With the shortage of homes and the competition to buy the good ones a few builders are throwing up sticks again. The prices they are asking leave me scratching my head wondering how they will sell any. But remarkably enough people seem to be buying them. How they are getting loans is beyond me.
Pacific Homes has started building again in Moreno Valley. They had folded this tract up for a couple of years but I noticed they were building again when I was over playing golf at The Ranch GC. They were asking nearly $700k for these at the peak. Now they are asking just over $400k. But that is still nearly $100 s/f (in MoVal?). The average price in this area is closer to $80 s/f. So purchasing one of these new homes puts you about 20% underwater the minute you take the keys. It's like buying a new car.
26891 Cimarron Canyon is a new home and it's mini McMansion in this tract. Not done just yet but the builder has it listed for $409k or $97 s/f
Or you can buy 26991 Cimarron Canyon. This home was built in 2007 and sold for $571k, which was a good deal at the time because they were asking a lot more for these just a few months prior to that. But this one has already gone back to the bank and is offered as an REO for $312k or $75 s/f. The house looks nice, it's not thrashed it's just priced in line with most of the other stuff in MoVal.
So how do builders figure they can get 20% more for the same house? How to people get loans on these things? There's no way a legitimate appraisal will come in at those new home prices. And what the hell are they doing building more 4000 s/f homes?