SDR: Had a couple of conversations in Temecula yesterday during our Pop Warner game at Great Oaks HS (across from Pechanga). Bunch of different teams represented, some from all the way down in Poway.

The varying attitudes were pretty amazing. In discussing real estate with the Poway folks, the prevailing mentality is that while prices might fall a little, the market will come back.

The folks from Murrieta and Temecula, on the other hand, were shell shocked. Talked to a Murrieta coach who has been trying to unload his house due to an impending job transfer. His small neighborhood has no less than four houses that are now bank owned and three more heading into REO. One of his neighbors literally packed up the whole family and moved out over a weekend. This was a month ago, and the house is sitting vacant, with an overgrown and dying lawn and the pool stagnant. This guy said he had purchased his house back in 1999, so he had some equity to give, but he said the three offers he got were all some 20 to 30 percent below his lowest asking price, which is already down some $30k from his original list price. The look on this guy’s face was complete bewilderment.

Great Oaks HS sits next to the Wolf Creek development on Pechanga Parkway, which was a complete ghost town for the four and a half hours I was there.

Does she read this Blog?

SDR (and sdr, for that matter)-

Any updates on the effect of the credit crunch on the outlying markets? Are the primo areas feeling a little bite yet (TMA’s difficulties hint at this)?

Hey Allan, what did you think of my sports park. I’m usually there a few days a week but the last two days have been the hottest days of the year so I skipped my hoops ritual. Have you ever seen a nicer sports park, I think they have four lighted astroturf football fields. Good thing they got the devlopers to pay for it before the market turned.

SD, dude it was so ^$&^%# hot, even by Temec standards, We usually only get a few days a year over 100 on the South side and we were clearly blowing that out. My body kicks into palm springs mode and all I want to do is drink and sit in the pool, an instinct that clearly goes back to my caveman days. I would have hurled early and often, Allan was losing youngsters to the heat, a middle aged guy like me would be headed to the E.R. for sure. Since all the nurses up here got stung in the stonewood scam, they would have I.D. me as the infamous T.G. and I would be dead for sure.

Allan, actually wolf creek isn’t in as bad a shape as one would think, not much of what you saw was standing inventory, most of it is within conforming range and they just slowed down, holding off on phases until the previous is sold. I took my monthly trip down there today and chatted with my favorite salesperson. They just aren’t as desperate as I want them to be and the D.R. horton inventory flood hasn’t hit just yet so I am going to sign a six month or 1 year lease next week and you won’t be rid of me quite yet. In six months to a year I’m sure things will be much worse.