La Boheme North Park (DR Horton) Public Auction

[Anonymous]

OK…late 03 might be equilibrium. I originally thought the same, but if you look at the price charts on Zillow.com for most CA neighborhoods, the serious run up started late 03. Before that there was decent appreciation, but not the crazy speculative stuff going on.

That’s the point where mechanics, hair dressers, (nothing against those professions, just when my Valley Girl hairdresser and good old boy mechanic both quit their jobs to become real estate investors) and anyone else who could fog a mirror decided they were a real estate investor. One neighborhood near me went from the low to mid 400’s to the mid 900’s from 04-06. That’s totally crazy. Today I can buy one of those at about 20% above the 04 prices, and when it settles I figure it will be back to 04 levels, which is what they sold for new.

[Anonymous]

New to the site, but hope this posts properly………a general comment to the ORIGINAL posting on this topic:
I’ve lived in SD over 45 years, starting back in North Park. I drive over there, on occasion, especially since my elderly parents are incredibly loyal to a restaurant we’ve been patronizing since “back in the day”. Whenever I go there, I mentally cry because I know how the neighborhood once was and I see how it is today. Because I see how quickly some have become defensive or offended by facts/opinions on this blog, I will make a simple statement of fact rather than risk offending anyone: there is a sale price which makes each buyer willing to call a particular place “home” in exchange for something else. Each of us gets to decide what those trade-offs will be and the price which makes us willing to sacrifice them. I hope those who are searching find a “bargain” at these auctions.

[Anonymous]

When times get rough, the creative get going! A neighbor of mine at La Boheme paid $370,000 pre-construction for a top-floor corner loft unit, the layout that has a bedroom plus upstairs loft with roof deck and wrap-around balcony. It’s about 962 sq. feet. He was fretting about the values dropping, so he put his thinking cap on and just got approval to add a small guest bathroom to the upstairs loft, which is actually bigger than the bedroom. So for about $10,000 he will be transforming his 1 bedroom/1 bath with loft into a 2 bedroom/2bath. His appraisal after that should make his investment remain pretty smart. Now others with that floorplan are considering a similar approach. The design of many of the La Boheme units are unique and versatile enough that they allow owners to make some changes for little cost to raise the value appreciably. A ray of light in this gloomy market!

[Arraya]

Jc,

Your math is right on. However it is a 1 bdr, around 600 sq ft. Crazy, I know but that is what they were going for back then. To make it worse it is a condo convert.

Probably could only rent for 900 tops!

[patientlywaiting]

newbie, you’re really grasping at straws here. What can you do to a 900sf to “raise the value appreciable” in a declining market?

What good does it do to add a bathroom when the price per sf all around is dropping. Condo valuation is all about price per square foot compared to the comps.

If people can’t raise values in SFR, no way, no how can that be done in condos.

[kewp]

Yeah, a guest room is just the thing to raise the appraisal after a meth lab goes in next door.

[recordsclerk]

If your neighbor can add a bathroom for 10K it will add more then 10K to the value of the unit. The neighbor will still be under water, but it’s not a bad idea.

I don’t think someone can run a methlab in such close proximity to neighbors, the odor is just too strong. I thought we were saving methlab jokes for the Santee forum.

[drunkle]

arraya… your friend is in a world of hurt, but… geez, 250k for a 600 ft2 condo? how did she even imagine that living there would be cool for 1500+ /mo? my god, that’s sickening…

and what end of kansas? stuck in the middle near el ca-john and the party girls?

rent for a 1 bed is ranging around 800/mo on craigs. and that’s severely inflated imo, they used to go for 500-. while the rental market on the whole may be going up for the time being, what is the demand for tiny 1 beds in tweeker town? all those foreclosures… what is the percent of foreclosures owned by single individuals… add in the flood of unoccupied, new condos?

[Anonymous]

Well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that a 2-bedroom/2-bath condo will fetch you a lot more than a 1-bedroom/1-bath.

[drunkle]

newbie:

would the bathroom diminish the useable space in the loft? presumably it would, at minimum for walls and doors?

2 tiny bedrooms screams low rent… that’s where the building is heading regardless, but seems to me that such a mod would accelerate the devaluation. especially considering… how’s the parking situation going to be impacted?

[patientlywaiting]

I happen to know North Park as I own a couple of properties there.

Newbie, I presume your friend is happy where he lives since he got that “amazing” pre-construction deal. His adding a bathroom won’t do a thing to the comps unless he sells and “increases” values all around (even if he could influence values).

He bought for $370k so with the 10K bathroom and the cost of ownership, I suspect he would want $400k (or probably $450k to $475k for being smart and lucky to get that “amazing” deal).

You can get a much larger unit for less money in a better location on Illinois, closer to Hillcrest. What would a potential buyer choose?

http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-076032171-3939_Illinois_St_1D_San_Diego_CA_92104

In the longer run I want value to go up as well. But let’s not kid ourselves. The values are falling hard in North Park.

[Arraya]

Drunkle,

She got sucked into the “priced out forever” thing. Thought she could make a quick 50k in a year or two and move up. She is a block north of 30th, not quite close enough to see the working girls. Otherwise, she is a very smart girl, masters in biology and a > 100K job. Unfortunately I think the best thing for her to do is to get out at what ever the cost. She is young a makes very good money. Just needs to rip the bandaid off fast IMO.

[Artifact]

That condo link on Illinois is interesting – if the sales history is correct, it is listed right now at 14% off of the 9/2004 price – they even listed it originally in April at 3K less than they paid –

[drunkle]

arraya:

ok, now we get to the heart of the matter:
“Thought she could make a quick 50k in a year or two and move up.”

i was under the impression that she was in it for the long haul: she moved in, she’s already sick of the place, she put money down on a fixed.

making a lot of money, having a higher degree doesn’t mean smart in everything… i have a physics phd student friend who is a devout christian… and lots of smart folks lose their shirts playing stocks…

she’s a specuvestor who, because of her bigger paycheck and gold leaf degree figured she’d do a flip the “right way”… by putting money down and moving in! and if the “priced out forever” thing were true, it would have simply meant that her move up opportunity would be moving away just as quickly as her “investment” was moving up…

where is she from, anyway? surely not from the hood…?

i’m curious if not frightened of the prospect of all the specuvestors leaving the ship… the working class folks have already been pressured and pushed out, the vacuum of disillusioned gentiles being filled by a fresh wave of tweekers…

[Critter]

To make a loft into a bedroom don’t you also have to raise or add walls and a sizeable closet? If so, doesn’t that decrease the space along with the bathroom addition?

Anyone who has lived in a loft is welcome to chime in as far as its’ plusses or minuses go. A friend is bidding on Sat for one of these 1/1 plus loft La Boheme units.

[Author]

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