Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog

This is from a lender at Countrywide, Kevin Budde. I suppose he hasn't yet gotten around to blogging, but just the same this email he sent me an email that would have made a terrific post.

1. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Will Continue to Lower Interest Rates
This will continue stimulating the economy, keeping unemployment low in addition to helping ARMs reset to lower interest rates

2. The Economy is Creating Jobs and Unemployment is Low
The last two housing downturns were due to recessions in the U.S. economy (80-81, 90-94)

3. Lenders are Helping Homeowners with Loan Modifications on ARM Resets
This will decrease the number of homeowners needing to sell or going into foreclosure

4. Subprime ARM Resets Peak in 1st Quarter 2008 with Minimum Resets by Year-End
The credit markets froze in fear of these resets. Once past, more credit markets will make money available

5. Home Builders are Dumping Standing Inventory to Remove Inventory off the Books by Year-End
The competition to the resale market will be greatly reduced

6. Sellers of Existing Homes Will Take Their Homes Off the Market at Year-End that Don’t Need to be Sold
Combining this with those that need to sell and lowering their sales prices during the holiday slow period, will cause the months
to sell inventory to come down

7. Credit Markets for Jumbo Financing are Opening Up
The spread of interest rates between conforming and jumbo has been greatly reduced. Many programs are still available
making it easy for buyers to qualify

8. Fires in So. California Will Create Construction Jobs and Help Supporting Industries
California has been losing jobs in this area. This in itself will keep a cap on the unemployment rate. Furniture, appliances, landscaping and architects will benefit

9. Real Estate Investors are Stepping Up and Making Offers
Mostly absent in 2007, Real Estate investors are stepping up to take advantage of the foreclosures and lowered prices

10. Buyer Sentiment of Those Waiting Will Change as Foreclosure Reporting Lessens
There are so many buyers just waiting for a sign as they fear prices will continue down. The sign will be decreasing foreclosures and inventory time to sell reduced and reported by the media.

I strongly feel that the best leading indicator of when the market is returning back to full health is when Kevin, and other lenders tell us that they have a trend of funding more loans month after month. For that statistic to matter in Southern California, it would strictly be centered on Jumbo loans.

Posted by Rory at 6:34 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

For the last week a thick haze has hung over the water. The listing always has a wonderful ocean breeze, today though, there was smoke on the water. Malibu was burning, but 100% contained and while I was at the open house, I had reports from other agents that Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo also had fires. That report turned out to be false hype. My eyes are burning, which is very minor when compared to the people whose homes and businesses are threatened by these fires. The fires burning in San Diego cover the north end county all the way down to the Mexico border. In all of this, it definitely sounds like Qualcomm stadium was the place to be. Reports from the media made it sound more like a resort than an evacuation spot. Al Roker is on the news right now reporting on the winds, and he is standing in front of a table with free cough drops and Visine at Qualcomm. Driving up to Newport Beach shows that the Irvine valley is funneling all of the smoke from Orange County out to the ocean. The peaks of Laguna Canyon have a heavy concentration of smoke as those winds pushed the smoke to critical mass over the last few peaks on the way to the beach.

Now it seems that we've rounded the corner with inbound air support and the firefighters working 24/7 in the Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch area on the Santiago Canyon fire.

Posted by Rory at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Just Listed

713 Calle Camisa, San Clemente

713 Calle Camisa Map

• Breathtaking Panoramic Ocean and Coastline Views.


• Catalina & San Clemente Island Views.


• Enjoy Breathtaking and Inspiring Sunsets.


• Freshly remodeled throughout.


• Beautiful Granite Countertops and Custom Cabinetry, and Travertine in the Kitchen


• New Beautiful Custom Carpet, Crown Moulding and Baseboards.


• Sophisticated master suite with private patio and spa style bathroom.


• 2 additional Bedrooms provide plenty of comfort and space for your guests.


• New custom flagstone, Wood and Iron entryway, and door paneling.


• Relish in the serenity provided by the ocean breezes and georgeous views from the spacious upper deck and balcony.


• Just minutes to local beaches


• Stroll to the Movie Theaters, and Some of the Best Restaurants in San Clemente


• Perfect your game with the community putting greens and basketball courts.


• Enjoy 2 community pools with views galore.

To see other listings in San Clemente, visit, San Clemente Real Estate
More photos are on the way.

Posted by Rory at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Beazer Homes found 1 in 5 homes are going into foreclosure as FHA rules were violated. They now face $15 Million in potential federal penalties as well as civil lawsuits from individual home owners. The Atlanta based home builder will have some tough waters to navigate as they find their way out of this current storm. The full article

Posted by Rory at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Part of the reality about the weird real estate market that we have on our hands is the number of foreclosures is currently on the rise. When I meet people looking for deals in the real estate market, the folks who want to buy a home in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure are some of the most amped-up kool aid drinkers you could ever meet.

Why? All of the hype surrounding foreclosures and what great deals they supposedly are. I have shown bank-owned homes, and they weren't pretty.



A better way to classify the condition of these properties is, well how can I put it? "Tore up". Let's say for the sake of argument that you're ok with doing a bunch of work on a place just as long as you can get a good deal. That still doesn't make buying a foreclosure any easier. Are you prepared to show up early on the steps of the courthouse to bid on these houses? More than that, do you have all the cash on hand to pay for the place all at once in the event that you do win?



The most common misconception about foreclosures is that they are such great deals because banks just want to get rid of them. Remember banks aren't in the business of losing money or giving things away. When you really start to dig into the concept of buying a foreclosure, and look at the price in comparison to the value of the other comps in the neighborhood, you can quickly see that they are lousy deals. If you're still not convinced, and you ready to take the next step, and you want to try to find a deal, check out the foreclosure search on RealtyTrac. Not only do they have the foreclosures in Orange County, but nationwide.

Posted by Rory at 5:17 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The world’s financial system came precariously close to seizing up these past couple months. In fact, as far as some big banks and financial institutions were concerned, for a moment in time, the system was in a full-blown cardiac arrest. Liquidity, the flow of money the lifeblood of todays economic structure came uncomfortably close to clotting up.

It seems that citizens of the world have more reasons to hate America. This time it isn't Foreign Policy, it is financial policy. Read the full text of the article here.
This is about as far stretched as bad journalism gets.
Here's a checklist of what to look for in the article:
Subprime fallout :: Check
Massive Ponzi scheme :: Check
Hip-Waders to get through 5 or more layers of bad journalism :: Check
Taking a break to build third world infrastructure, and stop disease to care about the subprime fallout in the US :: Not so much.

read more | digg story

Posted by Rory at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post