bubbleinfo.com

We’ve seen glimpses of ColRich and Pulte, the third builder in La Costa Oaks North is Standard Pacific:

Remember the guy who bought the new-home foreclosure in Leucadia for $810,000 in January, 2010?

He found out later that the house he bought was tied up with the Barratt bankruptcy, due to the low-income housing required by the City of Encinitas.  The City wouldn’t issue any notices of competion on the remaining lots/houses without an answer for the low-income housing.  Enter Shea Homes, who paid $3,975,000 for the the corner we call Tyvek Estates, and then made a deal on the low-income housing lot.

Now things are moving again – for everyone:

Sales might slow down just because so many of the houses have issues:

New tracts are more concerned about holding on price, and waiting – a plan that usually takes a couple of years before selling out.

I think we’ll see more and more sellers try a similar program.  They’ll list during the selling season – at their price – and if a buyer comes along that’ll pay within 5% or so, then great.  If not, the sellers will wait until next year.

We’ll see sporatic sales here and there, and wonder the the future holds.

It’ll be the new norm – low sales counts, and uncertainty.

A tour of the two bigger Sandalwood models in La Costa Oaks in southeast Carlsbad:

Manzanita Trail next door had combined the homes with zero-lot-lines and regular detached homes in the same tract, and have sold all but a couple of their 187 homes available.

They have split the concept now – Hampton Lane’s 114 homes will all be the zero-lot-line format with interior locations, and a separate tract of the regular detached homes will start later this year on the perimeters.

Pardee will muddle through the Hampton sales (half of the 18 available are taken) until they open the tract of regulars.  If those sell briskly, the zeros should enjoy some spill-over. Here’s the model tour:

Hat tip to Susie for sending this along, from the latimes.com:

Scattered across 540 acres of San Diego County hills and ravines, the 235 opulent homes of the Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe flank a private golf course and country club with tile-roofed towers inspired by Tuscan villages.

The placid panorama belies decades of bruising battles among the project’s developers. The cast includes home-building titan Lennar Corp., a bankrupt La Jolla deal maker and, in an improbable late entry, con man-turned-preacher Barry Minkow.

The dispute ultimately led to a federal criminal conviction against Minkow and a continuing investigation by the Justice Department. But it all began here, at a classic Southern California home development that promised riches for its partners but ended up exacting a high price on the key players.

The court filings offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a high-end real estate deal gone bad.

Lennar, the venture’s main financier and manager, says it lost $50 million on the Bridges in spite of the custom-built mansions and expensive tract homes gracing its hillsides. Sales soared during the housing boom, but by 2009 the company was moving only one home every two months, San Diego real estate consultant Russell Valone said.

“Lennar did not go into this project thinking they were going to sell half a unit a month,” said Valone, the president of MarketPointe Realty Advisors. “There’s no way they planned on being there that long — they’re a public company and they want to get that money back and put it to work.”

At the center of the wrangling is Lennar’s partner at the Bridges: Nicolas Marsch III, 64, of La Jolla. A native of Chicago, where his family was in the construction business, Marsch took the helm of the enterprise in the 1970s and set out to make his fortune as a developer in California and Colorado.

Marsch ultimately set his sights on Rancho Santa Fe, 25 miles north of downtown San Diego. Described by CBS sportscaster and former resident Dick Enberg as “Beverly Hills in the country,” the very private suburb caught the world’s attention in 1997 when 39 cultists at a rented mansion poisoned themselves in expectation of ascending to a spaceship.

Marsch had purchased much of the Rancho Santa Fe land by the early 1980s. He launched the project he then called Horizon Country Club in 1985, in a partnership with a wealthy Northern California developer, Ronald Williams.

Click here for full story:

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-marsch-20110624,0,1171722,full.story

If you want a new house around the I-15 corridor, here’s a sample.

There are 3-4 tracts at the north end of 4S Ranch, and I believe this is the biggest model available:

The final build-out of La Costa Oaks in SE Carlsbad is underway.

The Copperwood tract, which is up and over the ridge with some ocean views, enjoyed great success in the $800,000 to $1,200,000 range.

These two new tracts are on the backside of the same hill, where there is traffic noise from Rancho Santa Fe Rd., and influence from San Elijo Hills, giving more of a San Marcos feel to the area (though they’re in the Encinitas school district).

But price is everything – buying a new house in Carlsbad from the high-$600,000s that has Encinitas schools is a hot ticket.  Look at the crowds that came out yesterday for the grand openings:

If you are interested in having us to assist you, email jim@jimklinge.com. There is no charge, the builders pay us - but Richard or I will need to accompany you on your first visit.

What can we do for you on new construction? 1) There is heavy pressure to use the builders’ lender, we’ll help determine if you are getting a fair deal. 2) The upgrades are expensive; we’ll assist with identifying which are cost-effective. 3) We’ll have our professional inspector complete a thorough review of the property prior to closing to make sure they built it right.  4) We’ll keep giving you bubbleinfo along the way.

Mozart mentioned the Shea Homes presentation last night to the City of Encinitas regarding new tract developments they’d like to build around Leucadia.

We at bubbleinfo.com try to be responsive to our readers!

I’m also hoping to have Richard supplement our regular video fare – here’s his review of the Leucadia sites that have Shea’s name on them.  He’s getting better at his videos, though he isn’t as suspicious as JtR.

I’m guessing that the City is going to allow the Vulcan tract to suffice for all low-income requirements – hit the pause button at the 3:47-minute mark:

Hat tip to College Joe and the Leucadia Blog: