Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Downtown Condo at Metrome #814

Metrome is located downtown San Diego Ballpark District development.

This unit has just taken a large price cut to below the price paid to the developer back in 2005. In my opinion this non-descript standard one bedroom condo is still overpriced.

Type: Listed on MLS(#066081452)

List Price: $395,000
(Range priced $380,000 to $410,000)
Cost: $461,700
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $90,400
Loss%: 19.58%

Purchase Date: 11/04/2005
Holding Period: 14 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 735

Purchase Details: view

Monday, January 29, 2007

Lender Owned Pacific Beach Condo - 4600 Lamont - The Plaza #314

This unit was built back in the 70s and has been on the market for awhile.

The price cut history shows a methodical price reduction from an optimistic price that was more than the unit last sold for in early 2004 to the current price. The sales history at sdlookup.com is also particularly interesting on this property.

Price Reduced: 09/27/06 -- $293,900 to $284,900
Price Reduced: 10/02/06 -- $284,900 to $279,900
Price Reduced: 10/24/06 -- $279,900 to $267,900
Price Reduced: 01/26/07 -- $267,900 to $249,900

Type: Listed on MLS(#066076476)

List Price: $249,900

Cost: $289,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $54,094
Loss%: 18.72%

Purchase Date: 03/19/2004
Holding Period: 34 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 653

Purchase Details: view

Friday, January 26, 2007

Bankers Hill Condo at Cambridge Square #407

This luxury condo on Bankers Hill is listed for exactly $100,000 less than the developer price set back in 2004.

Cambridge Square is a low rise mix of townhomes and condominiums on Nutmeg Street.

Type: Listed on MLS(#066045661)

List Price: $825,000

Cost: $925,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $149,500
Loss%: 16.16%

Purchase Date: 12/20/2004
Holding Period: 25 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2.5
Square Feet: 1768

Purchase Details: view

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Downtown Condo at Crown Bay #605

This two bedroom unit is listed below it's last sale price from the summer of 2004.

This building is a midrise property in the Gaslamp Quarter across from the San Diego Convention Center.

Type: Listed on MLS(#076006764)

List Price: $699,000

Cost: $735,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $77,940
Loss%: 10.60%

Purchase Date: 08/11/2004
Holding Period: 29 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Feet: 1024

Purchase Details: view

State mortgage default rates at eight-year high

An extremely interesting statistic also comes to light in this today's Union Tribune article; "Most of the California loans that went into default last quarter were originated between January 2005 and February 2006, DataQuick reported. " Readers of the blog will recognize this time period as the most likely to be underwater. The market has clearly moved back to pre-2005 prices. I expect that we'll start to see a trend of more properties purchased in 2003 listed below purchase price.

I know a lot of people are hopeful that the downturn is over however I just don't see it happening in the short term. Affordability is still very low and the risk of buying overpriced property is very apparent to regular people on the streets. Prices need to continue to correct to a point where the disparity between buying and renting returns to pre-2002 levels.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

UPDATE Foreclosed Downtown Condo - Park Boulevard West #1110

Park Boulevard West is located in the East Village/Ball Park District, note there are several new projects coming online with brand new units that are unsold. The price action in that part of the downtown market should be quite interesting in 2007.

This property has been on the market for awhile and had just sustained another $30,000+ price cut.

This latest price cut moves the list price of the unit very close to the original developer price set almost three years ago.

The price cut history is also of interest:
Price Reduced: 09/28/06 -- $364,900 to $358,900
Price Reduced: 10/02/06 -- $358,900 to $354,900
Price Reduced: 10/20/06 -- $354,900 to $344,900
Price Reduced: 11/24/06 -- $344,900 to $332,900
Price Reduced: 01/23/07 -- $332,900 to $299,900

More details about this and thousands of other properties availabe at Foreclosure.com

Type: Listed on MLS(#061069101)

List Price: $299,900

Cost: $380,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $98,094
Loss%: 25.81%

Purchase Date: 11/05/2004
Holding Period: 26 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 689

Purchase Details: view

Monday, January 22, 2007

Big Loss on La Jolla Property - 2130 VALLECITOS 92037

The MLS listing says this ocean view unit has been newly refurbished and is tenant occupied.

The price history at sdlookup.com is especially interesting on this one.

Type: Listed on MLS(#066100332)

List Price: $899,500

Cost: $1,050,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $204,470
Loss%: 19.47%

Purchase Date: 03/28/2005
Holding Period: 22 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Feet: 1342

Purchase Details: view

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Downtown Condo at Discovery #804

This two bedroom unit at Discovery is listed below its last sale price from 2004.

Type: Listed on MLS(#061092272)

List Price: $599,900

Cost: $618,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $54,094
Loss%: 8.75%

Purchase Date: 12/17/2004
Holding Period: 25 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2


Purchase Details: view

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Three Losses at Lofts at 777 6th Avenue

Readers of this blog will remember a post or two on the lofts at 777 6th Avenue where future losses were speculated. The project was developed as rental apartments and were converted into condominiums a few years ago. The project does not appear be sold out. In addition there are three resale units that are listed for at losses to the current owners.

The three losses are below:

Unit #209

Type: Listed on MLS(#066087611)

List Price: $395,000

Cost: $441,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $69,700
Loss%: 15.80%

Purchase Date: 10/11/2006
Holding Period: 3 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 725

Purchase Details: view


Unit #236

Type: Listed on MLS(#066102911)

List Price: $395,000
(Range priced $385,000 to $405,000)
Cost: $440,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $68,700
Loss%: 15.61%

Purchase Date: 10/20/2006
Holding Period: 3 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 700

Purchase Details: view

Unit #425

Type: Listed on MLS(#066100209)

List Price: $554,000
(Range priced $539,000 to $569,000)
Cost: $619,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $98,240
Loss%: 15.87%

Purchase Date: 10/20/2006
Holding Period: 3 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Feet: 1002

Purchase Details: view

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Downtown Condo at Diamond Terrace #1209

Diamond Terrace is located in the Ballpark District.

This unit bought at a substantial premium to the original developer price. This isn't too surprising as most condominium projects take orders a few years before delivery. That said the second buyer's experience isn't working out too well.

Type: Listed on MLS(#066079139)

List Price: $507,500
(Range priced $495,000 to $520,000)
Cost: $530,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $52,950
Loss%: 9.99%

Purchase Date: 12/07/2005
Holding Period: 13 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 826

Purchase Details: view

Monday, January 15, 2007

Downtown Condo at M2i #512

M2i is a loft project in the East Village and was built by CitiMark development.
This is the second loss at M2i noted on this blog. It's also notable that there are a handful of units still for sale by the developer.

Type: Listed on MLS(#076000656)

List Price: $535,000

Cost: $549,900
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $47,000
Loss%: 8.55%

Purchase Date: 03/02/2006
Holding Period: 10 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Feet: 1126

Purchase Details: view

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Downtown Condo at Palermo #509

Palermo is a low rise condominium technically located in Cortez Hill, since it's across the street from the Little Italy many fairly consider this development as being located in the more attractive Little Italy neighborhood. Palermo was developed to be "workforce housing" which based on my viewing of the quality there I interpret as low to middle level rental apartments. This project is similar to Acqua Vista, The Mills and Portico as they were all newly developed rental projects that were converted to condominiums at the height of the boom.

This unit is listed at a nearly $100K loss and priced less that the developer price from 2004.

Type: Listed on MLS(#076003016)

List Price: $534,900

Cost: $596,970
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $94,164
Loss%: 15.77%

Purchase Date: 10/29/2004
Holding Period: 27 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Feet: 1106

Purchase Details: view

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Major Default on an Apartment Conversion

As has been speculated on this blog in the past this news item from the Union Tribune is a very interesting read. A mechanics lien is pretty much a sign that that the contractors are not being paid. This is a sure sign of cash flow problems at the project and probably the developer level.

When a loss is taken on a loan like the bank is going to write off the losses and reset prices lower or put the project back into the rental market via a sale to an apartment operator. Either way it likely won't be sitting dormant for long.

I suspect that this will not be the last story of this variety that we'll be reading in 2007.

Also notable is discussion of some other troubled developments.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Downtown Condo at The Grande #3305

The Grande is a twin tower Bosa development located on the harborside of the Columbia District.

This unit has just had a $100,000 price cut which has put it below it's prior market valuation set in the spring of 2005, nearly two years ago.

Type: Listed on MLS(#066100855)

List Price: $1,299,000

Cost: $1,315,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $93,940
Loss%: 7.14%

Purchase Date: 05/06/2005
Holding Period: 20 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Square Feet: 1625

Purchase Details: view

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Downtown Condo at ParkLoft #304

ParkLoft is located by Petco Park. It was an early project in the East Village area.

This particular unit sustained a recent $140,000 price cut which and is substantially lower than the last sale price in the summer of 2004.

Type: Listed on MLS(#066074284)

List Price: $559,000

Cost: $650,000
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $124,540
Loss%: 19.16%

Purchase Date: 08/31/2004
Holding Period: 29 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 0
Bathrooms: 1.5
Square Feet: 1305

Purchase Details: view

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Foreclosed Mission Valley Home at Escala - 2641 Villas Way

Escala is located in the heart of Mission Valley.

This property has a lot going on:
  • $100K+ loss
  • Bank Foreclosure
  • Listed below the developer price from over two years ago
  • In addition this property has sustained the follow price reductions:
Price Reduced: 09/15/06 -- $619,900 to $599,900
Price Reduced: 10/17/06 -- $599,900 to $584,900
Price Reduced: 11/29/06 -- $584,900 to $569,900

Search for pending and fully foreclosed properties on Foreclosure.com

Type: Listed on MLS(#066074814)

List Price: $569,900

Cost: $637,554
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $101,848
Loss%: 15.97%

Purchase Date: 12/10/2004
Holding Period: 25 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2.5
Square Feet: 1425

Purchase Details: view

Thanks to an anonymous poster on the www.sdlookup.com forums for finding this property.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Downtown Condo at Lusso Lofts #7

Lusso Lofts is a former rental apartment project in Little Italy that was converted into condominiums. There are likely still some developer units for sale as well.

This large one bedroom unit has been on the market for almost two months and has had a recent $10,000 price cut.

Type: Listed on MLS(#068095020)

List Price: $455,000
(Range priced $440,000 to $470,000)
Cost: $499,900
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $72,200
Loss%: 14.44%

Purchase Date: 04/14/2006
Holding Period: 9 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Square Feet: 800

Purchase Details: view

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Hillcrest Condo at The Egyptian #410

The Egyptian is a recent condominium community located in Hillcrest on the border with North Park at the site of the the old Egyptian theater.

Besides the rather large loss this property is notable as the list price is less than the developer sold the unit for back in 2005.

The list price was reduced on 12/04/06 from $765,000 to $700,000.

Type: Listed on MLS(#061079777)

List Price: $700,000

Cost: $727,879
Loss@6% Sales Expenses: $69,879
Loss%: 9.60%

Purchase Date: 07/28/2005
Holding Period: 18 months and counting...

Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 2.5
Square Feet: 1556

Purchase Details: view