Are Foreclosed Homes the Best Deal?

Good Deal

With buyers on the lookout for that coveted ‘good deal’, I wanted to dig into the numbers in South Orange County to see what they would reveal.  Last week I wrote a post about Orange County foreclosures after watching Good Morning America tout the great savings a buyer can achieve when buying a foreclosed, or [...]

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly in South Orange County Real Estate

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Over the course of the last several months, I’ve become really interested in the way this housing market has impacted individual neighborhoods in South Orange County.  It’s become clear that the makeup of a neighborhood, the strength of the buyers from the last decade, the age of the community, the local amenities, it’s overall stage [...]

Goodbye Formal Living Room, Today’s Orange County New Home

Home Construction

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 early 2000′s. Who Is [...]

So You Want to Buy a Foreclosure

I hear from buyers frequently that are interested in buying a foreclosed home / bank owned property. Sadly, in the under $750,000 market, the competition is brutal. Many times those with 20% down or more will trump those entry level buyers with FHA or VA financing. Even with a strong, high down payment offer, the [...]

Microscope on the Market – Wagon Wheel

Under $500,000

Wagon Wheel Wagon Wheel is small community in Trabuco Canyon located off Oso Parkway not far from the south gate of Coto de Caza.  The homes were built in the mid 90′s by Kaufman & Broad who subsidized the original mello roos bonds making it known in part, for it’s very reasonable tax rate. Homes [...]

Microscope On Mission Viejo

Today the microscope is on Mission Viejo. So many of the media numbers focus on Orange County performance, but real estate performance can vary dramatically within our large county and particularly at various price points. I’m going to spend the next several posts breaking down each of the South Orange County cities to give you [...]

Microscope on the Market – Rancho Santa Margarita

Microscope on the Market

When you are looking to buy a home in Orange County, or anywhere else for that matter, it is critical to drill down into the numbers for the sector of the market that you are looking at.  Orange County numbers are wonderful benchmarks to know, but our market is made up also of submarkets within [...]

What Is a Good Deal?

The new buyer profile today is understandably looking for a ‘good deal’.   With the major changes we’ve seen in Orange County in the last 2 years, the buyers that feel ready to jump into the market are consistently saying, ‘If I find a good deal…’ So what is a ‘good deal’?  Let’s examine the potential [...]

When Will this Orange County Real Estate Market Improve?

Charting the Orange County Real Estate Market

Isn’t this the million dollar question!  People talk about it, speculate over it, study it, and try to make buying and selling decisions based on all of it.  So when will the Orange County real estate market improve? I thought we’d be in this condition at least until Spring of ’09, because historically election years are [...]