After two serious offers, 56 Shoreridge in Newport Coast sold for $5.8 million to an all-cash backup buyer in a quick escrow.
“It was basically a rescue deal from an escrow that had fallen out,” said Lance Fogel of Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty Inc.’s Newport Beach office, who represented the buyer and the seller.
The house was on the market for three years. Fogel had the listing for three months. He listed it for $6.4 million.
The seller, a physician who works in Los Angeles, sold the home because he was moving from Orange County to be closer to where he works.
Fogel said the 9,000-square-foot, six-bedroom home in Pelican Crest (the newer neighborhood next to Pelican Hills) was in escrow with the first buyer, but a loan program they were going to use to buy the home fell through. It would’ve required them to put more money down.
“They felt that was too much of a stretch,” Fogel said.
Meanwhile, an international buyer fell in love with the home and made an offer almost immediately, Fogel said. The buyer liked the brightness of the home, which overlooks Crystal Cove beach.
“It has a lot of windows and it’s light and bright, and that’s what they liked,” he said. “I told them that we were in escrow, but make a backup offer.”
That person did.
Then the first buyer contacted the seller to back out of the deal.
“My seller graciously let them off knowing we had this all-cash offer as a backup,” Fogel said.
The backup buyer also paid $250,000 more. The deal was in escrow for less than two weeks.
The new owner’s birthday came shortly after moving in.
“He went on a $1 million shopping spree for cars to fill the garage,” Fogel said.
There are a couple of Rolls-Royces and a few other vehicles parked there now.
Fogel said he’s seen more homebuyers scouting the gated “Pelicans” neighborhood, which includes Pelican Hills, Pelican Crest and others.
Fogel has four homes in escrow there, including one for $11.5 million.
“It will be the highest price sale per square feet ever in that neighborhood,” he said.
Sales Scorecard: Sept. 13, Aug. 10
Homes selling for $4 million and up in September beat August by three. In August, 10 homes closed followed by 13 in September. Two have closed this month as of Oct. 9.
Both homes were sold Oct. 3 in Emerald Bay:
n 942 Emerald Bay sold for $4.1 million, down from its original listing price in February 2011 of $5.5 million. Rod Daley, of Coldwell Banker Previews International in Newport Beach, represented the seller. Rob Montgomery, of Newport Beach-based Hom Real Estate Group Inc., represented the buyer. The home was built in 1997 and sold by the original owner.
n 541 Emerald Bay sold for about $4.4 million, down from its original listing price in August 2010 of $5.9 million. Harold Noriega, of Hom Real Estate Group, represented the buyer and seller.
New From Nevada
In September, 27 Ritz Cove Drive in Dana Point sold to an LLC from Nevada, according to the buyer’s agent, Bob Wolff, of Harcourts Prime Properties. The buyer wanted to remain anonymous.
Steve DeVre, of Prudential California Realty’s Monarch Beach office, represented the seller.
Wealthy homebuyers commonly set up an LLC or trust for investment purposes or to retain privacy (though sometimes that doesn’t work).
Whoever the buyer is, he or she joins a slew of Nevadans who have homes in Orange County, mostly in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, where they flock to enjoy a low local profile and escape the desert heat.
Some of the Nevadans who have bought a home here as recently as 2009 include: Jerry Herbst, owner of Terrible Herbst casinos and gas and convenience stores (his Newport Beach home at 2692 Bayshore Drive, which formerly belonged to actor Nicolas Cage, is in escrow at $28.5 million, down from $31.7 million when it was listed in April 2010); Bruce Becker of casino operator Becker Gaming Inc.; Forbes’ 400 members Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, owners of Station Casinos Inc. (which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June); and Ultimate Fighting Championship (which broadcasts on Fox Sports in November); Charles “Chuck” Mathewson, former head of gambling machine maker International Game Technology; Gary Primm, former owner of Whiskey Pete’s and other casinos in Primm, Nev.; and former Las Vegas mayor-turned-casino-executive Jan Jones.
