File this one under "makes completely no sense"

The California Association of Realtors' chief economist made a quasi apology about a prediction she made two years ago that "dismissed fears of a bursting California real estate bubble and called for only modest sales declines."

In fact, CAR said it predicts prices in California to fall 4 percent in 2008, which would mark the worst year since 1993.

As the real estate market here in Southern California continues to slowly implode, this seller in Mission Viejo had an idea. A big idea. A bold idea. Here it is: Buy a modest-looking 25-year-old house. Build on an addition to bring it up to a mind-boggling 7-bedrooms, 7-baths and 2,460 square feet. Then proceed to remodel and overimprove the heck out of it with granite and stainless steel in the kitchen, travertine and tile floors, plus a new roof, carpet and paint.

Then, to top it off, set the asking price to $280,900 more than you paid for it in July 2006, which happened to be right as the real estate bubble was beginning to deflate.

This seller is either incredibly shrewd and gutsy, or destined to fail miserably. Want to take bets as to how much money they poured into this place? One thing they forgot to pay for was a good photographer. Check out the picture to the left. The red arrow is pointing to someone who appears to have been caught talking on a phone in the backyard.

New rule to RE agents/people who take pictures and then put them on the MLS: At least glance at your pictures before you post them. Having people/animals accidentally appear in your photos only makes you look unprofessional.

26291 Avenida Calidad, Mission Viejo
Sales history
7/12/2006: $669,000
5/30/2006: $412,500
Asking price: $949,900 (32 days on Redfin)
From listing: "New addition with everything redone in & out. New appliances, new tile roof, new paint in & out, new carpet, new travertine floors, new kitchen cabinets. A must see. .. . too many to list. Bring your big family to this one. .. ."

Big family is right. Who needs that many bedrooms? The Brady Bunch would probably have considered it unnecessary. You might as well be running a small dorm with this many rooms. Or perhaps, even an elderly care facility.

Oh yeah, the three closest single family houses for sale are asking the following: $690,000; $589,000; $618,000. Doesn't appear that the neighborhood supports this kind of price, considering it's about $300,000 more expensive on average than the others.

Assuming they find someone who wants a 7-bedroom house of this size, in this location, at this price, the potential profit would be $223,906, including 6 percent selling costs. Then subtract from that however many thousands they spent "upgrading."