kaulat

Today's property is a throwback to the old days when you could buy an apartment for a good price, put a little elbow grease into it, quickly put it back on the market, and walk away with an easy, pocket-bulging profit. Unfortunately for this dolt, those old days of easy flipping are long gone and buyers know better than to fall prey to the greed-infused motivations of gold-bricking shysters. ADDRESS: 4301 East 2ND St Unit 3b, Long Beach, CA 90803 WISHING PRICE: $535,000 PURCHASE PRICE: $360,000 OVERLY OPTIMISTIC PROFIT TARGET: $140,000 BEDS: 2 BATHS: 2 SQ. FT.: 1,218 $/SQ. FT.: $439 YEAR BUILT: 1965 COMMUNITY: Belmont Shore/Park/Naples/Marina Pacific/Bay Harbor MLS#: P757318 DOWN PAYMENT: $107,000 INCOME REQUIREMENT: $122,000/year MONTHLY NUT (AT 5.05%): $2,900 HOA: $195 DESCRIPTION: Standard sale. Amazing ocean and Cataline views. Stunning end unit. Complete remodel, Kitchen has custom limestone floors, granite countertops, all new Bosch built-in appliances. Beautiful bat...

Thanks to LBCee for sending in today's property. Address: 242 PROSPECT Ave, Long Beach, CA 90803 Wishing Price: $1,350,000 BEDS: 2 BATHS: 0.75 SQ. FT.: 1,476 $/SQ. FT.: $915 LOT SIZE: 6,347 Sq. Ft. YEAR BUILT: 1923 COMMUNITY: Belmont Heights/ Alamitos Heights MLS #: P769097 ON REDFIN : 10 days DESCRIPTION: This lovely bungalow will captivate you from the moment you step inside with its warm character and special attention to detail. Enter the garden dolloped with colorful flowers and bushes. Don't miss the exterior walls which were painted with what looks like whipped cream. Walk up the Spanish tiled steps to the veranda and enter your dream home through the gorgeous custom wrought iron double doors. Step inside to see a large main living space with lots of sunlight. Don't miss the custom hand-cut 12' wood plank flooring. A separate dining area leads you to a beautifully remodeled chef's kitchen with granite countertops and backsplash and top of the lin...

Sold on 12/17/2010 - $200,900 Wow. What a ride for this welted chunk of excrement. More than 1,000 days on the market and the bank finally approved a short sale at the price it should have been at all along. Just look at this lesson in incompetence: Dec 17, 2010 Sold (MLS) (Closed) $200,900 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Jul 31, 2010 Pending (Backup Offers Accepted) -- -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Jul 19, 2010 Price Changed $199,900 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Jun 23, 2010 Price Changed $219,900 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 May 19, 2010 Price Changed $225,000 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Mar 03, 2010 Price Changed $250,000 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Dec 30, 2009 Price Changed $289,000 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Dec 30, 2009 Relisted (Active) -- -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Dec 03, 2009 Pending -- -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Nov 12, 2009 Price Changed $239,000 -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Oct 30, 2009 Relisted (Active) -- -- Inactive CARETS #P701097 Sep 23, 2009 Pending (Pending Sale) -- -- ...

Sold on 09/01/10 - $440,000 After 15 months on the market (so long they finally gave up and returned the staging furniture -- check out the new listing photos) and 12% in price cuts, they finally found a buyer. Look, this is a beautifully restored house in a decent neighborhood (I'm being generous...this lower-income, rental-filled 'hood is marginal at best), but this buyer still overpaid. Straight up. He could have waited a bit longer and saved himself a substantial chunk of loot. $383 per square foot, although an okay deal on the surface, is at least $120 more per square foot than the going rate in this area. Yes, you have to factor in how the plethora of condos in this rental-inundated area affects the ppsft, but the overall point is that's a rich premium to pay. And it goes back to the aforementioned golden rule of real estate: Buy the crappiest house in the nicest neighborhood. And look, I get that some people would rather let another jackass spend all of his loot pain...

Sold on 09/09/10 - $1,200,000 To recap, after purchasing this property right after the peak of The Great Housing Bubble for $950,000 , the former owner demolished the existing home and built this overwrought monstrosity with what I imagine was a hefty construction loan. Unfortunately, the minute ground was broken on this eyesore of a McCastle, the real estate market began its horrific, Great Depression-esque decline. Stuck with an asset that was losing money before it was even completed, he spent the next eleven months sweating .50-caliber bullets, wishing that the housing market would somehow stop its rampant, freight-train powered return back to normalcy before he got his masterpiece on the market. Wish in one hand, and crap in the other...and see which one fills up first. We all know how that worked out. And so, in January of this year, after dicking around with extend-and-pretend short sale tactics, the bank finally foreclosed on his ass and took back the property for $1,260,000 ...