Trust a 30-year veteran. You'll like visiting my site and finding ALL the MLS homes for sale in Orange County and most of Southern California. Email your Orange County realty questions to me at Debbie@DebbieFerrari.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Orange County, for the first time in 11 years, the median home price dropped in 2007. The median home price was $618,000, which was down 1.9 percent from the median home price of 2006.
What will the market be in 2008? Well, in 2005, 54,000 homes sold in Orange County. But in 2007, the total was cut in half, at 27,000 homes. In the past 20 years, that is the lowest total.
Long time experts in Orange County estimate that prices in the OC were about 10 percent off the June 2006 peak, which means they matched levels seen in 2005.
In 2008, the prices may well drop to 2004 levels, but only on a median level. Great exceptions are found in beach and near-beach communities.
Sure, there have been some big drops for homes with dreadful floor plans, poor locations, such as by a noisy freeway or park, or in some declining neighborhoods in north Orange County zip codes (which had a 7-8 percent drop in median prices). However, Inland zip codes lost only 5.4 percent and homes in mid-county zip codes dropped only 4.4 percent.
The worst losers? Three areas, North, Inland and Mid-County suffered sales drops of approximately 33 percent.
But happy days for some: Coastal areas in Orange County were hardly impacted by the housing bubble bursting.
In the beach cities, starting in the south through San Clemente, Dana Point, Capistrano Beach, Laguna Niguel, Monarch Beach, Laguna Beach, Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach, and all the way north to Seal Beach, home prices dropped just 2.9 percent, with sales levels dropping only 18 percent.
In 73 of the County's 83 zip codes, sales fell in 2007. In Santa Ana's Zip Code 92707, sales were off a whopping 62 percent.
The overall gainer in sales volume in 2007? Irvine's 92612 where sales increased 30 percent.
Regarding median home prices, some went UP in 2007. Dana Point saw the median home price RISE by 15.6 percent to over one million dollars in the city's 92624 zip code. Parts of San Juan Capistrano, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, also enjoyed home price increases.
In Orange County, the cities of Laguna Hills, Ladera Ranch, the eastern side of Santa Ana, eastern Mission Viejo and north Orange had no changes in price in 2007 compared to 2006.
Garden Grove's 92840's zip code showed the leading price drop of 15.3 percent, down to $500,000. Oddly, some normally top neighborhoods in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and Irvine had double-digit price decreases, too.
Is the credit crunch terrible in Orange County? Well, it could be a lot worse...Real Data Strategies, a Brea consulting firm, says that 54.6% of homeowners in default emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing, or selling the home and paying off what they owe.
The Pacific West Association of Realtors says that Orange County sales REVENUES for real estate agents dropped by almost 40 percent during the last five months of 2007. And that represents a $3.1 billion drop from the same period in 2006.
This is not so good for real estate agents because only 55 percent of Orange County's active real estate agents took part in one or more sales last year. And half of those had just one or two sales apiece. The other 45 percent had no income in 2007!!
You can expect many agents to drop out of real estate during 2008.
A leading local newspaper reported that historically, housing downturns average 27 months so we may be near the end. And we are told by the housing analysts that we are in the 25th month of the current housing downturn. And so far in 2008, while there has been a significant decline in sales volume, home prices in many areas have continued to show small amounts of appreciation.
The newspaper further believed that with the Fed cutting interest rates, Congress passing bills to aid housing, and more money available for home lending, the financial markets will begin calming down. This down cycle will come to an end, just as they have done since 1970, and an excellent buying opportunity may lie ahead.Buyers will still need to be pre-qualified before a Realtor or seller takes them seriously, but it is definitely becoming a buyers market vs. the sellers market of the past few years.
Fortunately, because I mostly represent buyers, I can represent you, and protect you against the seller and his agent, and guide you in preparing the papers for your offer.
Also, if you have a lot of equity, you might consider investing it in some very excellent wealth-building programs that I can show you, often making you millions in retirement money after an initial investment of several hundred thousand dollars that would otherwise just be sitting there as equity in your home, earning you nothing.
I also have a terrific mortgage reduction program wherein you use a new software program that tells you exactly when to make payments.
Orange County is still the place to live for many people seeking "the good life" in a vibrant, exciting neighborhood.
A baby-boomer's heaven, the OC is the place to buy a home, a second home, or even investment property.
ZIP Code: 92673 Approximate Location Boundaries: Orange County is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean (with 42 miles of beaches), on the south by San Diego County, on the northeast by San Bernardino County, on the east by Riverside County, and on the north by Los Angeles County.
Location Characteristics: This area, near the long coastline, consists mostly of gently rolling hills and shallow, swooping valleys. South Orange County is primarily my serviced area, from Irvine following the I-5 freeway south to San Clemente. (Although I also serve clients ALL OVER the County)
Inland, the land lies flatter in Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, and the historic city of San Juan Capistrano, dating from 1775, with its landmark Mission tourist attraction. The coastal cities feature scores of beachfront homes, and inland, thousands of homes with ocean views, and ones of Catalina Island visible 26 miles away.
The coastal, oceanfront cities with beaches include San Clemente, Dana Point, Laguna Niguel, and Capistrano Beach. Those who love ocean sunsets, water sports, boating, SCUBA, beach walks, and strolls on our 1/4-mile San Clemente pier, or boating in our stunning jewel of a yacht harbor at Dana Point...will seriously want me to show them the entire area.
Once you take the South Orange County tour, it becomes most difficult to decide just which city in South Orange County would be best for you. I'll help you every step of the way to decide where your home should be located in this magical area, one of the most coveted and beautiful vacation spots in the whole country.
About Debbie Ferrari, e-PRO, Broker:
Unlimited MLS searching by the visitors themselves is offered, with the option to get updates automatically by e-mail whenever new homes matching the buyer's search parameters come onto the market. Debbie Ferrari's site has won more truly top real estate awards than any known U.S. RealtorŪ site. Why? Because it contains boundless local and general real estate information so that a buyer moving to Debbie's area can find virtually anything needed to buy a home. The site has more than 1000 background pages of realty-related information, plus school, civic, social info and pictures of local attractions including aerial and 360-degrees of San Clemente's famous pier and hillside homes, and Dana Point's lovely yacht harbor. Even a video tour of the nearby five-star Ritz Carlton Resort is included. There's even a LIVE 24/7 beachCam showing our beautiful San Clemente beach and pier.
Debbie's sites receive more than 35,000 visitors monthly, which makes sellers happy because most of these visitors are prospective BUYERS who are thrilled to find so much of value.
These reports reflect the views and opinions of their authors and are not necessarily the views and opinions of Realty Times.
