Sweet Orange

For a look at what is going on in with housing prices in Costa Mesa, I provided the numbers for the highest- and lowest-priced homes in Costa Mesa as well as the numbers for a Costa Mesa home that is near the median. Here they are:

The highest priced home in Costa Mesa is currently at 369 22nd Street. This home is located in Eastside Costa Mesa (92627) near the Newport Bay. Note that the current listing price is reduced by 15% from the original listing price.

• Asking price: $2,990,000 ($516/SF)
• HOA fee: n/a
• What: detached house built in 2004
• Size: 4 beds/6 baths with 5800 square feet
• Previously sold: February 10, 1996 for $540,000
• Price reductions:
  * listed April 16,2009 for $3,495,000
  * price reduced on July 22, 2009 to #3,295,000
  * price reduced on August 21, 2009 to $2,990,000

The lowest priced home in Costa Mesa is currently at 1654 Iowa Street, Unit B. This short sale is  located in the Mesa Verde neighborhood  (92626). Note that the current listing price is approximately 50% below the previous 2006 selling price.

• Asking price: $209,990 ($234/SF)
• HOA fee: $250/month
• What: condo built in 1971
• Size: 2 beds/1 bath with 897 square feet
• Previously sold: April 21, 2006 for $406,000

An example of a mid-priced Costa Mesa home is at 832 Presidio Drive. This home is located in Central Costa Mesa (92626) near Tewinkle Park, Orange County Fair Grounds, Orange Coast College, South Coast Plaza as well as many freeways. This is a short sale.

• Asking price: $439,000 ($338/SF)
• HOA fee: n/a
• What: detached house built in 1960
• Size: 3 beds/62baths with 1200 square feet (7200 SF lot)
• Previously sold: July 17, 2009 for $439,000 and July 12, 1994 for $184,000

Note: I just saw this information, so I wanted to pass it along to anyone who is interested. Therefore, the post on green buildings in Orange County will be posted at a later date.

The Orange County Credit Union is offering a free workshop today (September 10) from 7 pm to 8 pm at the Yorba Linda library. If you are unhappy with your current loan, here is a place where you can receive information on your options.

The workshop will cover the following:

• Who is eligible for loan modifications?
• What modifications are the banks willing to make?
• How should you approach the banks for a modification?

For more information, call the Library Information Desk at 714-777-2873, extension 6.

Also, the Orange County Credit Union’s website warns of the following foreclosure scams:

• Phantom help: The con artists claim they can negotiate an agreement with your lender but they require an upfront fee. They may also ask you to start paying your mortgage to them….
• Rent to own: The con artists claim that by giving them the title to your house, they will take over your mortgage payments (or find an investor who will) but allow you to stay and pay a reasonable rent….
• Fake refinancing: The con artists claim that they are refinancing your loan to bring it current and have you sign the “loan papers.”…
• Buyer scouting: The con artists guarantee that they will find a buyer for you, and you will both split the profits when the home sells….

To read more on this, see the Orange County Credit Union website  section on foreclosure scams.

Remember: Free foreclosure prevention and mortgage modification help is available; be wary on anyone who asks you for a fee. If you think that you are a victim of a mortgage scam, contact the Federal Trade Commission, (877)-FTC-HELP, and your state’s attorney general office (California Office of the Attorney General).

GRAPHIC COURTESY THE CITY OF IRVINE

You might have heard of sustainable design or green building development, but what exactly that means might be vague to you. A general answer is the following: Sustainable design uses certain construction practices, construction and design products, and design principles to solve development problems. And it uses these practices, products and principles in a way that uses features of the natural environment as an advantage. In contrast, most builders currently use practices, products and design principles that attempt to overcome the natural environment. In addition, sustainable design uses existing material when possible and does not use toxic materials.

Here are some more details on these green building fundamentals:

Use the features of a building site to achieve a desired result. For example, when conventional building practices are used, the location of the sun is ignored when deciding on which direction to orient a building. Sustainable design practices use a different approach. When sustainable design practices are used, the building is situated in a way that takes advantage of the heating or cooling that the location of the sun can provide. Conventional building practices force the home or building owners to rely heavily on costly, high-energy-consumption, mechanical systems to heat or cool a building.

Another example of using the features of a building site to achieve a desired result is using materials from the site as much as possible. The Nueva Hillside Learning Complex, which built sun screens, benches, and decks from the Cypress trees that were cut down to clear the building site, illustrates this point.

View the building site as a system and link that system to other systems. Another way of saying this is close the loop. The output or waste from one system is used as the input to another system. Or the output from one part of a system is used as an input to another part of the same system. For example, waste water can be captured and then reused in other ways, such as watering landscapes.

Recycle as much as possible. This might include finding new uses for construction waste but, in some cases, could include finding new uses for existing buildings instead of tearing down these buildings.

When possible, share the same building or site among multiple organizations. Of course, this is geared toward commercial and school buildings rather than residential buildings.

That is it for the Reader’s Digest definition of sustainable design. Of course, much more detail is possible. But this will do for an introduction.

NEW YORK, August 20, 2009…The Conference Board Leading Economic Index^TM (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.6 percent in July, following a 0.8 percent gain in June, and a 1.2 percent rise in May.

Says Ken Goldstein, Economist at The Conference Board: “The indicators suggest that the recession is bottoming out, and that economic activity will likely begin recovering soon. The Coincident Economic Index was flat in July - the first time it did not register a decline since October 2008. The Leading Economic Index, which has increased for four consecutive months, suggests that the CEI will turn positive soon.”

In a recent post, I wrote that Chris Thornberg, principal with Beacon Economics, see improvement in construction, finance, and retail not occurring until sometime after the recovery is underway. In other words, they are lagging indicators. The employment numbers are another indicator that Thornberg see  as a lagging indicator in this recovery. Lagging and leading indicators are not the same in every recession. However, improvement in the employment numbers is seen by most economist as a indicator that lags in most recessions.

As I wrote previously, Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, agrees that improvement in the employment numbers is a lagging indicator in recessions, including this one. However, he sees the current unemployment numbers as 1.5% higher than is normal for this stage of recession. He sees two reasons for this.

First, the losses in stocks and, therefore, the reduced amount in retirement accounts is making it necessary for many to delay retirement. Previously, pensions, not stock numbers, determined the amount in a retirement account. So the ups and downs of the stock market have a bigger role in this recession. Second, he says the fall in home prices to below the amount owed makes it difficult for many unemployed to relocate to other areas to accept a job offer. This has not been true in other recent downturns.

After a slight downturn in July, the U.S. unemployment number rose in August to 9.7%.  In a few weeks, the California and Orange County numbers will come out. For now, here is a look at the July and June unemployment numbers:

• U.S–July: 9.4% (June: 9.5%)
• California–July: 11.9% (June: 11.6%)
• Orange County–July: 9.5% (Jun: 9.3%)

For more information on why unemployment remains high, see “Why is U.S. Unemployment so High?“. Also see, “The Conference Board’s August 2009 Global Business Cycle Indicators” and Unemployment in O.C., state buck U.S. trend.”

Note: For Beacon’s economic forecast, see Beaconomics.

GRAPH COURTESY WIKIPEDIA

As a recent post shows, homes in low-priced areas such as parts of Anaheim, Stanton, and Garden Grove are selling much better than homes in the high-priced areas. MDA DataQuick reports the same:

Sales rose 120 to 150 percent in parts of Anaheim and Stanton where prices ranged from $250,000 to $310,000, reports MDA DataQuick.–”Housing sales jump,” The Orange County Register

The Register article goes on to say that brokers are reporting that homes above $500,000 continue to sell slowly.

So, to check this out, let’s take a look at what is happening in two of these ZIPs that have homes priced on the lower end of the market: Anaheim’s 92804 and 92805.

A DataQuick/Orange County Register chart shows that the number of home sales in July in the 92804 ZIP  increased by 11.9% when compared to the July 2008 sales numbers. However, Trulia shows that the May 2009 to July 2009 sales in the 92804 ZIP decreased by 25.2% when compared to prices of one year ago.

In addition, DataQuick reports that in July Anaheim’s 92805 ZIP, had the second highest increases in the number of sales in Orange County when compared to the same time last year (+123.1%). However, Trulia numbers show a less impressive increase. According to Trulia,  the May 2009 to July 2009 sales in the 92805 ZIP increased by 7.1% when compared to prices of one year ago.

Trulia’s numbers cover a longer time period and, therefore, it is not surprising that the numbers differ. However, watching the numbers from these two sources in the coming months to see if they converge or continue in different directions will be interesting. They should give a clearer picture of which Orange County areas are seeing increases in the number of homes sold and by how much.

In yesterday’s post, I compared two similarly priced homes in Irvine’s 92602 ZIP code. If you are interested in buying a home in this area (or just curious), here is a look at some recent housing statistics for this ZIP that might help.

As reported by Redfin, the housing numbers for Irvine’s 92602 ZIP code, which includes Irvine’s Northpark and West Irvine neighborhoods, were as follows in July 2009. The graphs, courtesy Redfin, are in descending order: 92602 inventory, 92602 detached house price per square foot, 92602 condo price per square foot.

Homes on market (inventory)

• detached house–56
• condos–72

Median price per square foot

• detached house
  list–$346/SF
  sold–n/a

• condo
  list–$318/SF
  sold–n/a

Price reductions*:

• Percentage of home with price reductions
  Detached house–38.9%
  Condo–33.3%
• Total percent of the reduction
  Detached house–5.7%
  Condo–3.6%

Median days on Redfin*

• Detached house: 68
• Condo: 48

Also note that the Redfin’s overall list price for the 92602 ZIP in July 2009 was $595,000, and the May 2009 sold price was $628,000. In addition, 25 homes in this ZIP sold in May 2009.

*Based on homes sold or taken off the market between June 3, 2009 and September 1, 2009

Following is a comparison of two similarly priced homes in Irvine’s 92602 ZIP.

At 30 Avalon, Irvine, CA 92602 is a detached Northpark condo built in 2002 with 3 beds/2.5 baths and 1601 square feet. Homeowners association fee is a reasonable $128 per month and includes access to a pool, spa, barbecue, and sports court. As with all HOA, there are rule. And although I don’t know exactly what they are, apparently rules about pets are one of these. The asking price is $648,900 ($405 per square foot).

Considering that another detached condo with 1750 square feet in West Irvine (82 Sorenson, Irvine, CA 92602) is listed for approximately the same price and currently accepting backup offers, this seems high. The Sorenson home, which was built in 2001, has 4 bedrooms/3 baths, and the asking price is $650,000 ($371/SF). HOA fees are $100 and $50 per month.

I like the exterior look of the Northpark home; however, the MLS pictures show a lack of light in some rooms (either this or just poor pictures). And then there is the fact that the size is smaller than the West Irvine home. The Northpark home has only been listed for one day, so it will be interesting to see what happens with this home. The West Irvine home is also worth watching. Even if a home is listed as accepting backup offers, it does not mean that a sale is pending.

I’ll check back on both of these homes to see what the final outcome is.

Tomorrow: a look at the housing numbers for this part of Irvine

According to Redfin, Irvine’s July housing stats broken down by detached houses and condos categories were as follows. Note that condos play a significant role in Irvine’s housing stock, In July, 59% of the Irvine homes that were on the market were condos.

Home on the market (Inventory)

• Detached house: 487
• Condo: 701

Median price per square foot

• Detached house
  List: $370/SF
  Sold: $322/SF
• Condo
  List: $343/SF
  Sold: $328/SF

Price reductions*:

• Percentage of home with price reductions
  Detached house–36.1%
  Condo–37.1%
• Total percent of the reduction
  Detached house–7.4%
  Condo–6.3%

Days on Redfin*

• Detached house: 62
• Condo: 66

Also note that Redfin’s overall list price in July 2009 was $620,000, and the May 2009 sold price was $570,000. In addition, 239 Irvine homes sold in May 2009.

*Based on homes sold or taken off the market between June 2, 2009 and August 31, 2009

Source: Redfin