Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Riverpark FSBO

The home builders are full tilt to construct all the new neighborhodds in Riverpark our favorite California Central Coast canary in the coalmine. The recently annouced "Whole Foods" sign is up. Everything seems just fine at Riverpark. Time to collect the profits and move on. And here it is. ForSaleByOwner. This is too new to be zillowed and does not appear to be in the MLS. There is a nice hand lettered sign with a San Fernando phone number if you are interested at only $789,000. I guess the $137k in improvements justifies the $200k premium over builder models who are offering equal or better upgrades. Hurry, it has already been on the market for a month, no telling how long it will last.

54 comments:

TK said...

FIRST!

MURST!

BJ said...

liverwurst...

The tub layout in the bathroom looks horrible. Wedged into the corner like that.. and then the wallpaper behind? Don't you know that you never want wallpaper that close to a tub??

Dimes said...

Fuck wallpaper, what about those windows? It's a dump with no backyard, a passe kitchen and a brick fence.
Where I live, it might go for $500K less than what that guy is asking.

mejustme said...

Just read this here

Curtailment like this is bad news for Ronny Satloff Halevi, who is looking to buy a $1 million house in what she calls "an average neighborhood" in Los Angeles. But "despite being a strong client with super credit," says her broker, Seth Asher, at OlympiaWest Mortgage Group, she couldn't get a loan that covers 100 percent or even 95 percent of the cost of the house.

"I don't have much savings to put down," says Halevi, a 45-year-old homemaker.



Oh, boo hoo. A homemaker -- read, no job -- can't buy a million-dollar home with no money down. What are things coming to!?

Property Flopper said...

Wow, that's a big, square, ugly box... I've got to have it!

Have to agree with BJ's comments on the bath. Personally I wouldn't have wall paper ANYWHERE in the house (personal preference).

Just love the kitchen... most of the color choices aren't too bad, but who thought the BRIGHT WHITE tile worked with the cabinets?

Well, we'll see how long it sits. They'll either have to drop the price or take it off the market and stay. I don't see them dropping the price though, they dumped too much into it and people get far too attached to the idea that they won't lose money on real estate.

Rob Dawg said...

That bathroom picture says a lot eh?

Yeah wallpaper. What's up with that? And the stupid mismash of black marble and glass and cherry and stainless and hard white ceramic... Yuck. And tiny and cramped. all at a premuim price.

Above the detached 2 car garage is a large bedroom/ home office including a custom -tiled bathroom with a built-in entertainment center and refrigerator.

I read this as "rent it out to a family" like all your neighbors.

mejustme, the overreaction is still a ways away. We are barely back to normal lending standards. This is the first step; "no skin = no fin." IOW if you don't take all the first 10-20% of exposure then you are no longer considered a strong credit risk. As it should be.

This house has just about everything wrong about it for the market going forward. Does anyone have anything good to say/observe? Oh, did I mention it is across the street from the elementary school so it will be seeing bus traffic 3x/day?

Sac RE Agent said...

Rob, being located across the street from an elementary school is a positive. Far more positive than being located across the street from a high school or Costco. But I'm lost on what this seller did to the house that puts it at such a premium above the builder's houses.

Property Flopper said...

> Does anyone have anything good to
> say/observe?

I'll bite. The little patio setup isn't bad. Given the small space, it actually looks nice. You'd need to put up a privacy screen of some sort to make that yard usable though - with the existing fence, I'd suggest a lattice / climbing vine combination.

No matter what you do with the rest of it, it's still going to be a big, square box with no character in the middle of a collection of other boxes. No thanks...

Legion said...

My, my 4000 short shares of CFC at 29.30 sure is looking mighty fine right about now at 24.90:-)

Legion said...

Say, check out the views that the neighbor's will get as you climb into your pseudo jacuzzi tub! Don't forget that!

Anonymous said...

I like the lot size: large. Classic.

Buyer profile: sucker.

What a sham.

Anonymous said...

RIVERPARK!!!! + KITCHENAID!!!! = $$$,$$$?

Peripheral Visionary said...

@Rob: "Oh, did I mention it is across the street from the elementary school so it will be seeing bus traffic 3x/day?"

Oh, there's no end to the trouble that could cause. Pre-juvenile delinquents loitering about, leaving chalk drawings on the sidewalks, boisterous games of hopscotch, singing songs and holding hands on the way home . . . it's a nightmare, really.

But seriously, this would be the perfect home, if it were located within walking distance of Boston Common, or just around the corner from Central Park, or if it had a view of the Washington Monument. I mean, sure, you'd want a brick or stone exterior instead of the incredibly boring stucco, and it would feel cramped even in a rowhouse district, and you'd have to rethink the interior decoration scheme, but if you magically transported the box to a very desirable neighborhood, it might be worth something.

Legion said...

Well, the house is so close to the neighbors that when they ask for a cup of sugar, you can just hand it to them from the second story windows.

Rob Dawg said...

PV, I'll put up some pics to illustrate. This is California. The "playground" is off limits, surronded by fences and security and sodium lights. The streets are narrow and winding so the traffic is going to be braking.acell right out front where a nearly blind school crosswalk is located. Bad urban design in short. Modern CA schools are sterile machines not the sweet communal congregations you envision.

Peripheral Visionary said...

Off-topic, but Wall Street's in a bad mood after a cash management fund halted redemptions. The article is insistent on pointing out that it's not a "true" money market fund, but in fact the modus operandi is effectively the same.

On a related note, there are persistent rumors that the ECB's huge cash injections last week were in large part to help keep an unknown money market fund from collapsing.

Sentinel moves to halt client redemptions

"Sentinel Management Group, a firm that manages cash for other investors, has moved to halt client redemptions, according to a person familiar with the situation."

. . .

"Sentinel oversees cash for commodity and currency traders, hedge funds, wealthy individuals and other investors. The firm invests that money mostly in the overnight inter-bank lending market."

"The firm isn't a money-market fund but acts as an investment advisor to clients, according to its Web site. Clients can withdraw 100% of their cash daily, the Web site also noted."

Sac RE Agent said...

I have my own belief, but is it a positive that the seller is not using an agent?

Rob Dawg said...

SacRE,
You are spot on. I apologize if I didn't make that clear. Any competent RE pro would have chopped at least $100k from the price.

Legion said...

Rob Dawg said...
SacRE,
You are spot on. I apologize if I didn't make that clear. Any competent RE pro would have chopped at least $100k from the price.



Correction..any competent sane PERSON would have chopped 100 grand from the price. That would require however, that the person selling the house hadn't already spent all his equity and HAS to sell at the current price or else bring money to the table.

Zintradi said...

the overreaction is still a ways away. We are barely back to normal lending standards. This is the first step; "no skin = no fin." IOW if you don't take all the first 10-20% of exposure then you are no longer considered a strong credit risk. As it should be.

ya know... back in (i think) 2000 a freind of mine at work re-financed at around 8-9% 30y fixed with no points and that was a good rate. I remember saying how it would be cool to have a 6% rate on a mortgage. I was scoffed at and told it would never happen...
Flash forward to today, I think there would be panic if rates went back up to 9% with some paying 10% on a 30y fixed.

no real relation to anything, just thought I'd share.

Zintradi said...

Oh, yeah, and I have a 30y fixed at 6%...

Jake said...

Ya know, that looks like the Ikea kitchen I'm looking at. Which is another thing. I live in a split-level, middle-class neighborhood in MN. Is it ok if I get Ikea kitchen cabinets? Hopefully, we won't be forced to sell, and I prefer them anyways. Kraftmaid are next. I like doing things myself, and I don't like feeling like I'm being charged a lot for cabinets, which is what I'm still seeing. The kitchen I have SUCKS!!!! and I really just need some storage and a functional kitchen. I don't feel like soaking a lot of money into it.

serinjustice said...

It's all about location folks, not the house.

Where I live, the same identical house one street over goes for almost 2x the price.

A 600k house can easily sell for 1 Mil if it happens to be located in Villa Park. Same house, same verything, just one block over.

Bette said...

Rob,

I hope you don't feel this is inappropriate but: in my neck of the woods your surname is revered. I wonder if you will ever speak about your family's history here in New England. Have you written about it and I missed it? More probably, you adhere to a "quiet tradition." Any chance you'll ever tell some family history?

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Do ya think those two houses are close enough together?

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Now, I shall google Cote'.

(-:

This history?

http://web.ionsys.com/~microart/personal.html

Rob Dawg said...

Anita (and now FMW),
Yes. I am aware of this particular burden of history. I am long used to "admiration," "gratitude," even "respect" but reverence is over the top. I do not write about it. I am not the right person. This is not the right forum. For the curious my Great Uncle was the last "Jean" (pronounced Gene) and named for the North American progenitor.

Bette said...

Rob,

I won't push an unwelcome subject but I will tell you my great, great grandfather mentions your family in his journal. The adjectives most used are "honest and brave." I respect your feelings and won't bring it up again.

:)

Akubi said...

Hey Guyz,
Toxxxy is getting cold waiting to by Crunch-a-tized. Time to vote for the 6 Degrees of Casey Serin to Cap'n Crunch win-win winner!

ratlab said...

@Legion

4000 CFC short??!!? I don't think my broker could ever loan me that much, not that I would. Nice $20K profit, my friend. :)

Bette said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bette said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rob Dawg said...

Anita,
it isn't about your questions being unwelcome. You already have shown a familarity and thus sensitivity to our low profile. If you want quiet background I'll do what I can but if you know anything about the lineage you know there's no story here.

Legion said...

@ratlab

Indeed!:-)

Legion said...

Hey Phil Rizzuto died....wasn't he the guy from the "Money Store"?

MaxedOutMama said...

Rob - I just wanted to mention that delusion abounds on the East Coast as well as the West.

I'm trying to deal with a situation for an old friend of my mother's, and the blathering idiocy of absolutely everyone around is messing it up. I explain reality, some jerk who can't sell their own house wanders by and explains why I am wrong.

In the PA/NJ area, apparently the idea is that if you put your house for sale at $100,000 over appraised price for a year and it doesn't sell, the way to handle it is to raise the price another $100,000 - maybe $200,000, just to make sure it gets noticed. The worse the market gets the more they think their houses are worth, honestly. I am talking drooling madness utterly divorced from reality and becoming more stubborn the further it gets from reality.

I have been watching buyout proposals for RE, and all I can say is that they can never work until people get real, and that if people (including REO depts at these mtg cos & banks) got real, we wouldn't need buyout proposals.

This mass delusion is reaching odd proportions. My guess is that we are seeing the result of the collapse of scientific/mathematical education that started in the late 60's; these are people who cannot reason quantatively or spatially.

Legion said...

@MaxedOutMama

You have to look at the basic psychology of the human psyche. No one wants to feel like they missed the boat...look at the dot com idiots who kept buying stocks because "It couldn't get any lower right?"
At this point, there are multitudes of people who are so broke and wasted so much money when the going was good that they HAVE to sell at an elevated price. Think of all the retirees who banked it all on one last money grab as they spent their IRA's or retirement money on buying spec houses...last I heard, some of them are having to go back to work at Walmart's or McDonalds just to make ends meet.

Lou Minatti said...

I like the cinderblock fence. It's so... homey. Are they expecting an Alamo-like siege?

Sac RE Agent said...

Legion, seeing as how the house was built in 2006, as you suggest there's probably not much equity left. But maybe there's another Casey out there looking to take advantage, errr, i mean, help someone in a distressed situation.

And Phil Rizzuto was a spokesman for 'The Money Store' for awhile.

Legion said...

@sac re agent

I agree, I don't want to be like a shark circling this hapless moron...er..unfortunate. Unless it's win win on both sides..NO DEAL. Of course it has to be a given that if I buy the property I also get some cash back to the tune of a hundered grand..I want to take my profits out up front!
Of course the hundred grand will go towards upgrading the place..ok maybe 5 grand will, but that trip to Bora Bora as well as Hawaii can't wait much longer..busting my ass making this deal deserves a mini vacation, for like 6 months or so.

Gypsy Pete said...

Sorry to be off topic but in response to FMW question about Skype.

If you have Casey on your friends list on of the items that shows in his profile is how many "friends" he has in his list. The number of friends has grown from 24 to 258 in a fairly short time since IAFF shutdown. I'd put this on CH.C but of course I seemed to be banned there!

H Simpson said...

what a sh*thole.

where is the 2 car garage?
Ain't up front.
House on 1 side.
House behind it.
4th side has the cinderblock wall.

Where is it? Underground and accessed though the bat tunnel? Flying carport on the roof?


Looks like if you use the tub, the neighbors can have you arrested for indecent exposure. Who the F* puts a bath on the front side of a house? Then leaves the windows with no curtains or etched glass. Can you say mobile home sans the wheels?

At least the yard (yardlet?) has real grass and is not just spray painted green like the flipper shows on TV. Or the 4 stones going to nowhere like it is an excercise yard at the state pen.

That wood "thing" in the yard looks like a TOH Crazy Norm & his power tools special. Wonder if it will cave in on your noggin with the first good ground shake?

Sheet says LARGE yard. Large? Where is this clown from.
- Sing-Sing lifer?
- Retired submariner?
- Grew up in one of those pod houses in Tokyo back in 68?

In my neck of the woods, a 4br house comes with 2 acres std. Us folks who need some room to move about have 4-5.

All in all, whomever buys this thing deserves to lose their shirt, which is to be expected as I bet the new owner is an exhibitionist based upon the fact that your neighbors can watch you in every room and outdoors.

Looks like some crappy row house from Buffalo without the Bills/Sabres flags hanging off the front porch. At about 3x the price...

No wonder folks are turning in the keys and walking away.

H.

Lou Minatti said...

So is cinderblock a common backyard defensive fortification in new SoCal homes? Sheesh, a tiny postage stamp of land. It doesn't seem worth it. But I never thought I'd see people spending 3/4 of a mil on a cookie-cutter shitbox. I guess that weather premium SoCal is famous for is worth protecting.

Legion said...

@ H Simpson

So umm let me guess..it wouldn't be worth my while to bird dog this fine investment for you?:-)

H Simpson said...

Legion

Nhhaaa, I think I will pass.

Thanks for laugh. After 15 hours of 1 crisis after another, the belly laugh was a fitting way to end the day. Time for bed.

H.

Akubi said...

Gypsy Pete/PMSPMS,
...friends has grown from 24 to 258 in a fairly short time since IAFF shutdown..."

Is that a coded message involving pond scum, violet light, green algae and translucent fish?

Where's my f-ing decryption device?

MaxedOutMama said...

@Legion - the appalling thing is that this is without the debt driver. It's pure delusion. Maybe it is fed by those who desperately need to believe or come to terms with the fact that they are six feet under.

TK said...

RE: East Coast madness and the missed-the-boat mentality:


My best friend has been trying to sell his house he paid $608K for 2 years ago for 729K...then 709K now 699K. I said "WTF makes your house worth $91,000 more than you paid for it?"

"I bought it two years ago"

*SMACK*

"Listen to yourself."

"But, but my neighbor down the way just went under contract for $715,000! And their house is smaller! I just need a better looking kitchen."


Here's the house under contract. Zillow comps have it at $599K.

Propertyshark's valuation models put the median price of this home at $440,000. The current owners paid $255,000 on 2/26/2002.

When I explain these things to my friend and the absurdity of it all, he glazes over.

Personally I hope the deal falls through. No amount of granite and stainless steel can add 180% to the value of your home in 5 years. But you can see how these things instill a false sense of the market in people.

My friend has been trying to sell for 8 months.

Peripheral Visionary said...

One source of the problem is that there are still a few "greater fools" left who are willing to pay ridiculously inflated prices. But they are very, very few, just a sale here and a sale there. But just enough to keep valuations inflated, and just enough to keep expectations at unreasonable levels.

Individual sellers are holding out for unrealistic prices, and the banks are holding out for unrealistic prices, and builders are selling for slightly more realistic prices, but are hiding that through using incentives instead of price cuts. In addition, the prudent buyers have gone on strike, waiting for prices to come down. That means that the only comparables that sellers see are the last few fools who are buying at ridiculous prices.

All of this will end when the banks begin to feel the pain from the carrying costs of the foreclosed homes. When their carrying costs mount to unacceptable levels, they will begin slashing prices, and comparables will catch up with reality, better late than never. When the builders and banks virtually take over the volume of sales on homes, individual sellers may finally have to face the music and reconsider their asking prices.

H Simpson said...

TK

Can you smell the stench of the refineries from there? Sure looks close enough to get the smell with the right wind direction.

What about glide path for Newark Airport? Got to be close.

.8 million for that 1960s house? There are thousands of those in that state for a lot less, and most is are in a lot better areas. Other then some w-2 looser who commutes into the big apple, who would want to live there? With the emminent meltdown coming to Wall Street, the volume of chumps is about to decrease in a big way.

Me thinks your buddy is hanging with hood down the street in Orange, as he has to be on crack to ask that price.

H.

Rob Dawg said...

TK,
It's just a house fergawdsakes. WTF makes a 2br tract home worth three quarters of a million dollars in New Jersey?

Your friend is not trying to sell. Houses sell in 4 months at most. For ordinary boxes like this 3 months. Classic denial.

New fun post up BTW.

H Simpson said...

Rob

You are so correct about 4 months being a reality check.

When I last sold a house, I looked for the most ethical realtor in the area and not who would appraise the highest.

Had them do an appraisal. When they came back, I said "Now drop it 10 grand and put it on the market".

They looked at me funny.
I said "Look, I am saving over a 100 grand on the new one I am having built. 10 grand is worth sleeping at night not worrying about carrying 2 notes". House was gone in 10 days. I had a nice balance at the bank until the new abode was completed.

Some egos are going to get crushed just like 15 years ago. A new generation. A new lot of suckers that need to be schooled.

Even if a seller finds a moron, chances are the banks are not going to finance it at 100%. And if folks have skin in the game, they are not going to be so willing to pay insane prices.

TK said...

H Simpson:

It's a nice neighborhood. But the taxes are insane and the commute is brutal. Prices like that they think they're in Westchester or Bergen County. Atrocious!

My friend isn't stupid. He's just having trouble facing facts. He needs to price it to sell TODAY and move on.

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