Orange County CA Real Estate

Currently, there are 461 properties Active for sale in Mission Viejo, Ca.   Of these, 150 are attached Condominiums, and the remaining 311 active listings are detached single family homes.  There are a total of 175 homes and condos currently in escrow which represents approximately a current reading of 4 months of inventory.   In addition, there were 83 properties that sold and closed escrow in the month of April, which equates to about 5.5 months of inventory from sales that occurred about 2 months ago.  The market is definitely improving for the months of inventory for most of last year in Mission Viejo was much higher at about the 10 month range. 

Of these 461 properties listed for sale in Mission Viejo, CA, 164 are short sales which represent 35.5% of the total inventory of listings.  Also, 37 of the active listings are Bank Owned foreclosures (REO) which represents about 8% of the total inventory.  The total number of financially distressed listings is 201 which is 43% of the total inventory of properties listed for sale.

Currently, of the 175 total properties pending in Escrow in Mission Viejo, 49 of these homes and condos are short sales.  This represents about 28% of the inventory of properties under contract in escrow.  In addition, there are 31 properties pending in escrow that are bank owned foreclosures, which represents about 21% of the total pending properties.  The total of financially distressed homes and condos currently under contract in escrow in Mission Viejo is 45%.

For the month of April, there were a total of 83 homes and condos that sold and closed escrow in Mission Viejo, CA.  Of this total, there were 6 short sale properties that closed, which represents 7% of the total closings.   In addition, there are 15 bank owned foreclosure properties that sold and closed in April which represent 18% of the total sales for that month.  The total number of financially distressed properties that sold in April was 21 which represents 25%.

To learn more about short sales and bank owned foreclosures, or to receive a proprietary list of all short sale and bank REO properties listed for sale, visit our website at OCBargainHomes.com, or drop us an email at:   Info@OCBargainHomes.com 

Currently there are 840 Active properties listed for sale in Irvine, CA., of which 414 are attached  Condos, and 426 are detached single family homes.  Of these 840 homes and condos for sale, 152 are  Short Sales listed for sale, which represents 18% of the total inventory.  11 of these properties Active for sale are Bank Owner Foreclosures which represent just 1.3% of the total inventory of homes and condos for sale in Irvine, Ca.

Today, there are 245 properties that are under contract pending in escrow in Irvine, CA.  Of this total, there are 58 Short Sales properties that are pending in escrow, which represents 23.6% of the total number of properties in escrow.  In addition, there are 19 Bank Owned Foreclosures that are pending in escrow in Irvine, which represents 7.7% of the total pending properties.

For the past month of April, there were 146 homes and condos that sold and closed escrow in Irvine, CA.  Of this total, there were 14 Short Sale properties that sold, which is 9.5% of the total volume of sales for April.  Finally, there were 16 homes and condos that sold in the past month that were Bank Owned foreclosures, which represents 10.9% of all properties sold in April in Irvine, Ca.

For more information regarding Bank Owned foreclosure properties, or short sale properties listed for sale, please call us at:  949-388-3396.

We have been collecting statistics for south Orange County CA. residential real estate since July of 2002' on a weekly basis.  We’ve created and have been charting our own proprietary Months of Inventory calculation which is based upon the No. of Homes Active for Sale and No. of Homes in Escrow.  The traditional Months of Inventory calculation that the major Banks and Title companies quote, is based upon Active Homes for Sale Inventory and the No. of Homes that have sold in the past Quarter or the past 6 months.  The problem with this indicator, is by the time information is gathered, calculated and disseminated, it is based on information that is 4 to 7 months stale…  If you work in the industry, that is dated and almost useless information….  Although the Press may love it… Our Months of Inventory calculation is much more time sensitive… essentially a 'Real Time' report.   We have also created our own Pricing Indicator which is also much more time sensitive then we the established press produces.  It is based upon a moving average of the Price/SqFt for Detached Homes and Condos in a calculated range of sizes and cities.

I went out on a limb 2 weeks ago, and 'rang the dinner bell' as the time to start buying.   The Stats we gathered this morning, have further supported this stand.  Looking at the 1^st Graph above, the overall Months of Inventory has dropped from a high of 17.5 months (which is a very soft Buyers Market) in Oct of 07’ down to  5.3 Months today, which is a Neutral Market !!!  As a matter of additional fact, the low price range of properties below $450K, have now reached the top end of a ‘Sellers Market’ at 4 Months of Inventory.    Granted, many of  the sales in this price range are Bank Owned REO’s and Short Sales.  Most of these properties are selling in the first week of being on the market with multiple offers and some are getting bid up by 3% to 5% above the asking price =====>   more »

Currently, there are 293 homes and condos Active for Sale in Aliso Viejo, CA.   170 of which are Attached Condos and the other 123 are Detached Single Family Homes.  Of these 293 properties, 116 of these are Short Sale homes or condos listed for sale, which represents 39% of the Inventory.  In addition, there are 16 homes and condos listed for sale which are Bank owned REO properties in Aliso Viejo, which represents 5.5% of total inventory.

Today, there are 110 properties in Pending in Escrow in Aliso Viejo, CA.  Of these properties, 37 are Short Sale listings under contract which represents 33% of the properties in Escrow.  15 of these escrows are Bank Owned Foreclosures which represent 13.6% of the properties currently in escrow in Aliso Viejo.

For the month of April, there were 56 properties that sold and closed escrow in Aliso Viejo, CA.  7 of these closed properties were Short Sales which represent 12% of all closings for last month.  14 of the homes and condos that sold and closed in April where Bank Owned foreclosure homes, which represent 25% of all closings for last month.

If you are interested in receiving a VIP list of all Bank Owned Foreclosures, and Short Sale properties listed for sale, please visit our website at:  OCBargainHomes.com.  If you have any questions about Bank Owned REO or short Sale Properties, please feel free to call us at: 949-388-3396.

There are many Orange County homeowners who are caught in today's mortgage loan crisis. Home values have now dropped by 20% to 30% in some cases.  And there are a large number of highly leveraged loans with adjustable rate mortgages, which results in thousands of Orange County property owners having great difficulty keeping up with their mortgage payments, and unable to refinance or sell.  There is now a growing trend for homeowners who are caught in this mortgage loan crisis, to simply stop making their mortgage payments and walk away from their home and letting it go to foreclosure sale.  There is even a website company that focuses on this growing trend and charges clients $1,000 or more simply to tell them to let the home fall into foreclosure.  I think this is a big mistake.  A Short Sale is a far better solution, and more socially responsible choice compared to simply letting the property go back to the bank via foreclosure.  Let's compare the two choices. 

First a few definitions.  In a Short Sale, the homeowner decides to the sell their home, and the sales price minus sales costs, are less then the current loan balances on the property.  In this scenario, the mortgage bank(s) must agree to forgive some of their debt in order for the  property to be sold and close escrow.   A Foreclosure is a legal process initiated by the mortgage bank(s) after several months of mortgage payments have been missed by the homeowner.  This Foreclosure process begins with a 90 day Notice of Default process, followed by a 3 week Notice of Trustee sale period.  At the end of this period, the home is sold via open outcry auction on the county courthouse steps to the highest bidder, or goes back to the bank unsold and becomes an REO property. 

The Short Sale is a much more dignified solution then a Foreclosure.  In a Short Sale, you list your home with a local Realtor (who has experience with short sales). As far as your neighbors and the public is concerned, it is a normal home sale, just like any other.   A Foreclosure on the other hand, usually winds up first as a vacant neglected bank owner REO home with a brown lawn, dead landscaping, and stacks of nwepapers on the driveway.  Then a REO Agent posts "Bank Owned Home" signs all around the neighborhood during the weekend for weeks in a row. In addition, Short Sales nominally sell for about 5% more then the corresponding resale of the bank REO.  A Short Sale transaction is better for the bank, the local real estate market, and even the homeowner.

The Short Sale is better for the homeowner for financial reasons as well.  A foreclosure will usually stay on ones credit report for up to 7 years, while according to mortgage industry experts, the newly  refurbished FHA loan will allow a prospective  buyer buy a home with 1 year after conducting a Short Sale. Also, industry experts in credit counseling state that a Short Sales are approximately 100 points less damaging to ones credit as compared to a Foreclosure sale.

Finally, a little know but huge advantages of a short sale as compared to a foreclosure is the following.  In Orange County, there are many homeowners who have a 2nd trust deed (TD) Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) loans. The majority of these loans are recourse loans, which in California, means that if the first mortgage were to foreclose, the 2nd TD HELOC loan is removed from the home, but is not wiped out at the foreclosure sale.  It then becomes a delinquent unsecured debt.  The 2nd TD HELOC lender then has no other choice but to go after the homeowner will all of the legal recourse available to them.  A Short Sale, on the other hand, allows the knowledgeable real estate agent to negotiate with both the 1st and 2nd mortgage holders, in order to divert some of the available sales proceeds to the 2nd HELOC lender, so that they will agree to wipe out the HELOC debt at the close of escrow with no recourse against the homeowner. 

If you have any questions about the Short Sale process, please feel free to call for our real estate team has many years of experience in this area of expertise.