Home Shopping Tips for Orange County, CA

The Orange County, California housing market continues to experience a low supply homes for sale due to strong interest from buyers. Due to this fact, home buyers must have all their ducks in a row when searching for a home in Orange County in 2018. The following is an up-to-date glance into the local housing market, as well as some excellent advice for home shopping success.

 Home Shopping Guide for Orange County: 2018

Limited supply. Solid competition. Fast transactions. Those are several items prospective home buyers can mot likely anticipate. Having said that, here are a few things you may want to do prior to searching for a home in Orange County, to maximize your likelihood of closing on a purchase.

1. Study and become familiar with existing home prices in your desired area(s).

According to the California Association of Realtors, home prices in Orange County have remained steady during the last two years. The median sales price for single family homes reached $786,600 in October 2017.

That is the media value, not the average home sales price. The median value can be skewed when numerous multi-million dollar homes sale and fewer low priced homes were sold in a given month.

Buying in North Orange County vs. South County

This market offers a broad range of home prices, so you’ll want to zero in on the area(s) where you plan to buy a home. The median sales price for many areas in Orange County fall range from $550,000 and $580,000. But the median sales price can be $1 million in new home developments, or $788,000 for n existing home in Irvine. There's a diverse selection of prices.

2. Get pre-approved for a home loan, so you can compete.

Inventory is still very limited in the Orange County housing market. As of October 2017, the county had a 3.5 to 4 month supply of residential homes for sale. For a balanced market six months would be the normal measure.

This fact emphasizes the importance of being pre-approved for home financing, prior to looking for a home in Orange County. Savvy sellers and realtors strongly prefer interested buyers to have their financing prepared in advance, prior to making a purchase offer. For the buyers who are paying all-cash, they will need to provide bank statements showing they have the necessary funds to purchase the home outright.

3. Hire an experienced real estate agent to represent you.

Based on recent real estate data and research, Orange County, CA is becoming less of a sellers' market. In October, pending home sales fell for the fourth consecutive month fell. The decline was just 2.6%, but that follows a year-over -year 6.6% drop in Sept, and 3.5% in August.  

With this facts, it is even more reason to work with an experienced real estate agent when searching for a home in Orange County. Wouldn't you want every possible advantage when house hunting in Orange County.

The market could be slowly changing but a home in a high demand area like Orange County will for the most part remain competitive for buyers.

4 Easy Ways to Get Your Home Ready to Sell

 If you want to get top dollar for your home, some of the following tips may pay off handsomely. Review some tip to sell your home at the highest possible price.

REPAIR:  Go through and fix those leaky faucets, replace cracked or broken tiles, fix doors that don’t close properly, replace light bulbs, and patch up any holes in the walls. Put up a fresh coat of neutral paint on the walls of rooms that have unusual colors such as purple, red, etc. In the bathroom area, make sure to caulk the tub and shower.  Little repairs around the home can save a lot during the contract process.   

 

CLEAN: Block out a day or two to thoroughly clean your home inside and out. Don’t forget about those tough to access areas. Dust the furniture, ceiling fan, and light fixtures. Make sure no cobwebs are present in the corners of the main rooms. Not only will this help your home look great but it will also get rid of any odors that could turn away prospective buyers once they walk inside.

Part of this process is also decluttering by putting all your neutral non-decorative items in moving boxes or a storage facility. You want to be sure your kitchen counters are free of mail, work documents. When you home is organized the buyers will feel that you take care of the rest of the home too.

CURB APPEAL: Within the first ten seconds of entering the home, most people will make a decision of whether they want to buy it or not. Impress them by trimming the trees and cleaning up the yard. Make sure the grass is cut, the bushes trimmed and the walkways and driveway pressure washed.

STAGING:  Staging a home is considered one of the most important item to do since 90% of homes listed for sale are seen on the internet, so effective staging will make your home stand out from the rest. Make the rooms bright and neutral so the buyer can visualize their furniture in the space. Remove any family photos so the buyers are not distracted.

Consider different window treatments in some of the main rooms like blinds, shutters, or new curtains., and hang up fresh new towels in the bathroom.

Historical Homes in South Orange County

In Laguna Beach, there are 281 pre-1940s houses considered historic based on a variety of factors, including architectural style and a connection with important historical events or significant people.

35101 Camino CapistranoThe coastal bluff house at was originally owned by the Doheny family, whose family name Doheny State Beach was derived. The property is among the elite on the Historical Society's yearly home tour and displays how Capistrano Beach appeared when it was first developed.

Castle by the Sea at 2529 S Coast Hwy

 5 bedrooms, 4 private villas and 2 attached guest rooms. Totaling 12 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms with remarkable and spectacular ocean views from every room. Private parking and a dedicated area to park 16 or more cars.

 40 N. La Senda Drive

A Laguna Beach four level house built by the family of film pioneer D.W. Griffith in 1929 has a private lighthouse overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is located in Three Arch Bay and was listed in Sept. 2015 for $19.9 million.

Homes built pre-1900 are mainly in North Orange County cities like Anaheim, Los Alamitos. Vintage and historical homes built from 1900 - 1939 in South County are located in Laguna Beach and San Clemente.

Many styles built were of Spanish Revival, Mediterranean, Mission, Cape Cod, Colonial, Cottage, Rustic.

San Clemente

Historical homes can be found in the older parts of town located in the Southwest, Central and north neighborhoods.  The sizes of the homes ranges from 1000 to 2000 square feet with two to three bedrooms. 

San Juan Capistrano

Los Rios Historic District regarded as the oldest neighborhood in California features vintage cottages and is on the National Register of Historic Places with some properties still standing from the 1700’s.  Prices for these home styles range from $700,000 and up.

Orange County Housing Questions and Responses

#1: Value & Comparative Investments

Q: Over the past three decades, home prices in Orange County have risen by a factor of five while the rate of inflation has only gone up by two times as thirty years ago. That is a great return for homeowners, not to mention the mortgage interest deduction. Was this better than the stock market?

A: Stocks comfortably outperformed housing prices in the same 30 years ago, with the Dow Jones index increased by 11x from 2,000 to 22,000 going back to 1987. This statistic is another example of the wide-ranging economic fundamentals that support the increased home prices.

2: Is Orange County Real Estate in a Bubble?

Q:  Data from CoreLogic shows that the median selling price over the last five years increased by a 10-percent rate using average annual gains. Was the boom-time mid-2000s housing bubble similar to today?

A: Not exactly.  In the five year span that concluding in 2005, local home price appreciation in Orange County was averaging 18 percent per year! That number is still two times as much as today's appreciation.

#3: Rent Increases?
Q: Rents for residential property in southern California has risen this year at a 5.2 percent annual clip based on date from the Consumer Price Index. Is that increase high based on the last three decades?

A:   Yes, it is. The normal rate is 3.3 percent for the last thirty years.  Economists and investment property owners will argue it is based on demand which sustains the rise. Once housing becomes extremely challenging,  rent control, becomes more of a topic.

Homeownership Rate Continues it Fall in 2016

The rate of U.S. homeownership decreased to its lowest level in more than 50 years caused by soaring home prices that keep purchasing unrealistic for numerous renters.

The percentage of Americans who own their homes was 62.9 percent in the second quarter of 2016, the lowest pace dating back to 1965, based on a Census Bureau report released on July 28. Moreover, it was the second straight quarterly decline, falling from 63.5 percent in the prior quarter.

Rising home prices are making homeownership simply out of the question for households that are leasing their residence.

First-time buyers have found it difficult to locate reasonably priced real estate as low interest rates and a strengthening job market promote competition for low inventory. Home prices rose 5.2 percent in May from a year earlier, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index of values in 20 cities released this week.

Many experts claim that the largest obstacles is affordability. Home prices are going up a lot quicker than incomes, so it's tough for prospective buyers to save up for a down payment.

In June 2004, the homeownership rate reached a peak of 69.2 percent.  In June 2016, the homeownership rate for Americans between the ages 18-34 dropped to 34.1 percent in the second quarter in contrast to 34.8 percent the prior year, according to the Census Bureau.

The bottom five states in terms of homeownership percentage are Hawaii, Nevada, California, New York and Washington D.C.   The average rate of homeownership in California is 54.3% compared to its peak of 60.7%.

 Back in 2006. This percentage is due both to prices in California exceeding average incomes and to the anticipated rise in mortgage rates, likely to begin in the second half of 2016.

California's lower rate of homeownership should not be that alarming since it is typically lower by ten percentage points from the national average due to the higher cost.

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) reports the homeownership rate for blacks is 41.7 percent, which is less than the national homeownership level during the Great Depression. The rate is the lowest of out of all races in the USA. While, the home ownership rate for whites is 71.5 percent,  asians at 59 percent, and hispanics at 59 percent.  In California, the homeownership rate is 62.9% for whites, 56.7% for asians,  41.9% hispanics, and 34.5% for blacks.

The housing industry and consumer advocates state that homeownership can put families on a path to financial stability by compelling them save, provide a place to retire and enable their hard asset to appreciate into the future. It additionally makes people more involved in the neighborhood, effecting higher property values, and lower crime.