Just got back from OCAR’s annual meeting held at the beautiful Aliso Viejo golf course.   I thought I would record a video update for you

I know you have comments, let ‘em fly!!

Mission Viejo Book Signing – ‘Making the Most of Your Money’

Last week I visited the Mission Viejo Library to get a copy of what is supposed to be the best personal financial planning book on the market right now. Entitled ‘Making the Most of Your Money’, it was written by Jane Bryant Quinn.  Honestly, I had never heard of Jane Bryant Quinn until recently, but she definitely is a highly respected voice in the money management community.

Jane got off to a light start, joking that she almost named her book ‘Making the Most Out of What’s Left of Your Money’. She agrees that the economy is in a bad place, adding that the government needed to step in in order to prevent a full-on depression. But this cloud has a silver lining – the economy is recovering. Nevertheless, we’re still feeling some economic aches and pains, which is why keeping our finances in mind and tightening up our ship is such a good idea.

Jane covered quite a bit of financial planning territory. Regarding our current bull market, she recommended diversifying accordingly. She also touched on inflation, predicting that fortunately this monster won’t go very high.

For the U.S. government’s role, Jane pointed out that Congress may soon be restoring the Paygo law, which is intended to control government spending. This, along with a tax increase, could significantly help our budget.

So how do savers and investors pick their way through the current financial wilderness?

First and foremost, according to Jane, get OUT of consumer debt. “Debt is like feeding your dollars to squirrels.” Do NOT make it normal. Debt and credit are not glamorous. Sure, they seem fun at first, but when it’s time to retire and your mortgage is soaring, the debt beast will likely bring you to ruin.

In the Real Estate arena, Jane cautioned that we shouldn’t expect the height of where we were in 2007 for many, many years. OK fine. Thanks for that. In general, home prices follow the inflation rate. Currently, consumers aren’t thinking of their homes as investments. But that’s OK. Because when all is said and done, according to Jane, it STILL PAYS to OWN a HOME!!!!!! But watch those HELOCs. Let’s get back to that concept of paying down our mortgage, people. Jane also advised don’t take a reverse mortgage until you’re in your 80′s, even though you are allowed to in your 60′s.

If you’re underwater on your rental investment, it’s probably a good idea to lower your rent to keep your tenants. You must be prepared for losses for years and years if you are a serious real estate investor.  Make sure you have liquid cash flow.  You can also consider short sale or foreclosure if the property is a huge drain. Talk to a professional Orange County financial planner and / or consider some by the book investment education.

As for stocks, Jane mentioned that she talked with many of the top financial masterminds all over the nation. Apparently, the majority of them have the bulk of their own funds in a broad market index, something like S&P…

She added that for young people, lifestyle funds are a good idea, even though they’ve received a bit of a bad rap.

Jane also stated a good formula for your retirement fund risk is this: subtract your age from 110. Whatever that number is, that’s the percent you should be investing in stocks. As you get older, this formula helps you safely transition into a majority of bonds and a lower risk portfolio.

There are so many valuable insights in this book, it was THICK!  I’m sure  ‘Making the Most of Your Money’ is truly a valuable guide to sound financial planning.  But seriously, no matter how many books we read someone, who does financial planning for a living will always be better than we are, IMO.  You should have a professional on your side.  Just like you should in real estate!!

Speaking of property, if you would like your diversification strategy to include owning some Orange County Real Estate, I’m happy to help.  Contact me at 949.338.7408 or angie@askangie.com.  Or follow me @AngieWeeks or @WeeksTeam.  Happy investing – feel free to post what has and has not worked for you here!

New Year, New Opportunities in Orange County Real Estate

First let me wish a ‘Happy New Year’ to all.  Yes, folks, 2010 is here.  And with the new year, there promises to be a wealth of new opportunities emerging in the bustling world of Orange County Real Estate.  So get up off  your comfy couch and do what you’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Don’t let opportunity pass you by.  Add that to your list of New Years resolutions right now.

So maybe you’re thinking about buying your first home. Perfect!  If you’re an Orange County first time home buyer, the time has never been better. A major reason for such bright prospects is that there currently are a number of available incentives created to improve your overall experience.

If selling your home for the first time is on your mind, optimism is in order.  Buyers are returning to the marketplace. So sellers rejoice! The market is definitely moving in the right direction. In fact, there are a number things going on that will make selling easier, from listing to close. If you’re worried about Uncle Sam taking a chunk, be aware you might be able to reduce your tax obligation with a few easy and yes, legal steps.

Perhaps you’re opting to make your first Real Estate investment.  Believe it or not, there are well-focused ways to improve your financial future without getting an advanced degree from the school of hard knocks.

Indeed, the door of opportunity is opening wide in 2010.  If you’re ready to learn more about the diversity of emerging Orange County Real Estate opportunities, I’ll be happy to help.  Contact me at 949.338.7408. Or follow me @AngieWeeks or @WeeksTeam.

What exactly is a HUD home?

Of course, you know HUD stands for US Dept of Housing and Urban Development.  The listing agent, Barbara Kerr with Realty Execs, explained HUD homes as properties with FHA loans that had been foreclosed on.  Because FHA is a government backed loan, these properties go back to HUD when owners abandon the property or go through foreclosure.

How do I buy a HUD property?

Not just anyone can get their hands on one.  HUD homes have a special key to enter; they don’t have normal lockboxes and supra keys us Realtors typically use.  Interesting… *thought* there could be less competition for our buyers on these properties because this is an additional hoop to jump through. Of course, we checked the details on the website – we need to have a Name and Address Identifier number with HUD in order to make a bid.  It appears the required NAID # is issued to our broker, not us.  So, we’ve been in touch with Darrell our fabulous broker to see about getting all set up

Barbara, the nice & helpful *yay, rare!* listing agent, said she gives a class on it, I told her I would like to attend.  I’ll blog more after that…We’re always learning something in real estate!

Having capability to offer on HUD properties will help both our investor and first time buyer clients – double win!!

And there’s not enough equity sales.

You want the 8k homebuyer credit.

You find youself here, fishing in the sea of short sales in Orange County.

You’ve already read our post about what every buyer needs to know about a short sale.

But you’re still stuck!  Short sales won’t close in time for the 8K first time buyer credit, right?!  Honestly, probably not 80% of them.  But a small percentage will.  What clues should you look for?

1. Check for the word “approved” in the notes.  Short sales that have been approved by the bank can many times sell within 30 days.  Its getting the bank’s approval that usually takes months.

2.  Look for experience / feel of the listing agent or team. Do they respond?  Are they on top of things?   If the listing agent doesn’t know how to deal with the bank it can add months to the process.  Go ahead, Google them.
3.  Do you see Short Sale – Notice of Default on the MLS report ?  This means the property is in process of foreclosure and the bank has filed a notice of default on the property.  You’d think notices would be filed immediately, but many times the bank waits for 3, 6, or 9 months of no payments until filing the NOD.  After the notice is filed, stats are very high that a foreclosure will occur within the next 90 – 120 days.   On short sales with a NOD the bank has a little more motivation because they aren’t receiving any money from the current owner, and they are being offered in essence, a settlement and solution with your offer.

4.  Check for Short Sale – offers submitted – this indirectly tells you the current owner has submitted the hardship package, because it usually needs to be submitted with the offer.  That being said, I have seen this status used when agents had a lowball offer in hand but NOT submitted to the bank.  It depends on the agent, and their ethics.  This status is better than a short sale with no offers submitted, but you are still probably looking at at least 60 days and multiple offers when here.  Not worth chancing for your 8K credit, we need to find you an approved short sale or one close to foreclosure.  PERIOD!

5.  Check notes for only one mortgage!  We’re currently STILL WAITING for an answer to one of our “approved” short sale offers that was literally submitted in JUNE.  (Its Sept.)  The first “approved” the price, but the second loan had not approved their settlement, and the agent didn’t notate that detail in the listing.

Short sales are complicated, but we can help.  Mostly by having the best Orange County MLS searches so you get new REO and equity listing emails the DAY they come on the market!  We still recommend buying foreclosures or equity (normal) sales to have the best experience with today’s market.

Thought you’d enjoy this real estate update from Suze Orman – feel free to post questions below!

Its interesting, I’ve found ‘homes for sale’ and ‘foreclosure’ searches to be up, and ‘real estate’ searches to be down:

Mission Viejo Real Estate – 5400 searches last month compared to 8100 average

Mission Viejo ca homes for sale – 22,200 searches last month compared to 18,100 average

Mission Viejo foreclosures – 33,100 searches last month compared to 9,900 average

Newport Beach Real Estate – 12,100 searches last month compared to 14,800 average

Newport Beach ca homes for sale – 33,100 searches last month compared to 22,200 average

Newport Beach foreclosure – 12,100 searches last month compared to 2400 average

Orange County Real Estate – 40,500 searches last month compared to 33,100 average

Orange County homes for sale – 9900 searches last month compared to 5400 average

Orange County foreclosures - 6600 searches last month compared to 4400 average

This data comes from Google’s keyword selector tool, so it may be a raw indication that interest in Mission Viejo and Orange County foreclosures and homes for sale is up.

What do you think??  We’re getting more people signing up for online searches lately, and more questions instead of complaints while we’re out in the field…

637 Loretta Drive, Laguna Beach CA

Alright, alright.  I’m big on views.  I’m sure you want to know about the property…  Its immaculate   The trilevel offers 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 car attached garage and 2700 square feet.  EVERYTHING is upgraded, Hardwood floors, granite counters, a nice corner fireplace and wonderful dining/living area to entertain, patios and balconies off of EVERY room, master bathroom with a perfect view of the ocean…definately somewhere you would want to check out.

Laguna Beach views

Laguna Beach is ON SALE right now, there’s 3 active listings on Loretta alone.  One is going for 4.2M, the other for 1.6M, and the one I am holding open today is asking 2.4M.  What a range, huh?  This is one of the reasons its so important to work with a Realtor, we can help you understand why the house next door is twice as much. 

I’ll be here for another hour if you want to come and check it out – or I can schedule an appointment to show you any afternoon.  I recommend to come check it out around sunset…it will be spectacular

Laguna Beach sunset off of 637 Loretta Drive lower balcony

It’s an earthquake!
 
This week, the financial markets were shaken with an earthquake unlike almost anything we have seen in our lifetimes!  The one similar example is the infamous “black Monday” on October 19th, 1987.  On that one day, the stock market dropped over 500 points for the first time ever.  A decline of more than 25% which dwarfs the declines we saw this week.
 
So what do we do?  Panic?  Run for the hills?  Convert your cash to gold and start buying ammunition?  Of course not.  But to hear it discussed in some circles, that’s exactly what should happen.
 
On Monday evening, I was interviewed on CNBC in the midst of the “AIG crisis”.  Yet another massive financial firm experiencing financial duress.  I was asked what my counsel was to people who have been told to “buy and hold”.  The point I made was that this is a call to arms for people to get their financial houses in order.  Too many people have been speculating financially, and the results are as we have seen.
 
For many people, including most of my clients, this was an expected though unwelcome event.  We know that bear markets and financial downturns will happen.  In fact this bear market has currently been less severe than the average bear markets we have seen in the past!  It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but it’s true.
 
So what do you do?  For starters, do a complete financial physical on where you are at.  You need to examine your assets as well as your debts.  Look in detail at your investment holdings, and decide if you need to make changes.  Don’t make changes for just any old reason, but with a practical and well thought out plan. 
 
As I pointed out in a separate CNBC appearance a month ago, this is a great time to sell highly appreciated assets and pay capital gains.  Those tax rates are still very low historically, and are likely to rise in the future.  You can use the proceeds to pick up some excellent investments that are trading well below their values.
 
Bottom line is, like in any earthquake, don’t panic!  Stop and pick up the pieces.  Make new plans moving forward, but make them with a clear mind and well thought out options.  It’s a perfect time to meet with your financial planner if you have one, or find a new one if yours isn’t up to the task. 
 
Earthquakes happen.  Those who are prepared and don’t panic will be okay.
 
William Jordan, President of The Sentinel Group, Inc, is a well respected speaker and media resource for quality financial advice.  He’s been interviewed by CNBC, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and was a featured financial expert in Kiplinger’s September cover story.  You can reach William Jordan at (949) 380-8600 or visit www.SentinelOC.com.

 Uncertainty in Financial Markets Could Cause Dramatic Rise in Existing ARMs at Next Adjustment
If you or anyone you know has an Adjustable Rate Mortgage, this is an important point to consider. Many ARM loans are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). In fact, there are six million loans in the United States that use LIBOR to determine the interest rate and as the name suggests, many banks use this rate to lend money to each other.

But, today, banks lack confidence that the money they lend will be paid back. In light of what has happened with Lehman Brothers, IndyMac Bank and others, as well as AIG, banks are requiring much higher rates on LIBOR to offset the added risk.

The Federal Reserve Left Rates Unchanged but…
The Federal Reserve met yesterday leaving the target rate unchanged at 2.00% but just like LIBOR the actual rate being charged by banks to each other is closer to 6.00%. This again suggests that those with ARM loans should consider a refinance into historically low fixed rates.

What Happened?
Financial companies have been under attack. IndyMac was the largest bank to falter in twenty years. What brought IndyMac down was their exposure to defaulting loans. This sapped investor confidence and drove down the stock price until they filed for bankruptcy.

Following IndyMac, we saw Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch succumb and were either forced into conservatorship, to close their doors, or to sell themselves. AIG, the world’s largest insurance company was also impacted, forced to make a deal with the U.S. government to stay in business.

What You Can Do Now?
ASK AN EXPERT!  DON’T try to figure out this complicated situation yourself!!!!  I’d be happy to go over your loan situation and help you understand how the recent events may affect you, and how you can best be protected. Additionally, chaotic times like these often present opportunities. I look forward to hearing from you.

Derek Beisner
Certified Orange County loan advisor
http://www.DerekBeisner.com
949-637-9939

 BUT….if your house is on the market right now….are you chasing the market down?  What if your Realtor is doing it for you?  Are you AND your agent strong enough to take the truth?  I read this sad story on a popular Realtors ”hub” online, its from a Realtor working out of Florida.   

OC Sellers and potential sellers, you often choose to work with the agent who says your home is worth the most money.  I want to encourage you to question the pricing method, not just get “sold” on potential dollar signs.  Question the marketing strategies, your agent better have the money to do traditional marketing or they better be able to kick butt online.  ASK how many contacts they have in their database, how many listings they have had expire, how many buyers they have searching on their website.  If the agent at your listing appointment has a dog and pony show, and you buy into that without question, it could be a nightmare for everyone in the end.

Also, expect to be QUESTIONED yourself.  A good agent is mostly questions, tayloring their strategies to your specific needs and situation.    A good agent will listen to and really hear what you have to say, but they will also be strong and smart enough to TELL you things you may not want to hear. 

It’s tax time, and your property tax bill is one of many.  Because the market went down, your taxes can go down, too.  To see if you are eligible, do a few simple things: 

1.  Contact the Orange County tax assessors office at 714.834.5400. 

2.  Let them know you purchased before 2006, and you are requesting to have your bill reviewed, for this year. REMEMBER, if you want THIS year’s bill reduced you MUST CALL BEFORE APRIL 1st. http://www.oc.ca.gov/assessor/pdf/RequestForInformalAssessmentReview%203-08.pdf

3.  The assessor will initiate a re-assesment of your property, and hopefully lower your taxes – saving you potentially thousands of dollars!  

There are some circumstances in which this can not be done, however if you think your taxes on your property are too high, then you are probably right.  Its worth giving it a try – you can comment on how it works out! 

By going to the following link and filling out the form, you can start working on reducing next year’s bill right now.

Please enjoy the report.

Gary Watts 2008 Report

Debt can stand in the way of happy relationships, saving for the future, vacations, and most importantly HOME OWNERSHIP!!

WE FEEL YOUR PAIN!!  It’s overwhelming and we know first hand. But there is hope!!! With some motivation and guidance everyone can own property as well as invest for the future.

Dave Ramsey is a well known and respected businessman who can break down the process and get everyone on the road to recovery. He has a website http://www.daveramsey.com/ and he takes you through the steps of resolving debt in a clear and uncomplicated manner. Dave has so many tools to guide you and delivers his method through books, online website, audio tapes, live shows, talk radio and even the opportunity to email him. He really is AMAZING!

The best part is he’s not just offering support and guidance, but teaches you to “re-shape” your financial behavior. If you’re like most of us solving the problem is half the battle. Changing our behavior is the only way to keep the debt from coming back.

Dave has information for kids and offers advice on teaching kids how to deal with money. How awesome to be able to share his knowledge with your kids and give them skills that most adults don’t know. Wow!!

Don’t let debt stop you from fulfilling your dreams and don’t think you’re alone. It’s never too late to start over!! You can be on the road to financial freedom or just build some knowledge. After all…..Knowledge is POWER!!

Hope you had a great weekend – ours was very nice!  We went to a baby shower for a couple of our past clients, which was so fun.  (Did you know like 50% of our closed clients have a baby within a couple years of moving in???  OMG!) 

There were gifts galore – the place was littered with pink and fuzzy everything.  One awesome gift that Grandma-to-be got for our friends was 3 months of cleaning services.  Way to go Grandma!!  She mentioned she wasn’t sure of any cleaners in the area, though, and I felt bad that I have not done a better job of telling people all the resources we have available on our website (like cleaners and painters and CPA’s).  Bad Realtor, Angie, BAD!!!

 Mike and I do a ton of networking in Orange County, and we come across all kinds of businesses and business people in our line of work.  One thing we do as a service to our past, present, and future clients, is keep a database of these community services.  We even put many of them online right here on our website, on the Local Services page:

 http://www.askangie.com/communitynetwork.htm

I want to encourage all of our past and future home buyers and sellers to use our experience to save time and money on Orange County services.  Mike and I take feedback from our clients and add / remove businesses regularly from our website.  We keep only the best people on there, and if you have a bad experience we WANT TO KNOW, we will take the contractor or business off of our website, AND warn others. 

We would love nothing more than to advertise all the best businesses in Orange County based off of YOUR feedback.  Please help us be a better resource to you by giving us your good and bad stories on some of the people you used from our site. 

I hear many complaints from buyers and sellers who bought with another Realtor…they say that agent just dropped off the face of the earth after the deal closed, never to be heard from again.  We feel that quickly and painlessly providing good info and direction to our clients  is ALWAYS our job, whether we are in escrow or not.  We understand all our clients are busy and we want to make life easier for them all the time. 

Every Realtor should be a RESOURCE, and we are happy to be your Orange County, CA business connection   Don’t hesitate to email us if you ever have questions about someone on our website.  Another great way to find “the dirt” is to Google the business name you are considering using, or check the Yahoo local ratings.  Hope this helps

 Just wanted to give you some quick stats from my CAR newsletter on the California real estate market.  Its nice to see the median home below 600K again.  Now is a great time to buy.  I saw a really cute 2/2 in Rancho available for 370 today – nice :)

 Calif. median home price – June 07: $594,260(Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region June 07: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,375,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region June 07: High Desert $306,310 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Second Quarter 07: 24 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates – week ending 8/31: 30-yr. fixed: 6.45%; Fees/points: 0.5% 15-yr. fixed: 6.12%; Fees/points: 0.5% 1-yr. adjustable: 5.84%; Fees/points: 0.8% (Source: Freddie Mac)

I also wanted to give a shout out to one of our favorite lenders, Derek Besiner, for keeping everyone up to date on the mortgage market / crisis so we’re informed.   He’s been sending out great informational emails about what’s going on in California mortgage land.  At times like this, people need unbiased updates, so its much appreciated!

Hope you had a GREAT Labor Day, and that you were near a pool somewhere!  It was HOT in Socal, huh?  Speaking of hot, here are some good deals in South OC.  We have a few in Mission Viejo, and then Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.  The one pictured is in Ladera Ranch…nice kitchen  

Each of these properties has 2+ beds, 2+ baths, and a 2 car garage with the asking price below 400K.  Some are Short Sales, but not all.  Each property is in a really good first time buyer neighborhood, too.  Let us know if you have questions, here’s a link with pictures:

 http://socallistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?emailGUID=8024afce-4540-466f-8474-346c1125812b&AgentId=SCUMMANG

 It started out with great, level-headed buyers who knew exactly what they wanted.  They were educated on comps, the current market, and had an excellent understanding of important buying strategies. 

Then, it snowballed with a perfect property, and great sellers.  The sellers openly disclosed and discussed any problems with the property.  They were awesome with letting our inspectors in, honoring reasonable repair requests, and just open communication in general.

I want to give credit to all the people who ROCKED THE HOUSE with this smooth deal   I met one of the nicest Orange County real estate agents I have ever worked with, Susan McDonnell.  A fellow midwesterner, Susan totally was out for her clients’ best interests, and represented them flawlessly.  She worked hard, and was always available by phone and email.  She expedited her responsibilities promptly, even ahead of time.  She was trained on her technology AND knew the paperwork well, which is honestly a rarity around here (I am not sure why)!  I only wish I worked in a world of Susan McDonnells.  It was a pleasure doing a deal with her

ALSO, I have to give props to Barbara Johnson with Legacy Home Loans.  Lenders are dropping like flies right now, and this was one I had never met (buyers knew her previously).  Barbara exceeded all expectations – she PROACTIVELY handled situations - like scheduling the appraiser to walk in while I was on the inspection (thanks for saving me the extra trip, and the sellers the extra privacy invasion).  She called ME to let me know docs are already in escrow a week EARLY.  (wow, I am usually babysitting lenders about this!)  Barbara called me back same day, always, and offered me her cell for weekends.  I didn’t need to use it, though, because the woman is on the ball

Then we had Janice A, our lovely transaction coordinator.  We never have to worry about paperwork, Janice handles all of it.  She had the entire completed file in to our corporate Newport Beach office a day early, and we so THANKFUL for her looking over all the paperwork.  We would really rather make eye contact and engage in full conversation with our clients, and when we’re doing that sometimes an initial or checkbox gets missed.  Janice always gets the sigs where we need them, when we need them.  If any of you Realtors out there need an awesome Transaction Coordinator, Janice A is your girl.  She gets a perfect file, every time. 

There’s still more – we want to thank Mike Cantor of 20-20 Home Inspections for doing a very thorough inspection.  Mike ALWAYS takes time to tell our buyers details about the home they are buying, and make them aware of any potential safety or upkeep issues with the property.  He’s so thorough, that he guarantees his inspection for a whole year.  Mike takes twice as long as other inspectors, because he leaves no stone unturned.  This Foothill Ranch property actually returned his BEST  inspection report yet…this is a SOLID property for our buyers…woohooo!

Finally I would just like to say thank you to Kandy over at Hartford Escrow, Danny Atkins for fixing the roof tiles, and anyone else I forgot to mention.  Brad Coleman (Metro’s VP)gets the last shout out for his forever solid real estate advise.  Brad helped me with a great new way to counter for services.  After going back and forth about the buyers and sellers choice of escrow and title services, Brad suggested that we counter back “Escrow & Title to be buyer’s OR seller’s choice, whichever company offers the best price.”  Well, how can ya argue over that?  Nobody did, and the deal came together easily.  Brad’s always coming up with creative ways to help me best serve our buyers and sellers - gotta love it!!   

Thanks again to everyone involved – there are so many complaints about businesses and people on the internet…especially blogs… I just wanted to remind everyone to be thankful for your positive experiences and blog about those too

Have a SAFE and FUN Labor Day everyone!!!!