Thank you for macmichael for posting this new thread, and the link to the Tudal home. Prior to this house hitting the mls, one of my area realtors called me to see if I wanted a “steal” that he understood was coming to market, this being the house. I thought long and hard about making an offer on this property. To be honest however, I’m not sure it is real, they may simply be trying to grab bids. Either way, here is the scoop on this home for you followers of Temecula:
Whatever the situation, this does not bode well for Morgan Hill, and at $106 sq ft, this lends credibility for my on the record $75 sq ft prediction.
What makes this significant, is just a few short years ago, this was considered THE house in Morgan Hill. I can remember being on the K Hov wait list, crammed into this exact same home on the brick floors, waiting with others eager to get their dream home. K Hov went all out on this home, highly upgraded, and timed the sale of this model right at the peak of market. Most of the time in the IE when you hear highly upgraded, it means whatever granite, wood floors are really laminate, and it has cheap stainless appliances. This home was really well done with high quality upgrades.
The $896k sales price you see on Zillow is real, I remember being in shock, and it gave false hope to the neighborhood. Our neighbors in Morgan Hills were so excited about being able to soon see their homes at a $1m price tag “We are the new OC” was a common thread of conversation.
So anyways, I thought picking it up would be a cool trophy, but I’m passing.
For someone who is looking to buy, if you can get it at this price this is a nice house.
Further updates about Temecula:
Many lenders are now asking for a 35% down payment on 2nd/3rd “investor” home purchases. Additionally, comps are not coming in. Basically, the lenders are extremely cautious.
Since the last thread, I believe snail posted a link, I was inspired by some of the listings that TG and others posted and thought we’d give it a shot to start finding some steals. So we took advantage of some comps at Pechanga, and spent a weekend touring and lowballing. Offering $250-300k for 3000 sq ft homes in Temecula, some of which have been posted here, we got an acceptance on one of the dozen or so offers made, for $280k on a shade over 3000 sq ft home in a decent area. This was about $50k off the asking, and we said we were willing to do a quick escrow and were coming in with an $80k down. Thanks to recent REO’s, the appraisal came in at $270k. That was a wake up call, and since then, I’ve decided to back off, and even though rental numbers make sense, I decided to listen to my own advice, as clearly the worse is yet to come.
The local economy is hurting, and is certainly feeling the trickle down effect. The comps at Pechanga are easier to get, but the machines are tighter than ever. During the free weekend, and after some luck at the tables, we decided to disperse our winnings back into the local economy with local merchants as well as visit some local restaurants where we are friends with the owners. Business is down significantly everywhere, and every store I went to I was able to openly negotiate purchase prices. At Foot Locker in the mall, they were so hurting and bored the manager gave me the best employee discount without my even asking for a discount. At an independent clothier, we got a mix of new and sale priced name brand items at a significant discount.
So if you do live in the area, and need to buy anything, I would negotiate and save some money. As long as you are talking to managers, this can work even at big boxes like Macy’s and Target, just depends on the item and your approach.
Restaurants are struggling, as there was a good portion of business coming in from realtors and other re based professions. If you notice, many corporate eateries have slower service due to staff cutbacks, and the local places are hurting. So again if you live in the area, visit the independents and smaller chain restaurants and pass on the corporates.
In regards to the pickup rule, that is the status quo for the IE. A lifted F250, a dualie, or a Cadillac Escalade truck version with spinners gets you much more cred in the IE than a Brabus S Class that costs 2-3x the price. Despite what some people think, Temecula does have some wealth in the area. The several guys I know with Bentley GT’s in the area get nowhere near the cred from the populace as the dudes who drive those semi looking pickups.
Anyways, in regards to the Tudal home, if you are looking for a cherry pick up, and intend to stay long term, that is a good deal at the price. If someone gets it near 400k, they will not regret it.
