Insurance For Your New CA Home

In addition to the other details in escrow, you will also need to check into homeowners insurance (also known as fire insurance). Many lenders will require an insurance policy to be in place prior to funding your loan so the first thing you need to do is ask your lender if you need it. Homeowners insurance is not always necessary, but your lender might require it, so it is important to be asking these questions early. We'd say no later than the first week or two of escrow. If your lender does not require it, we recommend getting a policy anyway after escrow is closed.

It is a good idea to talk to your current insurance providers (car, life, etc.) to discuss insurance policies for your home. If your current provider does not carry homeowners insurance there are many insurance providers that have a policy right for you. Good places to start are State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, etc. Some providers need to send a representative out to the property to determine whether it will qualify. If sending a rep is required, have them contact your real estate agent to schedule an appointment to see the property.

Now that you have got insurance covered, you are redy to move on.

Fullerton Homes For Sale - Luxury Home Update January 2010

Like most areas of the country, 2009 was a rough year for the upscale real estate market. However, 2010 seems to have a little more momentum and some solid home sales.

Whats going on in Fullerton CA?

Over the past 3 months, the city of Fullerton CA has seen the following statistics for home sales over the million dollar price point.

24 active listings.
5 homes under contract in escrow
8 homes sold

Of those 8 home sales, 3 have sold in the last 30 days
90 day average to sell

What is selling in Fullerton?

Things are definitely starting to sell in the last 3 months but the absolute highest sale is just under $1.5 million. Homes over this price point have taken an extra long time to sell in the current market. The lower part of the million dollar range has been the most active with the average upscale sale around $1.2 million. Not suprisingly, only one of the homes sold had 4 bedrooms, the majority of homes sold have had either 5 or 6 bedrooms and averaged approximately 4,000 sqft.


What this all means?

Buyers - If your looking to purchase a large home in Fullerton, there are plenty of good options available even if you desire 5 bedrooms and 4,000 square feet. We have seen some of these homes sell in under 5 days so buyers need to be prepared that premium homes on premium lots that are priced competitively will require quick attention.


Sellers - Homeowners looking to sell their luxury homes in Fullerton need to understand that it may take 90 days or longer to sell if they want a premium price. They should also understand that houses with only 4 bedrooms and under the 3500 square foot will have a difficult time competing in the million dollar range. Of course there will be some exceptions to this with highly desired lots, neighborhoods, or views, but overall this is the current market trend. If you'd like to check out more details about the lisitings available, please see our Fullerton CA Homes For Sale page.

La Habra Home For Sale - Condo update January 2010

La Habra, CA has seen a run on entry-level condo sales lately as many buyers are looking to take advantage of the still low interest rates and the tail end of the federal housing stimulus package. We are seeing a big demand for condos with at least 2 bedrooms under the $200,000 mark. Here is a quick snapshot of the current market.


What's on the market?

There is a total of only 10 La Habra Condos under $200,000 with at least 2 Bedrooms currently for sale on the market. These 10 condos are in communities such as Mar Vista, Woodlake Village, Woodlake Villa, Stone Harbor, La Venezia, and Fashion Knolls.

Of these La Habra homes for sale there are 9 short sales and 1 REO. There are 0 standard sales in this price range. The average days on the market is 75 in this range of active listings.


What has been selling?

Currently there are 25 condos in escrow that match the above description. This sounds like an awful lot but remember the majority of these are short sales and it is anybody's guess when they will actually close.

What we can say is that there are 5 closed sales in the last 30 days that have closed that match this description and the average days on the market is right around 45 days.


What does it all mean?

Basically, La Habra CA home sales are keeping pace in the entry level range with the rest of the county. Buyers are seeing heavy bidding on these properties and sellers are seeing lots of interest and quick offers. The catch is that this only applies to homes priced very competitively, and often at price points homeowners are uncomfortable with. This is the reason why we see the majority of the inventory as distress sales in the form of short or REO listings. Sellers who have bought at the peak of the market may have a difficult time selling if they are unwilling to do a short sale and if they have little equity.

If you live in La Habra CA and are curious as to whether you will be able to sell your home in the current market, please contact us or visit our La Habra homes for sale page.

Good News For Orange County CA Short Sales - HAFA

The Making Home Affordable Programs new mandate may be great news for home buyers of Orange County CA short sales!

The Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) has taken aim at standardizing the long process of short sales and making the process fairer, quicker, and more clear to borrowers and buyers. We are currently reviewing the 41 pages of details related to this new (HAFA) program and are finding it very intriguing.

Unlike before, when offers needed to be present for most banks to even think about approving a short pay sale, the HAFA guidelines will enable borrowers to potentially agree to a set of terms that would be acceptable to the bank prior to listing the property. There is also legislation that will provide financial incentives to lenders and investors for agreeing to a short sale as well as protection to borrowers from the possibility of having to repay the short debt.

Maybe the biggest news is that loan services will be given only 10 days to respond to short sale offers! And again, the aim is to have all the sale terms agreed upon up front so that when a buyer comes with an offer, the response can come much quicker.

The servicer also will determine the minimum net proceeds for a short sale; if an offer presented to the servicer by the borrower or listing broker meets the net proceeds requirement, then the servicer must accept it. This is a huge deal. Not only will buyers have the potential to know what an acceptable price is ahead of time, they also will get a response to the offer in a reasonable amount of time.

According to HAFA, the loan services must make a policy detailing the criteria borrowers, borrowers homes, and offers from potential buyers must fit in order to be eligible. Prior to asking for a short sale, homeowners must also be given the opportunity and participate in an attempt at loan modification. While we are still wading through the details, here's what we know so far:

Benefits to Homeowners:

-Provides a criteria set to help them determine if they qualify, this will be a big help since in the past, homeowners were basically indirectly told that they don't qualify unless they are behind in payments.......leading many people to default, and many times still be denied, when they may have been able to stay current if they had known denial was imminent.
- Helps aid in proper short sale pricing
- Gives uneducated homeowners a chance a loan modification

Benefits to Buyers:

-Shortens short sale process
- Gives buyers a realistic idea of what price the bank will take
- Gives banks incentives to take the short sale payoff and sell the house to the buyer instead of foreclosure

Limitations:

-HAFA goes into effect April 5, 2010
- HAFA only applies to non Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac lenders (though there is speculation they may follow suit)
- Applies only to loans up to $729,750
- The banks are still in control over what the accepted payoff criteria is


If you'd like to see what type of short sale inventory is available in the area, our Orange County Foreclosure Homes for sale page has all the foreclosure homes currently on the market.

Yorba Linda Real Estate and Homes For Sale Update - Dec 2009

Yorba Linda, CA Real Estate - We've noticed that there are certain cities in the North Orange County area that have a tremendous amount of opportunity in the upscale home price point. We compare upscale home sales which we roughly define as homes with:

At least 4+ Bedrooms
between $700,000 - $1,000,000
minimum 3+ Full Bathrooms
and a home size of at least 2,400+ sqft

We've really been noticing a lot of good deal on homes in Yorba Linda, CA. Here's the numbers for Yorba Linda homes for sale that fit the above criteria in the last 45 days or so....

22 Homes For Sale
12 in Escrow
10 Closed Sales

We've included these two beautiful examples of homes currently on the market!

Compare this with the nearby city of Fullerton and you'll see what we mean by choices. In Fullerton, your seeing numbers that look like this:

9 Homes For Sale
10 in Escrow
5 Closed Sales

Obviously, Yorba Linda has about twice as many homes for sale in the price range and here is a kicker...........they are averaging nearly 3600 sqft as opposed to just over 3000 in Fullerton...........and the real kicker is 5 of the 9 homes available in Fullerton have lots under 7000 sqft!

Bottom line = Big house, big lot, under a million bucks? You need to take a look and see what Yorba Linda real estate has to offer.

Take a look at our Yorba Linda Homes For Sale page if you have a moment.

Placentia Real Estate Update - Market Conditions December 2009

In the Placentia, CA real estate market there are currently 63 active homes on the market for sale. Of these:

7 are under $300,000

9 are between $300,000 and $400,000

9 are between $400,000 and $500,000

20 are between $500,000 and $600,000

19 are between $600,000 and $700,000

6 are between $700,000 and $900,000

0 are over $900,000

In the past 2 months Placentia has had 63 home sales:

11 under $300,000

9 between $300,000 and $400,000

18 between $400,000 and $500,000

14 between $500,000 and $600,000

11 between $600,000 and $700,000

1 between $700,000 and $900,000

Right now there are 63 Placentia home in escrow with:

7 under $300,000

9 between $300,000 and $400,000

17 between $400,000 and $500,000

12 between $500,000 and $600,000

9 between $600,000 and $700,000

10 between $700,000 and $900,000

Placentia's real estate market is actually pretty consistent across all price points. Consistent for the area and time I suppose. The top selling markets and the ones that appear to be the hottest are those at the $400,000-$500,000 price point. The lower price point is strong as well but inventory is low so the amount of sales will be limited by this. That being said, it is still a market segment that is seeing multiple offers over list price.

Suprising though is the strenth of the $500,000-$600,000 price point. This mid level Placentia home value has actually had quite a few sales and appears strong from a surface glance. Of course, we all know the devil for any market is always in the details. As we are seeing across Orange County, the sales do slide off once we get over teh $600,000 price point but not quite as dramatically as we are seeing in other areas.

Our Tips

For Placentia home buyers - We are seeing quite a bit of opportunity in the $600,000+ price ranges. The bang-for-your-buck factor at this price point is fantastic!!

For Placentia CA homeowners - The timing is actually good for many people looking to move up into the middle and upper middle price ranges if they have some equity to sell. The theory being they can sell in a hot entry level market and buy for a discount in the upper level markets.

Feel free to browse the current Placentia homes for sale to get a feel for the current market.

Orange County Home Sales in the Median Range - Dec 09

Our last couple posts dealt with hot market for entry level homes in Orange County. If we took those same home requirements and bumped it up a bit to be between $400,000 and $500,000 we see something very interesting happen. To refresh, the basic criteria is a single family residence with at least:

3 Bedrooms

2 Full Baths

1000 Sq Ft

2 Car Garage

6000 sqft lot

In all of Orange County, this buyer would now have an additional 175 homes to look at!

If they were to take the price point up to between $500,000 and $600,000, that would mean yet another 200 houses that would fit the price range!

Of worthwhile note is also the fact that the highly desireable cities like Tustin, Fountain Valley, Orange, Rancho Santa Margarita, Fullerton, Yorba Linda, and Mission Viejo start coming into play at this range.

While we wouldn't consider this an abundance of homes by any means, especially when you consider many people will want 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2000+ sqft, etc, we think the numbers reveal a much different inventory of homes available to buyers.

Most of our clients are summing this up best with statements like, "Wow, I'm really liking the bang for my buck better at these price points!"

We would have to agree, atleast for now. You can see what is available at these price points by using the quick home search on our Orange County Homes For Sale page