Orange County Real Estate

Orange County - San Clemente - Dana Point -  San Juan Capistrano - Capistrano Beach - Aliso Viejo - Laguna Niguel
South Orange County Real Estate, City & School Info.
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Orange County Real Estate
is Looking Much Better

June 14, 2009

Orange County sees 20 percent drop in real estate foreclosure activity from April to May.  One in every 220 homes received a filing.

From OC Metro

Orange County real estate activity.  The County saw 4,672 real estate foreclosure filings in May. The number is a 20 percent decrease compared to April, according to a recent report from Irvine-based RealtyTrac. And it's less than a 1 percent increase compared to May 2008.

See Video:

OC Homes Undervalued by 11%

Foreclosure filings account for notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. One out of every 220 homes in the region received a filing in May.

Some 2,620 residences received a notice of default, 1,627 were notified of a public auction of the home and 425 were classified as Orange County Real Estate Owned by the lender, meaning the property is in the final step in the foreclosure process.

Orange County ranked No. 33 for its real estate foreclosure ratings out of all the metropolitan areas measured, according to RealtyTrac.

Statewide, California posted the second-highest state foreclosure rate, though the amount of activity fell 4 percent compared to April. About 92,250 filings were reported in the state, up nearly 23 percent from last year. Six metropolitan areas in California were among those with the top 10 highest foreclosure rates.

Nationwide, filings were reported on 321,480 properties in May. It's a decrease of 6 percent compared to April, but it's an increase of about 18 percent compared to last year. One in every 398 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing last month.

May 1, 2009

First Time Home Buyers VS. Experienced Buyers
Home buying incentives are drawing first-time home buyers into the market in droves.
Their numbers are up more than20%.

As a result, homes in the entry and mid-level price ranges are selling much faster than those at the luxury level in most areas: MLS trends indicate higher demand for homes at or below $500,000. This movement is being strengthened by the increased popularity and availability of low down-payment FHA loans, insured by the government, and conventional loans, insured by the government-sponsored corporations Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Inventories of homes priced at or below $500,000 have fallen to or below the two-month-on-hand mark, a sure indicator of a seller’s market. Above the $900,000 level, some areas have as much as 16 months of inventory on hand. This is due in part to tighter lending in the jumbo loan sector, but those conditions, too, are beginning to change as banks commit to new jumbo loan programs.

Nonetheless, each market is highly individual. Buyers and sellers should gear their expectations to what’s happening in their own marketplaces and personal price ranges.

Orange County Real Estate

Market Conditions Improve in 2009

For Buyers Looking for Superb

County Home Bargains or Rentals

 

Single family homes throughout the county sell for 41% less than their peak pricing (June '07) while condos sell 46% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 42% below their February '05 top.

Home prices usually rise in February vs. January. Last time they fell in this period? 1999!

January was the 7th straight month of sales gains vs. the year-ago period. That follows 33 consecutive months where sales failed to beat the previous year's pace

Delores Conway, a real estate economist at the University of Southern California, says home prices have come down 40 % in Los Angeles and Orange County since the mid decade peak.

She notes that those prices, coupled with record low interest rates, mean today's buyers can secure the same monthly payments home buyers enjoyed six years ago. 

Home sales increased 83 percent in February in California

Home sales increased 83 percent in February in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home declined 40.8 percent, according to a C.A.R. report released today. "Home sales in California continue to be considerably stronger than the nationwide sales figures," said C.A.R. President James Liptak. "The market will continue to register large, but diminishing year-to-year percentage gains in the coming months, as current sales are compared against the extremely low numbers that prevailed during the early months of the credit crunch."

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 620,410 in February at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate. Statewide home resale activity increased 83 percent from the revised 338,970 sales pace recorded in February 2008.

Sales in February 2009 decreased 0.8percent compared with the previous month. The statewide sales figure represents what the total number of homes sold during 2009 would be if sales maintained the February pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

To find out if you qualify for either the Making Home Affordable Refinancing Program or the Loan Modification Program please click on the appropriate link below:

Find Out If You Qualify For the Making Home Affordable Refinance
Find Out if You Qualify For the Home Affordable Modification

Please find a list of useful resources below:

Making Home Affordable Summary of Guidelines
Making Home Affordable Borrower Q&A
Making Home Affordable Detailed Program Description
Home Affordable Modification Program Guidelines

See Debbie Ferrari’s Foreclosure/REPO page at:

http://www.debbieferrari.com/orangecountyforeclosures/index.htm

All About Orange County--

A Great Place to Own

Orange County Real Estate

Located on the ocean, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, California, is one of the smallest and yet most powerful counties in California, or even in the whole world:  Orange County, California.

If you are thinking of moving here and buying Orange County real estate, you are in for some real fun in house hunting.  It will not be grueling like your other times.  This time you will be in excellent hands, with Debbie Ferrari as your host and guide.  She will help you comfortably find exactly the right home for the best price.

That is what Debbie does all the time in finding people Orange County real estate.  Her specialty is helping you find the right Orange County home here in a number of ways.  First, she saves you time in looking at homes on our local Orange County real estate MLS service.  (Searchable right from her site, unlike most agent sites.) 

Debbie---a licensed California real estate Broker; and not merely a Realtor®--- teaches you how to do it YOURSELF, at YOUR own leisure, not at the hands of some “up desk” agent who happened to be next in line.  Debbie shows you the most effective AND efficient ways to find a home here:

1.  Search the Orange County Real Estate MLS yourself, online.

2.  Search with her, in pre-selected neighborhoods, when you arrive.

Debbie’s been finding the right home for newcomers for 27 years and knows all the ropes.  Most Realtors® scurry around locally focusing upon getting new listings and handing off their buyers to far less skilled agents.  Debbie, however, believes that the Orange County real estate BUYER is King (or Queen) and prefers to help buyers almost exclusively.

So, after seeing many Realtor® web sites, if you are wondering which Realtor® to choose, choose Debbie. (Lots of happy homeowners around here think she’s the absolute best one that there is.)

 In Orange County You’ve Got it all -
From Starter Homes to Mansions!

Economically, if it were a country, Orange County’s gross product would rank ahead of South Africa, Turkey, Finland, Greece, and Thailand.

Orange County has the 8^th largest economy in the United States, behind Los Angeles (2^nd) and Boston (4^th) and ahead of the Twin Cities (12^th) and Seattle (13^th).

There are so many business and networking organizations and association here in Orange County that it is hard to keep track of them all. Such diversity keeps Orange County vital, one of the nation's leading counties in both culture and economic strength. To find many of the business/networking organizations in the county, go to Orange County Networking Place.

With a population of nearly 3 million people and an estimated annual gross county product of $127 billion, if we were a country, we would rank No. 33.

Orange County enjoys 45 continuous miles of shoreline and aggregates 798 square miles of land, 30% of which is devoted to residential housing.  Real estate here is booming with homes rising nicely in price from about 16-22% a year, depending on the city.  There are still many areas of Orange County where new homes are being built in extremely well-planned communities, such as the new Telega Homes in San Clemente.

Beaches like this abound in Orange County

Orange County is the second most populous county in the state and one of California’s fastest growing and changing regions.  The county is home to almost 2.9 million residents today, having gained nearly one million residents since 1980. The history of Orange County, California, is rich and romantic.

Southern California is still one of the fastest growing regions in the nation.  Orange County ranks 11^th in terms of numeric population growth between 2000 and 2001, with the population now growing at about a comfortable 1.6% rate per year.

Debbie at Mission San Juan Capistrano

The county’s dynamic economy has been bolstered by an exploding high-technology industry.  Many major technology, computer, and Internet firms call Orange County home.  Ethnically, three in four residents here were white and non-Hispanic in 1980; today, nearly half are Latinos and Asians. 

The real estate industry does well here because people love the year-round warm weather.  Orange County has an almost ideal Mediterranean climate (the sun shines 80% of the time while rainfall averages only 12-14 inches a year). The terrain ranges from steep bluffs at the ocean in South Orange County to gentle flat alluvial plains sloping to the sea in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley.

Orange County Real estate in beachfront cities ranges from the quaint to the deluxe, from piers for fishing and elegant dining, cliff top mansions of famous writers, and sparkling harbors packed with watercraft from plebian rowboats to $20 million corporate yachts. 

Aerial view of San Clemente, in South Orange County
See if you can spot the 1,200 foot pier!

Offered, too, in amongst all the Orange County real estate are remote or even wild mountain areas (most populated thinly by cougars and coyotes). There are almost too many regional parks to count, spanning 36,500 acres and 57 square miles.  Orange County's real estate is blessed with forests, streams, lakes, and preserved and protected homes and buildings dating from its early history.  A considerable number of its cities have wisely preserved their old fashioned retail store downtowns, modernized now with quaint boutiques, and in some cases---particularly san clemente---enforced the preservation of homes dating back to the founding of san clemente.

Along the ocean, thousands of homes in seaside cities offer stunning ocean front or panoramic views, further making the owning of real estate here desirable.  Orange County real estate is in high demand and because of this, homes tend to appreciate well in value.  Many people have switched from buying stocks to buying a second or retirement home here, knowing that such a move will likely produce a better real estate return than would investing in securities.  Luxury homes abound here, and Debbie Ferrari is a luxury home specialist as well as a leading area licensed broker, highly skilled in commercial property transactions, too.

In short, Orange County is just what you hoped it would be.  Beautiful, exciting, safe, warm, packed with recreational choices year around, and offering such a wide choice of Orange County real estate that it boggles your mind.

Find even more, In-Depth Orange County
realty-related information by clicking here.

Now that that’s settled, please let Debbie Ferrari (that’s me, in case you hadn’t guessed) take care of your home selection needs, now, online before you arrive.  Let me save you time analyzing the MLS homes you find through my web site. 

Let me save you time finding the right home, and negotiating on your behalf with the seller and his agent once we narrow it down to YOUR home.

We’ll make a great team, I just know it!

 

 

Ask Me Your Questions. It's Safe. Click Here I will never spam you or add you to some list.  I will only answer you as fully as I can from my 25 years of realty experience. No strings. Try it! Just click on "Buyer" or "Seller" to find your appropriate form. Or, for simplicity, just e-mail me HERE E-mail this page to a friend!

 

 

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Find Homes Yourself Now
on SoCaL MLS--Pics & Text
Find homes in San Clemente, Dana Point, San 
Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel and in all of Orange 
County and Southern California. All the real estate 
that is for sale and is listed in the 
Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
 

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Are You Moving Here?
With Me, You Save Time. See Why.
(Helping Newcomers Come Here is what I do.)
Maintain Privacy and Ask me Your Questions -- Here.
You're wise to find homes and Realtors® on the Web--Here's Why.

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Links to Orange County California

- Services and Facts -

 

Search Orange County Real Estate MLS
 

The Official Orange County Web Site That Tells Everything! History of Orange County Official State of the County Report Visit Every City in Orange County 2006 Facts and Figures For Orange County

• SurfSun.com Beach Vacation Guide - This site is the definitive resource for finding beach   destination, product, and more information on the Internet. It’s all beach all the time.  Find All South Orange County Utilities Facts Galore About Orange County One-Stop! To Sign Up For: Local Telephone Long Distance Telephone Digital Cable High Speed Internet Newspaper Delivery Magazines Change of Address Local Movers Interstate Movers Self Storage Bottled Water Delivery Movie Rental Renters Insurance Furniture Rental Appliance Rental Home Furnishings Dial-Up Internet Service Alarm Monitoring ... Just Click Here Orange County Events this Month Orange County Facts at a Glance - Click Here Orange County Home Sales Last Month County Performing Arts Center Help Rescue Endangered Local Wildlife - Support Pacific Wildlife Project HERE Latest California Housing Market Report - Slowing Sales, but Good Appreciation County of Orange Government Site Orange County’s #1 Newspaper – The Register Orange County California Department of Education John Wayne Airport - Orange County Airport (SNA) Are Flights Being Delayed at John Wayne Today? Spot Traffic Snarls – See Live Report Showing Freeway Speeds EMERGENCY DIALING 9-1-1 - When to call it in Orange County Orange County CA Bus and Train Schedules What the County Clerk - Recorder Can Do for You Kenny’s History of Orange County, California Superior Court of Orange County County of Orange Health Care Agency The Catholic Diocese of Orange County, California Cox Cable’s County Site Events/Movies/TV/Plays

About e-PRO | See Official Certificate This site has won ALL the top Real Estate Awards--and dozens of others--for XLNT Content and Design _____________________________________________________________ Debbie Ferrari, e-PRO | "The Internet Broker" © 2007, An independently owned and operated member of The Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. is a service mark of The Prudential Insurance Company of America.  Serving all of South Orange County, CA Providing Realtor® and real estate services for: San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Monarch Beach, Capistrano Beach, Laguna Hills, Beach Cities, and South and Central Orange County, California Prudential California Realty Debbie's Prudential California Realty Office: 29982 Ivy Glenn Drive, Suite 100 | Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 (Inside The Laguna Niguel Design Center | Corner of Aliso Creek and Alisa) -------------------------------------- Debbie's personal home office; 2924 Camino Capistrano, Suite D, San Clemente, CA 92672 Call Me Toll Free: 888-547-2942 Orange County:     949-463-4111 Mobile/Cell:          949-463-4111 Main Fax (949) 625-8622  |  Backup Fax:  949-487-6782 E-mail: Deb4re@Cox.net http://www.DebbieFerrari.com _____________________________________________________________ We tolerate NO pirating or unauthorized copying of text, codes, graphics, formats, design elements, etc. from this site and routinely take the most severe legal action against offenders. For information, contact my attorney, Darren Smith, http://www.darrensmithlaw.com at smithlaw@darrensmithlaw.com. Send site-related questions to: Bill@Koelzer.com. By submitting any form on this site with your contact information including name, telephone number, address and/or e-mail address, you are consenting for Debbie Ferrari and her authorized representatives to contact you even if your name is on the Federal "Do Not Call List". (C) Debbie Ferrari, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.