Sweet Orange

Here is a look at which three-bedroom condos with a list price under $450,000 are available in Costa Mesa. They are listed from low to high. Four of these eight homes are short sales, and one is bank owned.

Note that no three-bedroom Eastside Costa Mesa homes are available at this price. The lowest-priced three-bedroom homes in Eastside Costa Mesa are two homes listed under $500,000: a condo and a single-family home. The condo is listed at $475,000, and the single-family home is listed at $499,000. Both are short sales.

114 Yorktown Lane, Central Costa Mesa, CA 92626

• Asking price: $264,000 ($214/SF)
• What: 1967 condo with 1240 SF
• HOA: $220
• This is bank-owned

3430 Hollow Brook Circle #115, South Coast Metro, CA 92626

• Asking price: $299,000 ($226/SF)
• What: 1976 condo with 1325 SF
• HOA: $320 and $175

377 Avocado Street Unit E, Central Costa Mesa, CA 92627

• Asking price $325,000 ($262/SF)
• What: 1991 condo with 1240 SF and two-car garage
• HOA: $156

380 W Wilson Street Unit A103, Central Costa Mesa, CA 92627

• Asking price: $355,000 ($215/SF)
• What: 1980 condo with 1650 SF
• HOA: $225
• This is a short sale.

543 Victoria Unit O, Southwest Costa Mesa, CA 92626

• Asking price: $375,000 ($288/SF)
• What: 1989 condo with 1300 SF
• HOA: $265
• This is a short sale.

Address not listed, Central Costa Mesa, CA 92627

• Asking price: $385,000 ($242/SF)
• What: 1994 4-unit PUD, From the listing description: “The property is located in a small 4 unit PUD at the end of a cul de sac street that is close to shopping, freeways, restaurants and schools. It is in need of work but could be a good deal for an investor or someone who could do some fix up work.”
• HOA: $65
• This is a short sale.

908 Hyde Court, South Coast Metro CA 92626

• Asking price: $425,000 ($229/SF)
• What: 1979 condo with 1853 SF
• HOA: $360

2243 Pacific Avenue #14, Southwest Costa Mesa, CA 92627

• Asking price: $430,000 ($258/SF)
• What: 1980 condo with 1669 SF
• HOA: $218
• This is a short sale.

As I stated in the past, two types of areas were particularly appealing to flippers: low-end homes such as many found in Santa Ana and newly built tracts with high price tags. Northwood II is in the second category. Larry Roberts (IrvineRenter) highlights this in one of his post (S.O.S The Market is Sinking), and a discussion on the Redfin Orange County forum also highlights this. I have also highlighted this in past posts.

The Northwood area has some of the lowest priced homes in Irvine. These are homes found on Streamwood, Pineview, Lakepines, Monroe and Remington. A few examples are 25 Streamwood, 76 Lakepines, 217 Pinewood, 69 Remington, and 460 Monroe.  (Note: Orangetree is another area that has some of the most affordable housing in Irvine.)

With an asking price of $1,799,000, the most expensive home on the Northwood market is 20 Canyonwood, which is in guard-gated Northwood Point. Right behind that is 22 Purple Moor, which is  in newly built, highly flipped Northwood II and has an asking price of $1,497,000.

Although many of the older Northwood homes have homeowners association fees, some do not. In other words, if no HOA fee and no HOA restrictions are important to you, the older homes in this area might give you this option.

When it comes to the more newly built homes, count on an HOA fee and the restrictions that come with them. On the other hand, if you like the idea of the extra amenities and reduced amount of maintenance that you will have to deal with, Northwood has those options available in the new and some of the older developments.

Finally, Northwood has a mix of detached homes and condos. There are currently a little more than double the number of detached homes on the Northwood housing market than there are condos.

In the queue: a look at a sample of the Northwood housing stock