What’s Selling in the IBC? Not Much

Sold It! is probably how a few homesellers in the IBC are feeling. Today I am writing about what has sold recently in the IBC area. The answer is not much.

Many of the high-rise homes in the IBC were bought as an investment instead of as a home, some say as much 40% to 60%. (For my opinion on flippers, see “Flip This! The Virtue of House Flipping.”) Of the two that sold recently and show the past sales information, both took a lost (one is most likely a foreclosure). Both were recent purchases, 2006 and 2005; so this is not a surprise. The problem just might be that these homes were built as high-priced, urban-living homes. That worked during the boom, but even then what was needed was workforce-priced homes.

A comment that I read recently said that on the East Coast this type of housing is built as a matter of economics to provide affordable housing; however, the goal here in Orange County was to build and market these homes as a means to a high-end, urban-village lifestyle. Sounds like a post for another time!

Sold within the Last Three Months in Irvine’s IBC:

3142 WATERMARKE PLACE, IRVINE 92612-5614
Sold for: $212,500 on 12/06/2007
Past sales: on 03/02/2006 for $435,000
Bed/bath information not listed

2225 WATERMARKE PLACE, IRVINE 92612-7686
Sold for: $356,000 on 11/02/2007
Listed for: $356,000
Bed/bath information not listed

2447 WATERMARKE PLACE, IRVINE 92612-7697
Sold for: $430,000 on 11/27/2007
Listed for: $439,000
Bed/bath information not listed

2243 MARTIN APT 410, IRVINE 92612-1453
Sold for: $365,000 on 11/21/2007
Listed for: $350,000
Note: listed as contingent in September 2007, also listed as contingent in August 2007 but changed to active status a few days later
Past sales: 06/13/2005 for $400,000; on 01/14/1994 for $131,000
Bed/bath information not listed

1320 SCHOLARSHIP, IRVINE, CA 92612-5686
Sold for: $405,500 on 12/27/2007
Bed/bath information not listed

For more on the housing activity in Irvine’s IBC, see yesterday’s post “Irvine’s Watermarke in the IBC” as well as the past post “What’s New, IBC-Style?“.