This project almost isn’t even in Garden Grove. It’s just south of where Anaheim and Stanton come together. If memory serves there used to be some apartments in this area that were basically a slum. Maybe the city redeveloped that neighborhood.
The communties in this area of the O.C. (GG, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Westminster, Stanton, etc., were all almost completely built out by the 1970s. Any new developments in town would likely be built on an infill basis. Since most lenders require at least a couple outside sales, the nearest similar subdivision of new homes could easily be 3 or 5 miles away; and it might very well not even be located in Garden Grove itself. 3 miles away could include the south end of Buena Park or the west end of he city of Orange. There’s no telling what that other project looks like, either. An appraiser probably wouldn’t have much in the way of alternatives.
These buyers probably don’t have a case. The sales from inside the project all represent arms-length transactions between the developer and their buyers. This project is (probably) not located close enough to the nearest comparable new home tract for those outside comps to be meaningful. Most buyers (and hence most sellers) would give the sales contracts inside the project more weight than the outside sales as being more indicative of their values. The sale prices probably supported each other as of the dates they were entered into.
The bottom line here is that (unlike several Piggingtonians) these folks didn’t apply their critical thinking skills when they were making their purchases and as a result they timed the market exactly wrong. They’re in the same boat as the people here in SD County who bought in 2004 and 2005. They have nobody to blame but themselves. If misery loves company these people should end up with lots of it.
