Address: 1450 Locust #117, 90813
Asking Price: $112,900
Year Built: 1990 (wow, that was a ROUGH 18 years)
Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 728 sq. ft.
$/Sq. Ft.: $155
HOA Fine: $225
Purchase price: $239,169
Purchase date: 5/2007
MLS#: R804233
On Redfin: 69 days
Down Payment: $16,935 @ 15%
Monthly Payment: $1100
Income Requirement: $28,225
Description: This excellent ground floor unit will make an great investment. Two bedroom, two bath great starter home near downtown. The property is in need of rehabbing, but fix it and save. Excellent live-in unit or rental.
"In need of rehabbing" eh? Yeah, you could say that. This place makes the apartment from that scene in Se7en (You know, the one with all the air fresheners hanging from the ceiling) look like the lobby of the Maui Four Seasons.
The handful of pictures and the lack of any cleaning whatsoever makes me think the listing agent couldn't hold his nose any longer and bailed.
Take a gander at the past sales on this pestilent shithole:
Jul 21, 1994 - $86,227
Oct 29, 1999 - $50,000
Apr 20, 2005 - $200,000
Apr 27, 2006 - $232,500
Aug 29, 2006 - $280,000 ($384 a square foot!)
May 25, 2007 - $239,169
Unbelievable. As if you needed further proof that this housing bubble got WAY out of hand, just look at the August 2006 price. Look how many times this place changed hands in a two year period.
If this rat's nest sold for asking price (I know, I know...bear with me) the loss would be a mind-blowing -$126,269. That's almost 50% off the sales price just a year ago.
On a condo no less. OUCHIE.
And who exactly is losing? It doesn't say REO, but there's no way an individual can absorb a loss like that and live to tell about it. Plus, would anybody be stupid enough to buy in 2007 thinking this was a good deal because it was 40 grand off the previous price? Don't answer that.
Either way, this bad boy is going to cause somebody a whole lotta pain and heartache.
As to the agent's claim that this would make a great rental or owner-occupied unit, let's check out the neighborhood:
One killed in spate of attacks
By Kelly Puente Staff Writer
6/28/2008
LONG BEACH - One man was killed and four men were injured early Saturday in four separate drive-by shootings that occurred within less than an hour, police said.
Long Beach Police Officer Jackie Bezart said authorities haven't ruled out the possibilty that two of the shootings could be related.
The first shooting occurred in the 1400 block of Linden Avenue at 2:07 a.m. when a group was approached by a vehicle, Bezart said.
Shots were fired from the vehicle and two male adults were hit, she said.
One of the victims was hit in the lower torso and transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died. His name was withheld pending notification of family.
The second victim was also hit in the lower torso and is expected to live, she said.
About 20 minutes later in North Long Beach, a man was walking in the area of 64th Street and Lewis Avenue when shots were fired from a passing vehicle. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
At 2:43 a.m., two more drive-by shootings occurred within blocks and minutes of each other in the area of 57th Street and Lime Avenue. The victims, both adult men, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Bezart said.
Authorities suspect these last two shootings could be related, she said.
Suspect descriptions on all of Saturday morning's incidents are limited, she said.
Anyone with information on the homicide is urged to contact Long Beach Police Department Homicide Detectives Dennis Robbins or Daniel Mendoza at 562-570-7244.
Whoopsie! That fatal shooting was about 300 meters away from our featured property. In this 'hood, good luck finding a reliable tenant that meets income and credit requirements and whose wardrobe includes a bullet-proof vest.
Considering the amount of work needed to make this petri dish inhabitable and the exorbitant HOA fine, this condo will absolutely rot (that is, rot further) until the price more closely resembles the 1999 price of $50,000.
You couldn't pay me to live here and it would have to be cashflow positive to the tune of $500 a month before I'd even consider dealing with the guaranteed vacancy time.
By the way, an REO literally the next door down asking $100,000 has been dwindling on the market for an excruciating 256 days. http://www.redfin.com/CA/Long-Beach/1450-Locust-Ave-90813/unit-118/home/7614687
These units, in this building, in this condition, in this neighborhood will not sell at any price.
the wife and i love your blog.
ReplyDeleteWe've been following the RE meltdown for a while (Calculated Risk) but having intimate knowledge of the various hoods you mention makes
RELBC very compelling for us.
keep it up!
Completely sick intelligence and/or ignorance behind this listing depending on your genre. Thanks for posting this and running the blog. Let's all step back for a second, and decide what we would do if we were dirt poor and won $100,000 (assuming no prior debt teehee!).
ReplyDeleteBuy this place? (agree looks to be condemned) or keep reading the blog? This decade of housing markets and asking prices is just insane.
LBC is starting to mirror Moreno Valley and the IE in foreclosures.
Thanks for the post El Bee
ex-lbcer,
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the IE comparison. In the past I've heard from bullish friends and associates that Long Beach won't be as hard hit as other areas because there is so little land available for further development. As the story goes, less land, more demand.
While that may be true for Belmont Shore and Naples, those areas are but a tiny fraction of the properties in the city of Long Beach. A vast majority of places more closely resemble this one and how do you think those people were able to afford the payments? Sub-prime or suicide loans. And we haven't even seen the Alt-A (Liar Loans--which I'm willing to bet a whole lot of LB residents used) resets yet.
I'm ready to buy TODAY, but it's clear that we're only getting started in the meltdown. It's going to be a long, long time before LB returns to sanity.