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.