Saturday, January 5, 2008

Norco Hills, that Kaboom continues

I love this area, it provides me with hours of entertainment. Every time I look in this area there's another batch of dueling neighbors trying to unload their horribly overpriced homes.

Today I noticed a home I had looked at previously had come way down in price.
209 Cross Rail LN, Norco, CA 92860 is a massive 5659 sq/ft 6 bedroom home. It sits on a 1/2 acre lot and backs up to the 15th hole of the Hidden Valley Golf Course. This home was purchased new in 2005 for $943K. It sold again in Nov 2006 for 1.25 million. It listed 3 months ago for 1.3 million. In early December they reduced the price to 1 million and recently reduced it again to $850k. That's a $400K loss in just over a year if they can find a buyer. This home is still very expensive but at $150 sq/ft it's the $ sq/ft price leader in this area. Most of the other homes are listed over $200 and some are still dreaming of $300 sq/ft.



Now what about those dueling neighbors. The first upset neighbor is right across the street at 200 Crossrail LN. They bought the same model new in early 2005 and paid 1 million. They have put in a spectacular pool and the back yard is party ready. The home though does not look any nicer than the first one. These are both high end homes with very nice interiors. This guy listed his 5 months ago for the staggering price of 1.675 million! Here's his dream slipping away.

Price Reduced: 08/27/07 -- $1,675,000 to $1,495,000
Price Reduced: 09/24/07 -- $1,495,000 to $1,395,000
Price Reduced: 11/14/07 -- $1,395,000 to $1,345,000
Price Reduced: 12/05/07 -- $1,345,000 to $1,275,000

After what his neighbor has done his dream must have turned into a nightmare by now. Getting undercut by $425k can't help you sleep at night.



But wait 200 Crossrail is not the only upset seller in this tract. Just around the corner and only about 5 homes away we have 1492 ANDALUSIAN DR (same model home). This guy listed two months ago for 1.5 million. He is currently down to 1.25 million. Just $400K more than home one. He does have some very nice landscaping in the front but no pictures of the back yard so I will assume it's not very impressive. Th inside of this home does not look as highly upgraded as the first two. There's way more carpet and less tile work and the master bathroom looks rather basic. So this guy is doubly screwed



There are two other dreamers trying to sell the same model home in this tract. Both of those homes have been featured before. 170 Friesian ST is currently asking 1.348 Million and the biggest dreamer of them all is 159 Friesian ST who is asking 1.4 million for a home with dirt in the front and the back yards.

Is 209 Cross Rail a deal at $850k? Compared to the other 4 similar homes currently on the market it is. At $150 sq/ft this home appears to be priced well. Is this home a short sale? The listing does not indicate that this is a short sale but it's hard to believe the home owner would be so quick to throw away that $400k. Most people would hold out for as long as possible if it was their own $400k. Regardless if whether it's a short sale or not, they are obviously not selling at the higher prices. This home might be worth $850k. It's interior looks high end, it's big and on a big lot and it has golf course frontage. I almost think this is a good deal if you are in the market for a 5659 sq/ft palace.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone wonder what those homes will look like 10 years from now? These houses look like crap. They were slapped together with shoddy workmanship and cheap materials.

I swear I could build homes out of cardboard boxes and as long as there's granite and stainless, people will buy them.

Anonymous said...

A million dollars to smell that ripe mixture of smog, shit, chemicals and who knows what else.

Anonymous said...

I live near these and watched them being built. I'm in the construction biz and I know crap work when I see it. These are not shoddy. They are put together quite well. They will look just fine in 10 years or 20 years or 50 years as long as they are maintained. You want to see shoddy construction go to Anaheim and look at the Riverbend homes. There are some real hackjobs out there but these aint them. Most of the newer homes are way better than the crap they built in the 70s and 80s, especially the 80s. Man did they ever put up some junk in the 80s.

Anonymous said...

I drove around many of the "high end" neighborhoods in Corona today (Retreat, Norco Hills, Sierra del Oro, and even Crown Ranch Estates)and every single one of them had tons of for sale and REO signs. It must really piss off people who bought in the past few years in these expensive neighborhoods to see vacant houses with dead grass and prices hundreds of thousands less than they paid. I don't have any pity for speculators but I feel sorry for anybody who worked their ass off to save and buy a home in the past few years only to see their home values hit the crapper. I'm curious to see if anything is selling in these nicer neighborhoods. I see houses sold in Redfin but I have no clue whether it's a real buyer or just a bank taking back the property. Any way to check?

Anonymous said...

Why buy a million dollar house only to live in it for a year or two? I stayed longer in my rental places than these so called millionaire.

golfer_X said...

Nothing is selling in the high end areas unless it's priced really really well. Most of the recent sales on Redfin are the banks transferring the title back after a foreclosure. If you see a sale listed and then the property immediately goes back up for sale that's nearly always an indication of a foreclosure. I've only seen one property sell in the high end areas lately and it was and REO that was priced aggressively (It was in Norco Hills).

Anonymous said...

I often wonder what percentage of the people that bought these mcmansions can actually afford them. I think the homes with no landscaping are a good indication of people that bought with the expectation of quickly flipping it. I think most of these people stretched and used funny money loans to get in. They are doomed. Most of these homes that are for sale are going back to the bank. These area are always going to be expensive as compared to the "normal" areas but what is that level. I think these houses will end up in the $400k to $600k range. Maybe even lower if they are in bad shape. I saw an ad on Craigslist last night for a kitchen from one of these McMansions. It was a VERY nice, HUGE kitchen. The dude was selling it all, cabinets, granite, appliances etc. His excuse was he was going to remodel. But you had to have them out by Jan 12. YEA RIGHT, Jan 12th is his foreclosure day! I hope the bank sees his ad.

Anonymous said...

These are nice houses and I would do backflips if I could get one in the $400k-$500k range.

Anonymous said...

Now is the time if you want granite, stainless, cabinets, ac units, etc, etc. People are tearing out everything they can before they have to leave their foreclosed homes.

What do you expect from people who obviously couldn't afford the mortgage? Almost all of these people had negative networths and care very little about their credit. They had and have nothing to lose.

They got to live in a nice home for a year or two and probably had an Escalade or Hummer for the same amount of time until it got repo'd. In the end, they really lost nothing because they had nothing to begin with.

This is a way of life in the IE. Almost everyone I know in the IE lives paycheck to paycheck and has bad credit. About half of them have a prior bankruptcy and many are now working towards their 2nd.

I gotta wonder how these peoples children will turn out in another decade. All they know is consume.

I have never ran into so many 25 year old+ "kids" still living at home with their parents as I have in the IE.

Anonymous said...

"These are nice houses and I would do backflips if I could get one in the $400k-$500k range."


Give it about 2 years and you will see those prices on these homes. I'm not sure it'll be a good deal by that time though.

golfer_X said...

There's already one in Bretton that is in the mid $600s (REO).It's been for sale for months with no action so it will obviously go lower. Over the other side of the golf course in the Norco Hills there are several under $600k already. These are the smaller homes (still big though) but who the hell wants a 5000+ sq/ft home anyway. You'll go bust just paying the electric bill in the summer time. Those big homes have FOUR a/c units.

Anonymous said...

that one on Cross Rail Ln. is really nice. you will never see a home with that type of interior for 400K

Anonymous said...

'This is a way of life in the IE. Almost everyone I know in the IE lives paycheck to paycheck and has bad credit. About half of them have a prior bankruptcy and many are now working towards their 2nd.

I gotta wonder how these peoples children will turn out in another decade. All they know is consume.

I have never ran into so many 25 year old+ "kids" still living at home with their parents as I have in the IE.'

WOW being the IE crap talker I am (and I live here), I could not have said it better myself. Bravo.

Anonymous said...

I think they will turn out very different. they are going to live through the great great depression. Soup kitchens and bread lines will teach them the value of money.

Anonymous said...

I have my doubts. Most people under 30 that I know would rather look to someone else to bail them out. They have an excuse for everything. And they're the laziest bunch of people I've come across. All they know is to consume and instant gratification.

I think most will resort to stealing.

pacman said...

Is buying a 300-350k home in corona a bad idea ?