Not so good in Laguna Hills

Not only are a few arguing the market is past the bottom, they see what approaches double-digit appreciation by the summer. If the market as a whole went up almost 10%, and swept up this property with it, would you be willing to pay that much more for this Laguna Hills property?

24692 Julie Ave, 92653
Asking price: $649,000
Previous sales price: $395,000
Previous sales date: 8/14/00

Beds:	5
Baths:	2.75
Sq. Ft.:	2,900
$/Sq. Ft.:	$224
Lot Size:	8,125 Sq. Ft.
Property Type:	Residential, Single Family
Style:	Two Level, Modern
Year Built:	1978
Community:	Laguna Hills
County:	Orange
MLS#:	V09110998
Source:	CARETS
Status:	Active
On Redfin:	17 days

From listing: Very nice beautifully maintained home with open floorplan & high ceilings, set back from the street yet has a good size backyard w/ covered patio, grassy area & side patio. A gardener's delight, landscaped yard has brick trimmed planters on both sides of the house. Freshly painted inside & out. Main level has four bedrooms including a master suite, two baths, huge living rm, dining rm w/ french doors that opens to side patio, big cheerful kitchen with newly reglazed countertop, family rm w/ fireplace that opens to covered patio, yard & spa. Dont miss the spacious suite on the 2nd level accessed thru the door to the garage. It has a living rm, huge walk-in closet and a cozy bedrm, dressing area and bathrm. The garage has room for one car, partly used for stairway access, but driveway has parking area for at least 4 more cars, plus a covered carport big enough for a boat or RV. Truly a delightful home in a great convenient location to shops and freeway access.

This is one of those that we wouldn't really want to own at any price because the property just isn't our thing. The architecture and layout is dated, plus you back to a shopping center, which backs to the freeway. Yikes.

As Redfin says, the current owners have held this property for almost a decade and are now ready to move on. To be more precise, they've already moved on as you can see from the fact that the house is empty.

If one were to look at asking price per square foot, at $224 it doesn't seem too outrageous - considering the house is 2,900 square feet. But the price tag of nearly $650k for this 30-year-old house without many frills seems like a reach.

But, if there is the appreciation predicted by First American CoreLogic (referenced at the top of this post), this property could soon be well over $700k by summer. Chuckle.