Real Estate Information Archive

According to research conducted by Steve Thomas at Reports On Housing, the active inventory for Orange County homes is falling dramatically for both standard sales and distressed properties.

Typically, homes come on the market faster than they go into escrow; thus, the active inventory increases, but that hasn’t been the case in 2012. The current active listing inventory shed 226 homes in the past two weeks and now totals 7,597, which is 3,081 fewer than last year. The media hasn’t quite caught up to reporting on all of the activity; so, for the most part, homeowners have been shielded from the fact that the market is extremely hot.

The decrease in the availability of distressed homes is a particularly big surprise to many homebuyers who have been reading for months about foreclosure properties and short sales, but as Thomas points out, “The distressed inventory continues to drop like a rock.”

With less inventory and increased demand, the expected market time for Orange County has dropped to a mere 2.1 months. That is the lowest level in 78 months, back in August 2005. This is completely unprecedented for this time of year.

So far in 2012, Orange County’s active distressed inventory, both short sales and foreclosures, has dropped by 644 homes, or 20%, in just six weeks. Currently, distressed inventory represents 33% of the active inventory, and foreclosures are the hottest segment of the current market.

Just about every buyer wants to purchase a foreclosure, yet there are only 489 in all of Orange County, just 6% of the total inventory. In the past two weeks, the foreclosure inventory dropped by 57 homes and now totals 489, the lowest level since May 2010. With so few homes on the market, short sales are being swept up almost as fast as they hit the market.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were widely considered to be one of most successful baseball teams in the first decade of the 21^st century. World Series champions in 2002, and winner of the American League Western Division in 2007, 2008, and 2009, the Angels have drawn more than three million fans to their regular season games for the past nine years.

Though the Angels won less than 90 games and missed the playoffs last year, many expect this season to be the one where they once again take it all the way to the 2012 World Series – thanks in part to three-time National League MVP Albert Pujols and left-handed pitcher C.J. Wilson, both of whom Angels owner Arte Moreno signed in 2011. Other new additions to the team include LaTroy Hawkins and Chris Iannetta.

The team’s newly released lineup features Erick Aybar at shortstop, Howie Kendrick on second base, Albert Pujols on first, Toril Hunter in right field, Vernon Wells in left field, Alberto Callaspo on third, Chris Iannetta as catcher, Peter Bourjos in center field, and Hank Conger as designated hitter. But, with the amount of talent the Angels have this season, it’s likely that the lineup will change at least a little throughout the regular season.

All told, since last year, the Angels have added one of the best players in the game (some would argue the best player), as well as the best free-starting pitcher in the game, a solid reliever, and a great catcher. The Angels also have a “secret weapon” that’s really no secret at all: Angels manager Mike Scioscia. Winner of two Manager of the Year awards, Scioscia has led the Angels to a World Series win once before and into the postseason six times. Under Scioscia’s management and with a seriously talented roster, the 2012 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim season is sure to be an exciting one!

Opening Day matchup is April 6, against the Kansas City Royals. Spring Training tickets and regular season tickets are on sale now. Visit http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/ticketing/index.jsp?c_id=ana to get yours.

As the New Year starts Carol & Jim are now working at (APRE) Atlantic & Pacific Real Estate (CA) Inc. We have completed over 40 classes on assisting sellers on distressed properties along with learning the online systems at APRE.  Distressed properties are now a major part of the market. The name has changed but we are still doing the same things we have always done except we have added distressed and corporate owned properties to our list. We still have the moving van for our clients and charities to use. The good news is we will be sending out email blasts with the homes that will be for sale once the sales price is determined. If you are an investor or a first time buyers it’s a great time to buy.

Have a Sunny Day!

No matter how bad the housing market has been. I have never lost $80,000 on a house in one day. Unfortunately a number of my friends did just that lost over $80,000 in one day. Now I know that’s unusual and if you leave your portfolio along it will probably come back over the long term if you were invested in good companies.

Buying a home now is a wise decision. The stock market is going to be volatile for some time and home interest rates have not been this low since the 70's.  There was an excellent article in "Smart Money" by Jillian Mincer, "Forget the Market. Buy A Home". We all need somewhere to live and at these interest rates if you have money buy now. Pay the home off as soon as possible if you can afford a 15 year loan due it even better a 10 year loan. If not, that’s ok too.

It’s been a long time since anyone has built any executive homes in Brea. Standard Pacific is building 38 elegant residences at one of the highest locations in Brea with some homes having views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina. Homes are open daily for viewing now. There are 3 models Mirada, Seville, Valencia, ranging in size from 4,200-5000, 4 - 5 bedrooms, 4 - 5.5 baths, 3 car garages. There will only be 38 homes built at Castillian at Blackstone.  Just West of the 57 freeway at Lambert Road, Turn Right on State College and follow the signs.  There are 3 other new tracts of homes for sale that have opened recently in Brea. I will add information on these tracts in a few days.

Paul Baran dies at 84 and you shoud care! Without him I would not be able to publish this blog, send emails, or anything else we sent through the internet. At the Rand corporation he created the "packet switching network", which is what allows the grouping together of information into packets that can be easily sent across the internet.

He died March 26, 2011 of lung cancer. This man has had a impact on almost everyone in the world and very few know him. There very few of us who will ever be able to say I made a difference in the world. Take a moment to read about Paul in Digital Trends, or google his name there is plenty of information there. He is worthy of your time.

Not everything is about real estate. Carol and I enjoy our classic cars and Kodi, our Samoyed loves to go everywhere with me. When he rides in the convertible he has to wear his "doggles". At first he didn't like the doggles until he realized the wind wasn't blowing in his eyes.  Everyone goes crazy when they see Kodi in the car and start taking pictures. I can't count how many times we are out and about town and someone  jumps out of their car to take a picture of Kodi. Kodi thinks he's pretty cool too in his doggles.

My Agent is the best iPhone app for house hunting I have ever used. Go anywhere click on the My Agent App and what you see is all the properties listed for sale all around you. Click on any of the houses and you can find what the price is and the bedroom and bath count. Click on the arrow in the same box and it opens up the picture of the house, Description, and more photos. Slide the map in any direction and more homes will show up. There is even a filter to adjust the minimum and maximum price, number of bedrooms, number of baths, and even the square footage.  Fast, easy to use, and it’s free.

After you download the free app (My Agent by IDX) from the App Store you will have input a 4 digit password (4693) one time to be able to use the app.  No, I have not used this app all over the country but I have used in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.  Carol has found it very useful when showing property to buyers. There may be another home close by one Carol has picked to show and the buyers want to know why she isn’t showing them the house down the street. All she does is open up My Agent “Refresh the Map” and click on the house in question and she can show the buyer the house didn’t have enough bedrooms, or baths, or square footage was below the minimum they wanted.

When you’re driving around and see a new sign up in a neighborhood you can find out all the information quickly using My Agent.  If your house hunting this is a must have app!

1. Mortgage rates are at an all time low when buyers take advantage of today rates they start building equity right away. You can handle a few up and downs as market gains momentum. Just a few years ago buyers would have jumped at chance to have a 6% interest rate on a home purchase. Today the rates are around 4.5%. Here's the best part on the purchase of a $300,000 home you will save over $102,000 of the life of a 30 year loan. Thats right over a $102,000 over the loan or $3,400.00 a year.

2. There are lots programs to help the first time buyer and middle-class families to buy home. Add one of these programs with today’s current low interest rates you can save even more cash.

3. Fannie Mae guidelines in the past have tied the appraiser’s hands on how they could value a home. These guidelines were so strict it made it difficult for an appraiser to give a fair and honest appraisal. Appraisers, now, can more accurately reflect the current values in their given markets with the changes made in the updated Fannie Mae guidelines.

4. Home owners have continued to maintain their homes and spend money on repairs and improvements. When these homes come up for sale they are much more desirable that the tired old foreclosed homes (REO’s) saving buyers thousands of dollars in repairs.

Saving Money with coupons is always a good thing especially when you're buying the products anyway. Wow, did I miss one of the best coupon sites on the web. CouponChef.com. For the names of the other money saving coupon sites you can go to our previous post by clicking here or use this link http://www.northorangecountyrealestatesales.com/Blog/Printable-Coupons-to-Save-Money. Another month has closed and my wife has saved a total of $293.25 for the first 3 months of the year.