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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…

 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,…

Owning a home is a wonderful thing, but you should always be really careful to make the best choices if you make changes to the outside of your home and this includes putting up a fence of any kind.  There are a few tips for adding a fence to your property that you might want to take into consideration before doing so and some of those are listed below. 

1.  Before putting up a fence on your property be sure to talk with your neighbors about it.  You need to keep in mind that you are not only putting up a fence in your backyard but you are also adding a fence to your neighbors land as well.  Talk with the neighbors that your fence will directly affect and discuss such things as property lines and types of fencing etc. 
2. Another thing to consider…

425,680 existing homes sold in California in September 2016 with a median price of $514,320. The median time on the market was 28.9 days with a 4.1 months supply of unsold inventory. Homes sold for an average of $249 per square foot and the sales to list ratio was 98.6%. The affordability index was steady at 31%.

You may have pondered the thought of becoming a landlord at some point in your life but you have no idea what all it might entail.  Below are a list of things to think about before becoming a landlord that will get you started in the right direction. 

1. First of all, you need to think about your finances.  Are you financially stable enough to become a landlord?  Are you able to take the big financial risk that being a landlord requires?  All of the financial questions should come in to play first because if you don’t have the money to be a landlord you don’t want to get involved with it in the first place. 
2. Another question or thing you might want to think about before becoming a landlord is what kind of property you would like to own.  Make sure…

Renovating your home can be an exciting time however it can also be a crazy time.  If you are planning to renovate your home in order to try to get it on the market but you’re not sure what all it will entail, you have come to the right place.  Below are a few things that may arise during the renovation process. 

1.  Your daily life will be different until the renovations are completed.  You may not be able to walk into the house the same as you have been.  You may have to take a different route from one room to another while renovations are taking place in order to not get in the way.  You will likely have to stay out of the area that is being renovated all together until it is complete.  This fact is just the way it is and if you think about how…

 

If you have ever searched for a home for sale online you know all too well that you can basically see and read almost everything you need to know about them without having to leave the comfort of your sofa.  Likewise if you are trying to sell your home there are many things that you cannot do without the help of a real professional.  There are some things the internet can’t tell you about a home  you might want to buy and there are some things the internet can’t help you with as far as listing your home, but a Realtor can.  Let’s take a look at a few of these things listed for you below. 

1. When you look for a home online you will find out all sorts of things, one being the price.  Without asking a Realtor however you won’t know if the house…

According to Safewise, 9 Orange County cities are among the top 50 safest cities in California. All of the cities on the list have more than 11,000 residents, proving that their safety records are especially impressive.

In order to identify the 10 safest cities in California, Safewise reviewed FBI crime report statistics and population data. Orange County’s Rancho Santa Margarita, Aliso Viejo, and Laguna Woods are ranked consecutively at 2, 3, and 4!

Other Orange County cities, Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, and Lake Forest are ranked slightly lower on the list at 10, 11, and 12. San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and Irvine also made the cut, ranked at numbers 27, 32, and 37 on the list.

This is quite a feat considering Orange County occupies 18…

 

 

If you have ever rented a home or an apartment you already know about all of the downsides to renting.  If you are trying to decide whether to purchase a home of your own or to rent, you may want to take a look at a few of these downsides to renting before making up your mind. 

1. One of the downsides to renting a home  or apartment is that you may never actually feel at home.  Most of the time when you move into a home or apartment to rent it you will find lots of hooks and things in the walls and perhaps even a few decorations that have been carelessly left behind by previous tenants.   My guess is when you move into a home, you want to feel at home and renting just doesn’t provide that feeling as well as buying. 
2. Another downside to…

California home sales downshifted in August as low housing affordability and a tight supply of homes for sale cut into demand, especially in high cost areas of the San Francisco Bay area region. Home sales remained above the 400,000 pace for the fifth straight month, but sales have declined year over year for the sixth consecutive month.

420,000 California homes sold in August 2016 compared to 416,000 in July 2016 and and 430,000 in August 2015.

The median selling price in August 2016 rose to $526,000 compared to $518,000 in July 2016 and from $498,000 in August 2015.