[quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1226419375][quote author="graphrix" date=1226415370]Right, 80%, give or take, of the purchases in Irvine are made by Asians. Same as it was in 2006 and 1996. It hasn't changed.</blockquote>
Sorry... I'm not sure what you mean by this.
If the above poster says 80% of the purchases of REOs are by asians with significant down payments... doesn't that mean that unlike other areas where asians are NOT buying... parts of Irvine won't be hit as hard?
From what I've been reading here... there are multiple factors as to why prices are going to decrease... the most relevant to me being affordability, income and buying power. The current financial crisis has shown that majority of people cannot afford to purchase at current prices due to one or more of those factors. However, if there are a high percentage of buyers (ie Asians) where those factors do not really come into play... won't that slow the decrease somewhat?
I'm not trying to be bullish... I know prices will drop... I'm just wondering how much in certain areas. I think you were the one who posted fliers from the last peak in 1990 for new homes... how much did those average in drops to 1996/7 (just the new homes)?
I'm not asking these questions to prove anyone wrong or right... I'm asking them so that I can try to gauge a good prediction of where prices are going to be in 3 to 4 years because I'm currently doing things that will be greatly affected by what happens then.</blockquote>
No need to defend yourself. You have admitted that you have begun the Kool-Aid detox process.
My point was, there are always buyers of RE, and especially in Irvine. Also, many of the purchases of RE in Irvine are Asian buyers. It doesn't matter if it is an REO, a new home, or just a normal resale. Buyers will buy the homes if they are priced for what people think they are worth, and Irvine happens to have always had a high percentage of Asian buyers. This is not new, it has always been like that. It's just that no one gave a rats a$$ when homes were selling like crazy, or even before that, to actually look at the demographics of the buyers. Only now, when people spew the BS that the Asians will save the Irvine market, that people start to point out a fact that has always been there. My other point was that many of the foreclosures in Irvine and all of OC are Asian owners. Foreclosures do not discriminate, they see no color, they don't know the difference between Kim and Smith, all they see is the money that should be coming is not, so go get that asset and sell it to a Kim or a Smith, whomever is willing to buy it.
BTW, I am good, really good friends with a Korean family, and they are mainlining the Kool-Aid right now. I try to tell them they are knife catchers if they buy right now, but my hacked up Korean comes out as "I would like to sh*t on your BBQ, and pee in your flowers." So needless to say, it doesn't go over well.