Once again I did not realize that as a Realtor I have been speaking in jargen.  Short Sales I know what that means but does anyone who is not in the industry have a good understanding of the meaning?  Short Sales are properties sold short of the amount due on the note.  The note could be held by a bank, lending institution or private party.  It means when the sale goes through the bank does not get back the money they origionally expected to get back on the loan. Most of potential seller's are not aware that the lender might take less than what is due.  Therefore, they let the property foreclose.  Or if the become aware that this is a possiblity they do not understand that the bank not only takes less but pays all costs including the Realtor fees.  I assumed they understood some of this... 04/23/2009

Just did a check on how the market in my area is doing. I work out of Mission Viejo, CA Population is over 95,000 Total Active on the market        3/8/09- - 214 detached houses.               4/19/09- - 205 detached houses. Short Sale Active        3/8/09- -75 out of 214                             4/19/09- - 63 out of 205 REO Active       3/8/09-- 9 out of 214                               4/19/09- - 7 out of 205 In Default Active properties       3/8/09- - 6 out of 214                              4/19/09- - 6 out of 205 That leaves 129 out of 205 as equity sellers for 4/8/09 April has changed a small amount 129 out of 205 are equity sellers and last month it was 125 out of 214 showing an increase of equity sellers. This really looks pretty good. The REOs and Short Sales are really d... 04/19/2009

RE/MAX Homes & Estates Pre-Foreclosure Division 9241 Irvine Boulevard, Suite 150, Irvine, California 92618 (714) 588 -7676 ∙  www.ReMaxAnn.com   If you are in a situation where: •You lost your job •Your Medical Expenses are too high •Just went through/going through a divorce •You are behind on your payments •You have no equity •You can't afford the cost of selling your home •Your income has been reduced •You are in foreclosure   WE CAN HELP YOU! It's easy and doesn't cost you any MONEY! Our services are Free!!! WHEN THE DEBT EXCEEDS YOUR HOME'S VALUE... we can help is with a SHORT SALE.   Benefits of a Short Sale:  •Avoid Foreclosure •Avoid Bankruptcy •Reduced damage to your credit •Postpone your foreclosure sale date •A short sale will stay on your credit approx 3 years •BE FREE of fin... 04/16/2009

Nothing particularly grand in the Tea Party in Mission Viejo. We didn't have 10s of 1000s of people and celebrities. But we did have our citizens...moms and dads and children and teens and grandparents and homeowners and store owners. While Ted Nugent was at the Alamo, we did get our local "Diamond Tom" who sang combinations of patriotic songs and Jimmy Buffet....what? :) My son is on the right! My son and his friend... This couple has tea bags all over! This tea is from the same company who provided the tea to those early Patriots which ended up in the Harbor. The company is still in business today. This one lonely guy.....trying to tell us to "Pay our Share". I overheard him telling a woman that no one should be allowed to make more than $100,000/year until everyone can pay their bill... 04/16/2009

I have been keeping track of REOs in Mission Viejo and Lake Forest, CA and they are drying up. Nov. and Dec. there were 128 REOs sold. Jan. and Feb. 2009 there were 88 REOs sold. It is WOW! Now lets look at what is on the market for the same area in March and April. How about only 24 available and 69 are in escrow. This good news for South Orange County! There was at one time an abundance of low priced properties under $400,000 vacant and bank owned. I have personally shown properties that where on the market as REOs for only 2 days, bought, and fixed up alittle then sold again for a profit. We are seeing the market holding the price. I have a client wanting REO detached 2 bedroom for $300,000 or under and there aren't any. There were some 3 months ago but not anymore. I think it will s... 04/15/2009

Interest rates are at a 65 year low, below 5% and home owners are going to lenders to refinance. Banks are being deluged with applications. Marshall Boyd co-presdent of Southwest Bank Mortgage and founding managing partner of William Trew Real Estate Services says he has been though other refinancing crazes but this is the most significan he has ever seen. The number one reason is this is the lowest interest rates have been. In March rates were again lowered due to the fact that the Federal Reserve is commited to buying up 1.2 trillion in mortgage backed securities and 300 billion in goverment debt. But the lower rates require that the property owner has a strong credit rating, low debt ratio and at least 20% equity in their home. There are costs to refinance that are unaviodable includ... 04/13/2009

I have had such a busy week! I'm so fortunate to be working in a field I love.I've been a real estate junkie most of my life. I grew up in Mission Viejo and moved there in 1966 (when I was 5). I have watched all the neighborhoods develop around us. When I moved in, Mission Viejo had a sign with the population...it was 1320. I have the picture..somewhere. As the new homes were built, my mother and I took Sunday afternoons and went through the model homes. I remember as they built ones with sunken living rooms, with wood paneling, and lakes and streams. All the different fads of housing. I loved it. When I was in high school....we would head down after school and watch them fill the lake. Yep...sounds really boring. But we were so excited about the idea of a beach and lake around the corn... 04/03/2009

I tell buyers to make a list of everything they have to have and do their best to get them all. Before house hunting, make a list of nine things you want in the new place. Then make a list of the nine things you don't want. I call this                              "NINE OF THIS AND NONE OF THAT". You can use this list as a score card to rate each property that you see. The one with the biggest score I WANT THIS wins! This helps avoid confusion and keeps things in perspective when you're comparing dozens of homes. When you are house hunting, keep in mind the difference between "SKIN AND BONES". The BONES are things that cannot be changed such as the location, view, the size of lot, noise in the area, school district, and floor plan. The SKIN represents easily changed surface finishes lik... 04/01/2009

Mission Viejo REO Market Moving At High Speed by John Alesi, Mission Viejo REALTOR® Mission Viejo CA Real Estate One of the challenges of successfully purchasing a REO/Bank Owned/Foreclosure home is getting your offer accepted in a timely manner. Because of the current low inventory of good REOs, the market velocity for these properties is high. In Mission Viejo, California, the Days On Market (DOM) for the first quarter was only 27 days and for the last month was 26 days*! Yikes! That means that buyers must be ready to make an offer without a lot of time to "think it over." If you are looking at foreclosures in any market, ask your agent for statistics for the last quarter, or better yet, the last month to help you determine the speed of the market. So when your agent tells you to move... 04/01/2009

I just wanted to share with you what I have been up to in regards to blogging. I started this year with my goal to make my presents on the internet know and to work on it 5 days a week. At first it took a lot of time and now it is easier. I do some work in the morning while I have my first cup of coffee.  You know, emails, answer questions, check to see what is going on with others then go to all my online sites and do some reading. I am reading becase I have SO much to learn. I hadn't done but maybe 2 or 3 things before this. The first of Jan. I took a class at our loacal Association office given by Chris Tellez about blogging and the instructor said" if you do what I tell you to do, set up 3 networking sites "Active Rain, Linkedin, and Facebook" I'll wwrite an article about you. Well ... 03/24/2009

Existing home sales went up in Feb 5.1% over Jan. sales. Buyers are taking advantage of the lower prices. Sales had been expected to be lower during this time. Annual rate of homes sold was now at 4.72 million for last month. It is the largest increase in slaes since 2003. Entre level home buyers are getting in on the low prices of distressed sales. This portion of prices accounts for 40 to 45 % of the sales. Feb. median price rose a small amount over Jan. price which had recorded the lowest price since 2002. We are still down 28% from the high of 2006. Buyers are shopping for homes that are within their budget. They aren't going for houses or mortgages that will lead them into trouble in the future. 03/23/2009

The city of Mission Viejo is located in the southern part of Orange County, CA, to the east of us is Saddleback Mountain and to the west (5 miles) is the Pacific Ocean. It has been named the safest city in the U.S.A. from 2005-2007 but in 2008 we fell to second place. Considered to be one of the first and largest master planned communities ever built as a single project, today it stands as an example for what can be done. The Mission Viejo Company was formed in 1963 and consisted of 3 of the original land owners family decedents. The idea was to build a city and not destroy the natural rolling hills. Before 1963 the land was part of the area called Rancho Mission Viejo. The development was sold to the public as the place to live and work for the "California Dream". You could have the li... 03/21/2009

Just to give you a web site to shop neighborhoods by cities like Mission Viejo or Lake Forest in CA. You get information on how many rentals or how many owners live there, income for the area, age of properties. This is information everyone needs to know when moving to a new area. http://www.qpmcentral.com/VAL/val_neighborhood-info.htm  The state has a web site where you put the address in and it will tell you the dynamics pertaining to the schools that you child would be attending. Searching the school can tell you if that is where you want to raise your child or if another school district would suit you needs better. http://www.schoolfinder.ca.gov/       03/20/2009

Buyers and sellers have a different view as to what the price should be. Sellers want to sell higher than buyers want to buy. The trick is getting the price to meet in the gap and all parties to the transaction to be happy in the end. Buyers are scared that they will over pay and that prices will continue to drop. Getting them to realize they are buying for a place to live and raise a family. This is not something anyone should purchase for a quick buck or thinking it will go up in the near future. The best location, sometimes sell for over the listing price, especially if there is a low inventory of similar homes on the market. Some of the foreclosures are attracting multiple offers because of the extremely low listing prices. For the most part it is still a buyers market and negotiati... 03/14/2009

Today the microscope is on Mission Viejo. (BTW Dear Friends/Readers, if you find this number crunching downright boring - stay tuned. I always come back to the conversations that are much more fun than this! :) 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 an idea of local performance. Whether you are buying, selling, or just keeping an eye on your local market, these numbers tell the story. Homes Under $500,000 I think one of the revealing things about the under $500,000 market is the fact that while nearly 68% of the active inventory are short sa... 03/13/2009

Just did a check on how the market in my area is doing. I work out of Mission Viejo, CA Population is over 95,000 Total Active on the market        2/8/09- - 216 detached houses.               3/8/09- - 214 detached houses. Short Sale Active        2/8/09- -75 out of 216                             3/8/09- - 75 out of 214 REO Active       2/8/09-- 8 out of 216                                3/8/09- - 9 out of 214 In Default Active properties       2/8/09- - 8 out of 216                               3/8/09- - 6 out of 214 That leaves 125 out of 216 as equity sellers for 2/8/09 March hasn't change much 124 out of 214 are equity sellers This really looks pretty good. The REOs and Short Sales are really down a lot from what was going on last summer. Let me know how things are going in your... 03/09/2009

We are finding in Orange County that the lower detached homes, priced under $250,000, are being pick up faster than in the last 2 years. Out of almost 7,000 properties available in that price, less than 325 of them are detached. The ones that are priced from $250,000 to $500,000 are the second hottest market with only 27% of them being detached. There are less properties available with an increase of homes pending. The prices have been stabilizing at bottom price range because of demand for detached homes. It is one of the best indicators that the market, may hold for awhile. For the first time in months we have seen no lowering of the prices at the bottom range. Market time for detached homes below $250,000 is now down to 1.95 months and for $250,000 to 500,000 price is at 2.46 months ... 03/09/2009

How do I sell my house? What do I do now? There are things that have to be done before putting the house on the market. Things like cleaning out the garage. Some of you may have an organized garage but the rest of us don't. A buyer goes though a  nice house then opens the door going from the house into the garage and there is so much STUFF, it only has a narrow path way, you lose. The buyers opinion of the house just dropped. They know everything that was in the house is now in the garage. Fixing and doing repairs is something that is very important, not just for inspection, It shows buyer that you take care of the property. Sometimes there are small things in the house that we get used to but others won't look at it that way. Decore, WOW! Sellers think they have the perfect look. Buyer... 03/07/2009

I have been doing a lot of reading today. Looking at ways to save time and yet get all my networking done. I came across a site that lets you do one post to many sites. I mean post on Facebook, Linkedin, myspace, Twitter and many more, all from one post. I tried it and it worked! I did my post on this site and it went to all that I wanted it to. O.K. I'll give it to you http://ping.fm/  I don't know maybe I am the one who doesn't know and all of you already use something like this. I think it is great for when I am on the run, I can touch everyone with just 1 line. Let me know what you think of it. 03/04/2009

Things are different now. Remember when you filled out the purchase contract, there is that little box for the loan contingency and we would let the standard 17 days for loan approval just ride. You knew there would be no problem. The bank said sure and they meant it. It was something we didn't worry about for years.  We had the client sign off before the close or before funding was done, NOT any more. Now it has to be a concern for everyone in the transaction that we wait. Until funding is done, the banks can change the requirements any time they feel like it and your client may not still qualify. Be safe don't sign off on the loan contingencies till the end, it could cost your client their deposit. 03/02/2009