Thursday, April 24, 2008

Victoria Groves goes Sub-$300k


Here's the first listing I've seen in Victoria Groves under $300k.

12377 Mimosa Ln,
It's a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house that's 2470 sq/ft and it sits on a decent sized lot of just over 8000 sq/ft. The last owners did take the stove with them but the rest of te house looks to be in great shape judging from the pics. Even the back yard looks nice. This home listed as an REO 2 weeks ago at $320 and they have already reduced it to $299,900. It's not the cheapest on a price per square foot basis but it is the cheapest home in the tract by about $40k currently.

Worth $300k?

14 comments:

Martin Burtin said...

Ummm no, not worth $300K . It sold new in 2003 for $293K. I'm look'n to pay 2001 prices,and I'm going to consider that the house may be damaged since the owner has removed appliances. Plus, 5 bedrooms in less than 2500 sq ft? C'mon, get serious! That many bedrooms deserves another 1000 sq ft, to not feel like you're living in a cracker box. If all you need are a bunch of tiny rooms to do sewing and store your stamp collection, fine, but not for living space (in my ever so humble opinion).

golfer_X said...

Sound logical but the bigger homes don't usually have bigger rooms. They seem to waste all that space on fluff like wider hallways, large entries and useless extra formal living rooms and dining rooms. They still usually have 10 x 10 bedrooms on those big mcMansions. If you're lucky you might get an 11 x 11 or a 10 x 12. the only bedroom they seem to make decent size is the master.

monkeyking79 said...

i have read your blog for a while and also want to buy a house in corona. your blog helped me a lot. i am still waiting to find my dreaming home. just want to let you know that yes, we are reading and we want you to keep it up. you did a wonderful job.

Anonymous said...

Where do you see the Norco market in the near future? It seems Norco is one of the few cities holding value, and not too many foreclosures either.

golfer_X said...

It depends on the area of Norco. Norco hills is tanking big time and there are quite a few foreclosures in that area. The older areas of Norco should not see as many foreclosures due to the fact that most of those people have lived in those houses for a long time. Older areas have far less foreclosures so the prices don't have the same immediate downward pressure that the newer areas have. That does not mean the prices will stay high, it just means it will take a little longer for them to fall. Norco Hills is a newer area so all the homes were purchased near the peak and lots of those owners are defaulting. Many of those homes are selling for 30% to 40% off peak prices. And they are falling fast. Low sales numbers in Norco is another reason the prices appear to be holding up better. You can't see declines if there are no sales. Last month there were only about a dozen sales in the whole city.

monkeyking79 said...

Golfer_x i have another question. please let me know, by the way, i am an asian, but not the one you mentioned in your blog to buy whatever is there, i tried to do my homework. i do have some helps from my country. my question is should i pay cash for the home or do i need to get a loan? i do have a W-2 and 1099. so far as i know you only get wipe off your interest part of your loan, that means you have to pay it in front, so what if you just pay it off and do not need to worry about anything in the future? i get different opinion. how do you think?

golfer_X said...

There are a lot of different opinions on that.

Personally if I could pay in full with cash I would. But other people will say take that cash and invest it and finance the house. That can work if you can be sure that the interest you earn from the investment is higher than the rate on the money you borrow.

I'm not a financial advisor, nor am I any kind of financial expert or guru. You might be bettr off seeking advice from a proffesional on that question.

As far as the taxes go, you can write of the interest on loans up to a million. That deduction will save you SOME money on your income tax. There are online calculators that can tell you what the tax savings will be.

Bigdog said...

Not to ask a stupid question but what is the definition of a "knife catcher"?

monkeyking79 said...

thank you for your honest opinion. i really feel lucky to find you blog. i actually already made an offer and withdrawled it because of your blog and all those comments i read. i truly feel you are a nice and very modest guy. not like those angry realtors.
i feel sorry for those people who ever attacked you. your answer is always reasonalbe and polite.
we support you.

Bigdog said...

First Nice house in the area Im looking in 92336 under $300,000 not sure if it is a short sale though sign of the times though.
Hope this is where it all is going. Now with Georges stimulant package I can run out and get it next week.

http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1453541

Anonymous said...

What do you think about a lease option for a year and then purchase price based on 3 appraisals?
Thx

golfer_X said...

Knife Catcher- That is the term for a person who buys something that is falling in value. If you buy on the way down you lose a lot of money. You get cut by the falling knife!

Tarzan, Lease options can be dangerous especially in a tanking market. It all depends on how the contract is set up. Again I'm not a financing guy so I'm not real up on the latest gimmicks (and a lease option is a gimmick). Get professionals advice and look at it carefully. Most lease option offers I've seen lately are just scam artists trying to get a bunch of cash from a poor sucker prior to them defaulting on the loan.

Anonymous said...

Gorlfer_x I was on redfin looking at recently sold homes and what I found was shocking. How reliable is redfin, or accurate? There was one listing in particular that we had interest in, it originally listed for 319, last month. Redfin has it sold on 02/2008 for 379, I don't get why and how. How is it stating a sale prior to the original listing date? What's going on with the market, why are people offering this much over listing price? I just don't wanna become a "knife catcher". Thanks for this great forum, keep up the good work.

golfer_X said...

If a home is foreclosed the foreclosure sale will be listed as the last sale on Redfin. Even though that sale is only the property going back to the bank for the outstanding loan amount. nearly half of the recent sales on Redifn these days are just that, the preperty going back to the bank.

Generally speaking a legitimate sale will be an even amount, like $369,500. A property going back to the lender will often be an odd amount like $369,721. This is not a 100% accurate way to tell but it is a rough method of identifing those sales when the bank is getting the property back from the delinquent borrowers.

Another almost sure way to tell is if the property sold in the last 6 months and it is back up for sale, the last sale posted on Redfin is nearly always the foreclosure amount. Flippers are gone so it's very rare these days to find a legitimate sale that is a quick flip.