Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bye Bye 2626 Victoria Drive


We've watched as 2626 Victoria Drive has gone from an outrageously over-priced listing to a complete disaster for the owner, via a failed auction organized by local realtor John Stanaland of First Team Estates. Now the posted data shows that the property will be auctioned in foreclosure next week. Perhaps the banks will price it closer to the $1,500,000 the property could have fetched at the failed auction back in November, 2008. No one is immune to the drastic drop in Laguna Beach home prices.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did this property ever get bought back by the bank at auction?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Blue, glad to have found your blog. We are relocating to OC due to job and looking to buy in Laguna. We are entirely unfamiliar with the market and relying on real estate advice. We would like to put an offer on a 3 bd, 3 bath home in Arch Beach Heights that has been reduced almost $1 million and is now roughly $500/sq ft at asking price. From what I'm reading, would we be crazy to buy now?

Anonymous said...

"We are entirely unfamiliar with the market and relying on real estate advice"...

Hey go for it, it's only money.
Why buy? rent until you get the feel for the area. Why anybody would invest $Mills without a clue of the area or the market or even living there is beyond me.

Digby

Mr. Blue said...

Anon, you don't sound informed about the market given the serious amount of money involved.
You are not my client so I can't give you any advice. If it were me, I'd want my real estate agent to review, with me, EVERY comp from ABH sold within the last few months. The truth will set you free.

Anonymous said...

I guess I should have been clearer so as to avoid snarky comments insinuating that we are morons. When I said we were unfamiliar I meant we have not lived in the area and do not know the area well. In addition to relying upon the advice and insight of a local recommended real estate agent, we have, in fact, spent months researching MLS properties online, checked comps(many of which are practically useless given the custom nature of homes in this area and the fact that they are all over the board)and sought out other resources such as this informative blog. Considering it appears Mr. Blue has been searching for a home in this area for the past two years, I simply wanted to get your opinion. You'ved stated numerous times that square footage should be at or less than 2003/2004 levels. I should have obviously been more specific.

My husband belives that in general, such a statement implies that one has the ability to KNOW such a thing. Nobody has that ability. All markets are dictated by the buyers.

The markets are also based on fairly cyclical trending, until people begin to behave differently than the trend for some outside reason. Trending is knowable whether one is engaged in the market or not, simply by historical analysis. Given the current state of the market, it is clearly impacted by issues other than the normal cyclical behavior vis a vis the meltdown of the financial markets. Given THAT, the answer is truly that it's anyone's guess.

You just seem to have established a good track record of guessing and the information you have presented from Datalink has been very revealing.

All of the commentary on this, and other blogs essentially confirms that. I guess nobody knows the bottom until it's passed.

Anonymous said...

2670 victoria sold! How about that?

Anonymous said...

You did say "entirely unfamiliar with the market." The modifier indicates that you should be cautious.
I would rent for year to see which specific area you like and the watch the prices continue to slide.
I don't think any of the comments were "snarky."
Snarky is realtors telling you to buy now.
Don't look at what a house is "reduced by," look at what it fetched in say 2000.
The OC is having more layoffs; do you really think this is the "bottom," unless the govt's WPA program for the delinquent homeowner means we're all getting money for nothing.....

Anonymous said...

Redfin lists it as sold 4/29/09 for 1.945 mill. Or is that just the back to the bank price?

Anonymous said...

BANK BOUGHT IT BACK.

Wait 12-18 months to buy in California. Prices are going back to 1989 prices.
major major depression for the state. Foreclosures estimated 1 in 5 homes in next 12-18 months.
Banks will become nationalized but will dump at 10-20 cents on the dollar trying to save their shinking ships.

Anonymous said...

How do you know the bank bought 2670 victoria back?