Corona in the Wall Street Journal

Interesting article but nothing new...

Let's see what's currently on the market on Calle Canon Road...
The home above is located at 8656 Calle Canon Road


Here's the MLS description...


SHORT SALE!!! HUGE HOME in the great location of the Cabrillo By W. Lyons community! This home is Plan #1 with many amenities such as a spiral stair case and cathedral ceilings. HAS ONE SUITE AND BATHROOM DOWNSTAIRS and a laundry room upstairs. Also has a large master bedroom with a huge oversized deck and beautiful upgraded French doors. All rooms have ceiling fans. Gourmet Kitchen with granite counter tops and huge center island. Corner lot with a view of the forest. Backyard with two patios. Close to golf & park with baseball, walking trails & tot lot. 3 car garage!


This home is currently priced at $599,000. It has 4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths and is 3,671 Sq feet.

This home is located at 8677 Calle Canon Road.

Here is the MLS description...

Beautiful William Lyon Home! Grand Entry with Soaring Ceiling. Cozy fireplaces in Living room, Dining, Family, Master and Retreat. Large Master Suite w/His and Her Closets and Jacuzzi Tub. Bedroom Downstairs with full bath. Gourmet kitchen w/island. Walk In Pantry,Dbl Cooktop, Rich Maple Cabinets and Eat-In Area. Separate Laundry Room and 3 Car Garage. Large Private Yard.

This home has 4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths and is 4075 Square Feet. This home is not a foreclosure, it's a corporate owned home, which means that the owner has been job transferred and the home is now owned by the company. This home is currently listed for $629,900.

A dear friend of mine lives in this neighborhood and has a gorgeous home. The area is beautiful and is surrounded by the Cleveland National Forest. Might not be a bad thing to check out if you're a buyer.

Price per Square Feet

92883

92882

92881

92880

92879

Here are the November numbers for price per square feet. These figures help establish market price for the average home in each of these zip codes. It also helps determine changes in property changes in values over the past 15 months. It also helps measure depreciation in each of the separate markets.

In almost every market Buyers and Sellers read a story in the newspaper or talk to a friend and get the wrong information because it is not specific to their price range or area of interest.

When I use these charts with clients I like to explain the pricing trends that are relevant to their home buying or selling decision. As I mentioned in yesterdays post when I work with clients I also like to drill it down to price range and square footage. When working with Buyers it insures that they are paying current fair market value when putting in an offer.

I'll use the 92883 zip code to show you how to determine fair market value. The formula is very simple. Just multiply the square footage by the average price per square foot in the last month. In a declining market it is very important to do this with the most current figures.

For example, lets say the home is 1700 square feet. We take 1700 x 185. This puts us at an average price of $314,500. Keep in mind this is an average for this zip code. Other factors you always need to figure in are property condition, location, special amenities and other factors.

As we can see by looking back to November 2006. The average price per square foot was 236. We take the $185 /$235= 78%. We can see that the market in the 92883 zip code on average has decreased by 22% in value the last 12 months.

Tomorrow we'll talk about average price sold by zip code.

The November Data is Out

Below I have posted for you statistical data on the market activity for November.
This is the Supply and Demand Chart. I have broken them down for each Corona zip code.

There are 3 pieces of information in the Supply & Demand chart. The first is the supply of homes for sale over a fifteen-month period. This is shown with light green bars. The second is the number of homes sold in dark green bars. The third is the number of pended sales, shown as a red line. These charts allow you to compare the most recent 3-months activity with the same period one-year ago.

You can see we are in a buyers market. Buyers at this time have a lot of inventory to choose from and sellers need to be priced very competitively to capture those buyers.

When I use this data for my listing clients I break it down first by zip code, then narrow it to 50 square feet above and below he subject property. That drills down to the specifics. I also like to use this as a tool to watch where the market is headed. When I'm working with buyers in addition to using comps I can use this to see where the buyers trends are going.

Stay turned, tomorrow we'll talk about average price per square foot in each of the zip codes.

November 92883

November 92882

November 92881

Novemeber 92880

November 92879

10 Days to Go

So much for real estate today...I'm starting to stress about Christmas shopping. Mostly because my 3 year old doesn't want to understand the concept of no you can't have a toy everytime we go to the store. Santas coming in 10 days. Santas trip down our fireplace is irrelevant to him. Today I vowed I'm never taking him to a store again until after Christmas. So don't be suprised if you run into me Christmas shopping at Target at 10pm, while he's got sugar plums dancing in his head.

Here's something nice for you for the weekend while you're wrapping those presents by a warm fire.

Heavenly Hot Chocolate

1 1/2 c. milk

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

1/4 c. sugar

1/8 t. salt

6 oz.chopped buttersweet chocolate

2 drops peppermint oil

Sweetened whipped cream, for garnish

Combine the milk, cream, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat. When the milk and cream just begin to steam, put in the chocolate and stir until melted. Add the peppermint oil. Divide the hot chocolate, top with whipped cream and share with friends and family.

When I think of hot chocolate it takes me back to my childhood in freezing cold Wisconsin. Enjoy the pictures while I take a trip down memory lane...

This Weeks Best Buy

LOCATION: 92881

PRICE: $485,900

SIZE: 2,940 Sq Ft, 4 BDR, 3 BATHS

DESCRIPTION: BANK OWNED home JUST REDUCED with many upgraded features such as: plantation shutters throughout, granite in kitchen with oversized island, seperate family and living room with fireplace, stamped colored conrete driveway, newer roll up garage doors, double door entry rock elevation and at entry to front door! Must see.

ELIZABETH'S NOTES: This home is a great buy in a great location. This house came on the market on 10/5 at $575,000. It was reduced on 11/7 to 519,900. Then reduced again on 12/7 to $485,000. If I was in the market I'd buy this house myself. Nice, nice, nice. Call me if you'd like to see it!

From One Extreme To The Other

Yesterday was an interesting day. It started out with a visit to a lovely home in Orange County.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, let me give you some background. I work with banks listing REO properties. Yesterday I had been out to check on a few properties that are about to go into foreclosure. The first home was the lovely home in Orange County. I went up to the door and sadly I met the tenant and got to be the one to deliver the bad news that the home he had recently leased was going into foreclosure. Each time I do this it's an adventure. Unfortunately, this time I was the bearer of bad news. Most of the time when I do this no one is home. After the sweet gentleman got over the initial shock we talked about how he could purchase the property. This one may might have a sweet ending.

Then I headed east....all the way to San Bernardino, with much trepidation of my husband, who strictly instructed me not to go alone, call him before I got out of the car and to call him again when I left the house. To say it nicely, this wasn't a great area. When I got out of my car I asked 2 men if they were the owner of the blue house. The homeless man, yes you read that right, asked me if I meant the blue abandoned bus and told me someone lived in the bus...No, I mean the house I thought. Then I went up to the door. Thank God no one answered. I was praying not to be greeted my someone with something long and metal. I left my card and a note asking them to call me. After I drove away I got to wondering if they even had a phone. I called my husband of course and let him know I was still alive. Then I called my guy at the bank and when he answered the phone he asked if I had gotten out of there alive. As you can guess I told him I'd pass on that listing. No one ever said being in real estate was boring.

On a more professional note, the feds lowered the interest rates yesterday a quarter of a point. Here is a great article on how the rate cut may effect consumers.

Weekly Stats

In the last 7 days...
New Listings 101
Price Reductions 217
Back up/Pending 39
Closed Sales 11

The prices of the closed listings this week range from $133,000 to $515,000. The majority of the closings are in the $300s and $400s. 5 of the 11 are foreclosures. The serious buyers are out there Christmas shopping for homes!

This Weeks Best Buy

LOCATION: 92880

PRICE: $425,000

SIZE: 2,992 sq ft, 4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths

DESCRIPTION:

Beautiful executive home in Limonite area. Close to Eastvale shopping center and 15 freeway. Cul de sac. Family neighborhood. 7 ceiling fans. Bright and airy. Kitchen with island. Huge bonus room upstairs. Large master with dbl door entry. 3 car garage. Carpeted throughout house. Covered patio and large backyard. Great opportunity for growing family. Bedroom and bath downstairs. Nicely landscaped. Move in condition.

ELIZABETH'S NOTES:

This is a great deal for someone that's looking for something that's turnkey in the 92880 area.

The upstairs has a large bonus room and good sized bedrooms. The backyard is great. Lot's of room. Call me if you'd like more information. I wonder if we could get them to throw in the Beemer too...

President Bush Proposes Rate Freeze

The Bush administration is trying to put together a program that will freeze interest rates on sub prime loans. He's suggesting putting a freeze on certain loans for a 5 year period. It will be interesting to see if this happens. There will be having a news conference this afternoon to make an announcement. So who's to blame? We want to blame the foreclosures on someone. We blame sub-prime lenders. The lenders definitely played a role in this fiasco. They wrote sub-prime loans with huge interest rates for people who could not pay them back. Mortgage fraud also played a role and people are going to jail because of it. Here's a scary story!
Many of the people who used the sub-prime loans to buy homes wanted a home worse than anything. It is the American dream, and so they signed the papers.

During the re-finance craze I received phone calls, email, mail and post cards inviting me to refinance my home and borrow an additional 100K or so against it. I remember one solicitation offering to lend us 130% of the value of our home.

On the radio, and on television, and on the Internet and in the mail and in the newspapers and in magazines and everywhere all day long the message is borrow, borrow, borrow , borrow. It has been that way for years. I go to Mervyns, and find a jacket on sale, and decide to buy it because I am cold. They offer me a 10% discount on it if I will open a Mervyns charge and put the purchase on my new card. They not only want me to use credit for something that I planned to pay cash for, but they want me to open a new credit line too. They will make more money by getting me to use the credit card than they will by selling me the jacket.

Some stores have people right near the front door trying to get customers to sign up for a credit card as soon as I walk in the door. Everyday I get mail from the credit card companies begging me to sign up for their card so can go out and charge things on their card at a special interest rate. All day every day I am given numerous opportunities to borrow money.

It really works too because we borrow and borrow and borrow and borrow. During the refinance boom people took money out and bought cars, vacations, real estate and even college educations. Easy to do. As a nation American consumers have reached $2.46 Trillion in installment debt, not including mortgage debt as of the end of June 2007. Honestly I don't even understand a number that big.

According to the federal reserve consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 5-1/4 percent in the third quarter of 2007. In September, consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 1-3/4 percent.

So when it comes time to blame someone who do we blame for the mess we are in? Every time a consumer gets a loan he or she signs some papers. Those papers contain a great deal of information about payments, interest rates, terms and what happens if payments are not made every month. I say the consumer has some responsibility.

But, and I always have to throw those in. I know people who are not very savvy when it comes to using credit. They want what they can not afford because they saw it on TV, heard it on the radio, saw it on the Internet, received a post card advertising it and on and on it goes. So they borrow money.

Some were taken advantage of and I have met people like that. I hear their story and I understand how they got in the mess they are in and my heart goes out to them. I hear two or three sad stories every week from people who are in various stages of foreclosure. My husband can usually hear my half of the conversation if he listens to my calls and he knows how empathetic I am and how hard it is for me to listen to home owners, who are about to lose their homes. I've spent time sitting in peoples kitchens listening to them while they break down in tears. It's hard...Well, hopefully we'll get some good news today...

Weekly Stats

In the last seven days...
New Listings 125
Back Up/Pending 49
Price Reductions 242
Closed 18
Of the properties that closed...
3-$200,000s
7-$300,000s
6-$400,000s
2-$500,000s

This Weeks Best Buy

On days like today all I want to do is curl up in a warm fuzzy blanket and build a fire. I awoke this morning to rain and a cold house. Let's go virtual and look for this weeks Best Buy. I think it would be fun to have a weekly Best Buy house. So here we are...

LOCATION: HorseThief Canyon

PRICE: $299,900

SIZE: 3 BDR, 2.5 Baths, 1,439 Sq Feet

DESCRIPTION:
Beautiful two story home, recently painted, Family room with fireplace, Light and bright kitchen, Laundry hookups in garage, Master bathroom, Spacious living room entrance, two car direct access garage. A must see.

ELIZABETH'S NOTES:

When we go looking for a best buy what we want to see is a MOTIVATED SELLER who wants to get their home sold. This home was listed on 8/31 and was priced at $379,900 and was reduced on 10/5 to $359,900. Then reduced again yesterday to $299,900. This is a good deal for HorseTheif Canyon. Here are some inside pictures.

Call me if you'd like more information or to schedule a showing.

Do you REALLY want to sell your home?

I was looking at the market numbers this morning. Everyday I watch how many new listings come on the market, how many went pending, how many sold and how many reduced their prices. But I'm confused...the market prices are going down and then I see a price increase! My question is What are these people thinking?????!!!!!! The market is in a downward trajectory. Prices going up is so 5 years ago. The real reason in my opinion is they don't really want to sell their home. It's as simple as that. Speaking for me and every other REALTOR these people need to take their houses off the market. The market is flooded with people that have their houses overpriced and know they won't get an offer much less have any showings on it. I feel bad for the REALTOR that has it listed...for about a minute....then I wonder why don't they just cancel the listing with their client. If all the REALTORS in town cancelled all the overpriced listings with their non motivated clients there would be a lot less competition on the market for those clients that truly are motivated sellers.

Weekly Stats

I've decided I'm going to post the Corona market information for you on a weekly basis. How about every Monday?
Total Actives 2,282
In the last 7 days...
New Listings 57
Back up/Pending 43
Closings 11

2008 Market Predictions

On Saturday I went to the hairdressers to get my hair done. The first thing he said to me is "What's going on here?" as he played with my hair then he added my hair has fallen out quite a bit since our last appointment. Then he asked me how real estate was going. What does this have to do with my hair falling out I wondered. After you read this you too will understand why I may be sporting the bald look by the end of 2008.

Anyone who knows me knows that I always speak the truth. That goes for my clients too. They want the facts and my opinion and that's what they get. To answer the question what's the market doing I'll pull out my crystal ball. Looking at all the facts and figures it looks to me like 2008 is going to be a tougher year in the market than 2007. I have two reasons for this opinion. First, all indications are that housing activity is continuing to weaken and house prices in general will continue to decline. Second, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures will probably continue to rise for a number of quarters because the bulk of resets to higher rates and payments have yet to come. A lot of people that have bought houses in the past few years have taken out adjustable rate loans that are about to mature. I've had people tell me their payment has gone up as much as $1,200 a month! I've wanted to stop and pray for them on the spot. Each quarter from now until the end of 2008, the monthly payments for more than 400,000 subprime mortgages are scheduled for their first interest rate reset. That's up from about 200,000 per quarter in the first half of 2007.

Earlier this year, the typical reset was from 7 % to 9.5%, producing a 25-30% increase in the borrower's monthly payment. From here it can go two ways. First, the borrower can refinance and try to find a solution that they can live with. Or secondly, they'll go into default and eventually into foreclosure. The sad thing with that is we will continue to see more foreclosures in our neighborhoods, but what's even worse is when the guy down the street wants to sell his house for the normal reason he's competing with all the active foreclosures in the neighborhood. And I mean competing with pricing. None of this "Oh but, my house is so much nicer and I've got so many more upgrades". Buyers don't care about that. What they want a "good deal". They'll do their own fix up work and put upgrades in on their own time. This is what the sellers will have to deal with. It's been a tough year and I've told a few of my clients to take their house off the market or to rent it out. And I've told more than a few just to wait it out a while. It's been sad for them but it's the right thing to do. I can tell you what your house is worth in todays market but if that numbers not where you want it to be, sit tight. I'm not going anywhere, I'll still be here to sell your home when the market turns around. Now on the other hand if you want to buy property call me while I still have some hair left!!!

A Classic Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

On the day after Thanksgiving instead of being out shopping with all the crazy people I sat home and ate 4 pieces of leftover cherry cobbler and gosh was it good! Now we can just jump into the Christmas season. What I discovered today is on Saturday, November 24th. Yes, tomorrow at 6pm is the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at The Crossings. Santa will be there and there will also be a Nutcracker performance. Sounds like a nice family outing to me. For more info see http://www.shopcrossingsatcorona.com/events.htm

From my Family to yours

I'd like to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Vickie Gulvanson Decides to Stay in the Big House

The credit for this one goes to Mama at the Real Estalker. One of my favorite websites!

SELLER: Donn and Vicki Gunvalson
LOCATION: Altimira, Coto De Caza
PRICE: $1,780,000
SIZE: 4,000 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Truly unique one of a kind custom estate on a one-third acre lot with a spectacular view of Saddleback Mountain and the golf course! Walk to the clubhouse thru your own gate. Every detail is handcrafted with old world charm, yet modern convenience. 2 masters–one down! Media room. Secluded end of cul de sac location. In the process of being upgraded, new paint, carpet, stone floors, slate bathrooms.

By far my favorite reality television train wrecks is the gloriously disturbing show The Real Housewives of Orange County. Maybe you've tuned in to The Bravo to see this stunner of a program on which a handful of rich, tan, highlighted, rebuilt and Botoxed women in suburban Orange County, CA, open the doors of their banal suburban mini mansions and let us all peer inside their embarrassing lives behind the gates of Coto de Caza. In the Season 3 opener last week we learned that hardworking, successful and obsessive control freak Vicki Gunvalson and her husband Donn had purchased another banal mini mansion in Coto de Caza, the upscale guard gated community in South Orange County. Empty nesting Vicki and Donn had already purchased the house and hired a decorator named Frankie to decorate the place in a faux "Tuscan" style, A suit of arms? (OK, I won't digress about the decorating) Anywho, Vickie was having some remorse about downsizing from a 5,000 square foot house into an only slightly less ostentatious 4,000 square foot house. Over dinner with Donn one evening, she fretted about how living in a smaller house and installing a new $250,000+ backyard swimming pool extravaganza might compromise her feelings of success and empire building despite the notion that they would be able to pay for the new house with the equity of the old house, thus being wonderfully free from a large mortgage payment each month. But alas...Thanks to an OC tipster we'll call Penny Lane, we've learned that Vicki and Donn have put the new and smaller house back on the market just 6 months after purchasing the 5 bedroom and 6 bathroom property for $1,650,000. Naturally it's listed with Jeana Keogh (my favorite Housewife) and the Gunvalsons are asking $1,780,000, a $130,00 gain that should just about cover the real estate fees and the truckload of furniture from the Broyhill Furniture showroom. Although listing for the house indicates the house measures 4,000 square feet, property records actually show that house at 3,055 square feet. The bougainvillea covered house is well located for privacy at the end of a cul de sac and overlooks the Coto de Caza Golf and Racquet Club. The house currently does not have a swimming pool, but there is a shabby looking sport court that Vicki and Donn planned on ripping out and replacing with one of those uniquely American backyard swimming pool complexes with a grotto, slide, bbq center and whatever other new-fangled swimming pool accoutrement that the designer mentioned. Vickie seems like a really nice lady. I hope she doesn't take a bath on this one.

Sorting Through the Mortgage Mayhem

Let's get to the stats first.

There were 12 new listings taken yesterday

35 price reductions

5 listings went backup/pending

and nothing closed.

I got a phone call over the weekend from a buyer asking me, "Will I still be able to get a mortgage loan?" The answer is yes. The average borrower with a decent credit history and the ability to show proof of income will continue to qualify for a choice of mortgage loans, even thought there may be fewer lenders to choose from.

Mortgages have been making the news headlines lately, and for all the wrong reasons. Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are way up, and may lenders who had specialized in subprime mortgages have gone out of business. So what does this mean to you if you're looking for a new mortgage, or to someone who may be looking for a mortgage in order to put an offer on a home?

Pat V. Combs, President of the National Association of REALTORS, assures home buyers that mortgages are available for the majority of potential purchasers. "For buyers able to qualify for conventional financing, there are ample opportunities in the current market," she said.

"Availability and pricing of conventional loans are reasonable, and FHA-insured mortgage applications have been rising as low and moderate income buyers seek alternatives to subprime loans. If buyers are in it for the long haul, now can be a great time to buy a home."

The market is changing every day, creating new opportunities for homeowners and those who wish to become homeowners. Please call me if you're looking for a new one, and I'll be happy to walk you through the latest developments in the real estate market.

Daily Stats

Every day I'm going to post the activity for the last 24 hour period. On Mondays I'll post the activity that has occured over the weekend.

As of today there are 2,336 homes on the market in Corona.

21 New listings

48 Price reductions

18 Went into backup/pending meaning they've gotten contracts/gone into escrow

2 Closed

Welcome to my Blog

and welcome to Corona California!
I've been pondering for a few weeks on what my clients may want to know about the Corona real estate market. I'm constantly asked questions about the market. Let this become your site of choice while looking for information on anything real estate related. Feel free to email me any comments or questions you may have. I have answers to all the Real Estate questions you are afraid to ask and many more.