Psst..."secret" Nellie Gail REO

As Irvine Renter of the IHB pointed out recently, there are bank-owned properties all across Orange County that have not yet been placed back on the market - perhaps because the banks do not have the staff to handle all these types of properties in a timely enough fashion. Here is one of these "secret" REOs, 25171 Stageline Drive in Laguna Hills. It also happens to be in Nellie Gail.

This property has 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and is 4,028 sq ft. And, it's on a 29,255 square-foot lot. The photo above is from one of the handful of times the property appeared on the market in late 2005 into 2006. It even was posted for rent once, with an asking monthly price of $5,400.

The listing that finally did the trick began in April 2006 with an asking price of $2.35 million (sort of odd considering they asked $1.999 million in December 2005 and did not sell). But, almost like magic, a buyer was found who was willing and able to pay $2.2 million.

This buyer put $220,000 down and took out two loans - a $1.5 million first, and a $480,000 second.

Things apparently went downhill from there, as a notice of default was filed in May 2007, and later the notice of sale amount was established at $1,597,284. The bank ended up taking back the property on Feb. 19 for $1.35 million.

It will be interesting to see what the home is priced at when it finally is placed on the open market. It's hard to compare comps with any real certainty considering the custom-home nature of Nellie Gail. The only thing we can say for certain about these homes as a collective group is that they're very nice and appropriately expensive.

The closest home for sale, 27065 Hidden Trail Road, appears to be (relatively) similar to our subject property. That property is a bit larger but has one fewer bedroom. The owner is asking $1.595 million.

Today's post is yet more evidence that there are no guarantees in real estate, even with a luxury home in one of the county's most desirable neighborhoods.