Purchased 3/2007 - $800,000 ($509 psft)
Sold on 7/9/2010 - $330,000 ($210 psft)
Loss - $490,000
Oh how the mighty have fallen. After nearly two years spent chasing the market down, ostensibly hoping for "things to get back to normal," pinning hopes on "green shoots" and the elusive arrival of "the bottom," the bank finally accepted the truth. I think $330,000 is a good price for 1,500 square feet of brand new construction, but I have a feeling the bank views that massive, absolutely mind-boggling 60% loss a bit differently.
What an utter disaster.
I think that's a VERY good price to get a condo like this, but what makes it a very COSTLY purchase is that NASTY hoa fine of $560 every month.
ReplyDeleteWhat a rip THAT is every month!!!
I just don't get it. Do people just look the other way, when they see an HOA fine like this?
Thanks for your mortgage payment, and oh here's a bill for another 560 dollars. Thank you very much sir!
I love the housing bubble!!! Good thing wifey and I are planning to stay forever. We might have to if we don't want to sell for a loss...
ReplyDeleteI've never been in this building, so I don't know what it's really like, but around $300K sounds about right. BUT when you add in about $300 per month in taxes, plus $560 for the HOA, even at this price you don't have a lot of people with that kind of money.
ReplyDeleteSo I STILL think the bank should consider themselves lucky.
I agree with Mike and Dave: That HOA fee is brutal. And for that kind of money there's not even a pool!
ReplyDeleteAfter some back-of-the-napkin calculations, it looks like the monthly outlay is about $2,200 with 20% down. If you factor in the interest deduction, we're looking at about $1,800. Even with the monster HOA fine, that sounds like a decent deal.
I just noticed the living space is only 1,000 BUT that's because it has about 500 square feet of retail space below it. If you have your own small business (and don't mind living in downtown), this is a decent deal.
What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Belmont Shores for over 15 years, and SoCal for over 30 years, why the heck would someone chose this location over a shoddier building in Huntington Beach? Redondo Beach? West Newport Beach?
Where do you work that this is a better location? You can't be choosing this for the schools.
Seriously, who wants to live there? This seems like a second or third choice...
Old Timer,
ReplyDeleteI love your comments! These joints are for a very narrow subset of buyers who think downtown LB is cool and worth a premium. I (like you) don't happen to belong in that subset, but to each their own I guess.
Wow El Bee, when you put it THAT way ($1800 per month all things considered), it's even worse.
ReplyDeleteInvesting THAT kind of money for THIS is just not appealing, to me personally.
ESPECIALLY when I could split that money up, buy a cheap rental in this area, and buy a MUCH better value investment property someplace else (like Vegas).
I've actually been in this unit, as well as several others in this building. We were really interested to see the unit because of the live/work format. There's lots of foot traffic on 1st Street because of the bus depot in front of the building, which is great for the retail space...but that also means that your living room windows on the second floor open up to bus exhaust, cell phone conversations, smokers and all of wonderful things that happen at a bus stop.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with this building is that the interior courtyards are always dark - so even if you kept the windows on the 1st Street side closed, your patio would open up to a dark, shadowy corridor. It's too bad, since the units have a great layout and premium finishes.