Just Sold: 26592 Sotelo Dr Mission Viejo

I know what you are thinking Mission Viejo?, Before you say “Ellis enough with this Orange County thing. already, Come home, we miss you in the Beach Cities” let me tell you what’s going on.

I am home and doing a lot of business at the beach. In fact, last week I listed a 3 on a lot in North Redondo Beach which is already in escrow at over $100K over the list price. So still doing my Redondo-Hermosa-Manhattan thing. In fact I have one open escrow in each.

But you know my motto this year: “Have car - will travel”. Here’s why. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a whole lot fewer cars on the road. So if I can get pretty much anywhere in about an hour, why not? Particularly with the low inventory.

When a long time landlord client of mine asked if I could help him buy a new primary residence in the OC, my response was “yes and when do you want to start looking?”

LESSONS LEARNED

Pretty much wherever you go right now, the story is the same:

extremely low inventory
first weekend feeding frenzy
multiple offers and bidding wars
waive contingencies
no credits or repairs
houses are houses

In other words, other than driving a bit, nothing changes wherever you go in the current market environment.

FLIPPERS KEEP FLIPPING

This property was marketed as basically an almost down to the studs remodel and for all intents and purposes it was. With the usual flipper shortcuts like no new water heater (c’mon you should have put in tankless) and the garage doors weren’t working at the inspection or final walk through. One of my favorites was the standalone bathtub was loose as were other plumbing fixtures. And then the day my client moved in there was a gas leak that didn’t exist at the time of inspection (most likely happened when the property was tented and the gas was shut off). And the cable outlets were not connected to any actual wiring.

The good news is that the flipper / seller really stepped up and took care of everything for my buyers. Both he and the listing agent were a pleasure to work with because they realize that in this business, reputation is everything and all you really have.