There are more higher priced homes that are listing and closing.  This means that the market for the first time in many years has some people that are able the purchase a home at the higher level due to income or they have had equity in a home and are selling and moving up in home value. However, we are 33 percent below the median value of a home established in June 2007.  The median price hit the bottom in January of this year and we are and since then has grown 17 percent. Again it is Good news we are headed in the correct direction. 12/20/2009

My family and I would like to take this time to thak God for the blessings of his Son, Jeaus Christ's Birth.  In honor of His birth, death and reserection my life and I hope yours has been made whole. So we (my family and I) wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May each day be filled with God's grace and mercy for you and your family. 12/20/2009

San Clemente has traffic problems down town so they are taking a close look at what they might do.  There are two key downtown traffic problem intersections where traffic tends to back up: Avenida Palizada at I-5 and Avenida Presidio at I-5.  The Presidio intersection is awkward in its traffic patterns from Avenida Victoria onto El Camino Real.  At the City Council meeting November 17,  they hired KOA Corporation to do an analysis of what can be done to ease traffic.  On of KOA's tasks is to evaluate the traffic problems downtown by checking and recommending a traffic signal at Presidio and the I-5.  One of the suggestions was to purchase the Coffee Bean and then straighten out Presidio.  Intersections are so close together at El Camino Real and Avenida Victoria, El Camino Real and Aven... 12/16/2009

Very few homeowners have been able to get loan modification.   The Orange County Register this morning had an article stating Mortgage relief reaches few homeowners.  Just over 31,000 that is just a few homewoners received permanent loan modifications since March under the Obama administration's mortgage relief plan.  Among the big lenders, who received TARP monies, Bank of America had the worst record.  The nations largest lender had only completed 98 modifications for the 160,000 borrowers who had signed up by the end of November.  The weak results mean Obama admisistration is not going to hit its long term target of helping 3 million borrowers with loan modifications.  31,000 comparied to 3,000,000 is less than one tenth of what Obama thought was possible.  I guess that we could say... 12/13/2009

Orange County's real estate equity sales increase home sales revenue.  The home sales revenue increased hitting the highest level in three years due to more expensive home sales and equity sales.  Sales of homes through the MLS generated $1.15 billion in total revenue last month, up nearly 30 percent from November 2008.  The Southern California MLS figures show: The median sales price for a single family home sold through the MLS last month was $518,300, the second highest in the past 16 months. 2,106 homes sold through the MLS, up 12.8 percent. Higher priced homes and equity sales pushed the combined revenue figure to $1.15 billion up 29.7 percent from the year before.  Distressed sales fell to their lowest level this year. 796 of last month's sales were either bank-owned or short sale... 12/13/2009

This weeks market report for San Clemente and surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 11.1 percent, for new homes it is up 8.6 percent and for resale condos up 10.1 percent.  The sales volume is down for resale homes 0.4 percent and up 2.9 percent on condos and down 22.9 percent for new homes.     Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92691  sales prices are up 3.3 percent and the sales volume is down 1.7 percent. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92692  sales prices are down 7.7 percent and the sales volume is up 8.0 percent. Aliso Viejo  sales prices are down 4.9 percent and the sales volume is up 12.2 percent. Laguna Niguel  sales prices are up 3.1 percent and the sales volume is up 49.2 percent. Rancho Santa Margarita  sales prices are up 13.6 percent and the s... 12/13/2009

Real Estate Research Council of Southern California home prices are researched each year using the same homes from the prior year to establish home prices.  This processes is done twice a year by asking volunteer appraisers to estabilish a home price.  The October report of home prices by the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California showed a 15 percent drop in value.  That is an increase from the last report done in April which 14 percent drop. These are Orange County values based on 39 homes.  The north county was at a 20.9 percent loss, the central county was at 17.7 percent loss, and the south county and beach area did better at 9 percent loss. If there is good news from the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California the home prices showed less of a loss than the ... 12/09/2009

This weeks market report for San Clemente and surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 7.3 percent, for new homes it is up 5.4 percent and for resale condos up 8.5 percent.  The sales volume is up for resale homes 11.3 percent and up 12.0 percent on condos and up 12.5 percent for new homes.   Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92691  sales prices are down 8.4 percent and the sales volume is down 10.5 percent. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92692  sales prices are down 1.6 percent and the sales volume is up 20.4 percent. Aliso Viejo  sales prices are down 2.6 percent and the sales volume is up 17.6 percent. Laguna Niguel  sales prices are down 4.8 percent and the sales volume is up 46.7 percent. Rancho Santa Margarita  sales prices are up 10.8 percent and the s... 12/07/2009

According to the Orange County Register housing inventory has dropped to levels last seen in March as we go into winter sales season.  As we see every year the holidays provide a distraction from purchasing homes during the winter sales season.  The buyers we see at this time are serious and will usually buy.  The problem is there are very few at this time of year.  Even though we see a 6 percent drop in pending sales over the past month we had 3038 homes pending even though we are in the winter sales season.  If we take a quick look backwards we see sales have increased from 2466 a year ago and 1243 two years ago. Sales are better and decidedly better.  We see that we only have a 2.52 months of inventory on the market at this time.  Again looking backwards we were at 5.29 months of inv... 12/01/2009

The Orange County Register had an article by Jonathan Lansner that showed the Zippy rankings for the third quarter that measure housing strengths at the zip code level.  Zippy looks pricing and sales momentum plus foreclosure frequency.  DataQuick tracks Zip code by Zip code for 83 major local Zip codes.   Mission Viejo   92691 is ranked 41 in price and 18 in sales Mission Viejo   92692 is ranked 64 in price and 71 in sales Laguna Niguel 92677 is ranked 15 in price and 11 in sales San Clemente 92672 is ranked 62 in price and   2 in sales San Clemente 92673 is ranked 57 in price and 28 in sales 12/01/2009

Unemployment, tight credit and consumer confidence week will keep this recovery slow.  The consumer, or you and I, are wary about spending money.  The economy grew at a 2.8 percent rate last quarter.  The Commerce Department's revised estimate of gross domestic product for July through September was less than the 3.5 percent growth rate forcasted just a month ago.  The consumer is not spending because confidence is shaky, neigher is the small business community who will carry the burdon of the new taxes for health care and cap and trade.  Adding to that we have banks unwilling to lend.  During most of the 1990's the consumer confidence was over 90 percent and is now at 49.5 percent.  We keep hearing that jobs are to return slowly but we are only seeing a slow down is how much we are lo... 12/01/2009

Los Angeles and Orange County report that home prices go up again0.8 percent in September.  The S&P Case Shiller home-price indexes show Los Angeles and Orange County home prices go up again.  The was 4 months where the home prices went up again.  Before we too positive we are still seeing the home prices dropping month over month.  We are, however,, seeing the an ever decreasing drop in home prices.  Las Vegas is the most depressed market in the country.  Prices have declined for 37 consecutive months dropping 55.4 percent in value. 11/29/2009

This weeks market report for San Clemente and surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 4.4 percent, for new homes it is up 10.6 percent and for resale condos up 1.9 percent.  The sales volume is up for resale homes 12.9 percent and up 10.3 percent on condos and up 0.6 percent for new homes. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92691  sales prices are down 8.2 percent and the sales volume is up 14.9percent. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92692  sales prices are down 3.0 percent and the sales volume is up 33.3 percent. Aliso Viejo  sales prices are down 7.2 percent and the sales volume is up 2.6 percent. Laguna Niguel  sales prices are down 13.4 percent and the sales volume is up 34.3 percent. Rancho Santa Margarita  sales prices are down 2.4 percent and the sale... 11/29/2009

This weeks market report for San Clementeand surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 1.9 percent, for new homes it is up 15.4 percent and for resale condos up 7.5 percent.  The sales volume is up for resale homes .1 percent and ever or 0.0 percent on condos and down 18.7 percent for new homes. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92691  sales prices are down 10.7 percent and the sales volume is up 17.6 percent. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92692  sales prices are down 1.0 percent and the sales volume is up 28.3 percent. Aliso Viejo  sales prices are down 13.8 percent and the sales volume is even or 0.0 percent. Laguna Niguel  sales prices are down 14.6 percent and the sales volume is up 39.7 percent. Rancho Santa Margarita  sales prices are down 2.6 percent ... 11/22/2009

This weeks market report for San Clemente and surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 3.6 percent, for new homes it is up 4.4 percent and for resale condos up 8.8 percent.  The sales volume is up for resale homes 10.4 percent and up 10.2 percent on condos and down 6.9 percent for new homes. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92691  sales prices are down 10.0 percent and the sales volume is up 21.3 percent. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92692  sales prices are up 5.4 percent and the sales volume is up 29.6 percent. Aliso Viejo  sales prices are down 10.6 percent and the sales volume is down 4.6 percent. Laguna Niguel  sales prices are down 16.7 percent and the sales volume is up 47.8 percent. Rancho Santa Margarita  sales prices are down 22.4 percent and the ... 11/15/2009

Jobless Recovery? What is a Jobless Recovery???  It is where we claim that he recession is over and that everything is back to normal.  Manufacturing, housing and retail sectors are back to business and we are fine.  Are you kidding!!! If I am out of work there is no recovery, being jobless is a very serious situation.  Jobs give us the money to spend to purchase the things that are made.  Houses, cars, groceries, goods, stocks, anything that makes this economy work.  How else could we have a recovery?  I guess if we were exporting goods to other countries and they had the jobs to purchase our stuff.  That is not happening. What about government paying us (unemployment or welfare) but government does not have money unless it taxes us and takes it from those that have it and give it to t... 11/13/2009

Landlord Government We will have the government as a landlord.  For the sake of the persons who cannot make their mortgage payment we will through Fannie Mae be government landlords.  Fannie just got more money from the federal government (our collective monies) because than were in trouble again.  Now, Fannie Mae will help those who can't pay the mortgage by leasing their homes back to them.  What does the homeowner need to do?  Give them a Fannie Mae a deed-for-lease.  Does this sound good to you?  They must give up private ownership of their home to the government and become a renter. What happened to the loan modification?  Or was that simply a ploy to get homes out of the hands of private citizens?  Not sure. Yes, it could be a saving grace for those who do not have money because ... 11/13/2009

Sales are Up I run my statistic from the Multiple Listing Service and I run them periodically to find out what is happening in our area.  Here are the results of the run I did today as compared to previous runs. Listing for sale total for Orange County California 7,712.  One year ago we had 12,749 so we have 40 percent fewer properties on the market now than then.  At the markets highest inventory point August of 2007 we had 17,888 listings for sale and we have 60 percent fewer listing. Properties in escrow (under contract) 6,798 properties.  One year ago we had 4,126 properties in escrow a 165 percent increase.  At the lowest number of sales (properties in escrow) was Oct. 2007 with 1,581 we are now at 430 percent better off tha we were then. By looking at this information we can see t... 11/13/2009

FHA in Trouble HUD made an announcement that FHA reserves are short and not what the suspected and that means trouble.  FHA projected they would have 15 billion in reserves and they only have 3 billion in reserves they are in trouble financially.  That means they cannot go below 3 billion so they have to draw on other reserves that we set aside for potential losses.  This means that the new subprime is in the FHA or federal lending and we know what kind of trouble that caused.  It is the first sign that we are headed down the same path that got the mortgage industry in trouble.  Quick fixes are not always or maybe ever the correct path. FHA is in big trouble so they will have to raise fees and or require more down payment to secure a loan.  HUD must move in the right direction or there ... 11/13/2009

San Clemente Area Market Report  This weeks market report for San Clemente and surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 4.2 percent, for new homes it is up 3.6 percent and for resale condos up 4.6 percent.  The sales volume is up for resale homes 5.7 percent and up 8.8 percent on condos and down 19.6 percent for new homes. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92691  sales prices are down 9.0 percent and the sales volume is up 15.4 percent. Mission Viejo  Zip Code 92692  sales prices are up 3.3 percent and the sales volume is up 33.3 percent. Aliso Viejo  sales prices are down 13.8 percent and the sales volume is even 0.0 percent. Laguna Niguel  sales prices are down 8.0 percent and the sales volume is up 39.7 percent. Rancho Santa Margarita  sales prices ... 11/08/2009