Yorba Linda Strip Mall Sells for High Value

A small Yorba Linda shopping center has sold for $720 per square foot — the high price by this measure in Southern California this year.

Town Center Plaza, a 5,789-square-foot shopping center at 18503 Yorba Linda Boulevard, was sold by Festival Companies to Tony Nam for $4.17 million. The center, full leased, has tenants including Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, GameStop, Panda Express and AT&T.

Jeremy McChesney at Hanley Investment Group that represented the seller said: “Due to the property’s excellent location, tenancy, and surrounding demographics, we received a great deal of interest and multiple all-cash offers. The sale of this property at $720 per square foot in today’s market is a testimony to the fact that well-situated strip shopping centers in Orange County are in high demand.”

Information Provided By The Orange County Register

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'Smart Money' Betting on Gold and Housing

After hitting a record $1416 per ounce on Monday, gold has taken a bit of a drubbing. On Wednesday, gold traded as low as $1372 before settling down nearly $26 to $1383.

Still, gold has been a great bet for the past 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year periods...and almost everything in between. Gold's stellar performance has attracted interest from some of the most successful hedge fund managers, including John Paulson, whose firm counts AngloGold, Kinross Gold and the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) among its top 15 equity holdings.

"A lot of people who bet against housing and did very well have shifted over to gold," says Wall Street Journal staff reporter Greg Zuckerman, who chronicled Paulson's bet against the housing market in The Greatest Trade Ever.

In addition to Paulson, whose gold fund was up 33.6% this year as of November 30, according to Reuters, Greenlight's David Einhorn and Passport Capital's John Burbank are also notable gold bulls.

As was the case with housing, none of these hedge fund managers have traditionally been gold investors, but they've quickly educated themselves. And Zuckerman notes Einhorn and Burbank are holding and storing the metal itself vs. betting on gold equities or ETFs.

"They don't actually think gold is going through the roof because inflation is right around the bend next week...but they're worried down the road," Zuckerman says. "We've flooded the system with money...and the only way to protect yourself is through gold."

Among the recent crop of hedge fund stars, Pershing Square Capital's Bill Ackman is notably absent from the parade of gold bulls. But he and Paulson do share a bullishness on another asset class: Housing.

Paulson, who recently bought a two-bedroom condo in NYC for a reported $2.85 million, has been quoted saying: "If you don't own a home buy one. If you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes buy a third."

Ackman, meanwhile, recently gave a presentation entitled "How to Make a Fortune," which lays out his bullish case on housing, as shown here.

Betting on gold and housing in tandem makes sense if you think the dollar is going lower and inflation is going to rise, as "hard assets" do well in that environment. Of course, if the dollar collapses, as many gold bugs like Peter Schiff predict, that won't be good for the economy or the housing market.

Notably, Ackman's bet on housing is predicated at least in part on his generally bullish outlook for the economy and America, which may explain why he's not jumping on the gold bandwagon.

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Easy Holiday Decorating Tips

Some of us love the holidays so much, we get a little too excited about them. We sprinkle our homes with so many red, green, blue and white trinkets that it can eventually become a mish-mash of holiday kitsch. Not to worry, there are classy, yet festive decoration tips you can employ without making it look like the holiday season hit your home like a glittery, tacky tornado. I’ll even throw in a quick gift idea and tricks to decorate your small space, too.

Don’t over-decorate your tree. Before you use EVERY ornament you own to dress your tree, remember how much stuff is really going up there. Sometimes, less is more and this theory also applies to Christmas trees. Once you have lights and garland in place, the tree already has a lot going on. Try to give your eyes a break, too many competing colors and textures can be visually overpowering. Here’s the trick: step back every so often as you dress the tree to get a good feel of how the ornaments are balanced. If you’re thinking you’ve decorated enough, you probably have! Step away from the tree.

Are you tired of the traditional poinsettias – or other red flower – used to ring in the holidays? Fresh poinsettias are also poisonous, so it could be a bad idea for pet owners. As lovely as they are, fresh flowers also don’t last very long.
You can still class up your home with red décor, but this time, replace a vase of flowers with cranberry or pomegranate branches (or just red berry stems). They give the room a punch of color and cheer, but in a refreshing way. These can be found at Pier 1 Imports, Michaels, or Target. Just drop a bunch-full of stems into an empty vase, and you’re ready for the season – and they’ll last that long, too.

If you live close to the coast here in Orange County, don’t think it’s cliché to use some beach-themed holiday décor – just make sure you do it right. There’s a way to slip some coastal culture into your holiday themes without making it tacky. After all, we live pretty darn close to the ocean, so why shouldn’t we?
Star fish can blend exceptionally well with red holiday décor – use a few to accent a table setting or opt for ornaments. There are plenty of seashell ornaments out there, the more natural in color and appearance, the classier. Adding little hints of the beach into your holiday motif can personalize your home. Tuvalu in Laguna Beach, a coastal home furnishings and accessories store, has oodles of beautiful shell and beach themed ornaments.

Please don’t forfeit decorating for the holidays because your place “is just too small.” That’s a bad excuse.
When it comes to your Christmas tree, opt for a tall, slender one. You’ll still get the most out of the tree with space to decorate its branches if you select a tall tree, as opposed to a small, squatty tree. Make space by moving an end table or floor lamp elsewhere. You can deal with an ill-placed piece of furniture long enough to enjoy some holiday spirit.
If you live in a small apartment, simply switch out some of your current décor with holiday colors. Use the berries- in-a-vase style idea mentioned earlier, throw some red and gold accented pillows on your couch and place some colored glass ornaments in a bowl on your coffee table.

Do you have a couple holiday parties to attend? Sometimes it is hard to pick something nice, yet affordable to present the host with. Wine carafes or decanters can be lovely and relatively inexpensive if you look in the right places (yes, Target and Pier 1 Imports). It’s not only a nice gift for the host or a friend, but chances are you’ll be drinking wine this season and your gift is the perfect device to open up that red varietal.

Information Provided By The Orange County Register

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Have Mortgage Rates Hit Bottom?

Home loan interest rates inched back upwards, rising from record lows across the board for the first time in eight months, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.

The average interest rate for fixed-rate loans and for the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) have risen for a third straight week, the government-sponsored mortgage agency reported. The one-year ARM also was up from its historic low hit last week.

So have mortgage rates bottomed out? And more to the point, have you missed your shot a getting a historically low rate if you haven’t already refinanced your mortgage?

“Not necessarily,” said Larry Barrick, sales manager for imortgage in Anaheim. “They have not necessarily bottomed out.”

According to the survey, average rates this week were:

* Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage: 4.46% with 0.8 of a point (equivalent to 0.8% of the loan amount) paid at the start of the loan. That’s up for a third straight week, but still 0.75% below this year’s high in April. For someone borrowing $200,000 at this week’s rates, monthly payments are nearly $91 below the 2010 high. But the all-time low in records dating back to 1971 was 4.17%, so today’s borrower will pay $34 a month more than someone who closed a $200,000 loan a month ago.
* Fifteen-year fixed rate mortgage: 3.81% with 0.7 of a point paid up front. That’s up from the all-time low of 3.57% hit on Nov. 11 in records dating back to 1991. For someone borrowing $200,000 at this rate, monthly payments are up $24 from the record low, but down $72 from April’s high.
* Five-year ARM: 3.49% with 0.6 of a point paid up, front. That’s up from the all-time low of 3.25% set three weeks ago in records dating back to 2005.
* One-year ARM: 3.25% with 0.6 of a point paid up front. That’s up from the all-time low of 3.23% set last week in records dating back to 1984.

Interest charged for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate loan began a six-month slide starting in June, hitting record lows 13 times before turning around last month. Mortgage rates began to fall as investors sought the security of U.S. Treasury bonds, which influence mortgage rates.

Barrick said it’s not too late for homeowners to refinance their loans, but warned that they shouldn’t wait to long to get the process started.

“Mortgage rates are quick to go up, but very slow to come back down,” he said.

Information Provided By The Orange County Register

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Quantitative Easing and Its Impact on Real Estate

The economy is still struggling. Employment numbers are not improving. The housing market is stagnant. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided that a new form of stimulus was necessary to kick start the job market and the economy. They decided to ‘put more money’ into the market. The term for the new stimulus package is ‘quantitative easing’ (QE2).

We want to take a look at what happened, what it means to the economy and ultimately what impact it will have on the residential real estate market.

What Happened?

The Washington Post reported on the FOMC’s actions:

The FOMC decided this week that, with unemployment high and inflation very low, further support to the economy is needed. With short-term interest rates already about as low as they can go, the FOMC agreed to deliver that support by purchasing additional longer-term securities, as it did in 2008 and 2009. The FOMC intends to buy an additional $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by mid-2011 and will continue to reinvest repayments of principal on its holdings of securities, as it has been doing since August.

What Does This Mean for the Economy?

In the same article mentioned above, The Washington Post explained:

This approach eased financial conditions in the past and, so far, looks to be effective again. Stock prices rose and long-term interest rates fell when investors began to anticipate the most recent action. Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth. For example, lower mortgage rates will make housing more affordable and allow more homeowners to refinance. Lower corporate bond rates will encourage investment. And higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion.

The Impact on Real Estate

Patrick F. Stone is president and CEO of Williston Financial Group, in an Inman News article, explained:

We have seen meaningful increases in commodity prices and stock prices in anticipation of QE2. With the implementation of QE2, and the hoped-for inflation, house prices will stabilize and — depending on the degree of impact and length of impact — housing inflation is a logical byproduct. Any meaningful housing appreciation will have a tremendously positive impact on the economy.

The U.S. News and World Report on their Money Blog addressed the issue of what opportunities now exist because of the FOMC action.

Interest rates have never been lower. It seems that just about every week mortgage rates set a new low. And this week the Fed is expected to undertake a second round of quantitative easing, QE2 for short, by buying up more government debt. As a result, incredibly low interest rates may go even lower.

But low rates don’t do us any good if we fail to take advantage of them.

The report went on to give the five ways one could take advantage of lower rates. Number one? Buy a home:

The combination of low rates and falling real estate prices make for a perfect time to buy a home. Particularly for first time buyers, there may never be a better time to take the plunge into homeownership than over the next year. Some say home values may still fall over the next year, so knowing exactly when to buy can be a bit of gamble. But locking in incredibly low rates on a 30-year mortgage is a great way to reap the benefits of the current interest rate environment.

Bottom Line

Interest rates will remain low and inflation will increase slowly if the Fed’s actions work as hoped. After that, home prices will appreciate and interest rates without government intervention will return to historic norms. If you are looking to purchase, now is the time. If you can wait 12-18 months to sell, perhaps it makes sense to wait.

If you are looking to sell in the next several months, we don’t believe the impact of the government actions will take place within that time frame. Discuss your options with your real estate professional.

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Set Realistic Price From the Start

If you're considering listing your house and you're serious about selling, you're better off being realistic right from the get-go.

This is according to a New Zealand housing analyst whose study of online buyer habits echoes one done this year in the United States.

Alistair Helm, chief executive of Realestate.co.nz, concluded that a property receives four times as many views in the first week online as it does a week later. His company looked at 1,100 New Zealand properties during a six-week period in July and August.

Helm told the New Zealand Herald that the "most important people in the market" are serious buyers who are searching online every day, and they're fully aware when a home that might meet their needs becomes available.

A few months ago, the online brokerage Redfin.com looked at traffic for listings in multiple markets.

The homes studied had gone on the market early this year and had been for sale at least 60 days, and the listings had been updated — had a price change or some other significant condition change — at least once.

Redfin.com came to the same conclusion: Brand-new listings get four times as many online viewings in that initial week as they do immediately afterward.

If you're fishing for an unrealistic price, you may be blowing it, the company said.

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Mortgage Rates Hit Year’s 12th Record Low

Mortgage interest rates dropped to the lowest rate on record for a 12th time this year as a six-month case of the jitters continues to rattle the U.S. economy.
Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have stair-stepped their way down by a full percentage point since April, according to Freddie Mac, which has tracked home loan rates for 39 years.

That’s equal to a $44,000 cut in interest costs on a $200,000 loan.

Observers say that the slide in rates began as investors sought the security of U.S. Treasury bonds, which influence mortgage rates.

“Mortgage rates have followed Treasury yields down,” Raymond James Chief Economist Scott Brown told Bloomberg. “I think the bottom line is they’ll stay low for quite some time.”

According to Freddie Mac, this week’s average rates were:

- Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage: 4.19% with 0.8 of a point (or 0.8% of the loan amount) paid up front. That’s the lowest in records dating back to April 1971. The 30-year home loan rate — which averaged 8.9% for the past 39 years — peaked this year at 5.21% on April 10. It has fallen 1.02% since then, equal to a savings of $123 in monthly payments on a $200,000 loan and $44,132 in total interest over the life of the loan.

- Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgage: 3.62% with 0.7 of a point, a low in records dating back to August 1991. The 15-year home loan has set 17 record lows this year, dropping 0.9% since April — equal to a savings of $90 off the monthly payment on a $200,000 loan and $16,281 in total interest.

- Five-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM): 3.47% with 0.6 of a point. That’s tied with last week’s low in records dating back to January 2005. The five-year ARM has fallen to a record low 17 times this year.

- One-year ARM: 3.43% with 0.8 of a point, up from last week when it averaged 3.40%. The low for the one-year ARM is 3.36% set in March 2004 in records dating back to 1984.

The Associated Press reported:

“Rates have fallen since spring as investors shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds. That demand lowers their yields, which mortgage rates tend to track. The 30-year rate was 5.08 percent at the beginning of April (compared to 3.83% today) …

“Low rates haven’t helped the struggling housing market, which recorded its worst summer in more than a decade. But they have led to a surge in refinancing.

“And rates could fall even further in the coming week.

“The Federal Reserve is leaning toward buying more Treasury bonds to drive down loan rates and boost the economy, according to minutes of closed-door deliberations released Tuesday. Economists predict Fed officials will approve a bond purchase program at their Nov. 2-3 meeting.”

Information Provided By: The Orange County Register

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Prudential Voted #1 in Orange County

* Prudential professionals help stage your home for sale, including landscaping, paint, floor coverings and small repairs.
* Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services ranked first in seller satisfaction among all national full-service real estate firms in a J.D. Power and Associates survey.
* Prudential ranked first in relocation satisfaction in an annual nationwide survey conducted in August

Why they're No. 1: Prudential real estate offices in Orange County are affiliated with one of two companies. One is owned by Rich Cosner, and the other is owned by HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. "Our role is to give our professionals the support they need to provide an exceptional experience to our customers – from a responsive management team to the powerful resources of our parent company," said Jon Cook, president and chief executive officer of HomeServices. Cosner said, "The success of our company lies primarily with the experience level of our agents. Prudential doesn't work with new agents, we only hire experienced people. We work with them to grow their careers and take care of clients." Real estate has been challenging the last few years, he said. Five years ago experience didn't matter as much. "But now it takes skill to get these properties sold. Our agents have a higher level of sophistication. The market will continue to be challenged for another two years because of the California employment situation."

Claim to fame: "We have great managers who find those customers," Cosner said. "We market globally and have had success with that. Our system gets buyers into agents' hands." Cosner stays up on the facts and keeps graphs for his agents to let them know of strategic opportunities. Cosner said California is "on sale." It's an opportunity for first-time homebuyers as well. "They're in a great position," he said. "Banks made a lot of mistakes, and there were lots of people who got loans without really qualifying. But now the system protects those young buyers. Credit checks will no longer be cursory."

Fan favorite: "Prudential and our agent were professional in negotiating the deal. I'm a super-satisfied customer; their experience showed." – Juan Chacon, Yorba Linda

Fun fact: Prudential agents in Orange County speak about 50 foreign languages, according to Cosner. Most overseas clients speak English, but others feel more comfortable dealing with business matters in their own language.

Information Provided By The Orange County Register

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Buffet Sees No 'Double-Dip' for Economy

Warren Buffett gets credit for calling the recession in 2008 well before many professional economists.

On Monday, the billionaire investor took another stab at forecasting -- this time, declaring that the feared economic “double-dip” won’t happen.

“We will not have a double-dip recession at all. I see our businesses coming back almost across the board,” Buffett told the Montana Economic Development Summit, according to Bloomberg News.

When he says “our businesses” he’s talking about the diverse mix of firms owned by his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Those businesses including insurer Geico, See's Candies, International Dairy Queen, flooring maker Shaw Industries and the Ben Bridge jewelry chain.

Buffett’s optimism is playing to a stock market that is back to seeing the economic glass as half full. Share prices rallied broadly on Monday, the eighth gain in nine sessions. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which rose 1.1% for the day, is up 6.9% this month. The S&P had tumbled 4.7% in August, when a stretch of weak economic reports stoked double-dip worries.

Buffett, who just turned 80, is never afraid to speak his mind, of course. On March 3, 2008, while many on Wall Street still were predicting that the economy could dodge a downturn, Buffett said that "by any common-sense definition we are in a recession."

That would have been an opportune moment to sell stocks: The Dow industrial average was at 12,258 then, 16% above Monday’s closing level of 10,544.

Then, in October 2008, with the markets and the economy unraveling, Buffett waxed patriotic about America and said it was time to buy stocks for the long term. “A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful,” he wrote in the New York Times.

The Dow was at 8,852 the day his commentary was published. Investors who took his advice had to endure a drop of 2,305 points, or 26%, before the Dow bottomed on March 9, 2009. But if they hung on, today they’d be up 19% nearly two years later.

March 9, 2009 is memorable for another Buffett pronouncement: That was the day he gave CNBC a long interview, the takeaway line from which was that the U.S. economy had "fallen off a cliff" and that conditions were "close to the worst case" he had imagined.

Buffett obviously wasn’t trying to feed the panic, and in the interview he reiterated his long-term optimism about the economy. But pity the investors who heard the Buffett sound bite that day and decided they couldn’t take any more pain: They were selling precisely at the lowest prices of the bear market.

On Monday, Buffett gave his Montana audience some banking advice to go with his upbeat economic forecast.

From Bloomberg:

Buffett, who spoke via video connection to an assembly in Butte, Montana, said U.S. banks were ready to boost lending and encouraged entrepreneurs to seek financing for their business ideas. Berkshire is the biggest shareholder of Wells Fargo & Co., the top U.S. home lender.

“It’s night and day from a year, year and a half ago,” Buffett said. “I know Wells Fargo, they would love to have $50 billion more of loans now. Go in and talk to the banker.”

Information Provided By the Los Angeles Times

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Flipping Foreclosed Homes

Hoping there are big profits to be made in the aftermath of California's housing collapse, professional investors are flocking to the business of buying foreclosed homes at distressed prices.

The investors, primarily private equity funds and groups of wealthy individuals, purchase the homes at public auctions, which are held daily on the steps of local courthouses. They refurbish the properties and try to sell them for quick profits.

Not long ago, the typical home flipper was an amateur tapping a home equity line or savings for an investment property. But professionals have rushed in, partly because of sparse investment opportunities elsewhere.

"In crisis there's opportunity," said Rick Hudson, president of investment firm Prosperity Group Real Estate in Irvine. "Right now there's huge opportunity with flipping houses."

Closely watched gauges of professional buying have surged over the last two years.

The number of homes sold at foreclosure auctions statewide increased to 4,336 in April, from 884 in January 2009, according to research firm ForeclosureRadar. It eased back to 3,483 in July as banks offered fewer properties for sale. The auctions are dominated by professional investors who shop with cash (although not usually with actual greenbacks, for practical reasons).

Another measure, the percentage of all homes sold to absentee buyers, paints a similar picture. In the hard-hit Inland Empire, for instance, 30% of all homes sold in April went to absentee buyers -- up from 19% at the end of 2008 and the highest level in at least seven years, according to San Diego research firm MDA DataQuick. It was at 28.2% in July.

The binge of professional buying has helped spark a nascent housing recovery in Southern California because investors have cut significantly into the glut of foreclosed properties after the subprime mortgage meltdown.

Home sales in the six-county region rose 7.2% in June from May and 2.6% from a year earlier, according to MDA DataQuick. In July, overall sales tumbled primarily because of the expiration of federal tax credits, falling 20.6% from the month before in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. But the region's median home price of $295,000 was off only 1.7% from June.

The fragile rebound in the broader market contrasts with the behind-the-scenes scramble at foreclosure auctions.

"There's a tremendous amount of capital that is desperate to just buy anything right now," said Gil Priel, principal of a real estate investment firm in Woodland Hills.

In some cases, well-financed newcomers are elbowing out smaller investors at auction sales.

"The people who want to go and buy a house to flip, and do one or two, are already exiting the market," said Jan Brzeski, who manages a residential investment fund at Standard Capital in Los Angeles.

The swarm of new investors, however, is making a treacherous and labor-intensive business even tougher.

Investors must do their homework on dozens of homes for every one they buy. Legal and other impediments usually prevent them from going into homes prior to buying them, leaving no way to gauge repair costs. And despite being foreclosed on, the original owners often still live in the houses. That forces buyers to pay them to leave, a dynamic known as cash-for-keys.

The influx of new players is pushing up auction prices and squeezing profits. The average discount at auctions -- the difference between a home's sale price and its actual value -- is 21.6%, down from 28% in January 2009, according to ForeclosureRadar.

Last year, Chase Merritt, a Newport Beach private equity fund management firm, notched strong returns from auction sales, said Chad Horning, its chief executive. Chase Merritt bought a property in Costa Mesa in June 2009 for $315,500 and sold it 21/2 months later for $470,000. It bought a Mission Viejo home for $305,371 and sold it within two months for $375,000.

Chase Merritt launched its first foreclosure fund in May 2009 and has started two more funds since then. But "it's literally gone from a business that's very attractive, even lucrative, 12 to 18 months ago to something that almost doesn't make sense," Horning said.

"It's just like the housing bubble," he said. "It's almost like we're in a bubble at the courthouse steps."

The scramble was on display recently at an auction at the Norwalk courthouse.

A semicircle of people crowded around auctioneer Elwood Brown. Most were clad in cargo shorts and flip-flops. A few sat in lawn chairs. But their laptops and cellphones, as well as the thousands of dollars' worth of cashier's checks they clutched, marked them as professional investors girding for battle.

Brown took a swig from his oversized water bottle and announced that bidding for a four-bedroom duplex in Hawthorne would start at $179,598.60.

The price shot up within seconds as two men and a woman raised one another's bids in $1,000 increments.

"It's at 229, Daryl," a man in a polo shirt and sunglasses whispered intently into his cellphone. "About to close. Do you want it?"

He increased his offer, but a rival bidder claimed the home a few seconds later for $237,000.

Competition at the auctions is brutal, said Bruce Norris of Norris Group, a real estate investment firm in Riverside.

Norris unwittingly bought a house that was the site of a gruesome double murder. No one else bid -- a rare occurrence that showed others knew the history -- leaving Norris with less cash to bid for other houses.

"It's a very lonely place out there," Norris said.

That's only one of many risks in the foreclosure business. People who've lost their homes through foreclosure sometimes vent their anger by smashing walls, knocking over water heaters or ripping out toilets.

"We've literally had people take $20,000 of cabinetry out and feel perfectly justified doing it," Norris said.

The daily auction ritual begins each morning when banks signal which homes they are likely to dispose of that day. That sets off an early-hours scramble as would-be buyers speed through suburban neighborhoods to investigate the homes.

On a recent day, Norris steered his sport utility vehicle into the driveway of a 3,300-square-foot McMansion on a corner lot in Moreno Valley. The front lawn was brown and the backyard was littered with garbage. But the windows were intact and there was no visible damage -- far better than many foreclosures.

Aiming for an all-important look inside, Norris rang the doorbell and delivered the bad news to the teenage boy who answered the door that the home was scheduled to be sold that day.

"Do you mind if I poke around a little bit to see what kind of condition it's in?" Norris asked, angling his body to get a glimpse of the living room.

Then another car sped up and a rival buyer hurried up the driveway. She studied the house for a few seconds and craned her neck over the wooden fence protecting the backyard.

"This is a dream compared to a lot of them," she said in a satisfied tone as she rushed back to her car.

In the end, no one bought the home. The sale was delayed after the owner filed for bankruptcy protection.

Norris was philosophical, knowing that there were plenty more foreclosures.

"If you miss one," he said, "oh well, tomorrow's another pile."

Information provided by The Los Angeles Times

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July Newsletter

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Staging Tips

Sometimes when a buyer is looking at a house they may potentially purchase – especially if it is vacant – they just can’t visualize their own furnishings fitting in the space allotted.

Or, the space looks smaller than it actually is.

Debbie Muccillo with Laguna Beach-based Interiors Within Reach shows us how staging tricks can address these issues by showing us a cottage she staged in Laguna Beach:

“Everyone who previewed this home believed this home’s third bedroom wasn’t a bedroom! With a twin sized bed, impact on the wall and having ample space to incorporate a bed, a functioning nightstand, a built in desk and chair…it’s clear to see that this room is a great bedroom for a child.

Remember the rule, vacant always appears smaller!

Prior to staging, the buyers thought the living room wasn’t ample to furnish appropriately for lounging and TV viewing while having a fully functioning space.

After the staging was installed, there is now seating for 5 to enjoy the fireplace or TV viewing…a relationship with the dining space being ample space to seat 6 and talk with the chef!

When designing your space, make a floor plan showing your furniture in the space and you’ll see how much easier it is to create the space you want and need.”

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Housing Trends

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HOME SALES HIT FOUR YEAR HIGH

A temporary deadline for a federal homebuying tax break helped boost the Orange County home market last month.

In June, DataQuick says 3,423 Orange County residences closed escrow, up 15 percent from a year ago. And, it’s the busiest June for deal closings since 2006.

The median selling price for all Orange County residences — resales homes and condos plus new homes of all types — sold in June was $445,000. While that was up 6.5% in a year it is also down from $450,000 in May and the fourth month-to-month drop in the past eight months. All told, the median price is up 2.3% in the first half of the year.

However, the recovery looks meager when a historic perspective is applied:
-June buying is 21.7% below the average sales activity of June from 1988 through 2009. (See chart above comparing sales activity of the most recent 12 months compared to their respective 1988-2009 monthly averages.)
-In the 12 months ended in June, Orange County home sales totaled 32,813 – that is 26% below the average sale activity of 44,344 for a year from 1988 through 2009.
-For the second quarter, there were 9,349 Orange County homes were sold — that was 44% above the first quarter. Historically, Orange County sees a 33% sales bump from the first quarter to the second quarter, the heart of the so-called spring selling season.
-However, sales in 2010’s second quarter sales were 24% percent below the 1988-2009 average.

Uncle Sam likely had a hand in this sales bump. House shoppers who entered escrow by April 30 were told they had to close the deal by June 30 to possibly collect up to an $8,000 federal tax credit. Just after the June 30 deadline — which spurred a deal-closing flurry — that deadline was extended by Congress to Sept. 30.

“This is good news, even if part of it is due to stimulus programs such as tax credits and very low interest rates,” says Kerry Vandell, director of real estate studies at the Merage School of Business at UCI. “Consider how we all would feel if, after all the stimulus activity, sales and prices continued to drop. The fact that a broad array of economic indicators — including Wall Street hiring — is pointing toward recovery is a very good sign. However, in the end, recovery will not be complete until job growth in the private sector turns solidly and significantly positive. We are not there yet. However, I anticipate solid job recovery by year end.”

And post tax break, the market is cooling.

Steve Thomas of Altera Real Estate calculates a “market time” benchmark tracking how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals being made. By this Thomas logic, as of last Thursday, it would take 3.78 months for buyers to gobble up all homes for sale at the current pace. This is slower pace than the 3.37 months of inventory found two weeks earlier or 2.66 months of a year earlier.

Holly Schwartz of Torelli Realty in Costa Mesa concurs, saying her firm sees a drop in activity as tax-break deadlines passed. “The first half of 2010 was strong; the tax credit incentive helped,” she said.

But Carolynn Santaniello of Seven Gables Real Estate hasn’t seen that much buyer drop-off: “I have seen a slow down in the under $450,000 range since the tax credit expired. In the mid and upper range, I have not see as much as a drop in buyer demand. The first half of 2010 has been very busy and I don’t see an end in sight for me, personally. Serious buyers are still buying.”

Information Provided By The Orange County Register

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ANAHEIM HILLS MARKET SHARE

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YORBA LINDA MARKET SHARE

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NORTHEAST ORANGE COUNTY MARKET SHARE

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ANAHEIM HILLS APARTMENTS REOPEN

The Cascades, an Anaheim Hills apartment complex partially devoured in a 2008 wildfire, has been rebuilt, the owner has announced.

The Cascades was one of several communities to feel the brunt of a swift-moving blaze that hopscotched from Corona through the Santa Ana Canyon. Sixty units in six buildings were damaged or destroyed, leaving dozens of families homeless.

The 60 restored apartments are part of a 292-unit complex just south of the Riverside Freeway.

“We have several residents who have moved back in after their apartments were burned,” said complex manager Pat Caldwell. “We’re thrilled that so many of our residents were not driven off by this disaster. It was terrible but could have been far worse. Now, the property is as beautiful as before.”

Apparently sparked early Nov. 15, 2008, by a car’s catalytic converter in Corona, the wind-whipped fire quickly spread to Yorba Linda, Anaheim Hills and Brea. By evening that day, a colossal column of black smoke churned skyward above the eastern end of the 91 freeway.

The blaze blackened nearly 30,000 acres, destroyed at least 155 homes and damaged another 104. In Anaheim Hills, 48 apartments were destroyed and 48 were damaged, fire officials said.

At one point, the fire jumped the freeway and ignited the Cascades’ 20-year-old wood-framed buildings.

Officials with the complex’s property management firm, Sares-Regis Group, said they made dozens of calls to operators of nearby apartment complexes to relocate many of their tenants.

In addition to the new buildings, amenities were added along with the renovation of several common areas. The Cascades has two pools and spas, a new sports court with a basketball hoop. It has a new and larger clubhouse with a fitness center, kitchen, big-screen TV, a business center, play area and an outdoor fireside lounge.

“There’s not a trace of damage,” Caldwell said. “Today, the challenge is the market, which is more competitive than ever.”

Information Provided By The Orange County Register

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PRESIDENT SIGNS FEDERAL TAX CREDIT EXTENSION

President Obama signed a bill extending and expanding the Federal Tax Credit for Home
Buyers. The bill now includes current homeowners.

The tax credit will be extended through April 30, 2010, with a 60-day extension if a binding contract is in place prior to the deadline. First-time home buyers will continue to receive a tax credit of up to $8,000, while existing homeowners will receive a reduced credit of up to $6,500. Existing homeowners will be eligible for the $6,500 if they have lived in their current residences for at least five years. The bill also will increase the qualifying income limits from $75,000 for single tax filers and $150,000 for joint filers, to $125,000 and $225,000, respectively. The purchase price of the home is capped at $800,000.

Under additional provisions in the bill, taxpayers can claim the credit on purchases completed in 2010 on their 2009 income tax returns. The bill maintains the provision that home buyers do not have to repay the credit provided the home remains their primary residence for 36 months after purchase, and waives this requirement for active duty military personnel who move due to a military order.

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DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE MARKET

Since last month’s issue, a lot has been said and written about the real estate market we’re in currently. “Sales are up,” “Sales are down,” “The market is jittery again,” etc. So what is the truth? Dataquick published an article on their website September 15th reporting that, “Home sales dipped in Southern California last month, the result of a thinning of properties (available) and financial uncertainty among potential home buyers.” This column begs to differ. The two problems with the sales numbers they cite are sort of mutually exclusive. It’s difficult to have a thinning inventory, because properties are flying off the shelves, and have buyer hesitancy. Actually, talk to those of us in the business and we will tell you that it is not unusual for a property at or below the median price (more on that in another article), to have 25 to 50 offers on it. No, there is no joke or punch line here. The truth is we are in an inverted or, if you prefer, a counter intuitive market. We are in a buyers market because of price, but definitely with a decidedly “seller’s flair” in that we are short of inventory.

Expect that to change by first or second quarter of 2010. The prediction here is that we will see inventory of real estate owned properties, bank owned properties in other words, to climb 300% to 400%. There is no need to panic. There is little doubt that these properties will be absorbed by the demand, no problem. There is also an industry sentiment that the banks learned their lesson in regards to flooding the market with too much inventory, so expect these problem properties to be released in waves.

There have been two differing attitudes discussed by the media in past weeks. The first is by economists who study all factors in a recession and in the general economy. Their belief, at least for the Chapman Report and the Fed, is that the recession has bottomed and we can expect a faltering and shaky recovery, barely noticeable next year.

But there are naysayers, who adamantly exclaim that we are no where near recovery. It is true that jobs came out weaker than expected, consumer confidence took a dip and unemployment hit a high for California since 1967. We have to face the facts. But it is also true that many people did not climb on the loan frenzy bandwagon, and they did not buy a home at sky high prices and would like to do so now. It is also true that some businesses are beginning to hire and some companies are thriving. Perhaps we see what we want to see, but real estate activity seems to be a bright spot, at least right now, without falsifying itself to spur that activity. These are real prices and real loans transpiring right now, no smoke and mirrors.

Read more...

PRESIDENT SIGNS FEDERAL TAX CREDIT EXTENSION

President Obama signed a bill extending and expanding the Federal Tax Credit for Home
Buyers. The bill now includes current homeowners.

The tax credit will be extended through April 30, 2010, with a 60-day extension if a binding contract is in place prior to the deadline. First-time home buyers will continue to receive a tax credit of up to $8,000, while existing homeowners will receive a reduced credit of up to $6,500. Existing homeowners will be eligible for the $6,500 if they have lived in their current residences for at least five years. The bill also will increase the qualifying income limits from $75,000 for single tax filers and $150,000 for joint filers, to $125,000 and $225,000, respectively. The purchase price of the home is capped at $800,000.

Under additional provisions in the bill, taxpayers can claim the credit on purchases completed in 2010 on their 2009 income tax returns. The bill maintains the provision that home buyers do not have to repay the credit provided the home remains their primary residence for 36 months after purchase, and waives this requirement for active duty military personnel who move due to a military order.

Read more...