and part of Central Costa Mesa.

House

• February 2010–$451 (up 40.5% from February 2009)
• January 2010–$346 (up 0.7 from January 2009)

Condo

• February 2010–$260 (up 16.6% from February 2009)
• January 2010–$275 (down 10.1 from January 2009)

Both (houses + condos)

• February 2010–$333 (up 7.8% from February 2009)
• January 2010–$312 (down 2.4 from January 2009)

Source:  Redfin

Up next: For a little comparison, I will give the price per square foot numbers for all Costa Mesa and all Orange County.

Photo Courtesy livingcostamesa.com

At 2005 E Paloma Street 92627 is a detached Eastside Costa Mesa home near the Newport Bay. In September, this home was listed as being built in 1960 and having 4 to 6 bedroom and 3500 square feet. The asking price was $795,000 ($227/SF). No homeowner association fee was listed.

On September 2, 2009, backup offers were being accepted. This home sold on September 14 for $675,000 ($317/SF). However, the sales information, which Redfin pulled from the public records, shows that this home was built in 1959 and had only 3 bedrooms and 2129 square feet.

Here is a description of this home, typos and all, as stated on one of the listing sites:

Unique single story house in Eastside Costa Mesa, with full BASEMENT. 8 rooms and 4-6 bedrooms depending selected use. Full size living basement bedroom with open air two stairwells access and firplace plus walk-in closet.Basement seperate laundry room and basement extra bedroom or office space. Comlplete sump pump system void of all moisture. Approximately 3200 square feet including adjscent to patio extra bedroom or TV room. Office area and/or TV room area adjacent to dining room and family room. Recessed lightening. Sunkin main living room with custom built in for TV. Massive Rock Fireplace, Tdeck or RV deck two car garage, Boat deck or RV deck, 8000 square foot corner lot that wraps around. House has privacywith wood floors glley kithchen with breakfest nook. Jacuzzi in back with wrap around prvate backyard House has had two owners last one for 25 years. Very unique house very private. Needs some TLC.

This home listed in January 2009 for $1,100,000.

Redfin graph showing the change in the price per square foot for homes in the 92627 ZIP code:

Following are some recent housing numbers, including the foreclosure numbers, for Costa Mesa that are broken down by ZIP code. These numbers, provided by Trulia, are for condo and detached homes combined.

Alto Research numbers, which are for detached homes only, currently give Costa Mesa a Market Action Index of 17.70 (30 or below is a buyers’ market). According to Redfin, approximately 70% of the Costa Mesa homes on market are detached.

Also, according to an article by Matt Padilla, the rate of foreclosures fell in both Costa Mesa ZIPs: The 92627 foreclosure rate dropped by 37 percent, and the 92626 rate dropped somewhere between 40% to 59% from the previous year. However, as the numbers below show, although the rate of foreclosures is decreasing in Costa Mesa, the number of foreclosures is still high.

92626 (South Coast Metro, Central, Mesa Verde)

• Average List Price (week ending 8-05-09): $599,086 ($304 per SF)
• Median Selling Price (May-July 2009): $495,000
• % home that are in foreclosure: 52.6%*
  (163 new and resale homes for sale, as well as 181 foreclosures**)

92627 (Eastside, Central, Southwest)

• Average List Price (week ending 8-05-09): $587,880 ($376 per SF)
• Median Selling Price (May-July 2009): $467,500
• % home that are in foreclosure: 50.3%*
  (237 new and resale homes for sale, as well as 240 foreclosures**)

**homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process

COSTA MESA HOME SALES GRAPH COURTESY CITY-DATA.COM

Tomorrow: some Costa Mesa community data numbers

As I stated in my About section, one of my goals for this blog is to highlight the similarities that Irvine and Costa Mesa share as well as the differences between these two Orange County cities. One of the differences is the type of residential income property that is available.

In addition to apartment buildings that are available for investment, Costa Mesa also has smaller options available, such as apartments over garages or a second building on the lot. These options for investment on a smaller scale are hard to find in Irvine. The reason for this can be found in the way these two cities developed: Irvine with basically one landowner (The Irvine Company) calling the shots, and Costa Mesa with many landowners making  numerous independent decisions.

A lot more could be said about the forces that shaped these two cities to be what they are, but that will be for another time. For now, we will look at the type of investment properties that are available in Costa Mesa. The following is a sample of what is available in Eastside Costa Mesa:

411 Emerson Street has a 3 bedroom detach home with a 2 bed apartment over the garage. Asking price: $899,000.

2344 Elden Avenue #3 has a duplex in the front and a three-bedroom detached home with a pool in the back. Asking price: $899,000.

268 Cabrillo Street #3 is a three-unit townhome building. All units are two bedrooms with 1.5 baths. Asking price: $1,040,000.

173 Broadway is six units. Each unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Asking price: $1,750,000.

Resource: “How to find good investment property” by Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money

PHOTOS ARE OF 2344 ELDEN AND 2411 EMERSON

Is 1920s cottage charm enough to command a high price per square foot in our current tough Orange County housing market? A home on Monte Vista Avenue in Eastside Costa Mesa will give us some answers. 

228 Monte Vista Avenue is a 1927 Eastside Costa Mesa detached cottage with 3 bedrooms and 1314 SF. The listing had an asking price of $699,900 ($533/SF). No homeowner association fee was listed.  The listing stated that it is within walking distance of the Newport Back Bay. If you click on the walking distance link, you will see that many services and amenities are nearby.

When I first saw the listing for this home, my thought was that, although I would not have made some of the decorating choices, it has some charm. I wasn’t sure that the charm would be able to get the $533 per square foot that the homeowners were asking.

However, on May 2, the listing changed from active status to accepting backup offers. I checked the listing today and apparently this home has sold; however, the final sales price is not yet available. We will have to wait for the sales price to show up in the public records (about 30 days) to see what the final selling price was. This Eastside home was on the market for about 30 days. It sold in September 2004 for $650,000 and in July 1996 for $180,000.

Update: 228 Monte Vista sold for $690,000 on May 29, 2009. SW 7-3-09

Here is what some nearby homes have sold for recently:

2562 Westminister Avenue

• sold for $639,500 ($480/SF)
• sold on April 30, 2009
• 1306 SF

2519 Santa Ana Avenue

• sold for $475,000 ($376/SF)
• sold on April 27, 2009
• 1264 SF

201 Susanah Place

• sold for $612,900 ($451/SF)
• sold on March 03, 2009
• 1359 SF

If you want to compare this home with other homes currently on the market, here is a link to a map of available housing in this area.

Note: All pictures are of 277 Monte Vista, Eastside Costa Mesa.