A New Price Per Square Foot Record: UPDATE

I have some updates on two incredibly overpriced properties featured in one of the very first Long Beach Housing Blog posts.

In January 2008, 1724 Bluff Pl in Alamitos Beach was asking a jaw-dropping $4,500,000. Mind you, the place was only half-built at the time.

What a dickhead.

Now, an excruciating 17 months later, the price has been reduced by $2,500,000. Just like that.

TWO AND A HALF MILLION!

Doesn't that just piss you off? This seller was so greedy, so arrogant, and had such disdain for his potential buyers that last year he insisted this not-even-completed monstrosity was "worth" $4.5 mil--only we find out he never really believed that, as evidenced by his decision to cut the price by more than half without even flinching.

This asshole was ACTIVELY trying to rip people off to the tune of $2.5 million. He knew it wasn't worth the '08 ask, but he treated every potential buyer like they were some rube too imbecellic to figure out the scam.

And guess what? This seller isn't alone. A vast majority of greedfaced Long Beach sellers and their equally delusional, dollar-signs-in-the-eyes realtors, slinging everything from shithole studio apartments to multi-million dollar waterfront palaces, are pulling the same shit on you. They think YOU are the sucker. That YOU just fell off the turnip truck. That YOU are too stupid to know any better.

It just makes me sick what these people are trying to pull.


I'll say this one more time for those of you feeling the pressure to buy because of so-called "once-in-a-lifetime opportunities" or "record-low interest rates" or the fear of "being priced-out forever":

DON'T BE A CHUMP. RELAX. WE ARE NOWHERE NEAR A BOTTOM. MOST OF THE PRICES YOU SEE TODAY MAY SEEM LIKE DECENT DEALS COMPARED TO PEAK PRICES, BUT A YEAR FROM NOW THESE SAME PROPERTIES WILL BE SMOKING DEALS. IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST BUY, DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND PROTECT YOUR FAMILY'S FUTURE BY PURCHASING ONLY WHEN FUNDAMENTALS ARE MET (OR EXCEEDED, CONSIDERING THE DEPRESSING EFFECT RISING INTEREST RATES WILL HAVE ON PRICES, AND ANTICIPATING FURTHER DROPS IN RENT AS UNEMPLOYMENT CLIMBS).

Now, I'm no real estate investment expert, but in my estimation the last thing you need is a self-professed "expert." Remember, in July 2008, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors said, "I think we are very near to the end of the housing downturn."

How did Mr. Yun do on his "expert" prediction? I don't know, why not ask this jackhole seller on Bluff, who just cut $2.5 million bones without batting an eye? That sound like the end of the housing downturn to you?

In other words, THE SO-CALLED "EXPERTS" ARE LYING TO YOU BECAUSE THEY GET PAID TO LIE TO YOU.

Imagine if last year you had listened to a "real estate expert" like, say, the listing agent for this property, and bought because "it's always a great time to buy" and "beachfront properties are different." You, my friend, would be nostril deep in doodoo. Specifically, you'd be underwater by two-point-five million fucking dollars.

And here is another property from that 2008 post still languishing on the MLS:

6700 East Bay Shore Walk


Hey, check it out! This house comes with a free vagrant loitering on the sand! Hi!



The last time we checked in on this loon, he was asking $4,490,000. After a year and a half with no action, on 4/20/09, the price was reduced by $690,000. POOF! "Equity" and "worth" and "value" disappeared like a ladybug fart in a Boeing wind tunnel. But I thought the peninsula was immune?

Wrong, asshole. Enjoy another 544 days on the market.

If sellers can nonchalantly tear off huge chunks of "equity" like these two knuckleheads, what does that tell you? That the garbage for sale right now is woefully over priced and will continue to be until basic fundamentals are met.

The bottom--especially for upper-tiered properties--is nowhere in sight.

And in case you're not absolutely disgusted by the government's attempts to ensure housing is unaffordable for responsible families, you will be now:

SUBPRIME LENDING IS BACK