Orange County CA Real Estate

The beautiful new community of Ladera Ranch has many different Condo exterior elevation options to choose from.  One of the Architectural signatures of Ladera Ranch is the wide variety of exterior elevation looks and styles.  From Traditional, to colonial to modern or Spanish decor... one can find just about any popular architectural style in the Condominiums built in Ladera Ranch over the past 5 years.

The Master Planned community of Ladera Ranch has lots to offer such as several Village Clubs ranging in size from 3 to 5a Acres where neighbors and kids can gather.  There are also numerous sports parks, called:  Ladera Ranch Sports Park, Flintridge Parks, Township Parks, Avendale Parks, Wycliffe District Parks, and Echo Ridge Parks.  In addition, there is a 24 Acre regional park with 4 baseball diamonds, 6 soccer fields, tot lots and much more.... all of this for the enjoyment and use of Ladera Ranch residents. The association dues for the Ladera Ranch community is about $160 per month, and the association dues for each individual Condo community will range from $125 to $165 per month.

There are currently 58 Condos for sale in Ladera Ranch, ranging in price from a low of $434,900 for a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath 2 story condo, on up to $689,900 for a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1,880 SqFt townhome with 2 car attached garage.  The average price for these Condominiums for sale is $564,257 and the Median price is $554,900, with an average days on market for sale of 44 days. 

For Condos that have sold and are currently under contract (In Escrow), there are a total 20 such units in Ladera Ranch.  This represents a healthy ration of homes currently active for sale as compared to Condos under contract in escrow.  For Condominiums in Escrow, the Median price is $549,900.

For the past 30 days, there have been 25 Condos that have sold and closed escrow in Ladera Ranch.  The Median price of these Condos was $508,900 and the average price was $519,292 with an average days on market of 52 days.  Again, these figures reflect the strong market that Ladera Ranch has been experiencing ever since this community began about 5 years ago.

If you would like to view all Condos for sale in Ladera Ranch, simply visit our website at:  Ladera Ranch Real Estate 

We have found that there is a lot of confusion regarding Mello-Roos in Ladera Ranch.  Simply put, Mello-Roos  is a special assessment in the form of property tax that is levied on Ladera Ranch (and other cities) real estate within a designated district. These Ladera Ranch Mello-Roos districts are created to raise money by the sale of bonds, for the purpose of financing infrastructure improvements for that community. This infrastructure improvements may include sewer treatment, larger water lines, new streets, expanded drainage system, new parks, upgraded electrical lines, new schools, etc. 

The motivation for the creation of the Mello-Roos tax  started back in 1978 with the passage of Proposition 13 which restricted local governments ability to pay for capital facilities and services by increasing property taxes. In 1982, Senator Henry Mello and Assemblyman Mike Roos enacted the Community Facilities District (now called Mello-Roos) to provide local governments with an additional way to raise needed funds, and the first MelloRoos district was created in 1986.  Below are some of the more common questions that are asked about Ladera Ranch Mello-Roos:

What is the Total Tax Rate in Ladera Ranch including Mello-Roos ?  When homes were first built, the Ladera Ranch Mello-Roos fee plus Prop 13 base tax totaled about 2.0%.  Prop 13 base property tax is approximately 1.1% of the purchase price and the Mello-Roos portion of the tax was approximately an additional 0.9%.  One important disction is that the Prop 13 Tax is based upon the sales price, so as your home appreciates and is sold, the new Buyer has to pay a higher property Tax.  But, the Mello-Roos tax is not based upon the sale price and mostly stays constant even after years of appreciation.  Due to the strong appreciation that Ladera Ranch has experienced since the homes were first built, the Prop 13 tax adjusts upwards at 1.1% of the purchase price, while the Mello-Roos has essentially stayed fixed at approximately $2,000/year.  So today, the total property tax is around 1.5% for a $800,000 home.  

How does one estimate the Mello-Roos when buying a Ladera Ranch home? During the purchase process, the Seller is required to acquire a report which will state in writing the exact amount of the Mello-Roos fee. But before you make an offer you can also estimate the Mello-Roos for it does vary somewhat from community to community and even lot to lot.. You take the quoted Tax Assessor yearly Tax amount, and subtract the 1.1% of the Prop 13 portion of the tax from this amount. The remainder is a reasonable estimate of your yearly Mello-Roos payment for that home.

Can I deduct my Ladera Ranch Mello-Roos taxes from my Income Tax? Many  tax accountants state that the Mello-Roos tax is not tax deductible. It is best advised that you consult with your tax consultant and make your own decision on this topic.

How and when do I pay the Ladera Ranch Mello-Roos Tax ? The Mello-Roos tax is included in your normal Prop 13 tax bill and this is billed to you twice per year on February 1st and November 1st. 

How long do the Ladera Ranch Mello-Roos tax last ? The Mello-Roos assessment is written for about 15 to 25 years dependent on the community facilities district. Although, some of the districts have the right to renew the Mello-Roos tax if needed.

How do I compare the value of a Home with Mello-Roos against a Home without?  Let's say you are thinking about  buying either a home in Ladera Ranch with yearly Mello-Roos payment of about $1,800, or possibly buying a home in Laguna Niguel with no Mello-Roos. To compare the values of these two homes, take the $1,800 yearly Mello Roos payment, divide by 12 for the monthly payment of $150. A $150 per month payment is approximately equal to a $25,000 mortgage in today’s interest rates. Therefore the home in Ladera Ranch is actually costing you about $25,000 more as compared to the home you’re considering in Laguna Niguel. If the Ladera Ranch home is still more desirable to you at a comparative price $25,000 higher than the home in Laguna Niguel, then buy it, if not, buy the home in Laguna Niguel.

If you would like to view all homes listed for sale in Ladera Ranch, please visit our website at:  Ladera Ranch Real Estate

With it's beautiful beaches, Harbor and rolling hills, Dana Point is a very desirable place to call home.  The bluffs and hilly terrain that encompass Dana Point also provide many homes that offer majestic Ocean Views.  There are currently 115 homes in Dana Point offering an Ocean View and these fine homes range in price from a low of $599,000 for a 2 bedroom Condo, to $10.25 Million for an estate in Ritz Cove.

Ritz Cove is a newer premier community in the Monrach Beach area of Dana Point offering majestic Ocean Views. Ritz Cove is just to the north of the Ritz Carlton hotel, and offers estate properties from 4,000 to 11,000 SqFt and larger lots.  Many of these properties are situated on the bluffs above salt creek beach offering sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island.  Estates in this community were custom built in the past 10 years and currently range in price from $5 Million to $11 Million dollars.

Another popular move-up Ocean View community is Monarch Bay Terrace.  This large subdivision was built on the hillsides just east of Pacific Coast Hwy and north of Crown Valley.  Most of the homes were built in the mid 1960's to early 1970's and were originally 1 story homes to provide sit down Ocean Views for most lot locations.   Homes range in size from 1,700 sqFt on up to 5,000 for estates that have been enlarged over the years.  Prices range from $1.5 Million on up to $3 Million or more.

Another fine Dana Point community boasting of Ocean Views is called Niguel Shores, which offers a nice assortment of attached Townhomes and detached estate homes. These homes straddle Pacific Coast Hwy and Selva Rd.  This large community was built in the early to mid 1970's.  The townhomes range in size from 1,000 SqFt to 1,800 SqFt and the detached homes range in size from 1,900 SqFt to 5,000 SqFt. 

One of the more affordable Ocean View communities in Dana Point is the Condo community of Monarch Hills in the Monarch Beach area.  These 1 and 2 bedroom Condos range in price from $450K to $750K, and also boast of Ocean and Catalina Island views, concrete tile roofs and community pool and spa.

If you would like to view online all Dana Point Ocean View Homes listed for sale, just visit our website at:  Dana Point Real Estate.

Beautiful Mission Viejo is a very desirable and highly in demand place to live.  Accordingly, finding an affordable home for sale in Mission Viejo is not easy to do.  An affordable home in Mission Viejo is not just a home that you can afford, but also a home that is priced fairly.  It's not easy, but here are several steps to take to find that elusive affordable home.

The first step is to meet with a mortgage broker who has to offer a wide variety of loan programs so you can best choose the mortgage loan that meets your short term and long term plans and goals. Most lenders can evaluate your financial status and issue you a pre-qual letter for a mortgage loan within 30 minutes or less.

The second step is to team up with a good local Realtor, for two reasons.  One, they can provide you with timely information about new listings of homes for sale from all types of motivated sellers such as:  relocation, bank repos, pending foreclosures, houses in probate, etc.  Two, they can quickly and accurately help you determine if the home for sale is a bargain.... just because the home for sale is in probate, or there is a pending foreclosure does not mean it is priced correctly.

Make sure your Realtor utilizes state-of-the-art Internet technologies which will greatly help you in finding affordable homes for sale in mission viejo. Have your Realtor set you up with an email alert service which will email you homes for sale as they are listed for sale in the MLS, only if they meet your criteria.  Here is where it gets tricky.  If you are looking for the most affordable home in many different cities, then you may need to have your Realtor set you up with several different filters.  If your only looking for an affordable home in Mission Viejo, then one or two filtered searches should do. This MLS email service will include affordable homes for sale in Mission Viejo

After several weeks of evaluating Mission Viejo homes for sale that you have received by email, you and your Realtor will then be able to determine a truly affordable home.... one that you can afford and that is price fairly.  At this point, let your Realtor go to work and negotiate the best possible price and terms.

If you would like to view all Mission View homes for sale online, just visit our website at:  Mission Viejo Real Estate.

It's not easy to buy your first home in beautiful Aliso Viejo, CA. The typical loan today requires thousands, if not ten's of thousands of dollars of cash upfront, plus the monthly mortgage payments usually require two income producers. But there is good news for first time homebuyers.

There is a little known government loan program which allows you to buy an Aliso Viejo home with Zero down payment, at a 4.75% fixed interest rate for 30 years! Plus, this loan will allow you to get up to 3% credit from the seller to be used for your closing costs. The above is today's interest rate and could change at any time, plus the 4.75% interest rate is for 'Low Income" buyers. For "Moderate Income" buyers, the rate is 5% today.

As an example, one of our Buyers used this loan to buy her first Aliso Viejo Condo, and she did it with Zero down payment, and we got a credit from the seller so her total closing costs were $785!

What's the catch you may ask? Well, there are not catches, but there are some terms and restrictions. First you have to be a first time homebuyer, which the Government defines to be a person who has not owned a home for more than 2 years. So if you owned a home and sold it 2.5 years ago, you meet this requirement. Second, this loan only applies to homes in Aliso Viejo that are priced no more than $491,000. Third, there are minimum and maximum income restrictions. Below is a table for the maximum income you can make if you are considered a "Moderate income" families:

1 to 2 Family members   - $92,160/Year

3+ plus Family members - $107,520/Year

If you are deemed to be a "Low income" the maximum income restrictions are lower than the moderate maximum income restrictions listed below. In addition, it is possible to add or remove income producing family members from the purchase in order to meet the maximum income guidelines.

Also, there is a re-capture feature, which is a bit too complicated to explain in this short blog. Suffice it to say, that the potential re-capture program is well worth the benefit that this loan program offers, plus of the many home buyers who used this loan, non of them ever had to exercise the re-capture program.

These terms and conditions may sound a little bit confusing at first, but the several lenders that we work who offer this loan program do most of the processing work for you. So the application process is actually very easy.

This fantastic loan program can be used to buy any home with zero down in Aliso Viejo or any other city in Orange County. If you would like to learn more about this exciting zero down loan program, or if you want to search for every listed  home for sale in Aliso Viejo, just visit our website at: Aliso Viejo Real Estate.

The Orange County Register just reported today that median home prices have dipped from August to September of this year. When you read a report such as this your first thought is prices are dropping here in beautiful Laguna Niguel...

The problem with these statistics is that they are too broad and may paint a slightly distorted picture. What's actually happening  from August to September, is that there have been more buyers buying lower priced attached condos and smaller detached homes, then there where buyers Buying higher priced detached homes in the OC. So the median price of all homes and condos combined moves lower, even though the price of a home in a particular neighborhood may have not changed or even gone up slightly in that time period.

To demonstrate, we analyzed detached home prices in Laguna Niguel and found that the median price in August was $890,000 for a Laguna Niguel detached home and the median price in September was $949,900. Also, there were 71 homes sold in August in Laguna Niguel and 45 sold in September. Likewise in Mission Viejo, the median in August was $735,000 and the median in September was $749,000. Albeit the market has slowed down since July of this year, and price appreciation and slowed won as well, and even some asking prices have been lowered, but the actual sales prices of homes on a neighborhood by neighborhood analysis have not dropped. We will publish our Months of Inventory statistics for Laguna Niguel and Orange County in the next blog. If you would like to see online all Laguna Niguel Home for Sale, just visit our website at: Laguna Niguel Real Estate.

Over the years, we have identified 7 steps that one should take in order to find the best Condos for sale in Mission Viejo. Condominiums are a very popular choice in desirable Mission Viejo CA. With today's cost of land, Condos have been a affordable alternative to the detached home. Many Condos in Mission Viejo include 1 or 3 car garages, either a front or back yard, and enjoyable common areas with pool, spa and more. Here are the 7 steps to find the best Condo for sale in Mission Viejo.

Step 1: Get pre-qualified for a loan. I know, you may be thinking that this is not directly related to find a great Condo. Here's an analogy - If your going fishing, you're chances of success are much greater if you know what type of fish you are fishing for. Likewise, unless you know your price range, your liable to spend your valuable time looking at condos you can't afford, or becoming discouraged from looking at Condos for sale that are well below your price range. Get a pre-qual letter before you start - it's free and only takes 10 minutes in most cases.

Step 2: Choose a good Buyers agent. It's challenging enough trying to find an attractively priced Condo in Mission Viejo. Trying to do it without a great Realtor will make it even more difficult and reduce your changes of getting a good deal. How do you find a good Buyers Agent. Ask friends for a referral or seek out a good agent on the Internet using the 3 major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Make sure this agent make extensive of modern day technologies which will make your home search more efficient and accurate.

Step 3: With your Realtor, look at all Condos listed for sale that closely match your desires, needs and price range. If this list is rather large (8 or more homes), grade each Condo as you preview them and give them a 5 star ranking. Obviously you are looking for a 4 or 5 star Condo.

Step 4: If you didn’t find your 4 or 5 star Condo in the first outing, have you Realtor set you up on an automatic email alert service which will email you and your Realtor a notice the same day a new listing comes on the market for sale, only if it meets your Condo shopping criteria.

Step 5: If you have not found a 4 or 5 star Condo within 2 months of shopping, it may be time to modify your Condo hunting criteria. ie: raise the maximum price if possible, look in other cities or areas, look at smaller Condos, etc.

Step 6: Once you have found your 4 or 5 star Condo, have your Realtor do an analysis to determine if it is fairly priced (CMA), how long has it been on the market, the motivation of the Seller, etc. With this information, you and your Realtor can formulate an purchase offer that will obtain for you the best possible price and best serves your interests.

Step 7: Make sure you research the Condo association. Are the dues high or low compared to other Condos? If they are high, try to find out the reason. Is there Mello-Roos in the community? Is there a pending or current lawsuit that the Condo association is part of?

If you would like to view all Condos for Sale in Mission Viejo, just visit our website at: Mission Viejo Real Estate

There are currently 125 detached residential properties on the market for sale in beautiful Dana Point. The lowest priced home is a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath detached residential home for $677,500.  The most expensive property is a 5 bedroom, 7.5 bath, 11,000 Square Foot estate with Ocean view located in Ritz Cove with an asking price of $10,125,000.  The median price is $1.25 Million for detached residential properties in Dana Point with an average days on market of 67 days.

There are 35 detached residential homes currently sold in Escrow in Dana Point.  The median price of these homes in escrow is $979,900 and the average price is $1.6 Millions.  The average days on market is 72 days. 

For the month of September, there were 25 detached residential homes that sold and closed escrow in Dana Point. The median price for these sold home in September in Dana Point is   $1,069,000.  The lowest priced residential home sold was $750,000 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath detached home.  The highest price was a 5 bedroom, 5.5 baths, 4,700 square foot residential estate with a majestic ocean view.

The ratio of 125 detached residential homes Active for sale to the 35 homes sold In Escrow is indicative of neutral market for Dana Point.  4 months ago the market was substantially hotter, but has been gradually slowing down since July. 

If you would like to see all residential homes listed for sale in Dana Point, just visit our website at:  Dana Point Real Estate.

The were 37 homes that sold in 2004' in Niguel Hills, Laguna Niguel, CA.  Below is a complete list of these homes for sale in ascending sales price order.