Like you said, the location is questionable, I wouldn’t pay 740 in Oceanside unless it was (1) waterfront or (2) an acre of land in Bonsall school district. For the money, you could buy a slightly smaller house in Carlsbad:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Carlsbad/7979-Paseo-Aliso-92009/home/4081079

Like you said, the location is questionable, I wouldn’t pay 740 in Oceanside unless it was (1) waterfront or (2) an acre of land in Bonsall school district. For the money, you could buy a slightly smaller house in Carlsbad:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Carlsbad/7979-Paseo-Aliso-92009/home/4081079

Don’t listen to Esmith — That area is perfectly fine! A lot of the homes in Fire Mountain have ocean views, it’s close to both the 78 and 5 and there’s shopping right down the hill (Trader Joe’s too). Schools aren’t great so you have to factor in private school if you have kids, but any CA public school after about 5th grade is going to be less than desirable anyway. Carlsbad is just down the hill, so you get all of the perks of Carlsbad with an Oceanside price tag. I wouldn’t buy anytime soon though if you can help it. The prices have a LONG way to go before we hit bottom.

Don’t listen to Esmith — That area is perfectly fine! A lot of the homes in Fire Mountain have ocean views, it’s close to both the 78 and 5 and there’s shopping right down the hill (Trader Joe’s too). Schools aren’t great so you have to factor in private school if you have kids, but any CA public school after about 5th grade is going to be less than desirable anyway. Carlsbad is just down the hill, so you get all of the perks of Carlsbad with an Oceanside price tag. I wouldn’t buy anytime soon though if you can help it. The prices have a LONG way to go before we hit bottom.

Don’t listen to Esmith — That area is perfectly fine! A lot of the homes in Fire Mountain have ocean views, it’s close to both the 78 and 5 and there’s shopping right down the hill (Trader Joe’s too). Schools aren’t great so you have to factor in private school if you have kids, but any CA public school after about 5th grade is going to be less than desirable anyway. Carlsbad is just down the hill, so you get all of the perks of Carlsbad with an Oceanside price tag. I wouldn’t buy anytime soon though if you can help it. The prices have a LONG way to go before we hit bottom.

This is a project taken on a few years ago. The four homes on Cole are all more or less connected. Currently this home has a Notice of Default on it like you said. What will happen to the other 3 homes is TBD. This area of Oceanside is the perimeter of Fire Mountain which is actually a nice spot. However this is about as perimeter as you can get. Notice the proximity to 5. It will not surprise me if you do not catch some freeway noise. The house has been on the market for 122 days. It would not surprise me if there is an offer already into the lender on it. The Houston Family Trust basically owned all 4 homes. They have deeded two of the homes to Lampro family members and this home to the Slaughters. In each case when the homes were deeded in May of 08 there were 665k loans from Wachovia on EACH home. So it has only taken a short time for this home to go into NOD. Highly probable that the Slaughters never paid a single penny on that mortgage. It will not surprise me if the Lampros follow suit but I could well be wrong and that is a HIGHLY speculative statement. One home is still owned by the Houston Family trust. Also make sure you check the plot lines of the lot.

If it were me I would take a pass. Not exactly sure what you are looking for but you can ask your realtor to check the comps in the area and such. Also I am not thrilled with the proximity to the school.

This is a project taken on a few years ago. The four homes on Cole are all more or less connected. Currently this home has a Notice of Default on it like you said. What will happen to the other 3 homes is TBD. This area of Oceanside is the perimeter of Fire Mountain which is actually a nice spot. However this is about as perimeter as you can get. Notice the proximity to 5. It will not surprise me if you do not catch some freeway noise. The house has been on the market for 122 days. It would not surprise me if there is an offer already into the lender on it. The Houston Family Trust basically owned all 4 homes. They have deeded two of the homes to Lampro family members and this home to the Slaughters. In each case when the homes were deeded in May of 08 there were 665k loans from Wachovia on EACH home. So it has only taken a short time for this home to go into NOD. Highly probable that the Slaughters never paid a single penny on that mortgage. It will not surprise me if the Lampros follow suit but I could well be wrong and that is a HIGHLY speculative statement. One home is still owned by the Houston Family trust. Also make sure you check the plot lines of the lot.

If it were me I would take a pass. Not exactly sure what you are looking for but you can ask your realtor to check the comps in the area and such. Also I am not thrilled with the proximity to the school.