A tale of two households

The owners of 1161 ORLANDO ST and 14850 DANCY CT in Tustin, Calif. could very well be "both alike in dignity," as Shakespeare wrote, but when it comes to setting prices on their properties, they're on opposite ends of the spectrum.

This map shows you how close these two homes are. No. 1 on this map is the Dancy Ct. property, and No. 2 is on Orlando St. Both are nice-looking houses that are about 10 years old.

I glanced at the photos from both listings, and the interiors are fairly comparable. The largest difference that can be seen from the photos is that the Dancy house has hardwood floors in the living room, dining room and kitchen.

Both houses have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but the Dancy house is 361 square feet bigger.

First, let's see the details on the Dancy Ct. house for sale:
14850 Dancy Ct., Tustin, Calif, 92780
Size: 3 bed. 2.5 bath, 1,661 sq ft (built 1996)
MLS: P570363 (101 days on Redfin)
Current asking price: $555,000
Purchase price: $582,500
Purchase date: 7/1/2005
ZipRealty price tracker: Price Reduced: 06/12/07 -- $620,000 to $575,000
Price Reduced: 06/19/07 -- $575,000 to $555,000
Other info:
Stories: 2
Type: Single Family Residence
County: Orange
Neighborhood: Tustin
From Redfin listing: $65,000 PRICE REDUCTION!!!!!!!!! BRING ALL OFFERS!!! Delightful Detach ed Home, Vaulted Ceilings, Raised Panel Doors, Light Wood Kitchen, Gated Community. Beautiful Yard. This Home Is Simply Perfect. New But No Mello Roos. Subject to Inspection.

These sellers bought at the peak in 2005, and are paying the price. Assuming the latest price reduction does the trick and this place gets sold at full asking price, the loss will be $60,800 assuming 6 percent selling costs. Give them credit for slashing the price to try and get this thing successfully off the market.

Now look at the stats for the Orlando St. property:
1161 Orlando St., Tustin, Calif., 92780
Size: 3 bed. 2.5 bath, 1,300 sq ft (built 1997)
MLS: H07059195 (82 days on Redfin)
Current asking price: $580,000
Purchase price: $515,000
Purchase date: 4/11/2005
ZipRealty price tracker: No price changes
Other info:
Stories: 2
County: Orange
From Redfin listing: TWO STORY DELIGHTFUL SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE, BUILT IN 1997 WITH NO MELLO ROOS IN A GATED COMMUNITY. VAULTED CEILINGS, AIRY LIVING ROOM WITH FIREPLACE, SPACIOUS BDRM& BATH, LIGHT WOOD KITCHEN AND GOOD SIZE BACK YARD, 2 CAR ATTACHED GARAGE, MOTIVATED SELLER, SUBMIT ALL OFFERS, GREAT POTENTIAL.

These owners also bought at the peak of the market (nearly three months earlier than the first property we looked at) and are now trying to sell. If they roped someone into buying this place at the current asking price (unlikely considering how long it's been on the market), they would net $30,200.

I don't like misleading information, and this second listing has it. If these sellers were truly motivated, they would at least price their home competitively with the Dancy Ct. property and go from there.

If both houses sold at their current asking prices, here's what would have taken place:
*The Orlando house would have appreciated $65,000 in about two years while a multitude of other nearby properties fell in value, while the (larger) Dancy house would have depreciated $27,500 in roughly the same amount of time.

The Orlando property has about 25 percent less square footage, and yet these sellers think they can somehow get $25,000 more. Unlikely.

For these reasons, the Orlando St. property has earned the "crazy sellers" tag.