Home bargains hard to catch in Costa Mesa

November 7th, 2009, 2:00 am · 25 Comments · posted by Jon Lansner

Ask: $1.07 mil

Ask: $550,000

Ask: $325,000

Insider Q&A knows that real estate is a local-local business and that market conditions can vary by city and even neighborhood.

In that spirit, we went “micro” this week … chatting with Valerie Torelli of Torelli Realty about what’s up — what what’s not — with housing in her specialty area: Costa Mesa. Click on photos above of 3 sample properties from the city for larger images and house details …

Us: In general, how does the city market look?

Valerie: The Costa Mesa market is fairly healthy with just under 150 units currently listed in the Multiple Listing Service: 114 are single family, the rest condos. The amount of homes for sale under $500,000, which is where there is the highest demand, is in very short supply with only 22 single family homes for sale. The catch is that almost every one of them is a short sale and the price listed may or may not be the price that the lender will ultimately sell for. In fact, many of these wind up being “teaser prices” and get bid up. The first-time buyer or lower-priced buyer has the most difficult time finding a property to even bid on. The homes over $800,000 — about 30 with the majority located in Eastside Costa Mesa — are sitting out there with not a lot of activity. Unless the property truly has something special going for it, these homes tend to linger on the market longer. The homes over $1,000,000 have very few takers in this market.

Us: Geographically, do any neighborhoods look stronger than others?

Valerie: The Eastside and Mesa Verde areas of Costa Mesa are still the most sought after, mostly due to what those neighborhoods have to offer: proximity to Newport Beach, and golf courses, respectively, and larger type homes. These two areas are usually high on buyer’s priority lists, and still remain so, but with the larger price tags it prohibits many entry-level buyers. With price-to-value being very high on both the buyer’s and lender’s radar, the central areas, South Coast Metro and Westside have fared quite well. We expect to see continued demand in these areas because of their relative affordability.

Us: What are you telling Costa Mesa sellers?

Valerie: We are telling Costa Mesa sellers not to become greedy, under no circumstances. This tactic is not going to work. We advise them not to be just a headline reader because when a news article raves about there being “a 10% increase in the amount of homes closing escrow,” this might have nothing to do with their market. There are still a number of home owners that are having a difficult time with their current mortgages in Costa Mesa. There could very well be more properties coming on the market within the next six months, should the loan modifications not be successful. The appraisals have been a real issue and unless the home merits an increase in price from the last comparable sale, you probably are not going to get it. It is my opinion, and the statistics seem to verify, that the lower-priced homes have probably reached their bottom.

Other Insider Q&As …

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brian says:

November 7, 2009 at 7 am

The one for $325K on the right appears to be soft story construction
Depending on age/need for retro fit it might pancake in a serious quake

Post Reply

BOGEY says:

Valerie: “We are telling Costa Mesa sellers not to become greedy”.

Oh brother, hypocrisy abounds .. ..

Hey Valerie, no offense, but what about the greedy RE agents who operate in a rigged system, fleecing the sellers @ 5 or 6%?

Tom M says:

November 7, 2009 at 8 am

It seems like freedom communications has outlawed publishing news.

bloodinthestreets says:

November 7, 2009 at 9 am

Corrected title: ” Home bargains hard to stomach in Costa Mesa “

Jc says:

sure. The moment they hear about a government extension. Realtors rush to jack up prices.

And now even “organic” are posted as “Short-sales” what a scambags.

Scott says:

November 7, 2009 at 12 pm

It is hard to find bargains in Costa Mesa right now, but it is easy to find troubled properties. They are everywhere. The time to buy is coming - late 2010, maybe 2011, it depends on how long and deeply the government meddles.

By the end of the Q1 (April) and on.

By April would be the end of government-programs.

November 7, 2009 at 3 pm

Read it and weep oh blind homedebtor sheeples . . ..

“Property Values Set to Fall 43% from Current Depressed Levels”

http://seekingalpha.com/article/170526-property-values-set-to-fall-43-from-current-depressed-levels?source=article_sb_popular

bloodinthestreets says:

November 8, 2009 at 12 am

Many of us have seen this data. I’ve seen various people draw trend lines all over this plot, some steeper sloped, and some as flat as this analysis. Do you really expect 43% additional carnage?

As one commenter points out: the ‘trend line’ presented is largely based on the mid 1990’s, and therefore more heavily ‘weights’ a period of time which is comprised of the bottom of the last major housing recession. For that reason, i don’t find this ‘analysis’ that persuasive.

Not to say that I don’t agree with the direction suggested . . . I just think there are other strong reasons to expect more declines.

Post Reply
VoiceofReason says:

November 8, 2009 at 7 am

I see…..so realtors are greedy scum, but mortgage brokers like your author are…………saviors…………..LLLLLLLLLLLMMMMMMAAAAAAAOOOOO.
First, that article is about national RE, not OC. This ain’t Iowa, in case you haven’t noticed, or don’t live anyway near this area (which is what I suspect).
Second, this guy is a RE speculator and mortgage broker, for cryin’ out loud in the beer.(which you should stay away from, BTW). He’d love nothing better than for RE values to plummet. Jeez. Your agenda has never been more obvious. But, hey, maybe you can still pull off your dreams to become a land baron….just not here. That train left the station about twenty years ago…

Post Reply

shockg says:

November 7, 2009 at 4 pm

LMAO

Bill says:

November 7, 2009 at 8 pm

A nervous laugh at that!

You know it’s coming don’t you.

Post Reply

Bill says:

November 7, 2009 at 8 pm

“California’s best years have passed, voters say”

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll8-2009nov08,0,958773.story?track=rss

Thanks to all the shockg’s out there!!

Luke says:

November 7, 2009 at 10 pm

obama is worse than carter, nothing is a safe investment when he’s around

Jc says:

November 8, 2009 at 8 am

But NOT worst than your Incompetent-Bush

Post Reply

The Rich get RICHER says:

November 8, 2009 at 8 am

If Obama’s plan to force banks to sell to investors at greatly reduced prices, to then offer the home owner to stay in the home and pay rent occurs, then it will be business as usual, rich investors will grab those distressed properties charge a monthly rent to the privious owners that is half of the origianl morgage. The home owner gets to stay in the home as a renter, the investor gets to make money and the the average home buyer looking to grab a home gets screwed as usual. When are we going to stop menipulatinig the system to benefit the rich? Let these paople forclose, force the banks to sell and lets move the F#$% on already. And if you believe these realtors, I have a bridge for sale.

Scotty says:

November 8, 2009 at 9 am

+1 for Bush being incompetent

+2 for Bush being incompetent

foolishpleasure says:

November 8, 2009 at 2 pm

Obamas henchmen are pushing even more government lies
on the dumbed down american public aka the shockgs of the world-
behold the truth behind the unemployment numbers that are
being rigged by the bls to make the economy appear much better
than it really is and the sheep- like shockg- lap it up like
a thirsty st bernard–

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/

merelyashadow says:

November 8, 2009 at 3 pm

All I can say, is that Valerie found us a beautiful home, and at a price we have not seen on the market since. We went through 3 RE agents, all incompetent, and I say this because they had to play catch-up to me, with what was on the market. Valerie was the only one that came through with her promise to find us a home and she worked very hard at it. She did it. It wasn’t easy, because they were all tied up with short sales and bank owned, but she knew how. She made the whole miserable process tolerable. THANK YOU, VALERIE!

November 8, 2009 at 5 pm

It’s good to see positve testimonials once in a while instead of the tired attacks.

Bill says:

November 8, 2009 at 5 pm

There’s nothing positive about the government playing a shell game with over 3 million foreclosures.

Two very good sources are telling Diana Olick that “the number of permanent conversions coming out of the loan mod program (scheme) is low.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33728472

They are afraid to post the results for fear of a massive market sell-off.

Anyone dumb enough to buy now, after knowing the government is trying to hide this massive wave of foreclosures is as dumb as it gets.

Post Reply

November 8, 2009 at 8 pm

And why do you care if people buy?

November 8, 2009 at 9 pm

Bill, Are you a RE speculator or investor?

gilbert homes for sale az says:

November 10, 2009 at 9 pm

Yes, it’s really hard to find some low cost house that completes your requirements. Finding this is hard and there is only few of this. You should look for the affordable price yet the most relevant one.

Slice	Price	Ch.	Sold	Ch.
House	$495,000	+4%	1,841	+3%
Condo	$304,000	+3%	845	+8%
New	$500,000	+4%	150	-26%
All OC	$430,000	+2%	2,836	+2%

Orange County Register