New Home Sales Up

New Home Sales Up

New home sales are up 42 percent in the Orange County Area. The new home sales are up and that is good new for the area. Is this the recovery? No one is ready to state that but it is a good sign.



The short sale and bank owned properties have been leading the way but now we have new home sales up and by a big percentage. Not only are the number of new home sales up the prices have been inching up as well.



We do know that there has been a drop in inventory and that can effect the market. Some may have been trying to just get a home.



This is the first year over year gain in new home sales in the 6 months.



The average price for an attached unit was $446,476 last quarter down from $582,650 in the third quarter of 2007. Note that last quarter the average price was $582,650 in the third quarter of 2007.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Tax Amnesty

Tax Amnesty

Tax Amnesty draws about 7500 people who owe the federal government, IRS their taxes. About 7500 tax cheats have filed for the amnesty program that promised no jail and reduced penalties for tax cheats. The tax amnesty program allows those who hid money in more than 70 different countries and on every populated continent. The report states that the amount ranges from $10,000 to $100,000,000.



The IRS has a long standing policy that they would give tax evaders, who come forward, before they are contacted by the agency, no jail time. Fewer than 100 people apply for the program in a given year part of the reason is that the penalties can exceed the amount in the accounts depending on the lenth of time the tax evader has evaded the IRS.



In March the IRS began a six-month tax amnesty program that sweetened the offer with reduced penalties for the people with undeclared assets. The program was extended but it will not be extended again.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Irvine Company Optimistic

Irvine Company Optimistic

In the Orange County Register today there was an article about the Irvine Company being optimistic about the economy so much so that they are going to bankroll 685 construction units. While defaults are still mounting Jobless rates are still high the Irvine Company is still optimistic. Yet housing starts are at a record low, while new homes sales have dropped in 37 of the past 38 months the Irvine Company is still optimistic.



On Monday they are unveiling the 2010 New Home Collection,a project that will put 6 home building companies back to work. You can see the new home models are beginning to sprout up.



They believe the recovery is underway and that they will come out of the gate strong. They believe that the consumer is looking for homes while the prices are low.



The six builders, including longtime companies like Lennar, KB Homes, Brookfield Homes and two start-up companies The New Home Co. and Tri Pointe Homes. There will be 25 floor plans, with features that come from careful market research. Prices range from the low $300,000 to $800,000. These homes will be fairly high density with the larger lots at just over 4,500 square feet.



The Irvine Company stated they thought it would take one and one half to two years to sell all of the homes. They will prove they are optimistic about the future of the housing market by financing construction and they will keep the land in their name. The Irvine Company will have new architectural designs based on the market research.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Market Report for Mission Viejo area

Market Report for Mission Viejo area


This weeks market report for Mission Viejo and surrounding areas shows that Orange County Median Prices for the resale homes were up 4.2 percent, for new homes it is down 2.4 percent and for resale condos up 3.4 percent. The sales volume is up for resale homes 7.5 percent and up 11.9 percent on condos and down 31.4 percent for new homes.



Mission Viejo Zip Code 92691 sales prices are down 6.0 percent and the sales volume is down 5.5 percent.

Mission Viejo Zip Code 92692 sales prices are down 5.9 percent and the sales volume is up 38.3 percent.

Aliso Viejo sales prices are down 7.9 percent and the sales volume is up 18.3 percent.

Laguna Niguel sales prices are down 4.9 percent and the sales volume is up 47..7 percent.

Rancho Santa Margarita sales prices are down 19.6 percent and the sales volume is down 6.8 percent.

San Clemente Zip Code 92672 sales prices are up 26.5 percent and the sales volume is up 113.3 percent.

San Clemente Zip Code 92673 sales prices are down 10.6 percent and the sales volume is up 30.6 percent.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Bloggers Be Worried

Bloggers Be Worried

The FTC is beginning to move in on the bloggers and we should be worried. The Federal Trade Commission voted 4-0 to establish a new rule to regulate freedom of speech on the Web for bloggers and social media users.



An $11,000 fine could appear in your mail box from a federal official or a federal agent could knock at your door for violating the new rules. The rules may not seem to effect you now but this is the beginning of quiting down the blogosphere. The rules state that bloggers and social media must disclose any financial relationships they may have with companies or products they talk about in their posts. You are also required to disclose any gifts received by bloggers we need to be worried and concerned.



I personally do not get any gifts or do I promote products. That was just for the record.



Paid journalists will not have the same rules. They can get free books or movies before they write a review. This is an overreaching policy. Most of the blogs and the social network is simply friends talking to friends. This is beyond belief.



How do we protest a rule? Being worried does not change things. Watch the FTC closely.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Market Report for the Mission Viejo Area

The Market Report for Mission Viejo area:

What is the market report for the last 4 weeks? Let's look at the numbers. For the whole of Orange County resale home prices are down 3.1 percent, New home prices are down 2.9 percent and resale condos are fairly level at 0.3 percent down. The number of sales or sales volume for resale home sales are down 1.1 percent resale condos sales are up 0.6 percent and new homes are also down 0.6 percent.



Mission Viejo zip code 92691 prices are up 3.0 percent and the sales are down 24.6 percent.

Mission Viejo zip code 92692 prices are down 24.8 percent and the sales are up 11.7 percent.

Aliso Viejo prices are down 2.1 percent and the sales are up 3.2 percent.

Laguna Niguel prices are up 0.9 percent and the sales are up 9.2 percent.

Rancho Santa Margarita prices are down 10.8 percent and the sales are up 17 percent.

San Clemente zip code 92672 prices down 9.1 percent and the sales are up 75 percent.

San Clemente zip code 92673 prices are down 7.1 percent and the sales are even no change.

It is still difficult to make any long range predictions on this market a report from a Mission Viejo Realtor.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Mallorca Homeowner Association in Mission Viejo Asked For What?

What was it that the Mallorca Homeowners Association asked the City of Mission Viejo to pay for?


Did you know that the Mallorca Homeowners Association asked the City of Mission Viejo to take over landscape maintenance of the slops owned by the association.



The slopes that the Mallorca Homeowners Association asked about, line Marguerite Parkway from Ameno to Vista Del Lago and amount to about 5 acres.



The agenda report written by Keith Rattay, the city's director of public services, the city has been asked by Mallorca Homeowners Association on other occasions.



The Mallorca Homeowners Association  asked the city of Mission Viejo to take over the landscape maintenance of the slopes, proposing that the city pay the bill to landscape and the Mallorca Homeowners Association would pay the cost to transfer the water and electricity to the city.



The estimated cost to the city would be $32,000 per year and an additional $350,000 to $420,000 to rehabilitate the land.



At the meeting many speakers balked at the idea that the city would pay to maintain someone elses property. Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht commented, "I believe they're walking away from their responsibility by asking the city to take over the property".



In the end Mission Viejo denied the request to maintain the lands owned by the Mallorca Homeowners Association.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Consumer Credit Fell

Consumer credit fell in August as banks tighten the credit and cause 7th straight month of keep consumers from getting to more credit. The consumer is reluctant ot borrow due to job losses and uncertainty in the market place. The total package of restrictive lending terms and the job situation causes the banks reluctance and the consumer is also reluctant to borrow or lend. That is the reason Consumer Credit Fell.



The consumer credit fell by 12 billion or 5.8 percent at an annual rate, to 2.46 trillion according to the Federal Reserve report released Wednesday. These continued drops month to month are the longest since 1991.



The demand for credit has had a sever drop families are trying to pay down debt and not interested in taking on debt. Revolving credit such as credit cards ddecreased by 9.91 billion. If this continues it will put the consumer in a better economic condition, but it will shrink the over all economy in a recession. It is not good in the long run.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

www.markandtim.com

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Market Report for Mission Viejo area

What is the report for the last 4 weeks? Let's look at the numbers. For the whole of Orange County resale home prices are down 3.1 percent, New home prices are down 2.9 percent and resale condos are fairly level at 0.3 percent down. The number of sales or sales volume for resale home sales are down 1.1 percent resale condos sales are up 0.6 percent and new homes are also down 0.6 percent.

• Mission Viejo zip code 92691 prices are up 3.0 percent and the sales are down 24.6 percent.

• Mission Viejo zip code 92692 prices are down 24.8 percent and the sales are up 11.7 percent.

• Aliso Viejo prices are down 2.1 percent and the sales are up 3.2 percent.

• Laguna Niguel prices are up 0.9 percent and the sales are up 9.2 percent.

• Rancho Santa Margarita prices are down 10.8 percent and the sales are up 17 percent.

• San Clemente zip code 92672 prices down 9.1 percent and the sales are up 75 percent.

• San Clemente zip code 92673 prices are down 7.1 percent and the sales are even no change.

It is still difficult to make any long range predictions on this market.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!

Recall Election in Mission Viejo

A special recall election petition had over 9,538 signatures were validated for Mission Viejo Councilman Lance McLean. It was reported Friday, October 2nd in the Saddleback Valley News. There had been over 14,000 signatures turned in and 12,871 signatures were verified and of those 9,538 turned out to be valid for the Recall Election in Mission Viejo.



The reason for those in favor of the recall election in Mission Viejo is alledged:

• finacial mismanagement in voting for deficite spending last year,
• false promises for voting to increase housing density.
• violence, anger and incivility regarding an assault arrest and outburst at a former councelwoman.

As with all special elections this recall election in Mission Viejo will have a cost. It will be $43,268.40 for the verification process and the special election is estimated to cost $227,000.



The City Council is scheduled to certify the Registrar's results October 5, 2009.

Tim Lorenz

Instant MLS Listings & Free Market Analysis

"We have actually closed many short sales!"

http://www.markandtim.com/

949-282-2521

Tim Lorenz . Over 40 Years Experience Representing South Orange County Home Buyers, Sellers, Investors and Relocations!