Well, if there is a silver lining to the mortgage meltdown, this has got to be it. My 25 year old nephew, who will remain anonymous, just scored the dream home that I am still dreaming about.

He is in California, I am in Hawaii, so I had nothing to do with his purchase. I might add, I don't think my family back on the mainland even believes that I'm a Realtor,  because they always tell me what their real estate agents tell them about what's going on, forgetting that I had told them months before that is what was going to happen. Anyway, before I start sounding like I'm full of sour grapes...

My 25 year old nephew told me about how his first real estate agent screwed up the first short sale offer he had submitted, how the lender who promised he could get him funded on the next property just stopped answering his phone, how the third property went to foreclosure even when the bank had indicated they would accept his offer. In essence, he went through a lot of the drama we real estate professionals go through all the time, although from the clients perspective. As he related his story, I just wanted to tell him that his agent should have prepared him for all of this in advance.

Instead, he told me how he had to put his 35+ year old agent straight, and his 50+ year old lending agent, to get them to stop arguing and pointing fingers at each other, and get back to representing him and his interests, before he dropped them both. He actually had to arrange a conference call with these two and the bank in order to get everyone on the same page, and it worked. He ended up with this beautiful house in Corona, the historic Circle City district (It's called that because the homes are located around what was once a racetrack back during WWll).

The home was originally built in 1940...totally redesigned and rebuilt in the last 4 years. It appraised for a little over a million in 2006. It is 4,600sq ft, under roof, 14,000 sq ft lot, 7 bed, 5 bath, 5 car garage, SS Kitchen Aid appliances, Wolf 6 burner stove, travertine floors, custom cabinets, plantation shutters throughout, taupe paint (20 foot ceilings).

This is a house that a 25 year old bought? Terms are 30 year fixed @ 4.375 w/ buy down of 1.5%. He paid $500,000 for it. Not bad, Kid.