Upside-down in Corona

First off, let's just take a look at a Redfin map of a piece of Corona, Calif., just west of the I-15 freeway and just south of Norco:
That's a heck of a lot of green dots. Each one of those green dots represents a house for sale. And this search was filtered to only include houses in the $400,000-$600,000 range. Otherwise, there would be more than 500 listings in this view and you couldn't see any of them. You can imagine, then, how many properties are dangling out there. Here's one of them:

1157 Fallbrook Drive, Corona, Calif., 92880
Size: 4 bed, 2 bath, 1,440 sq ft
MLS: S481627
Sale history: 06/01/1988 : $119,500
05/27/1999: $170,000
07/21/2005 : $488,000
Current price: $432,000 (80 days on Redfin)

From listing: Huge Price reduction. Just in Time for the Summer. A single story, 4 b ed 2 bath 2 car direct access garage home. Custom paint, wood flooring, recessed lighting thru out, and newer appliances in Kitchen. Custom rock pool/spa home. Possible RV access.

Red flag whenever you see the words "RV access." That price reduction you read about isn't the only one that's taken place on this property. Here's the ZipRealty Price Track:

Price Reduced: 05/04/07 -- $515,000 to $499,000
Price Reduced: 05/21/07 -- $499,000 to $480,000
Price Reduced: 05/23/07 -- $480,000 to $465,000
Price Reduced: 06/05/07 -- $465,000 to $432,000

So it looks like this owner started out hoping to break nearly even ($3,900 loss after 6 percent selling costs if they had sold at full asking price), but now this 1985 house is headed for at least a $81,920 shortfall assuming 6 percent selling costs.

So much for two years of home ownership in the IE. On the positive side, it's almost time to celebrate this house's three-month anniversary on the market!