Carey's Blog

There were an unusually high number of helicopters circling my town of Foothill Ranch today. By unusually high, I mean there was at least one compared to the usual zero. The news services reported that a man had been walking in Whiting Ranch, our local wilderness park, when he came across a coupl...

Turns out real estate professionals aren't the only ones suffering these days. Unsurprisingly, contractors are also having a hard time in this "is-it-or-isn't-it-a-recession" economy of ours. The OC Register reported today that home remodeling activity in the second quarter of 2007 was up to $14...

In case you've been in a cave for the last year or two, you may not know that the US is in the midst of a housing crisis. One term that's been thrown around with reckless abandon is the term "short sale". But what exactly is a short sale? We all know that property values fluctuate with time. It s...

"Smells like a bottom to me..." That's what one commenter said when they read this story in the OC Register about Anaheim's Stadium Lofts condominiums selling for 24-29% off the listed price. The condos were completed months ago but many were still unsold, so the developer had to do something dra...

Imagine you're on vacation at the lake, and it's early morning, before anyone else is awake. You decide to go for a swim, and as you head down to the water you hear the birds waking up and feel a little breeze play with your hair. You slip your toes in, and it's very cold. You stand for a moment,...

The following article was submitted by Tim Bush, a State Farm insurance agent and strategic partner with January Financial. This article is being reprinted here with his permission. You finally decided that your residence should be a condominium. Condos can be an appropriate choice for a number o...

The following article was written by Laurel Mann, a Waddell & Reed Financial Planner and strategic partner with January Financial. The article is being reprinted here with her permission. Earlier this year, President Bush signed into law the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, a piece of landmark legi...

In a letter to our client family in January, we spoke excitedly about the stimulus bill that would create a new jumbo conforming loan with limits up to almost $730K in California. We were enthusiastic about how this would help us help our clients get into loans that matched the high property valu...

One interesting aspect of our housing market these days is seeing the creative plans that are appearing to help us all out of the mess we've created. Enter scene: European inspiration. No, we're not going to start smoking endless packs of cigarettes and cease shaving our armpits (sorry for the vi...

This one's from the keyboard of Cyara, January Financial's Jane-of-all-trades and Carey's sister... Some of you may have seen and experienced that the Orange County/LA area just experienced a relatively strong earthquake, not more than a half hour ago. The Orange County Register is reporting tha...