A Little Condo Price Battle

There may be a friendly neighborhood price battle brewing for 2 similar condos on Calle de Paseo in Lake Forest, CA.

21093 Calle de Paseo
3 bedroom, 3 bath Condo, 1606 sq feet, purchased just over 4 years ago for $480,000.
Asking Price: $399,000 ($248/sq foot)
Days on Redfin: 304

21143 Calle de Paseo
Another 3 bedroom, 3 bath condo, 1623 sq feet, purchased March 2007 only a few months from OC market peak at a breathtaking $530,000.
Asking Price: $379,000 ($234/sq foot)
Days on Redfin: 8

According to Redfin, both are short sales.

There remains yet a third condo for sale on the same street:

21123 Calle de Paseo
2 bed, 3 bath, 1441 sq feet priced quite differently.
Asking price: $429,900 ($298)
Days on Redfin: 491

21143 must have seen the writing on the wall and gone for the jugular with the $20K under comp (21093) asking price.

Even if a potential buyer were to come on the scene for any of these condos located in the same lovely area, short sales can take an awful long time to shake out.

2 Bed, 2 Bath Aliso Viejo Condo Awaits You. Just $430,000!

Aliso Viejo is a lovely Orange County community positioned south of Lake Forest and north of Mission Viejo, California.

16 Alicante
1,496 square feet in size ($287/sq foot)
2 bedrooms
2 bath
2 car garage
Price: $430,000
Last Buy Price: April 1993, $125,000

Assuming you can scrounge up $86,000 for the 20% down payment, you can finance the remaining $344,000 with a fixed rate 30 year mortgage. Monthly mortgage payment at a 6.13% mortgage rate from the local bank and presto: A monthly mortage payment of just $2,091.29. That was easy!

But wait a second. What do we see just down the road nearby?
Another 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo, slightly smaller in size, for $390,000!
A $40,000 difference!

87 Pamplona
1,213 square feet in size ($322.00/sq foot - WTF?)
2 bedrooms
2 bath
2 car garage
Price: $390,000 as of Feb 18 (holy crap!)
Original Buy Price: November 2006, $421,172 (holy crap again!)
Days on Market: 137 days (yikes!)

And dammit if both condos don't have brand new gas stoves!

Aarrrrghhh! Runaway!

Come on people! Let's get with the program, shall we!
The temporarily increased loan limits are starting to make no sense at all if people keep dropping their pants on price!