CHESSNOID

We almost bought a unit at the Pomona lofts about 2 years ago.  There were a couple of bank repos and we offered I think about $140,000, $145,000, and $150,000 directly to the bank (wells fargo).  We planned on putting a 30% down payment and I had a pre-approved mortgage from the bank for the rest.  The bank made 3 counter offers and we made 3 counter-counter offers, but they did not want to discount the property.  They wanted to recover the full loan amount outstanding and then some at that time.  That particular unit went to auction and sold for less than our final offer price.

When my wife and I visited this place back in 2004 and these were brand new, they were all sold closer to the mid $200K.  We actually made an offer back then, but the seller (private party) wanted more and did not want to negotiate and possibly received multiple offers.   I did sign up for email alerts and got one this morning that made me think for a moment how different things would be if our original offer was accepted 6 years ago or even 2 years ago.

This unit in my email I think is about 150 square feet smaller than the one we looked at.

I still like the place.  On the first floor it was all retail shops, the second floor commercial offices, and the third floor had all the 2 story loft units.  The area has become a bit more sketchy.  The last time I had went to Pomona, there were a lot of closed stores and many foreclosures in every part of the city.  It definitely got hit hard by the housing bust and it looked like the crime rate was going up.  If I remember correctly, the local police department was across the street.

I like the modern look of the building and the convenience of  starbucks, restaurants, and retail shops on the bottom floor.

I like the balcony overlooking the trees.  The only drawback is they face the other unit balconies.

I like the wood floors through out the unit.  The kitchen is small and for some reason is at a weird angle.

The loft is the best part of the unit on the second floor.  There is just enough room for a bed and TV, but I like the way it looks out over the living room and that you can see the window views.

I think the ceiling went up to 25 feet high.  The only challenge was the window coverings.  You can’t tell by these pictures but the windows in the loft units we checked out were kind of floor to ceiling.

There was also a title problem when we made offers both times about some type of building cloud.  I called the planning agency and the lady told me it meant some original contractors were not paid so they probably put a lien on the property.  That did cause some concern since it was not resolved even after all those years.

During the first offer process, the seller told us only one bank would do the loan.  I am not sure if that was due to the building lien or if it was because this was a mixed use building.  I wanted to use my credit union because the bank he was referring to had substantially higher rates.  I also suspected that he maybe was getting some referral bonus or commission.

Originally, I thought 5 years ago that if I  didn’t buy this unit back then, I would be priced out of the market.  When this was in the mid $200k,  it looked cheap and it looked like this would double in price back then in a few years.  A few years later on the way down, I thought for sure we were going to be living here.  We even went to the convention center property auction to try and bid on a similar property in that same building.

It is hard to believe this property is selling for under $99,000 with no takers.  I guess in retrospect, my wife and I were very fortunate the deal fell through both times.