The Larkspur Triplets

The Larkspur is a small gated tract of homes in Riverside near La Sierra ave and Victoria. It's at the west end of the old Orange grove area. I looked in there since one of my wife's friends lives in the tract, I was curious to see what was happening there. The tract was built in 2003/2004 and sold from the mid 400s to mid 500s when new. The homes sit on nice big 1/2 acre lots making them a little more expensive than most. Redfin shows 10 homes in the tract for sale but I know there is more than that. I found 3 identical homes (the triplets) for sale with a price range wider than the Nile. Let's take a look at the triplets, shall we!

Triplet # 1, The ambitious one.

16340 Highgate, Riverside, CA 92503, The home is a 5 bed 4.5 bath, 3904 sq/ft McMansion. The Realtor calls this one an " Amazing Tropical Paradise". To be honest I almost agree, this house had one bitchin back yard. The interior looks darn nice too (except the pink kids room). The realtor says the owner spend $400k upgrading it. If this is true he should be nominated for dope of the year. It looks like he purchased this home new for $560k in 2004, even adding his supposed $400k that's still only $960 he's into it. He also purchased this well into the bubble so he paid top dollar. We all know you don't get anywhere near all your money back on improvements, especially stuff like custom dyed carpets. Our ambitious home owners is looking to cash in though and thinks there is a NBA star out there that wants to live in an average area of Riverside. With that in mind he prices his Tropical Paradise at....$1.3 million! Yes, your read it right 1.3M.


Triplet #2, The nervous one.

16398 Hidden Peak, Tis is the same type of house bit with one less bedroom and bath but it has an office and a playroom instead. This home was purchased new in 2004 for $576k and our nervous knife catcher bought in in May for $715. Unbelievably he is trying to flip this place for $60k more than he paid. Dunno what this 'tard' is thinking pricing this home at $775 when triplet # 3 has been on the market for 2 months for far less.


Lastly we have Triplet #3, the desperate one.

17209 FIRST LIGHT, same type house but this one is a 5 bed, 3.5 bath (3904 sq/ft). This one was bought new of $547k and it looks like it went back to the bank in August for $635. I smell a home equity loan or cash out refi here. Anyway our desperate seller is THE BANK!. And what's that bank looking to get? Well they started out trying to get all their money back and originally listed it for $650k. That was 2 months ago and with no takers the bank has cut $50k off and is now asking $599k.

So, here we have 3 homes that are the same basic floor plan. Other than a few options and some fancy landscaping these are identical. The prices range from 1.3M to 600k. Hell you could almost buy triplets 2 AND 3 for the asking price of triplet 1. When the bank does unload their home, that will seal the fate of the other 2. Home 1 will NEVER sell for anything close to asking in fact even 50% off would probably not sell in today's market. Home #2 will surely be another bank owned home soon once the flipper realizes he's upside down by $200k