Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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As reported in in OC Register, July 23, 2010

Orange County home sales and selling prices remain ahead of a year-ago after the passing of a deadline for a federal homebuying tax break — then that deadline was extended.

For the 22 business days ending July 8 – DataQuick’s latest homebuying report — Orange County saw …

• $447,500 median selling price that is +6.5% vs. a year ago yet -31% below June 2007’s peak of $645,000.
• The most recent median is 21% above the cyclical low hit in January 2009 at $370,000 — so the median has recouped 28% of the $275,000 price drop from the peak.
• The median selling price of a single-family homes is 30% less than their peak pricing (June ‘07) while condos sell 36% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 39% below their February ‘05 top.
• Single-family homes were 72% more expensive than condos in this period vs. 61% a year ago. From 1990-2009, the average house/condo gap was 58%.
• In this most recent period, O.C. shoppers bought 3,273 residences — that is +9% vs. year-ago buying activity. This current sales pace is 91% of the average 3,597 homes sold per month in the 20 years ended in 2009.
• Builder’s new homes sales were 9% of all residences sold in the period vs. 5% a year ago. From 1990-2009, builders did 14% of the selling.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

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Will apartment complexes be the next smoke-free slice of life? Well, the city of Sebastopol in northern California is now considering a ban on smoking in apartments. Plus, a recent essay in The New England Journal of Medicine advocates that smoking should be banned in all multi-family housing and called on the federal government to prohibit tobacco smoke in Public Housing Authorities.

While governments have banned smoking in public places, private homes have been considered off-limits for such regulation. The journal argues that policy should end. Indeed, all apartments should be smoke free, it maintained:

“A resident who smokes in a single unit within a multiunit residential building puts the residents of the other units at risk. Tobacco smoke can move along air ducts, through cracks in the walls and floors, through elevator shafts, and along plumbing and electrical lines to affect units on other floors. High levels of tobacco toxins can persist in the indoor environment long after the period of active smoking — a phenomenon known as third-hand smoke. Tobacco toxins are distributed as volatile compounds and airborne particulate matter that are deposited on indoor surfaces and reemitted in the air over a period of days to years.”

In Orange County, about 36 Orange County landlords have registered their properties as tobacco-free with the Granada Hills-based Smokefree Apartment House Registry. The registry says there are at least 324 known units that are off-limits to smokers.

What do you think ?  Should cigarette smoking be banned in apartments ?

Own for less....buy this home for as little as 3.5% down.  This beautifully remodeled condo is turnkey and the perfect place to call home.  This lower level unit (no stairs) has 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, inside laundry closet, private patio, large storage closet and a 1 car attached garage.  Lay by the pool in this wonderful gated community and enjoy all the amenities of home ownership.  FHA approved complex ! 

Dana Point:

This highly successful summer concert series is held on Sunday afternoons at Heritage Park, 34400 Old Golden Lantern, Dana Point:

July 25 - The Oreo Divas - A Tribute to the Music of Motown - (Heritage Park, 4:30pm-6:00pm)

August 1 - Turn the Page - A Tribute to Bob Seger - (Heritage Park, 4:30pm-6:00pm)

August 8 - The Wilsons - Classic Rock - (Heritage Park, 3:00pm-4:00pm) and featuring Savor - Santana Music (Heritage Park, 4:30pm-6:00pm). 

August 15 - Springsteen - The Premier Tribute to the Boss - (Heritage Park, 4:30pm-6:00pm)

Laguna Niguel:

This concert series is held on Friday evenings at Crown Valley Community Park Amphitheater, 29751 Crown Valley Parkway, Laguna Niguel.

July 30 - Paperback Writer - Beatles Tribute - (CVCPA, 6:30pm-8:30pm)

August 13 - The Funk-O-Matics - Disco Funk - (CVCPA, 6:30pm-8:30pm)

August 27 - Tommy Tassi/Authentics - 50's/60's Rock N Roll - (CVCPA, 6:30pm-8:30pm)

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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For calendar month June – DataQuick’s freshest stats — South Coast homebuying patterns showed:

• 206 homes were bought in the region in the period – +4% vs. a year ago.
• Sales counts in all Orange County beach towns ran +5% vs. a year ago.
• Countywide, it was +16% vs. a year earlier.
• The sales-weighted average of median price changes in South Coast ZIPs was -29% vs. a year ago.
• Price change in all Orange County beach towns ran +3% vs. a year ago.
• Countywide, it was +6% vs. a year earlier.

Here’s a look at how South Coast ZIPs compare to all Orange County beach town trends and countywide totals for homebuying and median selling prices:

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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Home sales and selling prices are rising in many parts of the county. For the 22 business days ending June 24 – DataQuick’s freshest stats — Orange County homebuying patterns showed:

• 50 of O.C.’s 83 ZIP codes had gains in their respective median selling price. Overall, prices were +4.0% vs. a year ago.
• Taking sales volume in consideration, home pricing is up in ZIPs representing 66% of the Orange County market.
• 8 of 83 O.C. ZIPs had median sales prices above $1 million in the period vs. 11 million-dollar ZIPs when the county median price peaked in June 2007.
• Since that pricing pinnacle, there’s been a -31% drop in the countywide median price!
• 48 of 83 O.C. ZIPs had year-over-year sales gains in the period.
• Overall, countywide sales were +11.6% vs. a year ago.
• 4 of 83 O.C. ZIPs has sales gains of 100% or more in the period.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

SEARCH ORANGE COUNTY'S BEST HOMES at Orange County MLS Home Search  

Seven homebuilding companies based in Orange County or having a strong presence here ranked in Builder Magazine’s newest list of the nation’s Top 100 Builders.

Five of them were among the nation’s top 40 builders.

Builder Magazine’s widely respected industry rankings  are based on 2009 home sales. Despite declines, five of the builders moved up in the latest year’s rankings since other firms had even bigger sales declines.

Locally active firms among the top 100 are:

• Lennar Corp., which has its Western regional headquarters in Aliso Viejo, ranked third with 11,478 homes sold. Even though sales dropped 27%, the company’s ranking moved up from fourth. Lennar’s headquarters are in Miami.
• Standard Pacific Homes, based in Irvine, ranked 12th with 3,581 homes sold. Its ranking moved up from 13th the year before.
• Shea Homes, based in the San Gabriel Valley town of Walnut, ranked 20th with 2,091 homes sold. That’s down from 16th the year before. The firm has a significant O.C. presence.
• William Lyon Homes, based in Newport Beach, ranked 29th with 915 homes sold. That’s up from 32nd the year before.
• Brookfield Homes, which has its Southern California office in Costa Mesa, ranked 37th with 703 homes sold. That’s up from 41st the year before. The company’s headquarters is in San Francisco.
• FieldStone Homes, based in Irvine, ranked 40th, with 694 homes sold. It’s rank was unchanged from the year before.
• Sares-Regis Group, an Irvine-based builder of apartments and condos, ranked 98th, with 253 homes sold. It’s ranking increased from 121st after its sales numbers improved 30%.

All seven builders reported revenue declines in 2009 ranging from a 16% decline reported by Brookfield to FieldStone’s 72% drop. Sales fell for all but Sares-Regis Group.

Nationwide, newly build single-family homes fell 23% last year and represented fewer than 8% of the homes sold, Builder Magazine reported. Fifty-eight of the top 100 reported sales declines and 66 reported a decrease in company revenues. The magazine reported:

“The builders comprising the 2009 Builder 100 were pretty much in the same boat as the rest of the industry, struggling to find customers and to complete sales. Their closings fell by nearly 29 percent from the previous year.”

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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The former CEO and vice chairman of the Irvine Co. says that the outlook for housing and commercial real estate will be rocky for the next year or two because of the volume of underwater loans.

Mike McKee, who retired from the Irvine Co. in August 2008, is now the CEO of Seattle-based Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, LP, the largest privately-held real estate investment advisor in the United States.

“Residential real estate still has challenges,” said McKee, 64, who still lives in Laguna Beach and commutes to Seattle. “I don’t think we’ve worked through foreclosures yet.”

He added that problems with commercial real estate, such as underwater loans and defaults on commercial mortgage-backed securities, are still hampering the economic recovery.

“The operating performance of the assets aren’t sufficient to justify the debt on many of these (properties), and that still has to clear,” McKee said.

Artificial intervention — the so-called ‘extend and pretend’ stance — has postponed many decisions that still need to be made on underwater commercial properties, he added.

“There’s some cleaning up, clearing out still to do. I don’t think it’s been very transparent that there’s still this overhang,” he said. “There’s still this soft economy that still will be around for awhile.”

“It’s going to be rocky for the next 24 months.”

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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The number of transactions in which a home sells for less than the owner owes the bank is up 74% in the region this year, mainly due to a doubling of those so-called “short sales” in the Inland Empire, the Southern California Multiple Listing Service reported.

During the first five months of 2010, the four-county region had 12,906 short sales, up from 7,405 in the same period of 2009, SoCal MLS figures show.

Short sales are increasing as lenders become more amenable to approving deals rather than letting homes go through a costly foreclosure.

Here’s how those numbers break down in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties:

• Riverside County had 3,444 short sales this year, the second-highest number in the region. That’s up 116% from 2009, when the county had 1,593 short sales.
• San Bernardino County short sales increased 96.7%, to 2,089. During the first five months of  2009, the county had 1,062 short sales.
• Los Angeles County had the most short sales: 4,462, but that’s up just 55.5% from the same period in 2009, when there were 2,870 such sales.
• Orange County had the lowest percentage gain: up 54.8% to 2,911 short sales. The same time last year, O.C. had 1,880 such sales.
• Overall, the region has 29,242 distressed sales this year so far, down 24.4% from the first five months of 2009 due mainly to declining sales of bank-owned homes.
• Bank-owned home sales fell 46.1% to 17,233 this year.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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The legislation will now go before President Barack Obama for approval. Assuming he signs the legislation and it becomes law, buyers sweating the June 30 deadline to close on homes and receive a credit can relax a bit — they will have an extra three months to finalize their purchases.

We’ve had one home buyer tax credit or another since 2008. The credit was modified and extended once and then again in November.

Under the terms of the most recent tax credit, first time and repeat buyers were required to get a home under contract before May 1 and then close on it before July 1. Qualified first time buyers could claim up to $8,000 while repeat buyers were to receive up to $6,500 — quite an incentive to purchase a house.

Ah, but some people have had trouble closing in time. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has estimated that up to 180,000 Americans, in fact, were in danger of missing out on the credit unless they were given more time to close on their homes.

Why haven’t people been able to close on their homes prior to July 1? It seems that banks were hit with a lot of mortgage applications from people rushing to beat the deadline — just the thing to delay closings.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed HR 5623 — a bill extending the deadline to Sept. 30. Bear in mind, the extension will only apply to qualified buyers who purchased homes prior to May 1.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 409-5 and then moved on to the Senate. Ah, but a problem popped up — the Senate bill was attached to a bill that would extend unemployment benefits and cost $33.9 billion.

The unemployment bill has met with resistance, thus threatening to derail the last-minute passage of the tax credit extension that the NAR and a lot of homeowners have been demanding for at least a week. The Senate passed the extension by unanimous consent, this stripping it from the unemployment legislation.

Stay tuned — we’ll have more information when it’s available.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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Effective June 24^th, 2010 on FNMA, FHLMC, FHA and VA loans the following guidance has been released.

 1)  Allowable fees paid by the buyer include: short sale processing fees (also referred to as short sale negotiation fees, buyer discount fees, and short sale buyer fees), payment to a subordinate lien holder and payment of delinquent taxes or delinquent HOA fees.

2)  The Servicer who is agreeing to the pre-foreclosure or short sale must be provided with written details of the fees or payments and has the option of renegotiating the payoff amount to release its lien.

3)  The borrower (buyer) must be provided with written details of the additional fees or payments and the additional necessary funds to complete the transaction must be documented.

4)  All parties (buyer, seller and servicer) must provide their written agreement/concurrence of the final details of the transaction that includes the additional fees or payments.

5)  The HUD-1 Settlement Statement must include all fees and payments included in the transaction.

While the lenders will still have the right to disallow fees that are determined excessive to be paid by the borrower on behalf of the seller, we now know all agencies recognize the need to facilitate the short sale transaction.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

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Detached condo in gated golf course community !  Immaculate !  Large rear yard/patio, 2 car attached garage, over 1500 square feet.

• $450,000 median selling price that is up 7.1% from a year ago. However, that’s still 30% below June 2007’s peak of $645,000.
• Single-family home prices were up 9.5% to $520,000. If prices remain unchanged for the full month, it will be the highest house price since June 2008.
• Condo prices were up 6.9% to $310,500 — down slightly from May’s median price of $305,000.
• Despite that gain, single-family homes still sell for 29% less than their peak pricing (June ‘07) while condos sell 36% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 28% below their February ‘05 top.
• In this most recent period, O.C. shoppers bought 3,349 residences — that’s up 11.5% from year-ago buying activity. (From 1997-2006, monthly sales averaged 4,304 per month.)
• May was 22nd month in the past two years to see sales gains vs. the year-ago period. That followed a 33-months slump where sales failed to beat the previous year’s pace.

How did your neighborhood fare? Check our ZIP-by-ZIP data HERE!

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

SEARCH ORANGE COUNTY'S BEST HOMES at Orange County MLS Home Search

What to consider if purchasing a home on leased land:

• How much time is remaining on the lease? What happens to your interest in the property at the end of the lease term? The length of the lease could also affect your ability to finance and sell the home.
• What are the terms of the “surrender clause?” Check the terms of the surrender clause if the lease will run out while you still own the house.
• How much do you have to pay every month for the land lease? How often does it adjust, and by what amount? 
• Are you better off renting? “The two are similar in many ways, including a payment of monthly fees that are determined by another party.”

.Some ways to discern quickly if a property you spot may be on leased   land:

• Steep homeowners’ association (HOA) fees, more than in nearby areas.
• Homes are closer together than usual and are extremely similar to one another.
• In a typical neighborhood, there are homes with pools. In a leased-land community, individual homes will not have pools.

Advantages:

• You buy the home for less because you’re not purchasing the land.
• Leased-land homes are often better than apartments for people with kids and pets.
• You can live in a pricey area you wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.
• The community might have such amenities as club houses, a pool or tennis courts.
• Property taxes are usually lower.

.Disadvantages:

• The risk of losing your equity when the lease expires, depending on the terms of the surrender clause.
• The resale of the home probably will be tougher than selling a traditional home.
• Leased-land properties are often part of an HOA, which means extra monthly fees that can rise annually. The HOA can also levy a special assessment for major community property repairs or upgrades, resulting in an unexpected bill. 
• A traditional home can be a good hedge against inflation, but a leased-land property is not. In a leased-land community, your monthly lease payments and HOA fees will probably go up  at least by as much as the rate of inflation, while your home’s value will decrease with the approach of the end of the lease term.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

SEARCH ORANGE COUNTY'S BEST HOMES at Orange County MLS Home Search

As posted in the OC REGISTER, June 17, 2010

A new listing in San Juan Capistrano just hit the market two days and has some nice features to it.

The home for sale is asking $2,295,000 and has 5 bedrooms, 5.25 baths, 5,700-square-feet of living space on a .64-acre lot and a pool.

That breaks down to $403 per square-foot.

This home has been on and off the market before.

Per the listing description:

“Absolutley magnificent grand estate! Priceless upgrades throughout! This estate is beyond your expectations! Home illuminates class and quality with a very warm touch! All rooms are oversized. Handcrafted everything! This spectacular estate boasts an entertainer’s dream backyard! Oversized pool, outdoor fireplace, barbeque, only to top it off with a free-standing pool house w/ an approx 20′ rock fireplace, superb for outdoor dining + outdoor bath! Beyond this, your own soccer field for all types of events! Only to be topped off with your own private orchard & VIEW! 4-car garage, bonus room, enormous master suite with fireplace, simply one of the best homes to come on the market in Orange County! Too much to mention!”

HOA fees are $419 a month and there are no Mello-Roos taxes.

You can see in the last photo where the soccer field starts. It isn’t fully shown in the listing photos, but can be seen from an overhead map.

CLICK on photos for larger images.

Call me if you would like to view this special home @ (949) 922-2200.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

SEARCH ORANGE COUNTY'S BEST HOMES at Orange County MLS Home Search

Everyone! 

If you own property or have what can be described as significant assets, you need a trust, otherwise when you die (not if) your estate, which is everything you own regardless of value, becomes under the control of the state.  You have a savings account with $3,500 in it and get hit by a bus, can your brother or sister walk into the bank and say, “My brother died, can I have his money?”  What happens to your car, can they legally sell it?  Now imagine a house with a $350,000 mortgage that is worth $475,000.  Who has the ability to sell that house? What about the mortgage payments until it is sold?
 
Many people are single or in a committed or formalized domestic partnership relationship; just as important to have a trust. What if your partner gets hit by a bus and there is no trust or estate plan?  Looks like his brothers and sisters, or children from a prior relationship, just became your partners in your home. If not it can cost you plenty of legal fees to keep them off title and any claims to his estate that you share. 
 
Estate plans do not just deal with property and assets, they also detail who will have guardianship of your children and providing for their future should a bus make them orphans. 
 
The term ‘hit by a bus’ is being used instead of saying ’if you die’ because very few of us know when, or about when, we will die. If you are hit by a bus tomorrow are your assets protected and will pass along to those you would intend them to be passed along to?  What about your children?  What if you spouse or partner gets hit by a bus tomorrow, are you protected and able to retain all assets you consider joint? 
 
Not easy questions for us to think about, and very easy to put off the answers and solutions.  Make sure your loved ones are spared the onerous dealings with the legal system merely to remain in their homes, especially while they are grieving your loss.
 
If you already have a trust and it has not been reviewed in at least five years I suggest you make that appointment as well; laws and assets have probably changed and you want to make sure your trust is protected.

If you need assistance in how to prepare a trust, please contact me:  (949) 922-2200.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

SEARCH ORANGE COUNTY'S BEST HOMES at Orange County MLS Home Search

.

• $445,000 median selling price that is +9.9% vs. a year ago.
• Current price is $200,000 — or 31% – below June 2007’s peak of $645,000.
• Still, the most recent median is 20% above the cyclical low hit in January 2009 at $370,000.
• Don’t forget, that bottom was 43% below the peak.
• The current median selling price of a single-family homes is 30% less than their peak pricing (June ‘07) while condos sell 37% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 25% below their February ‘05 top.
• Single-family homes were 75% more expensive than condos in this period vs. 75% a year ago. From 1990-2009, the average house/condo gap was 58%.
• In this most recent period, O.C. shoppers bought 3,273 residences — that is +14.6% vs. year-ago buying activity. This current sales pace is 91% of the average 3,597 homes sold per month in the 20 years ended in 2009.
• Builder’s new homes sales were 7% of all residences sold in the period vs. 5% a year ago. From 1990-2009, builders did 14% of the selling.

Your thoughts and feedback on this topic are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post your comments.

Keeping you informed about the Orange County real estate market, economy and life in the OC is what I'm committed to doing.

For more great Orange County market insight and industry news visit Laguna Niguel Real Estate or view the Orange County Market Trends at Orange County Real Estate.

Listen to Zen's Laguna Niguel Real Estate Podcast available 24/7.

SEARCH ORANGE COUNTY'S BEST HOMES at Orange County MLS Home Search