September 2016 RSS Feed

This Sunday, October 2nd, Dana Point is hosting a Games & Music Festival where 100% of proceeds go to children of Southern California facing life-threatening illnesses.

The festival is located in a beautiful beachfront setting and by combining a music festival with a game show, it will feature live music by famous musicians, delicious food & spirits, and the latest in Games and Virtual Reality technology.

The Games Festival Tickets start at a low cost of $44.95 and will give you a chance to meet the world’s most popular YouTube & Gaming stars, experience 7 hours of live gaming performances onstage, and watch groundbreaking Virtual Reality demos.

If you’re not a big gamer or technology junkie then come for the free Music Festival from 12 – 6pm…

Is it important to you to sell your home quickly?  Are you in a bind and need to get your house to sell as fast as possible?  Take a look at a few of the tips listed below to help sell your home quickly.   

1. Make your asking price one that is not overpriced.  Price your home at a competitive price without it being overpriced. 
2. Offer some sort of incentives to buyers if they are willing to buy your home quickly.  Maybe you could help them pay for HOA dues or even offer to make some needed renovations out of your own pocket. 
3. Another tip to sell your home quickly is by making your home as fancy as possible.  Stage your house to the max so that it looks like a picture out of a magazine. 
4. Set a deadline as to when you need your house gone. …

The California Association of Realtors closely monitors and analyzes trends in the residential real estate industry. The table above contains the latest reported existing home sales series, median home prices, unsold inventory index, median time on market, first-time buyer housing affordability index, and the latest mortgage rates.

420,360 existing homes sold in California in August 2016 with a median price of $526,580. The median time on the market was 28.9 days with a 3.4 months supply of unsold inventory. Homes sold for an average of $246 per square foot and the sales to list ratio was 98.9%. The affordability index was steady at 31%.

If you are currently looking to purchase a new home, you likely want to know where to find a few open houses in your area.  You have come to the right place!  Below you will find a few helpful tips to finding open houses in your area so that you don’t have to do a lot of searching for them on your own. 

1. A good way to find a few open houses in your area is by doing an online search.  A great website in which to look is realtor.com.  All you will need to do is to type “open houses” in the search bar and you will be well on your way to finding open houses in your area.  
2. Another good way to find a few open houses in your area is to use the realtor.com app on your cell phone.   This way you will have the ability to find open houses in your area at…

Looking for some local things to do this weekend with your recreation time? San Clemente is rich with local activities! Just follow this link to the San Clemente Beach Trails, plus many other options.

"The San Clemente Beach Trails is a 2.3 mile long that connects North Beach to Calafia Beach with stops along the way at the Pier and T-Street. The day we were there, it was being enjoyed by walkers, joggers, families with their children, casual cyclists and folks walking their dogs. Lots of beautiful views and foliage to enjoy."

If walking and biking are not your thing, this same website highlights many other options of things to do and stay local.

California home sales stumbled in July as low inventories and eroding affordability dragged down the housing market.

416,000 California homes sold in July 2016 compared to 434,000 in June 2016 and and 438,000 in July 2015.

The median selling price in July 2016 slipped slightly to $510,000 compared to $519,000 in June 2016 but increased from $491,000 in June 2015.

The housing market is looking up lately but that doesn’t mean you need to neglect things around your house that need to be done when you are trying to sell it.   Folks typically have an idea set in their mind what they are looking for when they go house hunting and if you have not done your part to make your house look its best it may not sell as quickly as you would like it to.   There are a few things in particular that home buyers do NOT want to see when they come to tour your home. 

• There cannot be enough said about curb appeal when it comes to trying to sell your home.  If your  landscaping looks like something from a haunted house you can figure most potential buyers are going to keep on driving and not even stop to come look inside of…

Everyone these days is talking about “going green” and making the world a cleaner place for our children and grandchildren.  You may not think that you can do much towards this green movement but the truth is in fact you can.  There are many ways that are simple and easy to go green inside your own home.   Below is a list of a few of the ways in which you can make your home green, and I don’t mean in color. 

1. Most homemakers don’t love doing laundry and this little tidbit is going to be music to your ears!  By letting your clothes pile up a bit you are doing the environment a favor.  Running small loads of laundry through your washing machine and dryer is a waste of energy and a waste of water.  In fact one load of laundry used 25 gallons of water…