Friday, May 30, 2008

Sales of Family Homes Approaching Standstill in Laguna Beach

If you follow the market, you already know this. The market is getting slower and slower and slower. Less sales. Many listings of family homes are retreads of failed 2007 listings. High prices and no takers. (and I'll say that the few takers near asking prices are simply misinformed or completely uniformed buyers)

Trulia.com's Feb-April 2008 home data for four bedroom homes shows only 5 selling during that period. In 2007, 11 four bedroom houses sold during the same time. This is about a 68% decrease from 2007. Another indicator that big price drops are ahead - sooner or later, more people will want to sell and laguna beach home prices will drop further.....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those aren't good stats. We're starting to see foreclosed homes going back to the bank up in ABH. Some are priced below $1 million. But the REOs there priced under $900K get snapped up fast. I think ABH will lead Laguna in price declines. More foreclosures, can't walk to the beach, and people who live up there probably use up 1/2 tank of gas to get up there. Anyway, the past few years any $800k prices in Laguna were few and far between, but we're seeing some now. There will be even more next year and some may even be priced lower.

LuLu G said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LuLu G said...

think what we're seeing is that some of the less attractive/appealing (i.e. dated, not that well built to begin with, stacked up, no lot, 70'-style, backing up to commercial, noisy street, leave the garbage cans out three days before, hard partying neighbors who work on their auto engines at 3 am) homes are just not finding buyers anymore--certainly not at outrageous prices.
Why would someone pay $800+/sq ft in LB for yucky old stuff when they can get new in Newport Coast for much less? I have seen true "shacks" still having the audacity to ask these high prices--places from the 1940s that haven't had their plumbing or electrical redone. True, if you're really close to the beach than a shack might be worth a bit more per, however, this idea that anything with a LB area code is worth it, no. Hey, I grew up around here so perhaps I'm not so in awe.
Any opinions on houses less than 900 sq ft? I am still seeing these in the millions! My last hotel suite in Vegas was more than that! There are a couple listed of less than 700 sq ft--my daughter's dorm room is about that size!

Anonymous said...

Most expensive property less than 900 square feet that I could find was $975,000. It's a tear down on Nyes Place near Coast Hwy. Check out 2590 Iris Way: 623 square feet -- $895K. LOL!

Anonymous said...

Laguna sales in May will show a collapse in the market. IF you exclude LGN,etc., only four home sold (as of friday morning)in the south,north, and the village. this is a signig drop compared to even recent trend (oct 07 to apr08) of 15 to 17 per month. We were selling 60-70 / month in 04-06.

Bottom line prices will come down.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Anonymous said...

Anyone see this...

Laguna Beach home sales dip mid-May, May 30th, 2008, 10:32 am · 21 Comments · posted by Jon Lansner/O.C. Register columnist
DataQuick’s freshest stats from mid-May hint at a distinct turn in the market. For the 22 business days ended May 14, the ZIP code with the fastest drop in sales among O.C.’s 83 major ZIP codes was Laguna Beach 92651 (sales down 67.6%) with a $1.15 million median selling price

LuLu G said...

Could this have something to do with slow home sales in LB? Raw sewage spills, rats, and cockroaches?
"LB Chock full of vermin and Sewage"
http://www.city-data.com/forum/orange-county/319406-laguna-beach-chalk-full-o-vermin.html

Anonymous said...

So many CA pretenders will be broken on the rocks of despair by the collapse. A double the average median income doesn't pay for five times the average median home, higher CA taxes and two new BMW's in the driveway. They've gorged themselves on cheap credit and are now empty, wasted and spent. There's going to be a fire sale on Porsches, boats and houses. Laguna and Newport Beach are in the eye of the storm and it seems calm...for now.