$106 sq/ft in South Corona

South Corona seems to be taking a price beating compared to the rest of the city. I'm more than a little confused by this. South Corona is one of the nicest areas of the whole city. Some may argue but everything in So Corona is new. New school, new homes, new stores and new golf courses. It's not all roses though. The 15 fwy is damn near a parking lot night and day making commuting from there a bit of a nightmare and there's not a lot to do other than shop, golf or go to the movies. But still it's way better than North Corona (Eastvale) or Central Corona. What's killing the prices though is the fact that everything is new and many of the homes were bought at peak prices. This ultimately is leading to a tidal wave of foreclosures and short sales. Some of these are now getting tantalizingly close to $100 sq/ft.

Two more showed up today on Redfin.

25137 Coral Canyon Rd. A 5 bedroom 2.5 bath home of 3484 sq/ft. This home is only 2 years old having been sold new in Jan 06 for $551k. This home is now owned by the bank and is listed for $370k or $106 sq/ft ( it was $158 sq ft new). That's a loss of $181k or 33%.
That's probably still a little too high for this home. There's no way it pencils out as a rental yet and even to buy this as a "home" you are looking at a very large payment and the monthly utilities on this thing will kill you.



23396 Toronja Corte is another big one. This one is located near the Trilogy development. It's a 4 bedroom, 4 bath home of 4075 sq/ft. This was purchased in Sept 2005 for $743k. Now it's listed for $479k ($118 sq/ft). That makes this loss $264k or 36% from the Sept 05 price. On the same street there is a model match to this one with an even bigger loss. 23438 Toronja Corte was purchased last in March 06 for $830k. Now it's a bank owned and it's listed for $510k. That is a loss of $320k or 39% from last sale. And these have not sold yet, the final numbers might (I mean, will probably) be even worse. Check out the price cuts on the 23438 house. Talk about chasing the market down, 7 price cuts since last June and now there is a model match $30k less on the same street. It just brings a big smile to your face, doesn't it?

Lender owned.....for a year, and counting

I've often heard "banks aren't in the business of of owning homes". Hmm, if that were true you'd think they would have sold this off in less that a year.




11234 Evergreen LOOP, Corona, CA 92883, This 3 bed, 3 bath home of 2899/sf was taken back by the bank last year (2006). It was listed on 12/20/2006 for $589k. Check out this classic case of chasing the market down. Keep in mind that until the spring of 2007 homes were actually still selling fairly well in the IE. Had they priced this a little stronger in the spring they could have probably sold it as similar home were still selling as late as August in the mid 500s. It looks as though they have realized that they missed the boat. The last price cut brings this home into a price range where I think it will have a good chance if selling.

Price Reduced: 01/19/07 -- $586,900 to $560,000
Price Reduced: 02/17/07 -- $560,000 to $549,900
Price Reduced: 04/03/07 -- $549,900 to $535,900
Price Reduced: 05/04/07 -- $535,900 to $522,900
Price Reduced: 06/09/07 -- $522,900 to $506,900
Price Reduced: 07/04/07 -- $506,900 to $500,000
Price Reduced: 08/14/07 -- $500,000 to $490,000
Price Reduced: 12/18/07 -- $476,000 to $450,000
Price Reduced: 12/26/07 -- $450,000 to $370,000

Personally, I think this home is worth $300k tops and that's if the back yard was nice (which this ones is not). The area is just a little too far down the 15fwy to be practical. There are no stores, gas stations or anything else close to there. The tract is also getting pummeled by foreclosures and it has a high tax rate. It's certainly not on my list of places I would buy a home.

Sick-a-more Creek

Sycamore is a development in South Corona. Waaay South Corona, it's closer to Lake Elsinore than it is to Central Corona. This development is still under construction. Well, it's probably more accurate to say, it's not finished yet. I doubt there will be many more homes built unless the current market trend makes an about face.

There are currently a boat load (that's a lot!) of homes for sale in this development. Here's our current price leaders.

25138 Cliffrose Corona, CA 92883 this house looks like it's about 600 sq/ft from the front but the listing says it's 2655 sq/ft and 3 bedroom/2 bath. It looks like this was purchased Nov 2005, right at the peak of the market for $540k. After 2 years of home ownership bliss it's listed for $325K. That's a $215k loss (or 40%) in two years. That works out to a $8958 per month loss (plus the house payment and taxes). It easily cost this person $10K per month to live there. He could have rented a really really nice beach estate for that.

25035 Coral Canyon Corona, CA 92883, This home looks bigger than the last but it's actually smaller and it sits on a smaller lot too. This home is 2150 sq/ft 3 bed/ 3 bath. It was also purchased near the peak for $511k. This one also went up for sale after 2 years of ownership (see a trend? rate resets??). It's been listed for almost 6 months as the owner chases the market down. Here's a lesson on how to do it,
Price Reduced: 08/13/07 -- $549,000 to $534,900 (hope)
Price Reduced: 09/02/07 -- $534,900 to $524,990 ( still hoping)
Price Reduced: 09/22/07 -- $524,990 to $499,900 (oh no, we might lose a few $$)
Price Reduced: 10/17/07 -- $499,900 to $449,000 ( come on people, PLEASE)
Price Reduced: 10/23/07 -- $449,000 to $439,000 ( oh dear, there goes the credit)
Price Reduced: 10/27/07 -- $439,000 to $400,000 (WTF)
Price Reduced: 11/21/07 -- $400,000 to $350,000 ( I give up...)

Last but not least is the local village idiot. He bought 24975 Cliffrose ST in Feb this year for $775! You read that right SEVEN SEVENTY FIVE! This has got to be one of those Ochoa cash back homes. I just cannot believe someone was clueless enough to pay almost 3/4 of a million for this home. It went on the market today as a short sale for $449K. That would be a loss of $326K in 9 months. That works out to $36,500 a month this home lost. It lost the equivalent of a brand new BMW 328i every month since Feb.

Could have had 9 of these!