October Sales Stats

Check out these stats for Laguna Beach in October. And don't forget to Contact us if you are looking to buy or sell your house.

October LB Stats

September Sales Stats

Check out these stats for Laguna Beach in September.

September LB Stats

Sales Stats

Check out these home sales statistics for Laguna Beach.

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How To Green Your Home

Everyone makes the same resolutions every year, eat better and take care of your body. Those are noble goals! But what about your house? Shouldn't your house start living a healthier life too? Going green isn't just good for the environment, many of these home upgrades also add value to your home.

It used to be that "Going Green" was pretty limited to expensive solar panels and compact florescent bulbs. Well there are definitely a lot more ways to Go Green this year!

Here are just a few ways to Green your home:

1. Flooring - Everyone loves the look of hardwood floors. A couple of really eco-conscious choices are Bamboo and Cork. Both of these come in a wide variety of colors now, making it easy to find a match for your taste. Cork is really great for the kitchen. It's softer than other choices, giving your feet a well deserved treat when you are slaving over that stove!
2. Fire - No matter how hot it gets outside, people love to know their home has a fire place. Well EcoSmart Fire came out with a great product. These designer fireplaces are fueled by a renewable energy source called Denatured Ethanol.
3. Sprinklers - There is a fantastic product on the market now, called Cyber-Rain. It's a sprinkler system that actually checks your local weather reports to decide how much water to sprinkle on your lawn. This is just genius! No more having your sprinklers going on during a storm!
4. Toilets - When most people decide to remodel a room, it's usually the kitchen or a bathroom. If you decide on the bathroom, why not use a green appliance in there? There are tons of Dual-Flush toilets on the market now. One flush is for liquid waste, using less water than a standard toilet. Then there is a heavier flush for solid waste. These are great because you use less water, which is better for the environment AND your water bill!!!
5. Water - OK this next one is like something out of Star Trek. It's called the Dewpointe Atmospheric Generator. This wonder of modern science actually extracts clean drinking water from the air in your home. This even works in the desert! Think of all the money you'll save on water. Not to mention how cool your house will look once you buy one of these!

There are tons more products like these out there. So take a look around your beautiful home and start thinking about how you can improve the health of your house this year!

Happy Holidays!!!

From everyone at Ocean Homes OC, we hope you all have a happy holiday season. Check back soon for more blog posts in the new year!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

UCLA Sees 16% Home-Price Gain In 2010

As seen in the Orange County Register:

Double-digit housing appreciation will return to Orange County next year, with the median home price rising somewhere from 15.9% to 16.6%, UCLA economists forecast in a report released today.

That compares to a projected 8.8% gain in California next year and a 2.4% increase nationwide.

It also differs sharply from Cal State Fullerton’s outlook. An economist there said Tuesday that Orange County home prices will rise 2% to 3% next year – at most.

But Mark Schniepp, author of UCLA Anderson Forecast for Orange County, said he’s not predicting the return of the housing bubble.

Even after six years of appreciation, UCLA economists still don’t expect home prices to reach the 2006 peak. In fact, home prices likely won’t get back to that level again until 2016 or 2017, Schniepp said.

“We’re already at 16% (appreciation) from March. That’s just six months, and I’m talking about a year-over-year (change),” said Schniepp, chief economist with the California Economic Forecast. “When you have a cycle where you’ve over-corrected, you can go up 16%. It doesn’t really mean much.”

The gist of the forecast, Schniepp said, is that the Orange County housing market is in recovery.

“The train has left the station. It’s going down the track. This isn’t a head fake,” he said.

He added: “Now is the time to buy. (Actually), the time to buy was the spring and early summer.”

The UCLA housing forecast is part of an outlook that projects a jobs turnaround in O.C. in 2011.

In addition, the Orange County housing forecast states:

• That from 2011 to 2015, O.C. home prices will increase by 2.5% to 8.7% a year. The median home price, at $406,481 this year, is projected to top $500,000 by 2011 and to be above $600,000 in 2015.
• That foreclosures are expected to rise again early next year, but won’t derail the recovery.
• That homebuilding this year will fall to 1,912 units, the lowest number in records dating back to 1946.
• That homebuilding will pick up by 2012, rising above 11,000 units a year — levels not seen since 2002. In 2013, UCLA projects that housing starts will total 12,537.
• That mortgage interest rates will remain low. Southern California rates likely will be below 6% through 2015, the forecast said.
• That commercial real estate will be hampered by high unemployment through 2010, with recovery not expected until around 2011.
• Office vacancies — currently at 18% to 20% — will start to drop in 2010, but lease rates won’t resume going up until 2011.
• Retail sales are expected to start picking up in late 2010, aided by the recovery in the housing market.

“We do look for a much more robust recovery, certainly by 2011 and for homebuilding by 2012,” Schniepp said.

Recovery More Rapid Than Expected

As seen in the Orange County Register:

Another economist has said that he thinks the economy is bottoming out.

“Institutions are coming back. Things are starting to flow again,” Kerry Vandell, head of UC Irvine’s Center for Real Estate, told an industry group Monday. “The economy is recovering more rapidly than I would have guessed.”

The gross domestic product will be positive again either by winter or spring, he said.

When will the residential market begin to recover?

“In my opinion, it already has,” Vandell told local members of Lambda Alpha International, a society devoted to land economics.

But lest you think that happy days are here again, note that Vandell’s outlook comes with a lot of gloomy caveats. Among the hairy obstacles still in recovery’s path:

• A massive wave of foreclosures is yet to come.
• Banks are delaying “taking the hit” on those devalued properties.
• Credit still very tight.
• Unemployment is still increasing.
• State spending cuts will offset federal stimulus in California.
• Prices and rents are still high.

Vandell told Lambda Alpha members that there are a number of myths about the cause of the economic meltdown.

The usual suspects – subprime loans, credit rating agencies, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the housing market and real estate — were not the main culprits, he said . The subprime meltdown and bursting housing bubble were just the first canaries in the coal mine, just the first symptoms of an economic catastrophe.

The primary villains, he said, included the Federal Reserve under Chairman Alan Greenspan (for keeping interest rates too low), the Securities and Exchange Commission (for being asleep at the switch), and past U.S. presidents, in particular Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, (for their pro-homeownership policy bias).

What are the prospects for O.C. real estate?

“It depends on the market,” he said. “There’s an active market under $400,000-$450,000. … (But) in terms of the upper end, (activity) is pretty thin up there.”

California House Prices Projected To Jump 7.9%

As seen in the Orange County Register:

U.S. house prices will stop falling in March and are projected to be up 4.6% by August 2010, Santa Ana-based data cruncher First American CoreLogic predicted.

State	Aug. ‘10 gain
Maine	12.1%
New Hampshire	11.6%
California	7.9%
Florida	7.3%
New Jersey	6.8%
Idaho	5.8%
Connecticut	5.7%
Rhode Island	5.3%
Hawaii	5.2%
North Dakota	4.9%
U.S.	4.6%

In California, the rate of appreciation will be even higher: up 7.9% from this past August.

If true, California will have the nation’s third-highest appreciation rate, trailing Maine (projected to be up 12.1%) and New Hampshire (up 11.6%).

Florida’s appreciation rate is projected to be number four in the nation at 7.3% next August.

In addition, First American reported:

• U.S. house prices dropped 10.1% in August from a year earlier.
• California ranked fourth in price drops with a year-over-year decline of 12.9% in August.
• The biggest drops occurred in Nevada (-24.4%), Arizona (-19.5%) and Florida (-16.8%).
• Excluding the sale of bank-owned homes and short sales (homes selling for less than their debt), price drops were less severe. U.S. prices for non-distressed homes were down just 6.2%.
• In California non-distressed home prices were down 7.9% from August 2008.

CSUF sees tiny O.C. home-price gain in 2010

As seen in the Orange County Register:

Cal State Fullerton’s dean of business forecasts that Orange County home prices will continue dropping until mid-2010, then will climb no more than 2% to 3% by the end of the year.

Appreciation likely will remain in the 3% to 5% range for several years after that, added Anil Puri, dean of the CSUF Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

The rapid, double-digit gains of the recent past are just that: a thing of the past, he said.

“We don’t expect much of an increase in housing prices, but the decline in housing prices will end in 2010,” Puri said. “We don’t expect housing prices to start increasing until the second part of the year, and (it will be) very little in the second half.”

Demand for housing is tied to employment growth, and the CSUF economic forecast for Orange County, released Tuesday, doesn’t foresee any increases in payroll until the latter half of next year.

A bump in mortgage payment resets in early 2010 also is expected to unleash a new wave of foreclosures that could impact local housing.

“We don’t know how big that will be, but we will see (an increase) in foreclosures,” he said.

In a sense, that’s the good news — or as good as it gets. CSUF’s real estate forecast adds:

“The commercial real estate market, on the other hand, presents a gloomier picture and will be the next troubled spot. According to FDIC, one-sixth of all construction loans were in trouble in the second quarter of this year, placing additional strains on regional and local banks which are the major lenders to small businesses. All indicators suggest that this market is a particular danger zone.”

The forecast predicts that office vacancies will hit 20% in mid-2010; industrial vacancies, 16%; and as much as 13% of retail space will be empty.

O.C. home-price bottom forecast for 2010

As seen in the Orange County Register:

Orange County median home prices are expected to decline an additional 6.9% this year, dropping to 2002 levels before a mild rebound begins sometime next year, a forecast included in a Wells Fargo Bank report says.

But the rebound’s appreciation rates are expected to be in the low-to-mid, single-digit percentage-point gains through 2012.

The forecast by the Rosen Consulting Group is contained in Wells Fargo’s “Special Report on the Outlook for Housing,” released in February. The report projects that nationwide home prices will hit bottom sometime between mid-2009 to early 2010, and that price gains after that will be at or below the rate of inflation.

“The majority of the country is in a multi-year housing correction. As we suggested in our earlier housing market outlooks, the regions of the country that experienced the greatest price appreciation during the housing boom are already experiencing the largest correction and the most prolonged as prices retreat to more reasonable levels.”

The report provides housing forecasts for regions across the nation, citing the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountain states and Texas as having the strongest housing markets. California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, meanwhile, lead the nation in foreclosures and declining home prices, the report said.

As for Orange County, the forecast states:

“Recovery is expected to begin in 2010, with prices up 2.7 percent, followed by potential increases of 4.5 percent in 2011 and 6.8 percent in 2012.”

Berkeley-based Rosen Group identified the Inland Empire as “one of the weakest markets in the country,” predicting a 7.7 percent price decline there this year, the report said. Los Angeles home prices are forecast to drop 6.8% this year, while San Diego prices are expected to fall 7.1%.

The report says that federal stimulus plans may help the housing market, but to what extent remains to be seen:

“Intervention by President Obama, Congress and the Federal Reserve, as well as the lenders, including banks, savings & loans, and credit unions, may alleviate the crisis somewhat. The Obama administration has pledged aggressive action, but has yet to decide what strategy or combination of strategies will be deployed.”

Real Estate Market Activity

It appears that available South Orange County Coastal home inventory in many cities decreased, while pending homes sales increased in many of the coastal cities. It appears that properties sold are on the upswing as well as buyers are re-entering the market. Indicators show that the market may be somewhat stabilized, as sellers are getting more realistic with their asking price. It may be a good time for buying a home, as prices are at a low with the entry of Bank Owned, REO and Short Sale properties and interest rates remain very attractive.

Below is the most recent Saddleback Valley Information that consolidates monthly comparisons for Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita, Canyon Area, Coto de Caza, Lake Forest, Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills . The number of sold properties continue at an upward trend like we have seen for over a year.

Information is from data supplied by Southern California Multiple Listing Service (SoCalMLS) and includes the cities of San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Beach, Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach, Newport Coast and Costa Mesa.

OctMTgraphSBV(2)

Making Homes Affordable Program To Include Short Sales!!!

Recently U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Geithner announced details on the expansion of the Making Home Affordable program to include short sales under the new Foreclosure Alternatives Program. One great benefit of this, is that borrowers may receive up to $1,500 to assist with relocation expenses.

Program 3648, a privately owned nationwide initiative, originally based on HR 3648, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, is leveraging this and other legislation to help as many homeowners as possible avoid foreclosure by completing a short sale.

You can learn more about this company and this exciting program here.

Great Information On The HomeBuyer Tax Credit

Homebuyer Tax Credit SD