Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog

Cyril Moulle-Berteaux declares in the Wall Street Journal Opinion
the housing crisis over:


I'm going to spare the in-depth analysis already available at Calculated Risk

Interesting to note that this piece came out less than a week after another WSJ by June Fletcher article stating firmly that there is another year left in the housing market duldrums.

Fletcher's article has more well rounded statistical evidence. States that have higher rates of foreclosure now may clear the hurdle on the way to a stable market in a year's time.


We're not out of the woods yet, but maybe we just found the path to the next market.

Posted by Rory at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Do the Bay Area people really understand us? Not likely, here is the suggested blog posting from diggOrange County: play land of the rich. This is what goes on the real estate market for $14 million there.

read more | digg story

Posted by Rory at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Of all of the hype about the real estate market crash, what you don't hear are the stories of the buyers getting awesome deals. It helps the mainstream media to continue to pedal fear and panic and discuss foreclosure on a daily basis. It is true that in this market, the sellers are still having a tough time competing. This is because foreclosures and short pay sales are still driving prices down. My gut instinct is that we are nearing the end of the first of possibly three different phases regarding foreclosures.

There are still plenty of folks who aren't in trouble yet, but they are getting closer as those adjustable rate mortgages tick up dramatically.

With a focus on the good news, here are the types of buyers currently in the drivers seat and finding great deals:

People who need to borrow $417,000 or less.
Investors coming from 1031 exchanges.
Buyers willing to wait 45 days to hear about the acceptance of a bank sale offer.
All cash buyers.


Bernake knows that there are more foreclosures to come. Strap on your seat belt for rounds two and three.

Posted by Rory at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Here are some recent informative articles I found on the credit crisis:
Fed Releases $100 billion to banks until the credit crisis eases.

Bad News Means Good News For Buyers

Sellers tired of waiting for the market to turn around decide that a good old fashioned essay contest will decide the owner.

San Clemente Couple has to cut back after their mortgage jobs evaporate.

Posted by Rory at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

According to a survey taken late last year, Laguna Niguel is a great place to live. The 2007 Resident Satisfaction Survey shows 98 percent of Laguna Niguel residents consider quality of life in the city as either excellent or good. The city gets top scores for a low crime rate, friendly atmosphere and clean appearance.

The list of negatives was minor and included traffic congestion and poor cell phone reception but the city has allotted $30 million for improved traffic flow and the installation of additional phone towers is under discussion.

Four hundred registered voters took the random phone survey last November, helping to identify the level of satisfaction as well as areas of concern by the city's residents.

Source: ocregister

Labels: Laguna Niguel

Posted by Cherri Fox at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The housing slump has a far reaching arm when it comes to the damage to related industries. People are realizing there are a lot of things they can do without when the dollar is tight and they've opted to forgo such luxuries as new home furnishing and high end kitchen remodels. Places like furniture and furnishing businesses, where the sharp drop in sales is blamed on an abrupt cut in furniture shopping, something that most home owners do not see as a necessity, and home improvement giants such as Lowes, Home Depot and Sears have all felt the effects of a slow housing market.

Home improvement retailers are expected to post weaker results and probably won't see a rebound at least until 2009 as the U.S. housing slump, concerns about recession and tighter credit conditions stall consumer spending.

While falling home sales and construction have been a major hit to results over the past year, these retailers have also been hurt as consumers aware of falling home prices pulled back from big-ticket projects such as kitchen remodeling.

"A large part of renovation is to set it up to improve the value of the property," Doug Kass, head of the bearish hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management, told the Reuters Housing Summit in New York this week.

"And now, given the erosion in (home) values, it seems it's not all that necessary," he added.

Kass said many people don't realize that buyers who refinanced their homes and took cash out to fund improvements or trade up to higher-end goods no longer have that luxury.

Source: Reuters, ocregister

Labels: home sales, market, real estate

Posted by Cherri Fox at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal brings up the question of the importance of good schools when it comes to buying a home. Many parents have difficultly in finding a neighborhood with a good balance of quality education and reasonably-priced homes.

When readers were asked if they agreed that good school districts were one of the most important factors for a home buyer in considering an area’s desirability and housing prices, the replies were almost unanimous in that the school district was either the number one consideration or a top concern when making a home purchase.

You can read more here and be sure to check out the article by Katherine Boehret, Grading Neighborhood Schools, where she provides some great tips and links to web sites that provide free school comparisons.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Labels: home sales, market, neighborhood, school, school district

Posted by Cherri Fox at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

There's an interesting article over at the Orange County Register about the recently published index by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Bank that ranks O.C. as the nation's fifth least affordable housing market. But this is actually good news for Orange County home buyers since last year the county ranked in the top three, just behind Los Angeles and Salinas. This means that housing in the county is becoming more affordable. In fact this news follows on the heals of an announcement by the California Association of Realtors report that home affordability in O.C. is the highest it has been in three years.

If you're curious as to where you might find the most affordable market, it's Kokomo, Indiana at 93%. Lets see ... palm trees, breathtaking coastline and ideal year-round weather with sunny days and an average temperature of 70 degrees. At this writing it is 6° F in Kokomo Ind. You decide.

Labels: home sales, industry news, market, market update, South Orange County Real Estate

Posted by Cherri Fox at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal Online explains why, when tracking home prices, getting a clear picture of the recent past might be more difficult than you think.

The two best barometers of housing prices are the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's index and the Standard & Poor's Case/Shiller index. Both are based on the same concept that looks at repeat sales of the same houses yet, as Wessel points out, there are significant discrepancies in the resulting numbers and with housing prices so important to the health of the economy, people want to know "why these two carefully constructed measures differ."

Read more at Tracking Housing Prices, why the Numbers Conflict .

Labels: home sales, industry news, market

Posted by Cherri Fox at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

We've all heard the saying that first impressions are the most important and in many cases a first impression may be the only chance you'll get.The same thing applies when it comes time to sell your home. The buyer's first impression of your property can be vital to the success of selling your home, so it is important to make that first impression count.

Home staging is just a matter of decorating your house to sell. It involves picking up the clutter, doing some detailed cleaning (remember that prospective buyers love to open cabinets and closet doors!) and repairing where necessary as well as putting away the personal chochkes and photos and making small but significant changes through the choices and placement of furniture, lighting elements and accessories.

It's important to remember, just because you're ready to sell your house doesn't mean your house is ready to go on the market, but with a little elbow grease and work, home staging can help you sell your home for top dollar in record time. And with today's market, that's always a good thing!

You can find a couple of great posts on the importance of a home's first impression, one by Millie Legenhausen over at activerain and another here by Earth Available Realty.

Labels: home sales, home staging, how to

Posted by Cherri Fox at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Welcome to the Carnival of Real Estate, Southern Orange County, CA Beach Edition!


Wow, thanks for all of your submissions, and giving my readers some exposure to the finest in real estate blogs. For this edition of the carnival, I decided to forego any type of "theme" regarding the submissions instead, I just wanted to showcase the posts that I really found interesting.

Digerati Life has Cool Gift suggestions for the Real Estate Lover this Holiday Season.

ReRevaled just revealed that in business there are three ingredients to chose from, Good, Fast, and Cheap, but you can only have two. Your father is very wise, now I can give someone the same advice and feel like Yoda.

Lenderama : Pull Through Rates sandbag the deal, and it's because of the industry in general. Bummer.

Agent Genius: Classic agents and brokers can hibernate through the storm in the real estate market, but can the same be said for high-tech start ups with their sights set on overthrowing the real estate industry? Join the discussion at agentgenius.com


FSBO Jane is a real estate agent in recovery, and hence the anti-agent. GI-Jane and has some disdain for real estate agents in all markets, not just the tough ones.

ErealtyLTD, now this is what I call the College student's guide to becoming a real estate agent:
Who wants to be a real estate agent?

Is your new listing Walking Distance to the movie theater? Find out, and market the hell out of it.

Stewart Hsu points out the reason that California real estate is only getting more expensive: Population growth.

Austin Texas Makes Forbes list as a great place to live, read about it at the Texas Realty Blog.

My jaw just about dropped when I saw all of the view photos and eyecandy at
Front porch view. This is what it is like to live in the mountains of Georgia, but can I get phone service?






Roberta Murphy shocked that San Diego is on par with Detroit. So am I, and I think that Carlsbad and Encinitas are the best kept secrets of San Diego county. Find out what else you can learn about America's Finest City at San Diego Previews

Zillow now lets agents specifically submit their listings into their site, but can other agents steal advertising space next to my listings?

Geek Estate stays true to it's theme with the top 10 Google Searches

Up2DateRealEstate: Go ugly early, no puffing, but what would the seller think if I said that you need a biohazard suit to enter their property?


At Staged4More Cindy tells us what's it's like to have a bunch of stagers in one room. I thought that they might fight over chairs (or where to put them).

I always say buy when no one else wants to, but Money Blue Book makes a case for renting for a change.

The real plan for homeowner relief comes from the Salt Lake Real Estate Blog as the FHA stumbles forward.

Sara Bonert shines some light on the Skeptics of Gen-Y and why they don't care about 99% of what you waste your time with while trying to win their business. All those branding dollars down the tubes, oops.

Whalehook Loans has suggestions on how to save for your down payment to buy property.

and Finally,
Scott Ficek presents Can’t Evict if Always Late on Rent! posted at Minnesota Investment Property Blog.

It was such a pleasure hosting the carnival this week, and I found some killer new blogs that I'm going to bookmark. I hope you do the same. Thanks to everyone who submitted. As a side note, I read all of these posts in Firefox, some blogs didn't render correctly in that browser, so I moved on. If you have a blog and you haven't already checked it in several browsers, you may want to do that.

Best Regards

Posted by Rory at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Lately friends and clients are are at it again, asking in droves when the real estate market will turn.

The most asked question is what will happen in the next 6 months?

Still tons of inventory.
Still tons of sideline buyers.

The leading indicator is how many loans have been funded. The key is to listen to the local lenders and when they say that closed loans are on the upswing, then it is time to buy. Until then, buy the good deals where they exist.

The long view from wall street is that the real estate market wont normalize for 2 more years possibly. I can assure you that I will buy again before that happens.

In the meantime, it is almost time for the Carnival of Real Estate over here at the Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog, so get your submissions in because the carnival goes live on the 17th.

Posted by Rory at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

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