Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog

Pulse of Real Estate at home and Abroad - the Real Estate Blog Carnival

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:37:00 +0000

This edition of the Real Estate Blog Carnival has an international flavor. We start off with Jay Thompson, skip to the midwest, check out Ocean View properties in Central America, and take 2 trips to Australia.

Jay Thompson presents Is Now a Good Time to Buy a House in Phoenix? posted at The Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

Connie Watts presents The Top 10 Technology Questions to Ask When Hiring A Realtor posted at Omaha Moves Me.

Jack Schmidt presents There's No Bear Statue On Wall Street posted at SectorMatic Money Journal.

The Smarter Wallet presents Got An Upside Down Mortgage? Would You Foreclose and Walk Away From Your Mortgage? posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Sigrid Landau presents Get Your Home Sold Fast And For Top Dollar posted at A1 How To.

Charles Woodall presents Home Sellers Series - 3 types of home buyers you need to know about posted at Dothan Home Search, Dothan real estate blog from CENTURY 21 Key Realty.

Destroy Debt presents Can You Claim the $8,000 Credit for First Time Home Buyers? posted at Destroy Debt.

nickel presents The Foreclosure Crisis: Location, Location, Location posted at fivecentnickel.com.

Claudia Gonella presents The 7 most expensive regions to own an ocean view condo in Central America posted at Real estate investing in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Belize.

Katie Curnutte presents Making Home Affordable Plan Expected to Help 4-5 Million Homeowners Refinance posted at Zillow Blog

Jim presents How To Reduce Real Estate Taxes posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Nick presents Surprise! It's a Bailout for Vacation Homes, Too - Washington Post posted at Buying Foreclosure Property.

Andy Boyd presents Comparing What USD $500,000 Buys In Real Estate Around The World posted at Money Hacker.

Fine-Tuned Finances presents Why it’s a Great Time to Remodel Your Home posted at Fine-Tuned Finances.

Jeonard Cook presents Learn How to Sell Your Own Home: Advertise like a Pro posted at How to Sell Your Own Home.

Wenchypoo presents *FutureShock*: Housing and Property Taxes From the Near to Distant Future posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Mathew Bossert presents Maximize Home Value By Not Over Renovating posted at House Seller's Guide.

Dawn Rickabaugh presents 12 Steps to Real Estate Recovery posted at Note Queen | Seller Financing | Note Buyer Blog | Owner Financed | Real Estate.

Handy Saputra presents Adverse Credit Home Loan Tips posted at Home Loan | Mortgage Resources.

Julie Broad presents Dealing with Late Paying Tentants posted at Rev N You with Real Estate.

Chris Lang presents Starting a new life in Australia, part 4 posted at Home I Own.

The State of Real Estate in South Orange County, CA

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:06:00 +0000

While I was at an open house last weekend, I spoke with the listing agent of an REO, bank owned property. According to the Agent in Mission Viejo, Low end price home spectrum has already bottomed. This is indicated by multiple offers on properties under the $400k price range.

Orange County Register has been running a series on market opinions Top 5 housing market hopes for 2009. Market Predictions:
Herd Mentality Moving Markets

Foreclosures:
Home Foreclosures
continue, and I am keeping my eyes on the foreclosure search sites to monitor homes that have been foreclosed. As a homebuyer am not spending much time with short sales, rather I am looking at those properties that have already been foreclosed, the REOs. One can find a great short sale deal, but as a buyer, you must be able to stomach the unknowns of a 60 day offer acceptance. This may be ideal for people with cash looking to buy multiple properties.

Lending:
4.5 Mortgage interest rates have yet to arrive, but we are getting closer. This week, conforming loans up to $417k were at %4.625, and confirming loans up to $625k were at %4.750 for today's latest loan rates, contact your lender. If you need a lender recommendation, I will gladly put you in touch with one.

High End Property:
Laguna Beach Ocean Front Home listings provide an opportunity for the high end market to continue moving. Though buyers in that market are also watching for more stabilization on Wall Street before making moves for beach homes or trophy properties.

Missed market calls include the WSJ Calling the Housing Crisis Over Last May. It is those kinds of missed calls about the market, the bailout, and the recession that makes me think that there are more foreclosures in the pipline. To me, this signals continued improvement in the current buyers market.

The big broker shake up:
The Prudential California Realty CEO Replaced was Steve Rodgers. He was replaced last month by Jon Cook, who previously handled operations at California Title, and was Vice President for Prudential in Orange County for about a year.

What would I do in your shoes?
If you can buy, (i.e. you have 20% down, or can qualify for an FHA loan) then I would buy a home in 2009 or 2010. There are no leading indicators that the market is improving yet, which means that downward pressure on prices will continue in Orange County. As always, do what you can to ensure that your FICO scores are top notch. Theoretically, you could improve your FICO score every six months or so. Try not to carry credit card debt if at all possible. When you get into home buying territory again, you're credit will be ready.

Laguna Beach Ocean Front Homes, High End Real Estate, and Beach Homes

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:54:00 +0000

Now is your chance to keep your eyes focused on the Laguna Beach Real Estate market. I'm not only talking about at the beach, but ON the beach.

Besides the typical MLS Search, I have now set up a page that just features Ocean Front Real Estate in Laguna Beach. These homes are various prices, but you won't find anything that isn't directly on the beach or somehow on the waterfront.

With John McMonigle's recent listing of another premiere property in Emerald Bay for $36 Million, one has to wonder if there is a way to keep tabs on all of the ocean front properties. I quickly realized that in order to effectively answer questions about these ocean front estates that I needed to keep tabs on the daily changes in this market segment.

I have added myself to an email alert so that anytime something changes with the Ocean Front properties in Laguna, I have a notification on my cell phone.

Besides just high end listings, you'll be able to focus on any price point within Laguna if you simply browse by price.

Orange County Home Inventory Steady while Interest Rates Dive.

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Interest rates for FHA, Conforming, and Jumbo loans have fallen considerably due to recent efforts to dislodge the credit jam.

Home inventory is traditionally lower during the holiday season. Some experts are saying that the South Orange County area has about 6 months worth of unsold home inventory out there in the MLS. Does this mean that the sideline buyers will jump in while the deals are hot? Possibly, if buyers are actively looking right now, they might not be able to find properties within their price range or expectations of quality.

Let's look how the inventory breaks down by town:
Active listings on the market
Laguna Niguel: 393
Laguna Beach: 311
Newport Beach: 558
Mission Viejo: 348
Irvine: 697
San Clemente: 428
Dana Point: 283

Nationwide, CNBC tells us that the good old pent up demand will mean a continued upward swing in the number of existing home sales sold in CA.

Tell George Pagano about the pent up demand, he is the principal broker for The Strand Project in Dana Point. He sees it too except at the 10-12 Million dollar level (for dirt).

Besides the recent drop in Interest Rates, a Pimco analyst predicts that the 30 Mortgage Rate may fall as low as 4.5%

According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans still see Real Estate as their best path to wealth in spite of all of the recent market woes.

The goal is to buy low and sell high, right? Guess which I'm looking to do right now. Leave your creative comments, and I may send you a recession-proof Starbucks card.

Pre- Thanksgiving Real Estate Update

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Nationwide Mortgage Applications have hit an 8-Year Low. Will increasing mortgage applications signal that we have hit the bottom of the housing market? Almost. Increased loan closings definitely will be the signal.

It turns out that home raffles are popular all over, and not just in Laguna Beach. I recently saw another home raffle in the Bay Area.

Here is why not to modify troubled home loans. It turns out that loan modifications currently only have only about a 50% success rate.

Laguna Beach even has it's share of foreclosures. Interest in the Laguna Beach real estate market shows now signs of backing down.

A local Prudential Agent reviews Laguna Beach's Housing Secrets with Jon Lasner of the OC Register.

Follow my updates on Twitter

Housing Relief on the Way? Or a Long Way Off?

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:34:00 +0000

The Bush admistration announced a huge loan modification plan going into effect. Chuck Schumer stated that the plan didn't go far enough in bailing out distressed homeowners.

Rising Unemployment is largely to blame for increasing foreclosures.

Meanwhile, Citi Group announced that they are proactively helping homeowners avoid foreclosur by launching a loan modification program of their own.

As for the status of the local market, will this round of bailouts be enough to get lenders to come to the table with some loans?

When will the logjam break for the middle housing market?

Orange County Real Estate News Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:46:00 +0000

Real Estate News Roundup:

Local
San Clemente man wins Ocean Institute’s $1.2 Million dollar home raffle. The Ocean Institute raffled off the most valuable property to date in Laguna Beach.

Local Video:
How to Search the MLS for Free!

Real Estate Agents want main street bailout. Would a bailout or economic stimulus get people buying homes again? Possibly. High end properties are still selling. People who depend on lenders to buy properties are still only able to find inconsistent offerings from local lenders.

From CNBC Pending home sales off 4.6% in September.

Video:
From the Wall Street Journal, What will the bottom look like?

California Home Sales Reviving?

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Michael Corkery and Jonathan Karp of the Wall Street Journal have a specific focus on the Central Valley town of Los Banos. There, they say that every fifth home is in foreclosure.

Meanwhile, CNBC Reports that Mortgage Applications Fall 16.6% Nationwide.

My take on the situation is to watch the mortgage numbers along with closed sales. More closed sales mean that mortgages are actually being funded. That means that lenders are able to deliver on the applications that they take.

I think that home seekers now typically understand that it is still very hard to get a loan. The falling mortgage applications come as no surprise, and I wouldn't expect anything to be different until at least Spring of 2009 or later.

In the meantime Real Estate in Laguna Beach in some cases can be purchased at $1 Million less than previously priced in June.

There are deals to be had for those that can avoid the credit mess. There are surely more deals to come.

Zillow Extinct in 3 Months?

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:24:00 +0000

This week Move.com announced that they will provide complete access to sold data to the public from SoCal MLS. This basically means that actual sales data will be readily available to the anyone who wants it.

This also means that Zillow's technique of getting sales data from public records is instantly obsolete.

Zillow's model usually results in home values based off of incomplete and often inaccurate value estimations.

The real estate agents are responsible for putting up the sales stats that go into current or future home pricing, so why shouldn't they be giving their clients the same data?

I completely applaud this move since it improves the overall transparency in real estate, and will ultimately enable consumers to make better informed decisions regarding the sale and purchase of property.

On the one hand, this decision on the part of NAR is long overdue, but it is most welcome though the move to internet-ize real estate sales began at least 4 years ago.

Does this mean that the Real Estate Agent will also be extinct?

7 important steps for buying a condo

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Today's post is a guest post from Emmy at Tremblant Realty in

Everyone has a unique list of priorities and necessities when it comes to purchasing a condo. There are, however, at least seven crucial items which should appear on everyone’s list, items which will save you the agony of discovering your new property isn’t all it was hyped up to be.

1: Measure the dimensions of your new condo accurately and compare with the dimensions of the floor plans in your purchasing contract. This will help to ensure you are getting the exact square footage and dimensions that have been agreed upon.

2: Have the plumbing and electrical systems inspected by a professional. Conducting a mere visual inspection can overlook hidden problems which will cost you later. Prepare a list of needs and expectations for your experts so they can properly evaluate the situation and so they won’t have to guess what work needs to be done. If you can’t have a living room without at least 6 wall plugs on 3 separate circuit breakers, let them know. Being specific now will save you having to remodel later.

3: Get to know the condo association you’re buying into. Unlike the purchase of a single home dwelling, a condo is a shared community that relies on similar values and expectations. Whereas your home is your castle when you own the land, your condo is a village that you have chosen to be a part of. You and your fellow condo owners should act responsibly towards each other and towards the building as a whole.

4: Hire a real estate agent as well as a real estate lawyer. These minor investments now will save you thousands of dollars in headaches and problems later. If you are buying a condo resale, there are fewer chances of surprises when you finally move in. If you are purchasing a project under construction, however, make sure your lawyer inspects your purchasing contract. Developers are sneaky and what you get might be drastically different from what you bought two years ago. Having experts on your team is always a good idea when purchasing a new home.

5: Speak to your potential neighbors, get a better feel for the community you’re going to be a part of. Are people late with their fees? Do some of them party every weekend? Are they happy with how the association is managed? One answer to any of these questions could be all you need to know to either stay or move on.

6: Learn about your condo fees. What do they cover? Will you be paying for swimming pool maintenance that you’ll never use? What you pay into now needs to be designed for the Condo Association’s future. Whether they cover future repair costs (Reserve Fund), or the current up keep of the building it’s important that you are aware of your responsibilities.

7: Get everything you expect in writing and always read the fine print. When you’re done triple checking your condo contract see step #4 before you sign anything. A real estate agent will help you find what you want, from the color of the walls to the style of lighting fixtures, and a lawyer will make sure your contract states that you’ll get what you want.

Just Sold: 713 Calle Camisa, San Clemente, CA

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:17:00 +0000

Call me to find out how much you can make on your home in THIS market!

I use marketing that will blow your mind.

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.

Tips to Sell your Home in a Cold Market

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:59:00 +0000

With the real estate markets not doing well these days, homeowners are finding themselves in a quandary when they want to sell their property. Gone are the days when the seller set the terms and was able to procure any price he asked. In today’s market, it’s better to be shrewd and know your options well rather than to nurse dreams that you’re bound to get the asking price you’re demanding. If the market’s cold, follow these hot tips to help you sell your home:

* Research the prices of homes in your neighborhood and others similar to yours and price yours slightly less. Even a difference of $2,000 may be enough to generate an extra amount of interest in your home. It’s an added bonus if you’re able to clinch the deal sooner than you expected.
* Be willing to compromise on the asking price to a reasonable level. If you’re stubborn about not being willing to come down by even a few dollars, people are going to lose interest in even looking at your home let alone consider buying it.
* Give your buyer a few advantages like allowing them to make monthly payments rather than a lump sum of money. Alternatively, you could throw in a few pieces of furniture or offer to take on a few renovations that would not hurt your bank balance too much if they agree to your asking price.
* Some people are agreeable to renting your home with the offer to buy after a year or so. Give this option a chance if you’re not in immediate need of the money.
* Make sure you undertake the necessary repairs and improvements so that your home is left looking as new as the day it was built. A spruced up home is likely to attract more attention and sell fast.
* Advertise your property in any way you can, through any form of the media or by word of mouth. Hold open house visits so that prospective buyers can see for themselves what they would be getting if they bought your home.
* Keep your home neat and tidy at all times, because you never know when a prospective buyer might show up. First impressions are important and an unclean and cluttered home is not a pretty sight.
* You could offer to finance the sale yourself or pay some of the closing costs rather than losing out on the deal altogether. Remember, the longer your home is on the market, the harder it is to find a buyer at the price you’re asking. You may be penny wise and pound foolish if you’re hesitant to pay a small amount of the closing cost and willing to wait for a buyer who pays you the price you’re asking.

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of luxury homes in Florida. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com

Just Sold: 3971 Ash St. Irvine, CA

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Listing Price: $745,000

Final Sales Price: $720,000. My buyers saved $25,000!

Neighborhood: College Park, Irvine, CA

Features: 4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, Pool Built-In BBQ

Are you looking for a great deal in this bargain market?

Call me, 949-351-3541

Wall Street Journal: Housing Crisis Over, Huh?

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:07:00 +0000

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.

What $14.5 Million Will Get You In Orange County

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:34:00 +0000

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

News You Can Use: Terrible News About the Housing Market

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:53:00 +0000

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.

Credit Crisis Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:28:00 +0000

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.

Living the Good Life in Laguna Niguel

noreply@blogger.com (Cherri Fox) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:31:00 +0000

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

Home Improvement Industry Feels Pain of Housing Slump

noreply@blogger.com (Cherri Fox) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:21:00 +0000

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

Importance of School District in New Home Purchase

noreply@blogger.com (Cherri Fox) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:57:00 +0000

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

O.C. Home Affordability Reaches New High

noreply@blogger.com (Cherri Fox) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:57:00 +0000

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.

Why the Housing Figures Differ

noreply@blogger.com (Cherri Fox) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:57:00 +0000

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 .

How Important is Home Staging?

noreply@blogger.com (Cherri Fox) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:39:00 +0000

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.

Carnival of Real Estate: By The Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:38:00 +0000

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

What's Going to Happen in Our Market in the Next 6 Months?

noreply@blogger.com (Rory) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:22:00 +0000

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.