The New Housing Policy – Will It Repair the Housing Market?
Recently a friend and colleague, Robert Hahn, encouraged the readers of his own blog to submit posts for his upcoming 'Carnival of Housing Policy', hoping to collect thoughtful discussion around the potential changes in housing policy. I've been somewhat reluctant to participate so I'll start wit…
Read more...Goodbye Formal Living Room, Today’s Orange County New Home
New home construction has begun again in Orange County. But there are some significant differences from the standpoint of the developers, as well as the product that is being offered, and who is actually working with the home buyer. Few things are as they were during the construction boom of the…
Read more...Robinson Ranch – Low Taxes and Magnificent Views
Robinson Ranch is a unique community, just Northeast of Rancho Santa Margarita. It's technically in the Trabuco Canyon zip code and is one of the gems of South Orange County. Few neighborhoods afford the views found in Robinson Ranch. Friends know that I think one of the great gifts of Sou…
Read more...Make Home Searching Easy on Your Smart Mobile Device
The ways the our clients are searching for homes continues to evolve. Not only are the online resources expanding and improving, they are becoming increasingly mobile. As of the beginning of this year, 42% of the U.S used a smart phone, and this number is consistently growing. Make Your Home Se…
Read more...Potentially a Decade of Recovery?
My friend, Mike Simonsen with Altos Research (they provide the charts for my 'How's The Market?' pages) was recently interviewed on the Fox Business Network, along with Anthony Sanders, Finance Professor at George Mason University. Interesting conversation, but not particularly uplifting. Simonsen indicates that it "...could be a decade of recovery. Banks have tons of homes on their books and they are reluctant to let them go at all because they have to then start doing things like 'mark…
Read more...10 Things You Should Know if You Are Moving to Orange County
Skip the Weather Forecast - It's 70 and Sunny: No disrespect to the local weather forecasters, but we don't rely on them for much. If they predicted 70-something for temperatures year round, they'd be right (or close to it) most of the year. For many folks, this is the ideal and is one of t…
Read more...2008 Orange County Residents – “We’re Outta Here”
Forbes Magazine recently published an interesting visual representation of moving trends. It allows one to visually get a sense if more people are moving into, or out of, a particular county during 2008. Orange County was pretty interesting. Guess I'm not entirely surprised to see that the in…
Read more...OC Buyer Tip – Be Cautious About Loan Contingency Removal
There is a very critical element to the California Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) that every buyer must understand when initiating the purchase of a home in Orange County. The act of removing 'contingencies' exposes your deposit to risk if you are unable, or unwilling to move forward with you…
Read more...The Housing Bottom? Not Yet
The housing bottom can be an elusive thing. Determining when we've actually arrived can only be seen in retrospect, but clearly there are some signs that indicate, we haven't quite seen the end of this housing recession. As I've said before, there are several things that have me concerned about…
Read more...Is There Such a Thing as a ‘Short’ Short Sale? Yes…If You Have the Right Lender
One of the great oxymorons of the real estate industry is the Short Sale, which has become famous for being anything but short. I've been promised 60 days only to have it become 5 months. I've had a bank tell me it would likely take 6 months, only to have it take a year. I also am leery of an…
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