What do you guys think of old Sunny Hills in Fullerton?

K

Knife Catcher_IHB

New member
I've been trying to buy in that area but all the good upgrade houses are over a $1million. My budget is $950k, pre- approved and eagerly waiting for the prices to drop. I've been thinking of just putting my best offer in some of these million plus homes until somebody eventually sells to me.



Time period on when prices start to drop in this area?
 
Sometime between now and 2013 when the interest only loans <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/business/09loans.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1">reset.</a>



<blockquote>Edward and Maria Moller are worried about losing their house ? not now, but in 2013.



That is when the suburban San Diego schoolteachers will see their mortgage payments jump, most likely beyond their ability to pay. </blockquote>


Later in the article:



<blockquote>?I?m praying for another boom,? said Mr. Moller, 34. ?Otherwise, we?ll have to walk.?</blockquote>


And a little later:



<blockquote>Dean Janis, a Southern California lawyer who bought a $950,000 home in 2004, will see his interest-only loan reset in December. He calculates that will send his payments up a minimum of 27 percent, to $3,726. A rise in rates could eventually push it as high as $6,700.



?I understand I took a risk,? Mr. Janis said. ?But I did not anticipate that the real estate market would go down 30 percent.? He talked with Wells Fargo about his options, and the lender said he had none.</blockquote>


IMO this explains the lack of organic inventory and the lack of foreclosures in a lot of these neighborhoods $800K+ - the owners financing hasn't reset yet, and they have negative equity and can't sell. Why bother? Ride it out and when the financing times out, mail in the keys.
 
[quote author="Knife Catcher" date=1252514877]I've been trying to buy in that area but all the good upgrade houses are over a $1million. My budget is $950k, pre- approved and eagerly waiting for the prices to drop. I've been thinking of just putting my best offer in some of these million plus homes until somebody eventually sells to me.



Time period on when prices start to drop in this area?</blockquote>


Not until the would be move up buyers in waiting to grab this $1million plus realize that there is no move up.The huge gap between low end and high will eventually drain the wealth of these high end owners especially those that bought in last decade.
 
Sunny Hills is extremely desirable because of the schools....some of the best on OC. Values are likely to be slower to adjust there because of that...similar to Irvine and pretty similar demographics to Irvine. I would guess that the market will track pretty closely to Irvine.
 
I like the uniform at sunnyhills highschool. RED n Black.....very aggressive colors. I played football vs. them throughout highschool. They weren't very good back then. They got smashed....but I always liked their uniforms.
 
[quote author="Knife Catcher" date=1252514877]I've been trying to buy in that area but all the good upgrade houses are over a $1million. My budget is $950k, pre- approved and eagerly waiting for the prices to drop. I've been thinking of just putting my best offer in some of these million plus homes until somebody eventually sells to me.



Time period on when prices start to drop in this area?</blockquote>
I would be patient, it will just be a matter of time before those homes that are slightly out-of-reach for you now will drop into your price range. Just like Irvine the Sunny Hills in Fullerton is suffering from a lack of inventory of homes. Once the inventory ticks up you'll see prices soften a bit from current levels.
 
[quote author="zubs" date=1252543707]I like the uniform at sunnyhills highschool. RED n Black.....very aggressive colors. I played football vs. them throughout highschool. They weren't very good back then. They got smashed....but I always liked their uniforms.</blockquote>


I think you have your schools confused. Sunny Hills was black and gold, unless they changed their colors since I graduated. I believe it was Troy that was red and black, or maybe Sonora?
 
I have lived in Sunny Hills since 98. Love the neighborhood so much that I recommended it to my parents as the place for their retirement. They bought a place in 2001.



Sunny Hills is a rather unique neighborhood in that most of the residents are old-timers; many of them have lived here for 20, 30, even 40 years. I've been here for 11 years and I'm considered a newbie. Most people who move here love it and just stay until they die or have to move into an old folks home. So houses typically come on the market due to these events. There are now younger families moving in as the old residents move on, but these families stay long-term for the same reasons: great schools, big lots, a rustic environment in the midst of cookie-cutter suburbia. This is not to say that there were no flippers who moved in during the housing bubble and tried to flip for a quick buck. There were but they were exceptions rather than the rule, so you didn't see a lot of outrageous appreciations or WTF prices that you found in places like Irvine.



When I bought my place back in 98, the price of an average house was around half a mil (for that you get half an acre lot, typically 2000-3000 sqft, 35-40-year-old house). At the height of the bubble in 2006 the same house would have sold for $1.2 million. The price has come dowe quite a bit since then; I would say that the average house now sells in the $800k-$900k range. There are also quite a number of knocked-down MacMansions, and they go for much more depending on their specs. IMO, for $950k you can easily get what you're looking for. Personally I think it's more important to get a house with a good lot (shape, size, elevation relative to your neighbors, contour---this makes a difference as it determines how much of your half-acre lot is actually usable); after you get the ideal lot you can always do your own re-modeling or additions to get the house the way you want.



I don't think the house price will ever get back down to the $500k level back in 98, but it certainly has room to fall and may eventually settle down at around $700k-$800k. But the neighborhood is very desirable due to the big lot, the great schools, the Laguna Lake Park and many miles of hiking and biking trails, plus an equestrian facility nearby, and there are always people who want to move in due to these factors. It certainly won't hurt to wait but even now the market is pretty brisk; most houses, if they are appropriately priced, sell very quickly, so there isn't a huge inventory that you can pick and choose from.



Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.
 
^^^^ Post of the week! Glad to see a poster like this come out of the wood works.



[quote author="FarmerC" date=1253788644]There are now younger families moving in as the old residents move on, but these families stay long-term for the same reasons: great schools, big lots, a rustic environment in the midst of cookie-cutter suburbia.</blockquote>


And this is what I am talking about in neighborhoods like this. The demographic is changing, and those who have waited or bought in 98 are being rewarded by buying the right house, with what they desire, in the right location, in the neighborhood they love for a price point that makes sense. Eventually the "older" neighbors will have to move, eventually the neighborhood will change to a more diverse but younger demographic like Irvine.



Not that Irvine is bad, I don't hate Irvine, even with all of the crime there.
 
Old Sunny Hills is usually defined as the area bounded to the north by Las Palmas, to the west by Euclid, to the south by Bastanchury, and to the east by Harbor.



The neighborhood has quite a difference ambience than a place like Irvine with its master-planned community and cookie-cutter neighborhoods. There are no sidewalks. Street lights are few and far between, so there is very little light pollution at night. The streets are lined with huge pine trees planted 40 years ago, and the neighborhood is built on a series of undulating hills so the ambience is very rustic, park-like. On weekends we get a lot of runners, hikers and cyclists who come through the neighborhood to climb the hills for a good workout. Houses are typically one-story ranch style, so between that and the big yard you get lots of privacy, and don't have to worry about your neighbors peeking into your backyard. There are no homeowner associations enforcing convenants so you are not subject to restrictions (other than what's enforced by the city) on what you can do with your property. I hate suburbia in general and would rather live on a farm or a ranch but Sunny Hills is as close to that as you can get in SoCal and still enjoy all the amenities that suburbian living offers.
 
I like this neighborhood a lot and we drove through several weeks back. While no HOAs can be good, no HOAs can also be bad, as the teardown / rebuild McMansions attest. OSH isn't alone; it is a problem in North Tustin, too. That is my one fear of finding a great home in such a neighborhood - that new neighbors will come in and ruin atmosphere with their need to have a big and flashy home. The only places to do that these days are older neighborhoods with big lots. I fear that OSH and North Tustin might start to resemble what used to be the good part of Downey. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to Redfin and look for homes in Downey and then sort by most expensive to least expensive.)
 
[quote author="choochoo" date=1252738163][quote author="zubs" date=1252543707]I like the uniform at sunnyhills highschool. RED n Black.....very aggressive colors. I played football vs. them throughout highschool. They weren't very good back then. They got smashed....but I always liked their uniforms.</blockquote>


I think you have your schools confused. Sunny Hills was black and gold, unless they changed their colors since I graduated. I believe it was Troy that was red and black, or maybe Sonora?</blockquote>


I think you are right, and there were a lot of hits to the head!!
 
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