The window of opportunity to take advantage of the Summer Market is already beginning to close.

Summer is here! It is the season of longer days, plenty of Southern California sunshine, beckoning, sandy beaches, and refreshing dips in the pool. With summer comes all of its distractions. There are also family vacations, Disneyland, California Adventure, Knott’s Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, LEGOLAND, Raging Waters, the Discovery Science Center, Sea World, and the San Diego Zoo.

The best time of the year to sell a home, the Spring Market, is officially in the rearview mirror. It is now the Summer Market, the second best time of the year to sell a home. For some, buying a home takes a back seat to all of the family fun. Many will still purchase, but

Every year it is the same thing. Multiple open house directional arrows are scattered on the corners of busy intersections. More and more FOR SALE signs are popping up in neighborhoods. There are not quite as many buyer showings as there were only a few weeks ago. The word from the real estate trenches is that it is not as busy and homes are not flying off the shelves as they did before. Sellers are growing concerned. What is going on? Why the sudden shift? It is called SUMMER.

The Summer Market begins with the completion of the school year. It is the season of end of the year school concerts, theatrical plays, AP testing, and final exams. It is the season of caps and gowns, commencement speeches, diplomas, and graduations parties. College kids

Trends are developing which demonstrate that the six-year housing run is beginning to cool.

Headlines are the same across the country: there are not enough homes on the market and buyers are having an extremely difficult time finding a home It has been a supply and demand issue for more than six years now, dating back to 2012. The story has not changed much for quite some time; that is, until now.

Now that a third of the year is in the rearview mirror, noticeable cracks have appeared that illustrate a cooling market. It is not as if housing has suddenly tilted in favor of buyers. No, there are still multiple offers and plenty of homes flying off the market and into escrow just moments after the FOR SALE sign is pounded into the front yard.

A sudden spike in the inventory is an ominous sign for sellers to approach the market carefully. 

An Inventory Spike: In the past two weeks, the active inventory had its largest increase since July 2013.

The script for the Orange County housing market has been the same for quite some time now. The year starts with very few homes on the market. The inventory rises slowly, peaking sometime during the summer. The long-term average for the active listing inventory is 8,000 homes; yet, it cannot even hit that level for a day, falling astonishingly short year after year. The headlines have been the same: “Not Enough Homes on the Market” and “Buyers are Tripping Over Themselves to Purchase.” 

Suddenly, something has changed. More homes are coming on

 Good Afternoon!

The lower end of the housing market is not only disappearing, it is impacting pending and closed sales. 

Vanishing Lower Ranges: A mind-blowing 15% fewer homes have come on the market below $750,000 so far this year compared to 2017.

The market has been blistering hot for years now. For homes priced below $750,000, it has been a hot seller’s market (an expected market time less than 60-days) since October 2015. Home prices have appreciated dramatically for six solid years. As a result, there are only a handful of detached homes priced below $500,000 today, 55 to be precise, or 1% of the active listing inventory. Back in January 2012, there were 1,806, 22% of the active inventory. Detached homes below $500,000 have essentially

 Orange County Housing Report:  Wait and Afford Less

With rising interest rates, purchasing power drops for buyers considerably the longer they wait.

 Purchasing Power: An increase in interest rates by 1% translates to an 11% drop in the home a buyer is able to afford.

For the past several years, experts and prognosticators across the country had been calling for increasing interest rates. Yet, it never really materialized. To many it was reminiscent of Chicken Little’s, “THE SKY IS FALLING!!” Sure interest rates had their ups and downs, but, in the end, they consistently dropped back down to historical lows, below 4%. That is, until this year.

With the election of President Trump in November 2016, interest rates rose significantly,

Orange County Housing Report:  Too Much Noise

Everybody seems to have an opinion about the direction of the housing market.

Ignore the Noise: From talk of a housing bubble to speculation that the market will slow because of higher rates, the best advice is to ignore all of the noise and turn to the facts.

Wow! There is a lot of talk and speculation about the housing market these days. Some people are convinced that housing is a bubble and it will implode, dropping more than it did during the Great Recession. Yikes, interest rates have reached 4.5%, it must mean the end of the housing run is near. On a live video, one real estate professional warned that the market will turn this autumn stating that a downturn occurs every 10-years. Some

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Every year, San Clemente launches it's holiday season with a celebration, in downtown Avenida Del Mar. The Spanish village by the sea, transforms into Santa's village by the sea. Local businesses get together and set up along the streets of downtown, while locals can enjoy an evening of shopping, dining and entertainment throughout the night.

This year, the Hartanov Team at Berkshire Hathaway set up their annual booth and passed out free cotton candy, hot apple cider and holiday goodies! Who wouldn't want that?! Not only that, but the Hartanov Team held a crafting station where anyone could stop by to make their own stress balls. Nothing says the holiday season than trying to relax in between all the celebration and chaos!

The night

The holiday season is quickly approaching and our belly's are still full from our Thanksgiving feasts, but the best is yet to come. As we pull down our boxes, dust and all, we begin to piece our holiday decorations once again. 

This year try something different by still keeping it traditional and festive. The term DIY, which means "do it yourself" has become pretty  popular lately. This holiday season is perfect to brush up on your creativity and we're to help! The Hartanov team wants to help create your home into a cozy, holiday abode.

Let's start with something as simple and easy as mason jars. We all know how versatile mason jars can be; they're used for drinking, candle holders, flower vases, you