Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Buyers Remorse Part III, More Recent Buyers in Crystal Cove Lose Big Just After Escrow Closes

We have been documenting the crash in Cyrstal Cove home prices.
More recent buyers have been burned - and their homes fell steeply in value only months after the close of escrow, if not on the very day escrow closed. This blog has warned buyers to be careful with plunging Crystal Cove real estate values. Buying a home in Crystal Cove is sort of like buying a new car - you leave the lot and you've lost a healthy chunk of what you paid.

Case in point - The buyer of 124 Sidney Bay Drive, bought last June, has probably lost well over $500,000 of value after only about 4 months of ownership. And things are not getting better.
The home was bought for $2,650,000. This is $684 per square foot. The buyers agent identified by Redfin.com, is Rick Langevin of Surterre Properties Inc. Read on for some nearby sales.

The homes on Sidney Bay Drive are largely the same kind of Tuscan stucco boxes, but I've adjusted the selling price for the differences in square footage.

Only 4 months later, 100 Sidney Bay Drive sold in October 2009 for $1,900,000. This is $491 per square foot.

Then 1 month after that, 106 Sidney Bay Drive sold in November 2009 for $1,652,000! This is $561 per square foot. Likely they never knew about the comp at 100 Sidney Bay drive because i sold only a few weeks before. Some may conclude that they paid $60 per square foot too much....

Factor all of this in and the 124 Sidney Bay property is worth a lot less based on these recent sales.

Be careful out there.......

4 comments:

Adrian said...

Your posts are informing and knowledgeable as usual. I will be waiting for the day when you give the green light to Crystal Cove before I make my move. Be sure to post something ujavascript:void(0)p then =)

Anonymous said...

How about some fact checking.

As of today, Feb.27 2010 shows 6 houses sold in CC in last three months. There is data per sq ft. for four of the six houses.
Avg sales price: 946 per sq.ft.
Including a high of 1107

How can you reconcile these facts with your blog?

Anonymous said...

The wealthy buy in Crystal Cove. There will always be a select few who want to live there and they will buy regardless of what prices are doing. I think Laguna Beach is a more attractive and interesting area than Crystal Cove, but to each their own.

Mr. Blue said...

Dear Anons

The data is accurate. The home comps I listed are the large semi detached townhouses/condos on Sidney Bay Drive. The other homes you refer to simply are not comps. These are other models located higher up on the hill. I've been involved in real estate for a long time and know what is and what is not a comp in Crystal Cove.

Incidentally, most of the other homes that have recently sold are homes that formerly were in the $4,000,000 price range, now selling into the low $3,000,000's.
And these values will soon plunge further into the high $2,000,000's, in my opinion.