Shady Canyon

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[quote author="sc fan" date=1254899881]shady canyon is closer to the coast than beverly hills is.</blockquote>




I think you would agree that beverly hills has a couple things going for it that shady canyon does not.
 
[quote author="sc fan" date=1254955541]yes, but i think you would agree that shady canyon has a few things going for it that beverly hills does not.</blockquote>


If you mean shrubs, heat, lack of character, and that oh so lovely desert feel, then yes.
 
[quote author="not a realtor" date=1254961316][quote author="sc fan" date=1254955541]yes, but i think you would agree that shady canyon has a few things going for it that beverly hills does not.</blockquote>


If you mean shrubs, heat, lack of character, and that oh so lovely desert feel, then yes.</blockquote>


Just wondering if you have been there at all or if you are basing your comments on pictures/websites?
 
Personally I am not a huge fan of Shady Canyon, but for the life of me I can not see why anyone would want to live in Beverly Hills; citified pretentiouness with no privacy, surrounded by yech.
 
[quote author="Roo" date=1254964809][quote author="not a realtor" date=1254961316][quote author="sc fan" date=1254955541]yes, but i think you would agree that shady canyon has a few things going for it that beverly hills does not.</blockquote>


If you mean shrubs, heat, lack of character, and that oh so lovely desert feel, then yes.</blockquote>


Just wondering if you have been there at all or if you are basing your comments on pictures/websites?</blockquote>


i've been there. know someone building a house there.
 
[quote author="awgee" date=1254970161]Personally I am not a huge fan of Shady Canyon, but for the life of me I can not see why anyone would want to live in Beverly Hills; citified pretentiouness with no privacy, surrounded by yech.</blockquote>


I dont see much difference
 
dear 'not a realtor'



a lot of us are not a realtor too but for as much as shady canyon is clearly not the neighborhood for you i don't see why you are such an active participant in a forum dedicated to shady canyon.
 
[quote author="Stuff It" date=1254980523][quote author="awgee" date=1254970161]Personally I am not a huge fan of Shady Canyon, but for the life of me I can not see why anyone would want to live in Beverly Hills; citified pretentiouness with no privacy, surrounded by yech.</blockquote>


I dont see much difference</blockquote>
For me, Shady is much different than BH. Shady has way more open space and the surrounding areas are very nice middle class. All the utilities are underground. And some of the houses in Shady are beautiful. Maybe the same could be said about BH homes though.
 
[quote author="not a realtor" date=1254961316][quote author="sc fan" date=1254955541]yes, but i think you would agree that shady canyon has a few things going for it that beverly hills does not.</blockquote>


If you mean shrubs, heat, lack of character, and that oh so lovely desert feel, then yes.</blockquote>


I like the shrubs, but heat, lack of character, and desert feel? Don't know where you are coming from. Maybe it's hot compared to the seaside, lacks character compared to some other areas which don't regulate the building style so strictly...Desert feel? Cacti don't only grow in the desert, you know :)
 
So find an area with a cool climate with lots of character and shrubs that you like and move there. Puget Sound or Vancouver Island come to mind. But give the argument a rest, please....



Anyone ante up the $35 to visit this years Philharmonic House of Design on Canyon Creek? It seems to be bringing a fair amount of traffic into Shady which might help spur some sales - there has been a distinct lack of open houses in the past few months so the weekend traffic of looky-loos has been minimal compared to last summer.



Couple of other observations - 51 Echo Glen just came on the market at over $10 million, and 21 Ridgeview in Turtle Ridge just came on the market for - whoa Nelly - $5.4 million! (insert rolly-eyes icon here....)



The number of unlived-in new homes in Shady has dwindled to an all time low - I'm counting only 5 remaining and one of those is still under construction. Plenty of resales, however, and lots of homes under construction but whether they are going on the market or not is unknown. I heard that the new home on Tree Fern might go up for sale, so there actually may be 6.
 
zulu, you're right, a lot of people are taking notice that there are very few new properties available. true, tree fern is coming on the market soon but there are a few custom homes in escrow so the overall healthy trend of less inventory and less 'for spec' in the pipeline seems to be continuing.



i think its worth noting that the lack of speculative construction financing naturally lowers the number of spec homes in the pipeline. bankers tell me not to expect easing of speculative construction lending for at least a year. not only has this lowered the number of participants, more importantly - it first removed and has barred weaker participants. what i've heard from many of those currently building further confirms this - i usually hear that the home is for themselves not 'for spec'. shady canyon is maturing, this in evidenced by fewer than 50 vacant lots, a good portion of which is in the design phase. from what i've gathered would be spec builders that can are waiting for a better marketing window and those than can't are throwing in the towel and selling off their lots - more than likely to people who plan to build to live in the home (margins on spec building are so low that it won't attract many).



on new vs resale, anyone would want new/never lived in/barely used and this has made it tough to resell in shady. however, once newer properties become downright scarce i would expect resales to fare better than they have. shady canyon is headed in this direction...
 
[quote author="sc fan" date=1256027954]zulu, you're right, a lot of people are taking notice that there are very few new properties available. true, tree fern is coming on the market soon but there are a few custom homes in escrow so the overall healthy trend of less inventory and less 'for spec' in the pipeline seems to be continuing.



i think its worth noting that the lack of speculative construction financing naturally lowers the number of spec homes in the pipeline. bankers tell me not to expect easing of speculative construction lending for at least a year. not only has this lowered the number of participants, more importantly - it first removed and has barred weaker participants. what i've heard from many of those currently building further confirms this - i usually hear that the home is for themselves not 'for spec'. shady canyon is maturing, this in evidenced by fewer than 50 vacant lots, a good portion of which is in the design phase. from what i've gathered would be spec builders that can are waiting for a better marketing window and those than can't are throwing in the towel and selling off their lots - more than likely to people who plan to build to live in the home (margins on spec building are so low that it won't attract many).



on new vs resale, anyone would want new/never lived in/barely used and this has made it tough to resell in shady. however, once newer properties become downright scarce i would expect resales to fare better than they have. shady canyon is headed in this direction...</blockquote>
I would say that the healthy of the Shady Canyon RE market is highly dependent upon the stock market and healthy of the economy. As both improve it will bring in buyers to absorb both resale and failed spec-to-flip homes. The decrease in inventory levels is happening almost in every city in Orange County along with places like Las Vegas and Phoenix. All that being said, I still believe that Shady Canyon prices still have some downside left.
 
Well, from experience I can say that construction financing is pretty much non-existent for owner-builders, and if you're building for spec it is pretty much impossible to get unless you go for private money at 14-16% plus plus.



As far as profit margin on a spec home goes - it's not really a question of how much you can make building a spec home in Shady, it's how much you will lose. I don't see how you can build a home in Shady, sell it, and make money if you have any financing costs whatsoever. I suppose if you can get a nice lot for $1.2-1.5m or less you could possibly break even. But even with building costs WAY down from what they were before, I think the best case scenario is to break even or get out with a 5-10% loss IF, and only if, you build for cash. So spec building must stop - it will stop - because the profit margins don't exist any more. I look at costs every day on my own home - I know what previous builders/owners have paid for the same thing and I know I'm paying a fraction of what they did - and if I were to sell my home it would be at break even at best. eBay has become my best friend, especially with plumbing fixtures, hardware and some kitchen appliances. It all adds up, and you can really save money building your own home, but you can't realistically hope for a profit selling into this market.
 
I think building a one-off home only makes sense if you are building your dream home; IE, you are willing to pay extra to have it just the way you want it. Building lone houses on spec seems like an obvious losing proposition to me in this market. A tract builder has economies of scale at work; a guy building a single house most certainly does not.



Due to this, I think lone empty lots have almost no value in this market.
 
zulu,



could you share some of the most valuable lessons you have learned and/or are learning by building your dream home in terms of design and / or finish? what are you glad you did? what are you glad you didn't? what do you wish you did? what do you wish you didn't?



i'd appreciate the advice,
 
[quote author="sc fan" date=1256211347]zulu,



could you share some of the most valuable lessons you have learned and/or are learning by building your dream home in terms of design and / or finish? what are you glad you did? what are you glad you didn't? what do you wish you did? what do you wish you didn't?



i'd appreciate the advice,</blockquote>


Related question. Do you (Zulu) have a background and/or experience in development/architecture/aesthetics, at the very least. The reason I ask is that I believe the vast majority of people should never even attempt to build a custom home as they are simply unequipped to address the myriad choices with the forethought an cohesion necessary to produce an appealing outcome.
 
Looks like 65 Canyon Creek finally closed on 10/15/09 for $3,450,000 or $515/sf. The owner used conventional financing and the sale was described as a short pay.
 
39 echo glen recorded just 2 months ago for a cool $10million - a nice property - big lot with spacious backyard with a gazebo, pool, and view, 5 car garage, 10,000 sqft with most of it above ground (very usable/livable) an accomodating, pleasing layout. that works out to $1000 per square foot.



also, 42 echo glen recorded 2 weeks ago. it recorded for $4,975,000 for approx 7200sqft which is approx $691psf (it was listed but marked delisted on redfin rather than closed - most likely for privacy).



in a time when most sales are less desirable properties sold by weaker or distressed sellers, it is refreshing to see some sales with values taking into account location, view, quality, size, design, etc...
 
[quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1256257614][quote author="sc fan" date=1256211347]zulu,



could you share some of the most valuable lessons you have learned and/or are learning by building your dream home in terms of design and / or finish? what are you glad you did? what are you glad you didn't? what do you wish you did? what do you wish you didn't?



i'd appreciate the advice,</blockquote>


Related question. Do you (Zulu) have a background and/or experience in development/architecture/aesthetics, at the very least. The reason I ask is that I believe the vast majority of people should never even attempt to build a custom home as they are simply unequipped to address the myriad choices with the forethought an cohesion necessary to produce an appealing outcome.</blockquote>


Hmmm, I can see where you are coming from, but then again, if theya re building a custom home for themselves, then does it matter? as long as you know what you like...



Of course, building a house that would have just as much appeal to future buyers might be a completely different matter. One with such foresight would probably work closely with an architect who could give good advice and guidance.
 
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