Search results

Inflation has two benefits for homeowners: First, it eats away their mortgage. Every year they owe less in real terms. Alternatively, it drives up the cost of renting, and thus the value of owning the house. Second, in an inflationary environment, people want to own inflation-resistant...

Something to remember - high *real* interest rates are the friend of renters and savers. But high interest rates due to *inflation* favor homeowners, or at least homeowners who can take the cash flow hit for a few years while inflation obliterates their mortgage.

No kidding. That's an incredible slide show. Interesting that gangs can totally trash a house but not bother the guy next door.

Panda: 7% to 10% should knock prices down by almost 25% (from the equilibrium price for 7%) so if you're expecting 650K now at 10% is would be about 500K and at 12% it would be about 420K. Yeah, that would be beyond ugly for current owners who bought around 800K! lawyerliz: Yeah, it's scary...

Seems somebody took most of the crazy stuff out. But they're still misspelling "Cistine"! Having seen the Taj, and pictures of the Sistine Chapel, I can testify both have notably less bland color palettes. :-P

Don't worry, Panda, if rates rise it will just push prices down further. They're going to rent equivalence. However, I don't think it's possible for rates to get above 8% or so. If they get to those levels almost everybody with an ARM from the past five years will be driven from their...

I assess things the same way as 25w100k+. House sales and prices normally rise in the first part of the year and fall in the second. We're currently seeing that pattern superimposed on an overall decline. I expect the price falls will resume with a vengeance this fall, just like they started...

I think it's more that the collapse starts at the low end and works its way upward. Gas prices are high enough to be a grave problem for rural and bedroom communities, but CA suburban densities are adequate at current gas prices. I agree the McMansion farms are in for a world of hurt, but I...

Are you priced below comparable *asking* prices, or comparable (and recent) *sales* prices? Newport Coast is one of the markets that's totally locked up because the asking prices are still in fantasyland. If you bought in 2002 you should be able to get out at a profit, perhaps even in real terms.

I don't see Irvine's design as a big part of the problem. For very young kids, the shortage of playspace on the same street is a problem, but for a kid old enough to bike there's usually an accessible park or shopping area. It's overzoned, so the trip can be long, but still nothing like South...

Americans are WAY too paranoid about their kids. "Stranger danger" is, and always has been, rare - abuse, kidnapping, etc. is almost always done by somebody who knows the child and usually a relative. I was lucky with my parents - my dad showed me the path to my best friend's house when I was 6...

I think it's just a higher-end neighborhood lagging on the way down. Prices continue to plummet out in the IE, and as IR pointed out yesterday condos are now selling at less per sq ft. than small yard singlefamily, which is unusual. Also, Irvine's biggest draw is its job market, meaning it has...

For me, it's the frequency. When somebody posts a risque photo, once, I don't care. When somebody hijacks thread after thread with discussions of "chasing chicks" that are simultaneously offensive AND boring (by virtue of their repetitiveness), I get annoyed. This is the Irvine Housing Blog, not...

Count me in the "I'm getting tired of this" crowd. In any case, where to find drunk horny hot female coeds belong in the Water Cooler section. It's offtopic in Irvine Real Estate. And while I'm not offended by this, some people are and I respect that. The board would be quite a mess if people...

I torture small animals. Very small animals.

3-story condos are a horrible waste of space. First, there's all the stairs. Then the room sizes are weird because each floor is relatively small. 3-story only works for a mansion. We see them because everybody wants their "own house" but they would work much better as single-story stacked...

That's a pretty horrifying chart and it suggests the "improvement" in inventory and sales is phantom, resulting from regular homeowners pulling listings and desperate banks lowering prices enough to sell.

Someone was really guzzling the koolaid on that listing - a slightly larger house in the same neighborhood sold for 536K in January. Do listers do their own pricing on Redfin?