$249/sft 5br/3.75ba in Woodbridge

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irvine_home_owner_IHB

irvine_home_owner_IHB

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This is actually a pretty decent house for the price, $869k for 3500 sft:



<a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654">http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654</a>



It should get bids above list. Interesting marketing using "AN EQUITY SALE".



And yes... it has a 3-car garage.



EDIT: I added the price.
 
[quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1250686710]This is actually a pretty decent house for the price:



<a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654">http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654</a>



It should get bids above list. Interesting marketing using "AN EQUITY SALE".



And yes... it has a 3-car garage.</blockquote>
Here's some information from the agent-to-agent comments in the listing...



"Lockbox will be installed after broker preview on Wednesday 8/19/2009. This is a trust sale. DO NOT SUMBIT OFFERS ON CAR FORMS - YOU NEED SPECIAL BID FORM PACKAGE. Do Not Call for Availablity - all offers are being reviewed on Tuesday, September 8."



Translation = the property will receive 10+ offers and most likely multiple counter offer with a "submit your best and final offer" will go out to all of the serious offers. Expect this property to close around $1m. You'll love this...there is NO DEBT on this property.
 
[quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1250688506]We should have a pool on where this will end up.



It's so nice to have Perez Hilton to give us the inside scoop... thanks!</blockquote>
What can I say, I like sharing (information). Why don't they just put this baby out on Ebay if they are really want to see how many bids they get on the home? I've never seen instructions to not use the CAR forms (WinForm California Association of Realtor Forms), not even with Probate listings because there's a CAR form for that. Wanna put your offer in and see if you can steal this baby? lol
 
[quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1250687588][quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1250686710]This is actually a pretty decent house for the price:



<a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654">http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654</a>



It should get bids above list. Interesting marketing using "AN EQUITY SALE".



And yes... it has a 3-car garage.</blockquote>
Here's some information from the agent-to-agent comments in the listing...



"Lockbox will be installed after broker preview on Wednesday 8/19/2009. This is a trust sale. DO NOT SUMBIT OFFERS ON CAR FORMS - YOU NEED SPECIAL BID FORM PACKAGE. Do Not Call for Availablity - all offers are being reviewed on Tuesday, September 8."



Translation = the property will receive 10+ offers and most likely multiple counter offer with a "submit your best and final offer" will go out to all of the serious offers. Expect this property to close around $1m. You'll love this...there is NO DEBT on this property.</blockquote>


I think more like $1.1-1.2M vs. your mil SC...



The sales history is interesting. Somehow it appreciated massively between 1993 and 1998 when overall prices were pretty much flat over that period. Perhaps it was a much smaller home originally and expanded during that time?
 
[quote author="ipoplaya" date=1250689528][quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1250687588][quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1250686710]This is actually a pretty decent house for the price:



<a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654">http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/22-Rockwren-92604/home/4690654</a>



It should get bids above list. Interesting marketing using "AN EQUITY SALE".



And yes... it has a 3-car garage.</blockquote>
Here's some information from the agent-to-agent comments in the listing...



"Lockbox will be installed after broker preview on Wednesday 8/19/2009. This is a trust sale. DO NOT SUMBIT OFFERS ON CAR FORMS - YOU NEED SPECIAL BID FORM PACKAGE. Do Not Call for Availablity - all offers are being reviewed on Tuesday, September 8."



Translation = the property will receive 10+ offers and most likely multiple counter offer with a "submit your best and final offer" will go out to all of the serious offers. Expect this property to close around $1m. You'll love this...there is NO DEBT on this property.</blockquote>


I think more like $1.1-1.2M vs. your mil SC...



The sales history is interesting. Somehow it appreciated massively between 1993 and 1998 when overall prices were pretty much flat over that period. Perhaps it was a much smaller home originally and expanded during that time?</blockquote>
You could be right...my mind was thinking about $300/sf but it I wouldn't be shocked to see it go for $330-$340/sf if they get a big enough group of bidders trying to one-up each other.
 
So I went to the open house today...lots of foot traffic. Not sure how many of them were like me, curious lurkers vs FCBs.



<strong>Pluses:</strong>

+Great location on cul-de-sac in Woodbridge, near community pool, and close to lake along greenbelt walkway

+Bright home

+Nice remodeled kitchen and master bathroom

+Nice touches on wooden railings on stairs

+Like the double facing fireplace

+Nice open feeling of 2nd floor loft and leads to small balcony

+IHO size garage, 3 car wide (Actually, the other neat thing about the garage was the roll up rear garage door instead of a wall on the right side of home. I am guessing this allowed you to park a trailer there or use the garage as a patio extension during parties?)

+Bedroom and 3/4 bath downstairs



<strong>Negatives:</strong>

-House doesn't feel like ~3500sqft, didn't feel very open for such a large home. Just the way the floorplan is.

- The pool takes up too much precious sqft for such a small backyard. Would rather have grass and take my kids to the community pool or lake.

-If you really want 4 or 5 bedrooms, you need to spend more $$ to enclose 2nd floor office/loft areas

-Secondary bedrooms and even MB seem small for house this big

-Price...I seriously doubt this house will close anywhere near under $1M
 
Heh... I was there too.



I agree... the garage with the rear roll-up door was hawt!



The layout was actually pretty nice. What's interesting was the living room had two sets of double doors, one set led to the rear sige yard, the other set led to a side courtyard behind the garage (where the rear roll up door face).



Short driveway but not only was it a cul-de-sac but it was single loaded. Lucky for the open house it was because there were probably 12 cars parked along the street for all the looky-loos.



I actually liked the floorplan and it did feel big to me because the way the 2nd floor was done. It's tough to be able to fit all that living space and have vaulted ceilings on the first floor. The stairs opened up in to a nice loft area that served as a pathway to two bedrooms that were connected by not only a Jack&Jill; bathroom but a shared walk-in closet/secret play place. Just off the front of the loft was a small balcony.



When you go back to the loft area that had a sitting area and place for a desk, off to the side around another bathroom was an office area with built-ins. Then you go back to the master suite area that was decent size (not huge) but had a nice master closet with built in shelving units. The shower was big but some of the fixtures were older.



The downstairs had all the standard living spaces, living room, dining room (small), family room, kitchen and nook. There was also a downstairs laundry room on the way to the garage (I'm not a fan of that type of laundry room) and it didn't have a sink.



The kitchen was okay, some of the appliances were dated but overall it's one of the better Woodbridge homes I've seen in a while.



Like IACRenter said, it was pretty crowded and this will have to go higher than $1mil because it's a great location, updated and no MRs and low HOAs.



I did see FCBs but there was also a good number of non-FCBs which seems more normal in areas like Woodbridge.



Afterwards I went to another open house around the corner on Cedar Creek that was listed for 1.2m. It was also upgraded but a bit too much travertine that was getting pretty dated. It had two master suites, an nice kitchen and a HUGE backyard. I feel sorry for that place because it didn't have close to the amount of traffic that Rock Wren did (although I saw some of the same people) and having a comp killer that's not a fixer upper next to you doesn't help very much.



The funny thing is... maybe 4 years ago we would have considered buying it (I do miss that 3-car wide garage) but I think some of our needs have changed since then so even if it did go for $870k, we probably wouldn't but it today.
 
From the listing:



"Please note that the square footage on the tax role is incorrect - this property had an addition and has an appraisal measurement of 3495."



I wonder if the addition was properly permitted. Now, it's completely possible for an addition to have permits from the city but for the square footage not to filter to the tax people (my own house has that situation), but, if not, that would explain the low price.
 
IR actually profiled this on the main blog:



<a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/comments/open-thread-8-22-2009/">http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/comments/open-thread-8-22-2009/</a>



You know what gets me, there are always people in the comments section dropping their opinions on what Irvine houses should really be priced at and they don't even live here or if local, don't even visit the homes. Would you buy a house just based on pictures alone? So how can you make a well-informed opinion without actually looking at it in person?



The comments say this that this house should go for $600k-$625k... for a 3500sft house in Woodbridge? Seriously... bubble or not, that's 1999 pricing and I actually don't think we'll see those days again. It would be nice... but the FCBs are just way too stubborn.
 
I went and saw this house on Saturday. I agree with what people are saying about the pros and cons.



For me, I liked the floor plan and the flow of the house. However, I wish the laundry was upstairs, the dining room was a bit small, etc. But overall, it was nice. Like most houses, I was a bit annoyed that the built-in area for the TV probably wouldn't fit my widescreen LCD, but that could be ripped out and rebuilt if necessary. The kitchen was nice, and with a few upgrades, could be a lot nicer. I wish it didn't have a pool, especially since the HOA pool is so close by.



I would have to say the biggest negative about this house (IMO) is the proximity to Woodspring Street. Granted, it's not as busy as Yale or Irvine Ctr Dr, but it is a "bigger" neighborhood street. I went over to the house one night last week and spent a few minutes near the driveway and there were quite a few cars going pretty fast down Woodspring. There's the obvious safety issues with having a busy street near by with unobstructed access (and kids playing, etc). But more of a concern is the noise. I would be very upset if I paid $1m for a house and I couldn't sleep with my bedroom windows open at night. Some people don't mind that kind of noise, but for me it's a deal-breaker and probably the reason why I'm not going to consider making an offer.



Other than that, it's a nice house and it will sell for over asking price with no problem. For the short time that I was there on Saturday, there was a lot of buzz on this place. People were very excited about it.



Oh yeah, one more negative on the house... the neighbor behind & one door over seems a bit off his rocker. He stopped by to have a 'few words' with the realtor about some beeping noise that some times comes from the pool area. He was obviously very worked up about it. One person actually said to the realtor, "I like the house, but I don't want to be that guy's neighbor."
 
jackstraw: Thanks for the post... and I agree... Woodspring was also a concern of mine which is why I said I probably would not buy it today... even at the list price... but I know someone will pay more than that for it.
 
[quote author="jackstraw" date=1251160965]I went and saw this house on Saturday. I agree with what people are saying about the pros and cons.



For me, I liked the floor plan and the flow of the house. However, I wish the laundry was upstairs, the dining room was a bit small, etc. But overall, it was nice. Like most houses, I was a bit annoyed that the built-in area for the TV probably wouldn't fit my widescreen LCD, but that could be ripped out and rebuilt if necessary. The kitchen was nice, and with a few upgrades, could be a lot nicer. I wish it didn't have a pool, especially since the HOA pool is so close by.



I would have to say the biggest negative about this house (IMO) is the proximity to Woodspring Street. Granted, it's not as busy as Yale or Irvine Ctr Dr, but it is a "bigger" neighborhood street. I went over to the house one night last week and spent a few minutes near the driveway and there were quite a few cars going pretty fast down Woodspring. There's the obvious safety issues with having a busy street near by with unobstructed access (and kids playing, etc). But more of a concern is the noise. I would be very upset if I paid $1m for a house and I couldn't sleep with my bedroom windows open at night. Some people don't mind that kind of noise, but for me it's a deal-breaker and probably the reason why I'm not going to consider making an offer.



Other than that, it's a nice house and it will sell for over asking price with no problem. For the short time that I was there on Saturday, there was a lot of buzz on this place. People were very excited about it.



Oh yeah, one more negative on the house... the neighbor behind & one door over seems a bit off his rocker. He stopped by to have a 'few words' with the realtor about some beeping noise that some times comes from the pool area. He was obviously very worked up about it. One person actually said to the realtor, "I like the house, but I don't want to be that guy's neighbor."</blockquote>


That is too funny - I was there as well right as this neighbor went off on his rant! He seemed to be complaining about the alarm going off at night or something. He also very loudly told the agent "be careful what you say about the value of this house" when the agent told someone else about some recent comps in the neighborhood. I thought the same thing - potentially nice house, but do I have to live next to this guy?
 
I saw it on Saturday too- I overheard the agent tell another family that they are looking for a really fast close and they want the contingencies removed in 7 days.



Also - The comp on 14 Rockwren is misleading..... that home was 4200+ sq ft and was a complete gut job. It had great millwork too :). This house is nice-- but it really doesn't compare to that one (IMHO).



Still - I too think that it will get multiple offers over $1M.
 
I also went to this open house and I really liked the place. If we didn't buy already, this would be something I would really be interested in for the "listed price", of course. However, I know the buzz is that it will close at a much higher price. Could one of the realtors on this blog please keep us updated on the status of this house; i.e. the final selling price? Hubby and I have a bet going.....
 
[quote author="SCARLETTE" date=1251427842]I also went to this open house and I really liked the place. If we didn't buy already, this would be something I would really be interested in for the "listed price", of course. However, I know the buzz is that it will close at a much higher price. Could one of the realtors on this blog please keep us updated on the status of this house; i.e. the final selling price? Hubby and I have a bet going.....</blockquote>


I'm not a realtor but will update the closing price when I see come through.
 
[quote author="SCARLETTE" date=1251427842]I also went to this open house and I really liked the place. If we didn't buy already, this would be something I would really be interested in for the "listed price", of course. However, I know the buzz is that it will close at a much higher price. Could one of the realtors on this blog please keep us updated on the status of this house; i.e. the final selling price? Hubby and I have a bet going.....</blockquote>
Either IPO, IR2, or myself will update you as soon as we find out what it closed for. Btw, what's the bet?
 
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