your opinion on Watermarke Condos ?

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charlesriver_IHB

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<p>we saw Avenue One, was hesitating. and then I saw some Watermarke on market, at not much more expensive than Avenue One, but has better amenities. Current Sale for 1br1b, 635 sq. is 379k(the cheapest). </p>

<p>Do you think we should try bid on that?</p>

<p>Things I like Watermarke:</p>

<p>1. 5min walk to where my husband work. </p>

<p>2. facing the big wild reservatory, which is the best place i like to jogging in Irvine. </p>

<p>3.has swiming pool/tennis court/gyms</p>

<p>ps. there's corporate rental in Watermarke, and today I asked the price, it is 130$ per day!! </p>

<p>Things I don't like:</p>

<p>1. pricy, and don't know whether it's going to drop again</p>

<p>2. probably the 2 units at low price is at bad location, while the good view/sunshine units are at 430k</p>

<p>We have been searching since Jan 1st, feels like the 1br, 2br condos goes really fast in Westpark. We only want to buy in 92612, 92614 area as so so so tired of driving.. </p>

<p>Any suggestions would be super appreciated! </p>
 
<p>635sqft is a pretty small space to live in for several years. At 380k, you're probably going to be locked in there a little while (assuming no downward momentum) to recover your 6% costs. If you want to have children (assuming not from 1/1), the 1/1 model will not really work for that either.. Rentals are very affordable in Irvine, so it's worth looking at. </p>

<p>Seeing homes in places like pineview selling for $420k tells me Irvine has a serious housing price problem, so we're waiting. Really the only reason we're waiting is preference to have a 3br place that can easily accomodate kids long term. History and economics show the trend lines should recorrect to match the median income at some point, so I'm hopeful.</p>
 
<p>charlesriver,</p>

<p>See my post from yesterday on the Avenue One forum (<a href="http://forums.irvinehousingblog.com/discussion/35/thoughts-on-avenue-one/#Item_0">click</a> to link)...</p>
 
thanks a lot! The things is we have a big house an hour away from Irvine, which is too far away from where we works. After driving a year, feel like it's really a waste of time. We like our house (large part of the reason being we would pay double price to get a similar one in Irvine), so we don't want to sell it. That's why we want to find some small place to live during the weekend. economially renting probably be better, but emotionally my husband couldn't stand the idea that we have a house and we pay rent again.
 
<p>At least one of the units at <a href="http://www.ziprealty.com/buy_a_home/logged_in/search/home_detail.jsp?listing_num=P555645&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;page=1&property_type=CONDO&mls=mls_so_cal&amp;amp;amp;amp;&source=SOCALMLS">Watermarke</a> is being flipped (see <a href="http://www.oc-fliptrack.com/2007/01/2006-silent-summer.html">ocfliptrack</a>)... $439k is the asking price. Poor FB.</p>

<p>Here's my point: The builder is already undercutting recent sales from 2006 (such as the one linked above). In offering you a "competitively priced" property at $379k, they have already screwed this flipper's equity (or whatever they though they had in equity). The offer to you is 14% less than the poor FB.</p>

<p>With what rationale can you say that the builder will not offer something even cheaper down the road later this year and thereby screw your equity also.</p>

<p>I would strongly recommend you snap up this offer if you are a fan of "instant equity evaporation" </p>
 
charlesriver,





If I were you in your situation, assuming married with no kids and not planning to have kids for a while, I'd happily turn that bigger house into a rental property, then use the rental income to subsidize rent on a Watermarke unit.





If the Watermarke unit is everything that your'e looking for and it'd make your husband happy walking 5 min to work daily, just find some other... flipper who bought a unit and need to rent it out to subsidize his mortgage. ;)





But yes, a 1/1 is too small if you intend to have kids later, which is why I don't recommend it as a 'home", and the numbers might not work for investment property either (I don't know that area, so I'm speculating -- don't take it as professional advice).





I used to work in downtown LA and had to spend 3+ hours/day on the freeway. NO MORE. When my company's new office building in Irvine is complete this year, I'll be 5-10 min driving distance away from it via surface streets. Between a large house in San Bernardino and a smaller condo/townhome in Irvine, I'd opt for Irvine with the 5 min commute over 2+ hour commute to/from San Bernardino.
 
<p>MoMopi, I do the same thing, work in Redondo live in Irvine. I'm gladly trying to take a 30k loss in pay to get to a less stressful drive. Wasting 15+hrs a week in driving is not very fun.</p>

<p>I also used to rent in Watermarke and its ok. For me I'd go with Avenue one with their small 602sqft condo because you'll get incentives and a newer place. But just remember the chances of these places devualating is pretty good. I chose Avenue One as a rental because, I needed to spend some money and I can at least write of any usage or devualting that may occour.</p>

<p>good luck</p>

<p>-bix</p>
 
<p>Currently, I see 1bed/1bath 635 sq. ft. Watermarke Condos going from $355 to $399 range. It is obvious that the market for these types of condos is very soft. Realistically, how low do you think these will be? And how long until we start seeing rock bottom prices?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>-dayday</p>
 
IIRC, the builder for Watermarke didn't have a very good rep on the JD Power rankings. I don't know if you could find someone who currently lives there (and is not selling) to give you their opinion. Since they were supposed to be apartments, and were then converted to condos, I would work hard to check out things like soundproofing, etc. that tends to be left out of apartments (and many older condos).
 
<p>I have friends who live in Watermarke and though it is a glorified apt. building, they say that noise isnt an issue at all. I have been over there a couple times and we never heard anyone. </p>
 
<p>There are a lot of high and mid rise condos in development right now. And of course most of them will be priced very high. Since I'm assuming the market for these type of "urban" and "luxurious" condos is very soft, do you think that leaves room for even more depreciation for everything else? I'm priced out of pretty much everything!</p>

<p>dayday</p>
 
<p>Look at this one. Check out the price reductions.</p>

<p>MLS #: U7000785</p>

<p>Only 56 days on the market and $69k reduced in less than a month. That's the right idea, keep on dropping. </p>

<p>







<strong>Price Reduced: 03/13/07 -- $429,000 to $409,000</strong>


<strong>Price Reduced: 04/12/07 -- $409,000 to $360,000</strong>







</p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>







<strong>Last Sale:</strong>

03/14/06





<strong>Sales Price:</strong>

$417,000







</p>

<p><strong>Paging Zovall!</strong></p>

<p>Some flipper on Watermarke is watching their retirement funds Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away...</p>




<img src="http://enya.tricon.hu/gall/images/1record/1995tmot/_cover/1record_1995tmot__cover7.jpg">
 
oc_fliptrack - OMG, you just brought me back to college! I used to play Enya's album over and over and over in my tiny little "mini-single" dorm room at the University of Miami. Go Hurricanes!
 
<p>dayday, don't forget that the seller will pay for 2 years of the HOA. At $286/month, that's nearly 7K, effectively making the price 353K.</p>
 
dayday, Thanks for the flip! oc, Thanks for the pic :)





I've got some material for a couple flips and I hope to pump them out soon.
 
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