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Ever since the Great Recession, far fewer homeowners have been selling their homes annually, a trend that is not going away.

Homeowners across the nation watched the housing market take a pounding during the Great Recession as their equity vanished in a blink. Many lost their homes to short sales or foreclosures. Everybody either personally got stung by the correction or knew of somebody who did. As a result, a new trend emerged to avoid a lobster red burn in the future: homeowners stay in their homes a lot longer. There are far fewer homeowners who opt to sell every year. Even with record home values, the trend continues.

The lack of supply and years of red-hot demand, juiced by historically low interest rates, has resulted in homes…

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,…

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…

The New York based auction house of Doyle Antiques can evaluate your jewelry and fine watches for consignment or outright purchase. Any one of The Hartanov Team agents can schedule you for a private consultation.

Doyle Antiques is one of the world's foremost auctioneers and experts of jewelry, fine art, furniture and rare, and unique works of art.

 

This is one of the many Hartanov Team services and there is no cost to you! The locations for the appointments are in San Clemente and Monarch Beach.

The team is committed to helping you evaluate your personal rarities to meet your greatest needs

 

                                           

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…

San Clemente High School's annual homecoming parade celebrated with a multicultural theme for this years fun-filled floats. Del Mar street is filled with spectators every year to join the celebration of San Clemente High school, as they watch the community and students come together to celebrate.

Fire trucks, joyous students, sirens, music, marching band, athlete's, king and queen are what make this day a special one for the high school. Everyone comes together, as their famous slogan "one town, one team" is truly represented. 


The freshmen float celebrated Italy Sophomore's represented Spain, Juniors took on the United Kingdom and the senior float paid tribute to America.
 

San Clemente High School's football team marched down Del Mar street as current state…

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…

Looking for a fun and spooky activity to do with the kids this Halloween? Join the Ocean Institute for a night of fright as you navigate trough the labs and haunted ships. Your haunted adventure begins aboard the haunted Brig, Pilgrim, continues onto the Historic Maritime Wharf, and ends in a Mad Scientist lab! Excuse yourself from the ghostly gathering to enjoy hot cocoa, apple cider, and educational activities inside the Ocean Education Center.

When: October 29, 2016 @ 6:00 pm – October 31, 2016 @ 9:30 pm
Where:

Ocean Institute Dana Point
24200 Dana Point Harbor Dr
Dana Point, CA 92629

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%.