December 2021 RSS Feed

Orange County Housing Report: Not About the Price 

Everyone is intensely focused on the prices of home when the real focus should be the ability to write a check for the monthly mortgage payment.

Monthly Mortgage Payment

The low mortgage rate environment has resulted in substantially smaller payments, allowing home prices to rise considerably as well.

Everyone is acutely aware that home prices have been soaring for the past year-and-a-half. They have far exceeded the runup in values prior to the Great Recession. This has many people on edge, wondering how values can continue to rise beyond their current record highs. In focusing just on prices, it is no wonder they fear an end to the pandemic housing run. 

In analyzing today’s housing…

Orange County Housing Report:  Inventory Catastrophe

For years, there have not been enough homes on the market, but the trend has only grown worse with COVID and the historically low interest rate environment.

Inventory Running on Empty: The inventory is at an all-time low and it is only going to drop from here

In climbing into the family car to run errands, there are times when the fuel gauge light is on, a reminder that gas is needed as soon as possible. At this point some people decide to wait to and save a few minutes and get the job at hand completed. Watching the “miles remaining” dwindle on the instrumental panel can be unnerving. When it reaches zero, panic sets in and pushing it any further becomes a gamble. Finally, after waiting…