La Boheme North Park (DR Horton) Public Auction

[movielover]

I had lunch at the Lumberjack over the weekend and noticed that DR Horton’s La Boheme in North Park across the street is now up for grabs at a public auction.

http://www.redchomeauction.com/auction_details.php?auctionID=D-003

They are selling 54 condos with starting bids at $139k (well, La Boheme and Esperanza). I was looking into La Boheme but felt that they priced it as if North Park had already undergone the transformation that Hillcrest had gone through. Also, the high HOA fees for the amenities wasn’t justified.

Wonder how this affects current La Boheme owners, and also DR Horton, who still has the property Atlas going for high $300-500s. If you look at DR Horton’s site, La Boheme is gone.

So, is this auction a good deal?

[PadreBrian]

I knew that place would never sell those units for 400k+. Just retarded.

“Wonder how this affects current La Boheme owners”
It means they will have to foreclose to get out of housing which is only worth 50% of what their mortgage is.

The 2 beds i estimate are worth 250k, and the the 1 beds worth 200k…max.

[movielover]

I agree with your price assessment. I’m planning on checking out the condos for sale this weekend and see if there are a lot of people interested.

You’d figure that DR Horton would lower prices on the homes that they have now, but just another example of builders in denial.

[PadreBrian]

I might check them out too. Maybe another +50k depending on location.

I also suspect Downtown is going to see whole buildings do this with thier unsold stock.

[movielover]

Any way to know about these auctions? I just found out cuz I was in the neighborhood. Would be nice to know if other builders start auctioning properties in Downtown. If you see of any, please post it.

[Arraya]

I live right by the other DR Horton developement (Atlas). It looks to be just about complete. I have a feeling the fate of Atlas will be the same as La Boheme. I saw someone trying to pawn their pre-construction unit off on craigslist last month so they could get their deposit back.

On a side note. I rent in a new condo developement. My landlord was an investor and he owns 3 units of the 12 with a contigency that he will not sell for 5 years. We moved in back in November when it was first completed. Since then they have sold the 2 smaller units and thats it.

Today there were workers installing blinds and carpet in all of the units. I guess they decided to turn them into rentals according the the workers. I can’t imagine how it feels for the 2 buyers who pay double what eveybody else does to live in the same place. I actually feel uncomfortable when I am in the elevator with them.

[recordsclerk]

There was a 1 bed 1 bath unit sold in July for $161K. This could be a bank repo that was returned to the banks for the amount owed. There was a 2 bed 2 bath unit sold in July for $221, it could also be a bank repo. There was a comment in the MLS about special qualifications needed for discount and to go to the Office on Federal Blvd or something. This may be a unit that was set aside for Low Income Family. Other then these two sales, most recent comps are 275-279K (March 2007) for 1 bed, and 360-393K(March 2007) for 2 bed. It would be very interesting if these are sold near starting bid price, that would be 50% off from height of market. This information was given to me over the phone from my broker uncle.

[barnaby33]

Atlas is only half done. What you see is the first of the two buildings. I now work across the street from it and went into the sales office to take a break.

Josh

[Anonymous]

Is it worth to buy?

i live near by in a rented 1 bedroom apartment and pay 800$ p/m. got free management and maintenance, and free water, cold and hot.
let assume i have 170K$ to buy 1 bedroom. comparing with my current pay, the costs per month will be:
330 HOA
100 insurance
170 property tax
20 water and heating
100 maintenance
750 loss of interest for the 170K$
—–
1450 total~ cost
i sow some apartments in the house, crowded, some on the street, no real privacy.

[Arty]

I will offer them 1 dollar above starting bid! 🙂 Okay okay maybe a thousand dollars above starting! I drove by last nite, yea there are alot of people just across the street.

Personally I will only count 330 HOA + 170 PT + 100 maintenace + 750 loss of interest. You have to pay insureance (yes, please get a renter insurance), water, and heating anyway. However, you do get a tax break if it is a primary residience which could lower your income tax significantly.

[Mr_Brightside]

I dropped by La Boheme today and made some comments over at the SDLookup.com forums. The short summary of my conclusion is that the “auction” is more sales gimmick than a distress sale auction.

I think in order to get a true distress sale the developer/investor would need to be insolvent which DH Horton is not.

http://www.sdlookup.com/Forums/General/tabid/57/forumid/617/tpage/1/view/topic/postid/3552/Default.aspx#3552

[Raybyrnes]

“There was a 1 bed 1 bath unit sold in July for $161K. This could be a bank repo that was returned to the banks for the amount owed. There was a 2 bed 2 bath unit sold in July for $221, it could also be a bank repo”

I beleive these 2 sales are reflective of the afordable housing components that the developer had to make available.

[recordsclerk]

I think you are right, because in the MLS there was an income requirement for these prices.
I’m interested in the auction because this is the first builder auction to the public and in the adds there is no mention of not accepting bids that do not meet their requirements. In previous auctions in San Diego, units/houses were sold by individual banks, there was also a minimun amount these banks would accept. There was a video in a thread earlier about condos in Florida that sold for 50% below what others had paid. This auction may end up like the one in Florida, but I would suspect that the builder will not accept anything near starting bid. I have pre-registered and have plans on bidding on a 2bed 2bath but do not anticipate having a winning bid.

[movielover]

I think if you can get a 1br for under $200k, you’re in good shape. With regards to privacy, condo living doesn’t really provide much privacy anyway. In fact, even the new tract home McMansions don’t provide much privacy either.

The turnoff with the property is the high HOA. The local Fox nightly news did a story on this, and it looks like we will probably be seeing more auctions as sale tactics from developers in the future months. The news report said that they do have a minimum and won’t go below that.

[patientlywaiting]

The undisclosed reserve shows that this auction is a gimmick. Buyers should stay away.

$200k for a 1bd is still overpriced. $100k is more like it.

[Author]

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