Not good. Not good at all

I didn't even know there was a city in Orange County called Midway City until very recently. To save you the trouble, here's the bottom line: Real estate isn't looking so good here, either.

Here's some proof:

8232 McFadden Ave, Midway City, Calif., 92655
Size: 4 beds, 2 baths, 1,138 sq ft (built 1958)
MLS: P582920 (49 days on Redfin)
Current asking price: $499,000
Purchase price: $644,000
Purchase date: 5/4/2006
Other price history: 03/15/2005: $500,000
04/26/2000: $220,000
05/28/1999: $132,036
08/31/1990: $182,500
07/20/1988: $155,000
ZipRealty price tracker: No reductions
Other info: Stories: 1
Type: Single Family Residence
County: Orange
Neighborhood: N of Bolsa, S of Gr Grv, E of B
From listing: Short sale !!! Don't wait until lender's own. Let's turn to your home investment with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Iron gate and private patio, alley access for rv parking. Many renovations with neat titles floor and great kitchen. Garage converted into a room. Dryer and washer inside shed house. Cement deck in the back and around the house. Guest house in the back - can build 2nd house 750 sq.Ft. (map is ready). Very closed to school, shopping, supermarket and easy access to freeway.

To continue with the pattern - again, this isn't a ridiculously bad house (yes it is showing its age, but it's got a nicer kitchen than some houses half its age) but a bad situation where the owners fell victims to poor timing.

The only thing that scares me is the major amount of concrete in the photo on the right. On the plus side, it makes for very little yard maintenance.

Assuming for a second that these owners bought this place with 20 percent down and a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.25 percent back in 2006, their principal and interest payments on this property would have been a whopping $3,172 a month. This does not include homeowners' insurance or property taxes. The taxes, in case you're interested, were $480 a month last year.

For comparison, you can live in a larger, three-bedroom, two-bath apartment in this Newport Beach complex for roughly the same amount of money. Also, your washer and dryer would be inside the apartment instead of a "shed house."


Total (minimum) potential loss on this property, which has rolled back to just beyond 2005 pricing, assuming a sale at this price and 6 percent selling costs is (gasp): $174,940.