This week’s Foreclosure Friday focuses on South Pasadena.  Laurie, our renovator extraordinaire, and I headed out to look at a cute bungalow that came up on the real estate market a few weeks ago.  It’s located at 123 Monterey Road in South Pasadena.  This home sits on the border of South Pasadena and Highland Park on a very busy street.  A cute bungalow, painted an interesting green, shows promise as a condo alternative.  Perfect for home buyers not interested in playing with grass or maintaining a lawn.

So… how did this South Pasadena bungalow came to be on the foreclosure market?  Here’s some history on it:

It was purchased in April 2006 for … with a loan of $520,000.

Owners defaulted on their loan in autumn of 2008 and then again in early 2009.

The bank filed a Notice of Default and finally the home went to auction or a Trustee Sale in May of 2009 at which time there were no takers and Countrywide took over the property.

This house for unknown reasons did not go on the market until January 2010 – almost 8 months after Countrywide foreclosed.  Hmm… remember the “shadow inventory” that we talked about in our previous posts!

Read More:  Foreclosure Homes for Sale

Let’s take a look at the video of our walk through of the home first and then we’ll do a bit of real estate analysis:

Property Details:

Asking Price:  $497,900

Built in 1908

2 bedrooms and 1 bath

860 sq. ft. per assessor – interior

3,167 sq. ft. per assessor – lot

Price per square foot:  A whopping $563.84

List Price:  $484,900

UPDATE:  list price reduced to $472,900 on March 4, 2010

Just had a $15,000 price reduction last week.

UPDATE:  List price was once again reduced to $461,900 on April 17, 2010

On April 30, 2010, it finally went under contract and officially sold (closed escrow) on June 7th, 2010 for a sales price of $430,000.  It was on the market for 112 days!  And sold around $500/sq. ft.

Here’s how this home is listed in the Multiple Listing Service:

[idx-listing mlsnumber=”f1830146″ showpricehistory=”true” showschools=”true” showextradetails=”true” showfeatures=”true” showlocation=”true”]

I am a little confused as far as the pricing goes for this home.  Usually, bank owned, foreclosure homes for sale are priced at or below market.

This home is priced significantly above South Pasadena home prices.  The average price per square foot for sales in the 1/2 mile radius for homes sold is $395.68 as of 2/5/10.

READ MORE:  South Pasadena Real Estate Data 2003- 2009

This foreclosure is on a busy street, situated next to apartment buildings and has no grass to speak of since it’s on a tiny lot that’s covered in concrete.  It certainly is a cute bungalow, but very, very overpriced.

Is this the bank’s way of trying to recover some of their losses?  They would have been better off pricing it correctly and putting this South Pasadena bungalow on the real estate market immediately upon foreclosing back in May of 09.

READ MORE:  Foreclosure Process Steps

Credit Life after Foreclosure and Short Sale

Next week, we’ll take a look at another property that has been foreclosed on in South Pasadena just a few blocks away.

In the meantime, give me a shout if you have any questions or are interested in buying or selling a home in South Pasadena or surrounding neighborhoods.

More South Pasadena homes for sale:

[idx-listings city=”South Pasadena” propertytypes=”516″ orderby=”Price” orderdir=”DESC”]

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Views Real Estate Team

Pasadena, CA 

(626)629-VIEW(8439)