Big discount on weird Burbank house

Good morning, Manny, welcome to Los Angeles. For the rest of you, quick links to housing and real estate stories that caught my eye, sometimes with your help:

From Redfin via Curbed LA: A weird Burbank house with a cave has been listed for $999,000, a reduction of $326,000 from its asking price in April.

From Calculated Risk via Manhattan Beach Confidential: There are 1.75 million excess housing units in the U.S.

From Las Vegas Now via patrick.net: Vegas banks are overwhelmed by the foreclosure crisis.

From the Daily Breeze: U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson can get her foreclosed Sacramento house back.

The blogger speaks: Click here, and on the first hour of the July 30 program, to hear Peter Viles discuss the housing rescue bill on KPCC's Patt Morrison program on Wednesday.

The blogger continues to speak: Click here to listen to Viles discuss the California housing market on NPR's "On Point" Thursday.

--Peter Viles
Your thoughts? Comments? Tell me about stories and links you'd like to see here, and blogs and websites you'd like to see featured here.

Comments

[It All Happens on the Margin]

Pete:

There's a great piece on CR via IHB on the return of downpayments as a piece of the Housing Bill recently signed into law, eliminating downpayment assistance:

http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/
comments/downpayments-are-back/

According to Lennar, this program accounted for 1 in 10 home buyers.

Margin, my friends, margin.

[Pat]

Since when did you start writing about yourself in the 3rd person?

[Michael Snyder]

I'll see your cave and raise you a full on grotto complete with waterfall. It's a two year project of a neighbor that's consumed over ninety cubic yards of concrete and is still in progress. That ninety yards is in the water slide, grotto, fire pit & wall. The pool was already in place. At least we know there are no sinkholes nearby. (This home is NOT for sale)

Both of these homes are going to need a "special buyer". With budget cuts looming I'm sure the State will be releasing yet another wave of inmates from the asylum. Perhaps the listing agent might advertise near the gate.

[Steve]

I love the negative media and this just tells me it is time to buy where I am at. The hell hole (Cali) has a few more months to go. I really want to thank the Gov and the Mayor of LA, because I have never had so many calls from Californians that want out. What is sad these are the quality people you want to stay, educated, upper end families with money. So the exoudus is in play and as predictable when I left SoCal 15 years ago, all that will be left is the rich and the poor, the middle class has had it, especailly if you were a native. It is very sad, it was truly paradise and all they had was to secure the borders 25 years ago, it is now too late. I will predict at some point CA will file chapter 11, much like many of the communites are doing now. I cannot wait until the LA Mayor becomes Govenor, demand will triple for my rentals. Keep up the great job, in the interim I need to buy more homes. As a 4th generation I cannot thank you enough for destroying what was paradise.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

Regarding the cave in Burbank, first of all, don't say weird. We are not self-hating Neanderthals.

As for its asking price, $999,000 could be cheap, a bargian, if Cave la Burbank comes with wall paintings in its depth that were painted with colors mixed in the artist's own mouth, with his own saliva, like the Australian aborigines, paintings that reveal the objects of the magician/artist's utmost desire with scenes like starlets being chased, the same chasers/hunters sharpening their hunting tools such as fancy cars, etc. These paintings are worth a lot more than empty, meaningless works by our modern masters.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

When you have people making $6.55/hr working for the government, there is no way they can help take those excess housing inventory off the market.

[The original RZ]

Wow. At first I was going to say that at least this house in Burbank has something (a cave) other homes don't have, so it's possibly worth a million bucks. Then I saw the photos on the cave, and decided that someone would have to pay me a million bucks to take it!

[Laker]

The burbank house with the cave is design for the loan owner to stay in the cave while he get's kicked out of the house due to foreclosure....
Eventually, he will be kicked out of the cave too...
What an overpriced dump (albeit with a cave), what a joke?

An on Richardson, she simply settled with him "York"). Probably got paid by some realtards/home builders and with that cash, paid to "york" for his fixes to the house. Now, she will probably short sell it.
Reality is that it is worth 30-50% less than the loan amount. "You can run, but you can't hind from the truth"

[peteviles]

Pat writes, "Since when did you start writing about yourself in the 3rd person?" Peter Viles thanks you for your comment, Pat.

Peter Viles was up late last night watching old Saturday Night Live repeats, and Dan Akyroyd was doing his Bob Dole impression, in which Bob Dole repeatedly refers to himself as Bob Dole. Peter Viles thought, if it's good enough for Bob Dole it's good enough for Peter Viles.

No, seriously: It was a brain fart. I thought it sounded stupid to say "listen to me." On further review, I think it sounds more stupid to say "listen to Peter Viles."

[Rational Renter]

Why Prices Won't Stop Falling
http://findingbottom.blogspot.com

[l.a.guy]

The Burbankians with the cave must have been big fans of the Flintstones. I love the description of the house as an "elegant estate"; I think it goes without saying that if you have a cave in the back yard then it's got to be an elegant estate. I'm sure it will make some kids very happy though.

[Cal]

If we can get off the blatant Peter Viles self-promotion bandwagon that seems to be infecting this place I have some real news. My cat Angelo Meowzilo really likes the Burbank cave house and wishes to purchase it, anyone know where he can get a stated income loan?

[The original RZ]

Cal, do you mean that dozens of predatory lenders have not already approached Angelo Meowzilo to offer him a mortgage loan (ARM terms, of course) without any prompting from him or you? :-)

[sfvrealestate]

Re the cave house: that's not a cave, it's a swim-up-and-crawl-out lounge. Don't you people know your resort-style architecture when you see it?!
Also, that's one of the nicest streets in Burbank, but $999k is really high for that amount of square footage in that neighborhood. Also, Peter, Tempo mls says that the house was originally listed at $1,095,000, not $1,325,000.

[Cal]

SocalMLS only says $1,075,000 but TheMLS says $1,325,000 as OLP, it's right on the Redfin pages.

The hodgepodge of MLS systems in So Cal is ridiculous. CARETS can't come soon enough.

Listing Price History
Date Price
Feb 28, 2008 $1,075,000
Apr 03, 2008 $999,000

Source: SoCalMLS

Listing Price History
Date Price
Aug 02, 2007 $1,325,000
Sep 10, 2007 $1,175,000
Jan 12, 2008 $1,075,000
Mar 28, 2008 $999,000

Source: TheMLS