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Foreclosure: Steal, deal or ‘get real?’
November 13th, 2008, 3:00 am · 39 Comments · posted by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter
Update: A May 20 “sale” date was actually an auction with a $612,000 opening bid, but no one bought the home so it reverted to the bank, says Peter Culp of First Team, co-listing agent on the house. He says the home last sold on April 4 for $860,000. In pricing the home, he adds, the agents looked at a nearby home that sold for $1.2 million, and a model match in the area that sold in September for $875,000.
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There certainly are opportunities out there for folks who have the money to spend on short sales and foreclosures. And I hear many foreclosures sell at near their asking price. So a question I will pose from time to time:
“Would you pay this for that?”
Take this house in Huntington Seacliff. If you had the dough — and maybe you do — would you bite? This house is being offered as a bank-listed foreclosure for $649,000. The original list price was $710,000.
A few more photos. CLICK to enlarge:
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The listing on Redfin says “Bring your paint brush and make this your own, when you are finished take a stroll down to the beach.”
The 1-story, 1,651-square-foot ranch-style home near Goldenwest has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It was built in 1969. So what do you think?
Would you buy this home for that price?
Read more:
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39 Comments
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Surf City home "mood ring"
For the 22 business days ending Oct. 16 -- DataQuick's freshest stats -- we tap into Surf City's homebuying mood with how local ZIPs fare vs. a year ago! ZIPs with GAINING median prices and sales are
GREEN while MIXED trends are 
YELLOW and FALLING prices and sales are 
RED! ZIP Price Ch. Sold Ch. 92646 $477,000 -14% 59 +40% 92647 $530,000 -3% 32 +10% 92648 $693,500 -6% 46 -4% 92649 $668,500 +14% 31 +7% - Overall O.C. home trends are HERE!
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I discovered your homepage by coincidence.
Very interesting posts and well written.
I will put your site on my blogroll.
I’ll give you $410,000 for it.
I’ll pay 375,000
265,000 and not a penny more for the stucco box.
I lived in this neighborhood in the 70’s as a kid. It appears the home has the original landscaping, fireplace, etc. I remember those big bushes in the front and backyard well. Not sure how much of a deal it is when you add up the deferred maintenance, which I’m going to assume by the lack of upgrades in the photos, this home will need a lot of. The positives…good schools and good weather; looks like a corner lot too…the most profound thing I remember about this neighborhood is the pungent oil smell, although I’m sure that’s long gone…
185,000
Fiddy Cent Bob!
I’ll give you $210,000!
Sorry I used to live in Huntington. It’s beauty was what made it popular. It’s curse was however that same popularity. So if you like living next to spoiled “I am better than you” pre-madonna’s and their attitudes more power to you. I moved to someplace quiet to raise a family with realistic expectation and not bloated dreams based on the weekly drunken party.
For that amount of money I’d go look for something else. I’m not a real estate guru, but I somehow have a good feeling there are plenty of deals that are a lot better than this out there, especially with all the foreclosures going on. BTW, how did the words “porn” and “stars” make it into this article’s tags?? lol.
i just bought a deal, in another city though. Original price was 625 I got it for 350, thats a steal
Oh yes, just for a laugh, I recall my parents paid approx $42K for their almost identical Seacliff home in 1972.
I know someone who just bought a house for less than $600,000. 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, 2 stories, I’d approximate about 1,900 sq ft., built in the 90’s, in Laguna Niguel.
If $600k will buy me that house, this house for $650k is not a good deal!
As an agent its not worth the asking price.
First the bank took it back for $612,000, and then has the agent list it for $710,000 on 9/19/08. Now it’s down to $649,000. Funny how did this house go up in value from the repo amount?
You can’t go by the comps in the area because properties that have sold in this tract generally have major improvements, including ground up rebuilds.
This house sits on a small lot so the only thing you can do is tear it down and build a 2 story, you would be lucky to squeeze another 800 sqft into the house with a remodel because of the lot size and zoning issues.
It sits on the corner Golden West and Little Harbor. Little Harbor being the main artery entrance to the tract from Golden West. So you get a lot of traffic Daily both on Golden West and into the tract.
The full photo details of the property and interior show at least $100,000 worth of improvements that would need to go into it.
As PT Barnum once said, There is a fool born every minute.
Did I read this right? The property last sold *this* May 20 for $612,000, and the bank wants *more*? And originally listed the property for !!!$100,000!!! more than it last sold for?
What in the name of Mike gave the bank the idea that pricing power increased by a hundred K over the past six months? Did they miss that little unpleasantness in the economy, aka the biggest credit crunch since the Depression?
What are they smoking over there?
I have a home for sale if you don’t mind living in the resort community of Crestline Ca. in the San Brernardino Mt. Close to lake and shopping. 3 stories, 3 bedrooms, 3 full bath, lg family room, fireplace, quarter area lot ,street to street, level entry, seasonal creek, parking for RV and boat plus cars off street, and friendly neighborhood. Only asking $475,000 or best offer.
Steve R - I’d still like to see what the comps are. There have to be some other homes with deferred maintenance in the area that have sold recently. Maybe even some other lender-owned (repo) properties. I’m not worried about how much properties are selling for which are ground-up rebuilds - those aren’t even comps.
If similar homes are selling in the low-$700’s, then this home is priced well. But I would suspect that the market for this type of home in its current condition is below its current asking price.
foreclosure steal? more like foreclosure ripoff
Ps. foregot to add comes with 9000 watt generator/arc welder wired into house.
This house is on a busy corner and backs to Goldenwest. In today’s market one need not accept these limitations…too many alternatives available.
At this price it will be around for a long while as there are no strong positives to offset the severe location disadvantages.
I’ve owned a house in laguna Niguel, Rancho Niguel to be exact. The house was built in the early 90s using cheap labor. The plumbing fell apart, and other various little annoyances, and that was when the house was not 10 years old. Now I live in a 40 year old house in Westminster, built by Americans. Huge difference. The Seacliff house is probably a better deal construction-wise and quality wise than any comparable laguna Niguel house built in the late 80s early 90s with cheap labor.
I agree about Laguna Niguel - most of the construction there was too fast and too cheap, including the grading. Too many of the listings today have “geo” issues. I wouldn’t touch that city with a ten foot pole.
I’ll have to re-think my $410,000 offer for this Huntington home. Didn’t know it sat on busy streets. I wouldn’t ever buy a house on busy streets. I also want a bigger lot, so I guess I’ll rescind my offer.
TOTALLY pass on this ugly house!! The house is so out of date!! Those cabinets are disgusting!! Everything looks dingy and will need to be upgraded.
It’s a fixer upper. For that price you could get a better deal elsewhere. No thanks.
I think $549,000 would still be way too much for this house!!!! NOT WORTH IT, GET REAL!!!!!!!!!
The house is worth $280K tops. What a dump.
best way to find out how much this pile of wood and stucco is worth:
put it on eBay and let the bidding begin.
Yawn
Who bought the thing for $860,000?????
150K.
You can all rescind your offers. None of you have a dime, which, ironically, is what i’d pay for that corner lot on that busy street….
Haha.. Pre-madonna. Its primadonna but I like the way you did it.
Is that a dog house?
At first I would say, Get Real, but then, there is a possibility that this is close to the beach. It doesn’t really matter what piece of crap is on the land, it’s where the land is that counts.
What the tid-bit about the house fails to mention is where it is actually located. It is called “Seacliff,” and you can apparently stroll? to the beach. & Is it lease land?
More details please! You can’t judge real estate values with such little info.
Pardon me, it says “near Golden West” at the bottom, but I guess that doesn’t mean anything to me either, considering I don’t live anywhere close to there.
thecatsmeow,
There is no cliff or sea near this, just a zip code. I would also recommend that you not take the city name Hawaiian Gardens literal either, if I were to name the city based on appearance I would choose other terms than that for sure.
$489,000 take it or leave it
(note the way the economy is right now the comps may still drop further). and certainly the lack of interested bidders on house #1 at the top at $612 doesn’t bode well for house #2 at $649
if you don’t know where Seacliff is, it’s not hard to find. turn right on PCH where Goldenwest runs into the beach, and it’s right there (1 signal = about 1/2 mile up PCH).
old oil well territory, built right up against more existing oil well facilities. watch out for onshore breezes which is 90% of the year
The house I live in, in Laguna Niguel, is 10 years old and it’s doing great. My in-laws live in a house built in the 60’s and it’s doing pretty good too. I don’t know what development you guys bought in, but not all of them are falling apart. Personally, I wouldn’t want to live in Westminster regardless of the quality of the house!
Well, the way I see it, Freddie Mac is now worth less than ZERO dollars. Even if the house was free, It would be worth more than Freddie Mac. I don’t know if the house is in freddie mac though, but just a thought!!!!!