Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Retreat goes sub-$500k


Here it is, the first legitimate listing in The Retreat for under $500k. There have been a few short sales listed for $500k and one Auction listing, but so far all the regular resale and REO listings have been well over $500k. Prior to this listing the lowest REO listings were $539k and $549K.

8791 Soothing Ct
is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home of 3386 sq ft, sitting on just over a quarter acre lot. It's got all the fancy bling (pergranateel etc). It looks like this home was purchased new in Jan 2006 for $884k. It went back to the lender in Jan for $603k. It just listed for $479K. Thats a loss of $405K in just over 2 years, or 46%. I'll go out on a limb here and say that this has a decent chance of selling.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Golfer_X,

This site is very good. It's quite informative for those of us who are not familiar with Corona and IE. I really appreciate your works.

Would you characterize Retreat a 'better' area in Corona or just a by-product of housing bubble? Will we see more sub-$500k or lesser than $140 sq/ft listings in this neighborhood? Could you talk about the Estate development? They were selling something around one million few weeks ago when I visited the area. I notice the schools aroud aren't very good. Is newer schools in the future plan?

Well, let's move on to more serious stuff. How is your golf? More rounds of 70s?

Thanks for sharing your thought.

golfer_X said...

The Retreat is a high end tract. All the homes are big and when they sold new they were expensive. I'm not sure I would say it's one of the better areas because of the location. The traffic getting in or out of South Corona on the 15fwy is horrendous. If you are not commuting then it's probably fine but if you commute the drive is very bad. I really don't know what the schools are like but most Corona schools are decent. Not a lot of IE schools are great unfortunately. With this economy and the current budget crisis I doubt any new schools will be built soon. They did built a school down in the Sycamore Creek area but I don't know what kind it was (high, middle, ele)

The thing I would worry about in The Retreat is the amount of foreclosures. Every home in there was bought at peak bubble prices. Therefore every home in there is very likely to go into foreclosure unless it was purchased cash. another issue I have with The Retreat is the crazy high tax rate and HOA fee.

I like the tract myself which is why I keep an eye on it but I seriously doubt I would buy in there unless the price was very good and the house was spectacular. My gut feeling is that The Retreat will bottom out between $400k and $600k depending on the size of the house. The Million dollar days are long gone. There are already several homes priced close to $500k and with many more foreclosures on the way the prices can only go down.

My golf game has been very erratic of late. Last Friday I shot about 80, the week before 72. I'm getting to be a spaz on the course

drudometkin said...

I've been looking to buy in corona. I've been looking at new homes in north corona off of archibald. What is your opinion on that area?

The prices are in the 400k-500k range. I'm waiting to see how prices change. I would love to be able to buy a nice house out there in the 300's next year... Is that feasible?

Also I notice they have a "planned elementary school" in the middle of the tract I looked at. Is this usually bullcrap when they say stuff like this?

golfer_X said...

There are already many REO homes listed in the mid 300's in that area and the prices are dropping fast. 6 months ago it was hard to find anything under $140 a square foot. Now the cheapest is around $100 s/f.

North Corona (or Eastvale) is not my favorite area of Corona. I'm not a huge fan of cow poo so I keep away from eastvale. That area is getting pummeled with foreclosures and they are driving the prices down fast.

golfer_X said...

Well, I guess someone thinks The Retreat is worth $480k. This one has already disappeared from the MLS. I did not think this would last long at that price. It would be nice to see it close under $500k. That would be set a nice comp.

Unknown said...

I still see this listing on ziprealty.

Have Just visited this area and the property is still being shown. The interesting thing is that I've found many other houses for sale too that are not being listed on the networks. I went to see one house at Eagle Glen and came cross more than ten other houses with for sale sign near by. I don't remember seeing all of them listed on the web. My feeling is that more homework need to be done and the time will be getting even better for those interested in buying.

golfer_X said...

I stopped at the retreat on my way to golf on Sunday. I drove up to the KB models to check the current prices (still about the same as a couple of months ago). On the street where the models are located there are five homes that you must pass before you get to the models. Of those 5 homes FOUR are for sale. At least one of them is a REO. I should check and see if any of the others are. I also saw 2 Uhaul moving vans in different driveways that were being packed up. The Retreat is aptly named. Prices and people are in full retreat for sure.