Built his castle in the wrong neighborhood

Everyone wants to own their dream home. A castle of our own, with everything we've always dreamed of. If you are planning on building your castle, be sure to choose your location carefully. Nothing sucks more than building your castle and then the peasants revolt. Here's an example of how not to built your dream home.

35280 Stockton ave is a 2 year old tract home on the SCPGA golf course in Beaumont. This home was built in 2006 and sold new for $704K. The home is 3490 s/f and has 5 bedrooms and 3 baths. It does back onto the golf course and has a nice view of the fairway. The owner has done some crazy stuff in the backyard. It looks a little bit like Castle Park in Riverside. All it needs is a windmill. For whatever reason our homeowner has decided to sell his dream home. He figures his toontown home is worth a whopping $829K.

First of all, $704k for a tract home in Beaumont?? Come on people, did anyone really think tract homes in Beaumont were worth 3/4 of a million bucks? Obviously some people did because they sold them. I just cannot wrap my feable mind around those numbers.

Fast forward two years we are in the middle of the biggest financial meltdown since the depression. Real estate is down 50% plus in much of the IE. But King Louie XVII here still thinks someone is going to go gaga over his plastic back yard. For a reality check he needs to drive down the street. There are at least 5 homes for sale within a 200 yards of his house and 4 of those are priced under $320K.

There's this model match, also on the golf course listed for $320K

Or this ever so slightly smaller home listed for $299k

Or this one, listed for $289k.

In case your math skills are not up to snuff, these 3 are listed for about 500K less than Toontown. In fact you could buy all three for just a little bit more than he is asking for his plastic fantastic. $829K puuuleaze.

The moral of the story is.................. ( Please fill in the blank )

Checking in on Beaumont.

Last month I took a peak at the SCPGA golf community in Beaumont. This master planned community was tanking BAD. If you remember I listed homes under $300k, $300-350k and 350-400k.

Last month there were 7 under $300k, the price leader was $259k.
This month there are 20 at $300k or below. The price leader is ,

11014 Picard PL Beaumont, CA 92223, a 3 bed, 2.5 bath home 1958 sq ft. Purchased 9/2005 for $361. Currently listed for$233k. Not a short sale, this one is a bank owned. 36% loss on this one.

In the 300k to 350 there were 13 last month
This month we have 10, I suspect a few of them dropped into the under 300 category.

In the 350-400 range we had 17 last month
This month that number is down to 12.

So, we can see the total number of homes under $400k is close. There are 5 more homes total this month that are priced under $400k. But the obvious change is that the homes are falling into lower price ranges. The ranges above 300k both lost homes but the under 300k range increased by 275% in a month.

SCPGA community in Beaumont goes KABOOM

In early October I took a look at the homes around the new SCPGA Golf Course in Beaumont. This was intended to be a new "upscale" community. In October there were some serious declines but the lowest priced homes were still over $400K. I don't recall seeing anything listed under $400k when I searched in October. Today is a different story, there are nearly 20 homes under $400k and about 1/2 of them are around $300k.

I found 7 homes listed under $300K, with the price leader being

35593 Trevino TRL, Beaumont, CA 92223 listed for $259k ($98 s/f). It looks like this was bought new in March 2006 for $464. Pick it up today at 44% off!



There are another 13 between $300k and $350k. The price leader in this range is 37137 Brutus WAY, with a price of $349 it barely made it but at 3934 s/f it works out to $89 s/f. This is an even newer home sold in June 2006 for $518k. Pick it up today at 33% off.



There are another 17 homes priced from $350 to $400K. This is not the best deal as far as the numbers go but I'de probably pick 36010 Eagle LN as the best deal in this group. It's a nice single story on a 1/3 acre lot and it has a very nice pool and hot tub. Not bad for $395 if it were anywhere but Beaumont. This home sold new for $579 in April of 2005. Pick it up today at 32% off




All of these homes have lost approx $200k (plus any upgrades, like the $60k pool) in a year or two. With the price leaders under $100 s/f and one under $90 s/f we can see where Beaumont is heading. Prices out there will be well under $100 s/f before long.

Let's look at a few in Beaumont

Beaumont has never been an area I've ever considered living. I don't even like to get off the freeway there. In the last few years however home builders have gone crazy building homes way out there. I don't know why anyone other than a retiree would move way out there. A few years ago they built the Southern California PGA course out there and quickly started surrounding it with homes.


35162 Hogan DR is a large 5 bed 3 bath, 3390 sq/ft home, built in 2005 it sold for $496k. The owner seems to think it's value has grown like a weed and is now offering this home for the bargain price of $650K. The dullard seems to think he can squeeze $154k out of this place in a year. It's been on the market for 169 days without a reduction in asking price.


35208 HOGAN DR is the same model home only a few doors up the street. This home has never been lived in. Probably a flip gone wrong. It's going to make 35162 Hogan a tad hard to sell considering this one is listed for $425K. That's $225K less for the same model on the same street!

35232 HOGAN DR is yet another of these 3390 sq/ft homes. This one has been sold twice now and has still never been lived in. It looks like a flipper (or the bank) picked this up two months ago for $378K and turned around and put it right back on the market for $425. If 35208 hasn't sold in over 2 months at $425, what makes them think this one will??