Here's a stupid question to all homeowners out there.

Did you hear about the house that was destroyed by a fire this week in Woodbridge?


Thank goodness the parents & kids got out safely, and the OC firefighters rescued their black lab and gave it oxygen.

The fire dept estimated damage to the house at $750,000, and the loss of contents was estimated at $150,000.

Apparently a multi-plug electrical adapter malfunctioned and this caused the 29 Sandstone fire. 


Now I'm no expert in fires, but I guess this could happen to anyone.

Here's a stupid question to all homeowners out there: Do you have insurance to cover your house & belongings?

What about you renters? Your landlord will have, (should have), already taken out a policy to cover the house, but it's unlikely that your personal property will be covered in this policy.


Insurance is pretty inexpensive, especially if you're in a condo development. I urge you not to wait for a fire to destroy all your possessions, before you think about this.

Housing Shortage? Really? What Low Inventory?

The number of active listings in Woodbridge more than DOUBLED in the last 30 days! Right now, there are 53 Woodbridge homes listed for sale, and 310 properties for sale elsewhere in Irvine.
While we certainly are still in a seller’s market, it is not as extreme as it was a few weeks ago.


16 Wintermist, Woodbridge

11 Snowapple, Woodbridge

6 Racing Wind, Woodbridge

14 Shooting Star, Woodbridge
Among those active listings are my listings at 16 Wintermist, ($525K), 11 Snowapple, ($650K), 6 Racing Wind, ($865K), and 14 Shooting Star, ($999K).
The prices of Woodbridge homes for sale right now, range from $329,900 for a 2 bedroom 921 square foot attached condo at 16 Eastmont, (standard sale), to $1,999,900 for a 4 bedroom 2,669 square foot detached condo at 12 Waterway, (also a standard sale).
It’s especially tough for buyers looking for a 3 bedroom Woodbridge home in the “under $500K” price range: only 6 are listed, including that 22 Lakeview short sale that the OC Register quoted me mentioning in a blog in 2008. It is STILL available, with an asking price of $450K, down from $589K. The price history prior was $685K, then $649K, $625K, $619K and $599K!
The Lakeview property is an exception. We are still seeing multiple offers being received for Woodbridge properties, within a few days of listing.
What with interest rates continuing to surge last week, (rising above 4.1% for the first time in a year), the demand from homeowners to refinance, has slowed. These higher interest rates also are reducing the buying-power of homebuyers – those that could afford a $600K home now find themselves only able to afford a lower-priced home.
26 Woodbridge homes sold in May 2013, at prices from $348,800, (for a 2 bedroom attached condo at 203 Briarwood), to $1,180,000 for 17 Daybreak, (a 4 bedroom single family home in Landing I).
30 Woodbridge homes are in escrow, (Pending or Backup Offers status), at a total list price a little over of $18.5 million. It will be interesting to see how many close escrow this month.  

Look's like the rain is stopping! Great news for my new Woodbridge listing's Open House!

30 Tanglewood Dr Woodbridge, Irvine OPEN HOUSE   SAT 9TH, 12 - 4:00 PM 2BR/2 BA Single Family         Sq Footage  1,257 Bedrooms  2 Bathrooms  2 Lot Size  2,817 sq ft description Desirable SINGLE LEVEL end-unit Single Family home. Gated courtyard entry to this wonderful Cypresswood floor plan with 2 SPACIOUS BEDROOMS, 2 bathrooms and TWO CAR GARAGE. Living room with cathedral ceilings and cozy fireplace. Formal dining. White kitchen cabinets, lots of counter space with true eating area. Corian couter-tops. SUNNY ATRIUM, accessed from the family room and second bedroom. Double vanities in master bathroom. Pergo flooring throughout. CENTRAL AIRCON. Well maintained home in a quiet Woodbridge location with great amenities close by. Walking distance to Stone Creek Elementary. additional photos Contact info:     Debbie Sagorin First Team Real Estate (949) 232-5634 DRE # 01411020

I hope to see you there!

How LOW will it go?!

Right now, there are only 16 Woodbridge homes listed for sale! Inventory is the lowest it's ever been that I can remember!!! There are 161 properties for sale elsewhere in Irvine. In August last year I posted a blog about the super-low inventory, but it's gotten even lower! 

See this chart showing active Irvine housing inventory since December 2005.

20 Woodbridge homes sold in December 2012, at prices from $268K, (for a 3 bedroom short sale condo at 3213 Briarwood), to $1.2 million for 19 Buckthorn, a 5 bedroom standard sale single family home in the Gables tract.

The prices of Woodbridge homes for sale right now, range from $379,500 for a 3 bedroom 1,117 square foot attached condo at 110 Echo Run, (standard sale) in the Park Vista tract, to $1,750,000 for a 2 bedroom 3,363 square foot SFR at 18 Bayview!

31 Woodbridge homes are in escrow, (Pending or Backup Offers status), at a total list price a little over of $13.5 million.

I hear from fellow-agents all the time "there's nothing to sell!", but there ARE homes to sell. In fact more Woodbridge homes sold in 2012 than in 2011, (298 vs 259). That's a 15% increase. 

Read some of my previous blogs to see what I do to find my buyer clients homes when there are none!  :)

Clearly the inventory "problem" isn't caused by sellers not listing their homes, (because they ARE), but rather by buyers who snap these homes up, (competing with multiple other offers), thus reducing the available inventory. 

Will the inventory drop any further? How low can it possibly go? Stay tuned....

How to get your REO offer accepted - just break the front door key in the lock!

My very excited first-time homebuyer met me at the newly-listed house at 7:30 am this morning.

She was sure that this REO property was THE house, and yesterday I had urged her to meet me there before other buyers had the opportunity to view it, and submit offers ahead of hers!

As usual, I got there early, and retrieved the key from the lock-box. The top lock opened OK, but the key didn’t fit in the bottom lock. I was still struggling to open the door when my buyer client arrived, all excited and happy that she was about to see the house…..

 

I texted the listing agent and was pleasantly surprised that he responded almost immediately, (at 7:30 in the morning!):

“Yes I know… Someone broke the key in the lock.” He texted. Then: “Sucks, there is more and more of it happening these days”.

My client understood and told me that it wasn’t a big deal that she had travelled for 25 minutes at that crazy hour in the morning to meet me. Of course neither of us was happy.

Clearly agents are so desperate to get a property for their buyers that they resort to this tactic, (correctly), assuming that if they prevent other buyers from viewing the property, there is more chance that THEIR offer would be accepted.

Yes, inventory is the lowest it’s been since December 2005, and what with the lowest interest rates we’ve EVER seen in this country, demand is higher that the supply. BUT, (this to those few guilty agents out there – you know who you are), this is not acceptable.

Breaking keys in locks or removing them from the premises, is not only unethical, but ILLEGAL too!

And to the listing agents out there, what’s with these combo lock-boxes? You have no idea who last opened the lock-box, so don’t know who the offending agent is. It’s an MLS regulation that the electronic lock-boxes are used on all listings, so why aren’t you using them?

It’s great to get an email immediately after an electronic lock-box s opened, telling you WHO opened WHICH lockbox at WHICH property, and WHEN!

Yes I’m ranting and raving a bit, (a bit?!), but you’ll understand why when I explain that all this happened BEFORE my first Starbucks Grande Espresso Macchiato!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It's not magic. If there aren't any listings out there.... make one appear.

Everyone knows that house prices are on the way up again, in fact the average sold price per square foot of SFR homes in September was the highest Irvine has seen since April 2010.

A few weeks ago I blogged about the super-low housing inventory.  This low supply has caused bidding-wars, and many buyers are throwing caution to the wind, submitting offers higher than list price, and dealing with the appraisal issues later. A large percentage of these buyers remove appraisal and loan contingencies long before the appraisal has even been ordered. That's a great way to get an offer accepted these days, as long as the buyers understands that they will have to bring more money to the table, and possibly have unexpected mortgage insurance costs too.
 
Although prices are rising, they are still generally much lower than years past, and with interest rates being the lowest that they've ever been, it remains a seller's market here in Irvine and beyond.
 
A buyer client of mine was out-bid on an offer he made, (2% higher than list price), and the sellers accepted an offer 5.2% higher than their asking price! I knew that I had to find him a property that matched his wish-list although there were no other properties listed. I do this for my buyer clients.
 
How do I find listings when they do not exist? Well, there are a few ways, and without giving away all my secrets, let me tell you how I found this buyer a home. I wrote a letter to all homeowners in the tract that my buyer liked, explaining our challenge, and then, a couple of days later, I put on my walking shoes, and started door-knocking.

I've had good results doing this in the past. Some homeowners are skeptical, thinking that my intention was to get a regular listing, and that my buyers don't even exist. However, after explaining that a "one-party-show" agreement was only for a couple of days, didn't tie them up for months on end, and either the buyers liked the house and submitted an offer.... or they don't! No harm - no foul. Everyone moves on.
 
We close escrow on the "one party show" listing today! Both my buyer and seller are very happy and the transaction was an extremely smooth one.
 
Sellers who like the idea of a "one party show" are made to understand that it's likely that they'd sell their house for a higher price if they exposed it to all buyers, rather than just to one buyer. For a regular listing, I advertize on hundreds of websites as well as in print, with direct mail, and more. Most "one-party-show" sellers prefer not to have to keep their homes spic and span, not to have to vacate the house during showings and open houses.
 
22 Woodbridge homes sold in September 2012, at prices from $290K, (for a 2 bedroom short sale condo at 218 Greenmoor), to $950K for 21 Bayside, a 4 bedroom standard sale SFR.
 
Right now, there are only 33 Woodbridge homes listed for sale!
 
The prices of Woodbridge homes for sale right now, range from $355K for a 3 bedroom 1,135 square foot attached condo at 193 Briarwood, (standard sale), to $1,750,000 for a 2 bedroom 3,363 square foot SFR AT 18 Bayview!
 
42 are in escrow, (Pending or Backup Offers status), at a total list price of $19.4 million.

Today's housing market challenges bring OPPORTUNITIES.

All indicators are pointing to a gradual real estate market recovery. Woodbridge, (and the rest of Irvine), has a shortage of available housing inventory, which is sparking price increases and bidding wars for the first time in many years.

This chart shows that we haven't seen inventory this low since December 2005!

In addition to this low inventory, rising rental costs and the lowest mortgage rates EVER, are a significant incentive for potential homeowners to purchase and also for investors to increase their portfolios.

Over a third of Woodbridge sales prices the past couple of months were at, or OVER list price.

Attitudes about the U.S. housing market continue to improve. Fannie Mae’s recent survey showed that 73% of Americans surveyed believe it is a good time to buy a home.

Most people know that while real estate is LOCAL, the market has become GLOBAL. About a third of all buyers these days are from overseas, and international buyers bought $82.5 billion in real estate in the U.S. over the past year.

There is always an attraction to buying a foreclosed property, (REO), or a short sale. Whenever I meet with new clients, particularly investors, their purchase goals typically include the purchase of a distressed property. Most buyers still believe that they can get the best screaming deal ever by buying a distressed property.

The problem in Irvine is there are not many to choose from.

In the past 9 weeks, only 14 of the 65 Woodbridge closed sales were distressed properties, and as of today, NONE of the 32 active Woodbridge listings are distressed.

Last year when defaults were higher and the market was weaker, the number of Irvine bank-owned properties, (REOs), listed as active, regularly ranged between 35 and 50.

Today we have only SIX active bank-owned properties listed in the whole of Irvine, and there are only 30 short sale listings, (out of a total of 402 active Irvine listings). Note that many of those "active" short sales are not really active. Many agents working with offers just haven't changed the status of the listings on the MLS to "backup offers" or "pending".

There are 28 Woodbridge distressed properties in "backup offers" or "pending" status right now, and who knows ho long each will take to close, (and some will NOT close!). Short sales can take anything from a few months to over a YEAR to close.

Sometimes buyers have offers in on multiple properties, or their situation changes after a few months, and when the whole long process is finally near completion, they decide not to go through with the purchase. So the process starts again with another buyer.

An offer was accepted on my 9 Cedarlake short sale listing after only a few days on the market. This was in late January. The "buyer" disappeared after six months, so I relisted the property as “active”, and an offer was accepted the next day. Escrow is scheduled to close this week.

Look at the great location of this Lakeside tract home.

Sure there are challenges in today's housing market, but those challenges bring opportunities.

The main challenge that I see in the market today is the shortage of housing. I believe that shortly, more and more homeowners who have casually been thinking of selling, will realize that low supply = high demand, and the "sellers market" that we are in right now, could be a good time to talk with a real estate professional about their home's value, and to find out what creative means that agent could use to get top dollar for their home.