Orange County Housing Report: A Holiday Pause

The week of Thanksgiving ushers in the Holiday Market, the slowest time of the year for housing that continues through the first couple of weeks of the New Year.

Holiday Market

During the Holiday Market both the inventory and demand will plunge until ringing in a New Year.

Southern California does not get pummeled by snow during the holidays like the rest of the country. There are no blizzards, school days are not cancelled due to snow, freezing temperatures are rare, and roads are drivable year-round not taking into account construction cones and the grind of holiday traffic. Regardless of the weather, housing slows with all the distractions of the yuletide season. The holidays are here and…

 Orange County Housing Report: Reduce and Net Less

For sellers who must reduce their asking price to achieve a successful outcome, they likely will net less at the closing table.

Price Reductions

Carefully pricing a home allows sellers to walk away with the most money possible and achieve success quickly.

For professional track sprinters, getting out of the starting blocks quickly, fast, and first is often the difference in a race. There is plenty of preparation and training to be that runner that is the fastest off the blocks. The initial lunge is crucial and is an advantage that often propels the athlete with the best start across the finish line with arms raised high in the air.

Similarly, when a home initially comes on the market,…

Housing Haunted by the Fed

As the Federal Reserve pushed harder and harder on the economic brake pedal by increasing the Fed Funds Rate at the fastest pace in recent history, the housing market has slowed to a crawl.

Housing Reset

In June the Federal Reserve announced that they had plans to “reset” the U.S. housing market, and that is precisely what is occurring today.

All year long the Federal Reserve has been in the news. Inflation had become enemy number one and they were going to do everything in their power to tamp down out-of-control inflation. Prices of goods, services, food, and energy were climbing at an unhealthy rate. Home values had soared by over 40% in just two years. Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve Board,…