Lots of Positives, Only 1 Negative
I know lots of you are head over heels trying to figure out how to get the new
iPhone 5, and you probably missed a bunch of Costa Mesa real estate news lately :), so I thought I would give you a quick summary!
#10 – I sold my listing at 2037 Mandarin Drive in Mesa Verde. It sold for $815,000, the highest sale in a few years for the Lower Bird Streets neighborhood. Prices for sellers going up!
#9 – Home prices make their biggest jump in 6 years according to CoreLogic and as reported in this story by the
LA Times. Costa Mesa real estate is climbing right along with the southland. Our median prices are still lower because of some foreclosures and short sales selling at reduced prices.
#8 – Foreclosure activity and short sale activity is down in Costa Mesa real estate. Currently, 32% of the market is short sale or REO listings, a far cry from the 45% we were at a few years ago.
#7 – Banks are, cough cough, seeming to want to process short sales in Costa Mesa real estate quicker than before. Some of the big banks, including Bank of America have mandated a response be given to an offer to purchase within 30 days. I have had agents working for me telling me B of A is processing quicker than that – each one is different however. I just got a short sale listing into escrow in two weeks with OneWest Bank.
Fed Chairman Bernanke gives us QE3
#6 – Standard sales are becoming more prevalent in the marketplace again, and the ones that are well priced and or fixed up are selling quickly.
#5 – Fed easing QE3 – It sounds almost like a cruise ship, but no, QE3 stands for quantitative easing and the Fed plans to continue to by bonds. Meaning for us on the front lines of real estate that the interest rates should continue to stay really low for a good amount of time.
#4 – Interest rates are low. Really low. They have been wavering around 3.5% and 3.75% for most mortgages under the conforming loan limit of $625,000.
Costa Mesa Update September 2012
#3 – Many people are able to refinance mortgages again because many of the home sale prices are higher again. Lenders might have gotten hurt in the last 5 years by loose lending practices, but they sure are making up for it now with new loans.
Costa Mesa real estate sales continue a hot streak this year
#2 – Buyers are buying. Buyers are out on the streets, looking for homes or good deals. As I said,
it’s less expensive to buy than rent in lots of places in Orange County right now, but unfortunately…
#1 – Inventory is SUPER low. There are only a handful of homes in most local markets, and Costa Mesa real estate is no different. As of this writing, there are only 11 homes for sale in Mesa Verde, 11 In West Costa Mesa, 11 in South Coast Metro, in 17 Central Costa Mesa, and in 44 Eastside Costa Mesa. Yikes! Those numbers should easily be triple that right now. That was my one negative about this Costa Mesa real estate market if you were keeping track...
If you are thinking of selling, it’s clearly a great time. All the odds are stacking up in favor of the home seller right now.
