Newer Irvine listings with crazy WTF asking prices from equity sellers

Funny you should post this. We went to the open house for 17 Butler on Sunday. Nicely staged with a good amount of foot traffic. It's not a tear down like some of the other units that have transacted in the chancellor tract or the Mann "4bd" one for sale currently as well. Great neighborhood, I agree, but the amounts people are paying for teardown lots seem to be growing with no end in sight.

Looks like it's off market as of today. The redfin pics are down but if anyone is curious, Zillow pics is still up:

It's 5300 sq ft lot, so if someone wants to do a teardown and rebuild they have land to play with. My in-law's in Lakewood has a house on about 6,000 sq ft lot, they did a "Studs-Out Remodel" where the house is tore down to the frame and rebuilt at cost of ~$300K just before the pandemic. The contractor took care to maintain the neighborhood appearance from street side.

In case of 17 Butler, I'd point to the remodeled (rebuilt) home at 31 Butler:

The investor who bought it in 2016 for $750K probably did a complete teardown and build, then flipped it in 2017 for $2.3 million. I don't know how much it'd cost to build a house like that these days, or if buying the house at $1.4 mil for a teardown & rebuild would be profitable today. Need someone more familiar with construction costs in 2024 to chime in.
 
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I've not driven the area in a while. Are these being torn down and rebuilt or simply rehabbed?
This $2m listing is a being marketed as a tear-down. Most of the pictures in the listing are 3d renderings and plans for a "shovel ready opportunity"

Comps on the next street that transacted with the same strategy:
1.6m https://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/25-Gillman-St-92612/home/4698838
3.7m (actually torn down and rebuilt) https://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/27-Gillman-St-92612/home/4698841

I think it's a great neighborhood but my wife doesn't like Wholesome Choice.
 
Looks like it's off market as of today. The redfin pics are down but if anyone is curious, Zillow pics is still up:

It's 5300 sq ft lot, so if someone wants to do a teardown and rebuild they have land to play with. My in-law's in Lakewood has a house on about 6,000 sq ft lot, they did a "Studs-Out Remodel" where the house is tore down to the frame and rebuilt at cost of ~$300K just before the pandemic. The contractor took care to maintain the neighborhood appearance from street side.

In case of 17 Butler, I'd point to the remodeled (rebuilt) home at 31 Butler:

The investor who bought it in 2016 for $750K probably did a complete teardown and build, then flipped it in 2017 for $2.3 million. I don't know how much it'd cost to build a house like that these days, or if buying the house at $1.4 mil for a teardown & rebuild would be profitable today. Need someone more familiar with construction costs in 2024 to chime in.

I think the 34 Mann St is a better teardown candidate. We also peeked inside this house. Worse condition but better lot (I think) https://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/34-Mann-St-92612/home/4698066
 
Money is being pulled out of China and it has to go somewhere…
CalBears timed it perfectly…buying a new build in todays price and by the time he moves into Cielo both Cielo and resale Bluffs will increase the values significantly…he may regret not paying up and buy a view lot instead. his advantage over FCBs is he can talk to sales people regularly and befriend them to get in early
 
Money is being pulled out of China and it has to go somewhere…
CalBears timed it perfectly…buying a new build in todays price and by the time he moves into Cielo both Cielo and resale Bluffs will increase the values significantly…he may regret not paying up and buy a view lot instead. his advantage over FCBs is he can talk to sales people regularly and befriend them to get in early
I don't really have a chance to regret not buying a view lot instead. The priority list was long when Cielo was still under Irvine Pacific, so we had no chance at all getting a view lot because everyone wanted a view lot. After Shea took over, the first few phases (7-12) are all non view lots. It would be too long a wait for view lots.

But even if I could wait, I can't afford an extra $1.5M. I could barely afford a $3M home. There's no way I could buy one at $4M. Even if I did have that extra $1.5M lying around, I would use $300k for upgrades and save the rest for 40 years worth of property taxes. 😂
 
Imagine someone paying a $1M+ premium for a view of the landfill in OH4, that would be crazy but I guess the demand will be there! 🤣
 
Imagine someone paying a $1M+ premium for a view of the landfill in OH4, that would be crazy but I guess the demand will be there! 🤣
I'm pretty sure the TB view lots at the top of the landfill will be close to $2M premium. Ravello view lot premiums at OH were around $2M.
 
Gillman made sense at $980k purchase, $3.6 sale, but Mann at $2m (land value) and $1xxm tear down and build....? Not so much. Grotesque looking McMansion renderings don't help. The realtor listed Mann as a 2024 built home. A disingenuous way to sell in my book, unless the MLS won't allow a 2025-2026 timeline in their system.

Thanks for the Intel on this changing neighborhood.
 
According to his monkey line graphs, Eastwood residents are losing money, not making money. Those residents could have bought Nvida stock instead of buying an Eastwood home and 10x’d so they are losing money.

/S
🤣🤣🤣
Easthood is the hood of the east 🤣 I could have never imagined $3M+ homes being sold there. The Irvine market has changed so much since the pandemic!
 
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