hows anaverde//palmdale now? 2010 (Santa Clarita, Lancaster: for sale, foreclosures, rental)

[soochin]

I have been reading some of the posts that were created back in 2007. I have been looking at homes in Anaverde to purchase lately and am still skeptical about moving to this neighborhood, but only because Ive lived in Valencia my whole life and Palmdale seems like a whole other world to me. I have heard horror stories about Palmdale but they all come from people like me who are very sheltered I guess you could say. Anyways I know the housing prices have gone down and alot of houses in Anaverde are in short sale or foreclosure, and just wanted if anyone knew first hand how it is living in that area? Im looking to live out there just for a few years, my boyfriend and I are buying our first home together and for our price range its a new home in Anaverde or a old townhouse in the Little T.J parts of Santa Clarita (worst parts of newhall//canyon country). I dont plan on raising children or anything out there, but Ive heard theres been alot of new development in Palmdale and Lancaster to make the areas nicer. Basically theyre doing to the AV what they did to Valencia in the late 90's. Please can some of you give me some insight and advice about this area and what its like out there now. Thanks I appreciate it!!!!!

[ViOli]

Stay where you are. Save more and wait. The resale value of a home/condo in an area filled with foreclosures and short sales will be bad. Especially if you only want to live there for only a few years. You have no idea what all those foreclosures, etc., are going to do to that area. Big risk to put your money there and then not be able to get it out again.

[JohnG72]

Instead of taking a strangers word for it here, do the research yourself on the housing market.

If you are planning to own < 5 years, you need to know the following:

1.) Where is the Palmdale housing market heading and why?

2.) Interest rates can't possibly get any lower. What happens to housing prices when interest rates rise?

3.) What is the money you'll need to bring to the table when you sell? What about realtor cost? Will the house be worth its mortgage value + those costs + more at the time you want to sell?

4.) What will happen to housing prices in the area you want to live? Will they continue to decline?

[xpunksurferx]

I used to live in Anaverde, when it was brand new. I was one of the first waves of foreclosure. I purchased for $500K, the house sold recently for 240k.

The homes there are of an outstanding value, and I just visited the neighborhood 2 days ago to see how it has changed. Aside from aging a bit, it is still a wonderful place to live. I am in Valencia now as well, and I have to admit that it doesn't get any better than here to live, but I want to own a home as well, and Anaverde is still the best place for the money to do that. That being said I have to tell you this.

Do NOT purchase a home here with intent to resell within the first few years. Been there, done that, and it turned out bad for me. The values in the area will go up, but MAYBE just enough to cover your costs, leaving you with no equity to purchase a new home in the future. Second, the developer is bankrupt and you have to know going in that neighborhood could get better, or worse. It's a crapshoot. If builders invest in the neighborhood and the golf course, supermarket, and 5,000 other homes that were to be built ever do, it will probably be a good place to live, however if it never happens, it will be an 800 home community full of foreclosures for years to come.

If you are looking for a home to live in and build a future, I would recommend it based on the values now, but don't do it with intent to move after a few years.

Also I just checked out crimemaps.com, and you should to. Compare Palmdale to Valencia, and you will be stunned at the difference of crime between here and there.

[soochin]

Hey guys thanks for the feedback.

If I do end up taking the plunge and purchasing a home out there, I dont have the intent to resale it, any home that I purchase I plan on keeping and either will live in it permenantly or will use it as a rental property. I had recently heard that the development was repurchased by another builder and had plans to start building again next year. Ive driven around the neighborhood during the day and night and atleast every other house is decorated with a for sale sign. The neigborhood seems to be a ghost town which could be a good and bad thing. I had asked a friend about a year and a half ago, who is a sheriff and said that at the time they had a lot of home invasion robberies. But that was a year and a half ago and I was hoping that alot has changed since then. Im still up in the air about what I want to do

[soochin]

Originally Posted by xpunksurferx

Also I just checked out crimemaps.com, and you should to. Compare Palmdale to Valencia, and you will be stunned at the difference of crime between here and there.

Ive lived in Valencia my whole life and I know its considered one of the safest cities to live in, BUT I also know that the city and sheriffs department try to keep alot of it under wrap to keep that title for the city. For instants, there was an attempted murder at Hart High School about a month ago. There are drive by shootings all the time in downtown newhall, along with carjackings and people breaking into homes in the older parts of Valencia and Stevenson Ranch as well. Over this last summer 3 of my neighbors homes were broken into from people canvasing our neighborhood. So I know that what the map shows isnt true.

[xpunksurferx]

When I lived in Anaverde, I don't remember crime problems there. The community is like a ghost town like you said, but I still have faith in it. I have been looking for the information on the new developer, but I cannot find it. All I know is that it was purchased in 2008 by Anaverde LLC and they filed CH 11 BK in 01/2010. I do believe during the next housing upswing that Anaverde will be the center of the AV development. I am going up there tomorrow again to see the community.

[pritt]

(1) I live in So Castaic area (7 min north of Valencia) now but I lived in East Palmdale (1987-96) and then West Palmdale (1996-2004) for a total of 17+ yrs. When I left in 2004, it wasn't a bad community as a whole. Last month, I drove down Palmdale Blvd east from the freeway all the way to 50th East and honestly, I didn't recognize the place. You would have thought I left 30 yrs ago. It looked like a barrio. the whole 4 mile drive is one big strip mall now, run down, with what looked like 90% businesses signs in Spanish. Graffiti every where. It was really depressing.

(2) I don't know where you work but the drive down below will kill you after awhile. I work in downtown LA and I got to the point I couldn't take another minute of the commute. Getting up at 3:30am and coming home late just wears on you. I had a beautiful Centex home but I felt like it was just stop over for me since I was gone most of the time.

(3) You have to like the WIND. They used to sell T-shirts "Palmdale Wind Festival January - December," especially the west end, with Ana Verde being the worst.

(4) According to reports from various sources, crime is out of control and getting worse. People from South Central LA move up to the AV to get away from the crime. Unfortunately, they bring their gang banging kids with them.

[pritt]

Go to Welcome to CrimeReports.com
type in Palmdale's zip 93550
Click on calendar and enter dates between July 2010 and December 2010

Unbelieveable!!

even @ 30 days show a lot.

A = Assaults
B = Breaking & Entering
T = Thefts
V = Theft of Vehicle
Triangles = Reg. sex offenders.

[soochin]

Originally Posted by pritt

Go to Welcome to CrimeReports.com
type in Palmdale's zip 93550
Click on calendar and enter dates between July 2010 and December 2010

Unbelieveable!!

even @ 30 days show a lot.

A = Assaults
B = Breaking & Entering
T = Thefts
V = Theft of Vehicle
Triangles = Reg. sex offenders.

I did look at that on crimereports.com I also saw that where ana verde was there wasnt anything which I guess is a good and a bad thing. You would have to drive into town to get to anything where all the crime is. And also I saw that 2 weeks ago on the east side there were 2 homicides. so scary!

xpunksurferx Did you take your drive out there? how was it?