Temple City is a small community-city bordering Arcadia and even crosses it in some areas. As seen on the map below, it is a little less than half the size of Arcadia,  For all you TC Rams, I’ve highlighted your city in green.

Today let’s look at what $630,000 will buy you in each city.

36 Alta St #b
Arcadia, CA 91006

Listing Price: $628,000 ($458/sf)

• Beds: 3
• Baths: 2.5
• Sq. Ft.: 1,372

This is your typical Arcadia stucco’d box townhouse. You basically have no backyard, no driveway and probably share a wall with the unit next door. For $628k, one can argue that it’s a great price for a newly built property (2007). Unfortunately, the market says otherwise because this particular unit has been sitting on the market for 161 days.

These are popular because many buyers would prefer to not spend the time and money maintaining a yard. Unfortunately, this property comes attached with a monthly $147 HOA fee. So I guess you still end up paying for the maintenace.

5760 Camellia Ave
Temple City, CA 91780

Listing Price: $629,000 ($486/sf)

• Beds: 3
• Baths: 2.5
• Sq. Ft.: 1,295

For this atypical Temple City home, you lose a room and restroom but gain 6,000sf in land. It is a 1931 custom built brick home and located near the corner of Temple City Blvd. and Las Tunas Dr. It is blocks from the Arcadia/Temple City border but that distance is the difference between a single family home and new townhouse.

Obviously, I’m not claiming these are comparable properties. But given $630,000, would you go for an older single family home or the newer attached product? Aside from the different school districts, Temple City and Arcadia basically share all the same amenities in the immediate area.

Holy cow! I can’t keep up with all the new $2,000,000+ listing that keep popping up every other day. This will be an interesting Summer as all the folks who can’t afford their McMansions anymore try to pawn it off to a lucky clueless buyer. Heck, some of them will even try to make a buck or two during the process….

2428 S 2nd Ave
Arcadia, CA 91006

Asking price? A whopping $3,188,000 (478/sf)!

You are in fact getting a lot of home for the money:

• Beds: 6
• Baths: 6.5
• Sq. Ft.: 6,671

It is possible to squeeze 3 families into a home this size. Unfortunately, similar to other million dollar plus homes I’ve profiled, privacy is not something $3MM+ will buy you. This house is sitting on a tiny 1/3 acre:

In fact, if you carefully look, only a 5’+ wall separates you from the neighbor’s backyard (also another McMansion).

At $3,188,000, this seller want to make a cool $500,000 on his investment.

SALES HISTORY

Date Price Appreciation
May ’91 $340,000
Oct ’96 $80,000 -23.6%/yr
Nov ’04 $713,000 31.2%/yr
Nov ’06 $2,688,000 92.5%/yr

This is ridiculous. Even in extraordinarily pricey areas, $3.2MM can buy you more than a over-sized home. Take Newport Coast for instance. You’re money won’t go too far in this community, but dollar for dollar you at least get a view of the Pacific Ocean.

6 Dolomiti
Newport Coast, CA 92657

Today we have two homes. They are both similar in size, acreage and condition. In this case, it’s the location and school district which will determine what their true market is. Which one would you buy?

5308 Garypark Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91006

Price: $450,000

Address may say Arcadia but this property is actually located within El Monte’s school district. In addition, the location is far from desirable. Check out the map:

Records show that the owner(s) bought this property in 2005 for $560,000 at… you guessed it, 100% financing. This home is definitely overpriced and not worth anymore than $300,000 to $350,000. Given that we have 2-3 years of decline to go, this short sale will most likely go back to the bank.

This is one property that will not benefit from sitting on a golf course.

928 Victoria Dr.
Arcadia, CA 91007

Price: $799,000

Here we have a similarly sized home in a completely different setting. You get:

• Arcadia School District
• Desirable community of Peacock Village
• The heart of Arcadia: Nearby is the Santa Anita Westfield Mall (soon to be The Promenade), racetrack, Pavillions, 99 Ranch and a host of other shops amenities.

In late 2006, this home was purchased for $650,000. After some remodeling and 2 years later, the owner’s now want to make $150,000 . Unfortunately, they bought during the peak of the housing bubble and I predict many price reductions to come. They will be lucky to break even on this property after paying the sales commission!

Call me crazy but asking for $665 per square foot on a 1,200sf home is definitely not priced to sell.

I was going to save this newly listed property for Monday but it got me so excited that it’s only right I post about it today. Since Father’s Day is coming up and we’ll be busy with family, I will just leave this profile up over the weekend. I’d love to hear your thoughts regarding the $2,500,000 monstrosity.

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Five days ago I profiled a $2.5MM property renting for just $3,500. In exchange, you are required to showboat the home to prospective buyers. More details can be found here and many thanks to our reader T K Eng for the info.

Redfin caught the listing today providing additional details.

2002 N Bella Vista Ave
Arcadia, CA 91006

*Estimated monthly payment assume 20% down, 30-yr fixed @ 6.50%

With the addition of this home, there are now 15 homes in Arcadia listing for over $2,000,000. It is definitely an elite club to be in since the buyer would have to be flushed with cash and have extra cashflow to maintain these homes. Heck, property taxes alone will be over $20,000 per year.

I have a few comments regarding this listing:

1) Where’s the landscaping? For $2.5MM I would expect some exotic landscaping, privacy trees and perhaps even a pool and spa. Instead, you get grass and some shrubs.

2) No privacy. Make sure you install curtains because the McMansion next door can monitor your every movement.

3) 5,600sf building on a sub-half acre lot? Take a look at the aerial – the home and garage cover half the parcel.

I could go on and on about this property but we’ll save that for the upcoming week. From what you’ve seen so far, is this the luxury home you would envision a multi-millionaire buying?

Up for sale is a million dollar home located blocks from Monrovia and the gang shooting area months earlier. But that aside, if safety isn’t your top concern, then this property seems to be promising:

316 Laurel Ave
Arcadia, CA 91006

Listing Price: $1,085,000

• BEDS: 4
• BATHS: 4.5
• SQ. FT.: 3,201
• $/SQ. FT.: $339
• LOT SIZE: 6,350 Sq. Ft.

A typical overbuilt cookie cutter home. It was upgraded in 2001 and according to the seller,

There are so many Amenities that I can’t list them all. You must come and see the home for yourself. Furniture negotiable.

Sure, you get a lot of living space. But for $1,000,000+ I’d expect some privacy too. Check out the backyard; you can almost shakes hands with your neighbor from window to window!

Sales History

11/1990 $670,000
05/2001 $555,000
10/2006 $1,080,000

Listing History
Jan 11, 2008 $1,150,000
Apr 19, 2008 $1,085,000 (-$65,000, -5.6%)

So wait, all the “upgrades” were actually done by the previous owner and now this guy wants nearly double the 2001 sales price? It’s going to take more than a measly 5.6% price reduction to get rid of this home and the owner knows it. The listing description says it all:

Attention all Guests! Seller is giving away 3 days/2 nights vacations, with 26 different destinations to choose from. This is not a raffle. No purchase necessary. Just come and take a look at the property.

So how can they afford to give away free vacations to all visitors? Sounds too good to be true, right? You’ve probably guessed it from the title but I believe the sellers are just “giving away” vacations normally offered by Timeshares. All the recipient has to do is sit through a 2-3 hour sales pitch and be pressured and ridiculed into buying a share of a vacation home.

In the end, you’re given a voucher for a “free vacation” which includes blackout dates and restrictions that usually isn’t worth your time figuring out.

This seller actually put a $200,000+ downpayment on his home. How much do you think he will get back after months of depreciation, 6% commissions and the inevitable price reductions?

Perhaps I will stop by this weekend and insist on getting my 2-night vacation with no strings attached.