Category Archives: Orange County Real Estate Articles and Posts

18831 Tabor Dr, Irvine: The best real estate deal Turtle Rock has seen in 8 years!

June 07, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

18831 Tabor, Irvine flyer

18831 Tabor, Irvine. The best Turtle Rock, Irvine real estate deal in 8 years.

NOVEMBER 2003! Outside of this home, November 2003 is how far back I had to look before finding a detached single family residence over 3000 sqft in Turtle Rock that sold on the MLS for under $1,000,000 – and this is not a short sale or bank owned. Seller has equity!

This beautifully remodeled Broadmoor residence began as a single story home with 4 bedrooms on the ground floor before a permitted addition upstairs added a fifth bedroom, full bathroom, and amazing bonus room that could be used as anything from game room to 6th bedroom.

The most recent round of renovations upgraded and opened up the kitchen to the dining and living area and added a center island. With Scraped ceilings, recessed lighting,

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Irvine Foreclosure Listings – 25 Most Recent

March 12, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

Irvine Real Estate Foreclosures and Bank Owned Homes for sale (REOs) have been a hot topic lately.  Clients have asked if there’s an easy place to track them as they come available.  This post will update itself automatically with the 25 most recent Irvine foreclosure listings.

If there’s a particular type of automatically updating Orange County real estate list you would like to see, leave a comment or drop me an email and we will create it.

Showing properties 1 - 25 of 39. See more Recent Irvine Foreclosure Listings.
(all data current as of 2/22/2012)

  1. 3 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,325 sq ft
  2. 2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,459 sq ft
  3. 4 beds, 2 full baths
    Home size: 1,600 sq ft
    Lot size: 5,000 sq ft
  4. 3 beds, 2 full baths
    Home size: 1,984 sq ft
  5. 2 beds, 2 full baths
    Home size: 1,037 sq ft
  6. 2 beds, 1 full, 2 part baths
    Home size: 1,017 sq ft
  7. 2 beds, 2 full baths
    Home size: 1,037 sq ft
  8. 3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,500 sq ft
    Lot size: 5,745 sq ft
  9. 4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,900 sq ft
    Lot size: 2,637 sq ft
  10. 1 bed, 1 full bath
    Home size: 639 sq ft
  11. 2 beds, 1 full, 2 part baths
    Home size: 1,175 sq ft
  12. 2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,267 sq ft
  13. 1 bed, 1 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,348 sq ft
  14. 2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,850 sq ft
  15. 3 beds, 3 full baths
    Home size: 1,592 sq ft
  16. 2 beds, 2 full baths
    Home size: 926 sq ft
    Lot size: 8.08 ac
  17. 1 bed, 1 full bath
    Home size: 635 sq ft
  18. 2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,398 sq ft
  19. 3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,745 sq ft
  20. 3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,500 sq ft
  21. 3 beds, 2 full, 2 part baths
    Home size: 1,669 sq ft
    Lot size: 1,700 sq ft
  22. 2 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
    Home size: 1,790 sq ft
  23. 3 beds, 3 full baths
    Home size: 1,750 sq ft
  24. 3 beds, 3 full baths
    Home size: 1,821 sq ft
  25. 3 beds, 3 full baths
    Home size: 1,350 sq ft
    Lot size: 3,031 sq ft

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

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A Simple Weekend Project To Add Value To Your Orange County Property

February 25, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

baby painterMany home renovations are expensive money sinks that, by the time you’re finished, add little more value than what you’ve invested.  But painting your home’s interior is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to give your piece of Orange County Real Estate a little more “wow.”

Self painting costs very little and can be knocked out in a weekend or two.  It can also be a great bonding moment for the family.  Put a paintbrush in the hands of an cover-all clad 7 year old and watch their face light up.  Just be sure you masked off the area before turning them loose.

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Irvine Housing Prices Chart

February 15, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

I’ll never be confused for a high level economist. But my command over 5th grade mathematics is masterful. I can add and divide using a calculator better than most people I know.

Self deprecating humor aside, when I hear reports about the housing market on the news, they always speak in the broadest terms. “New home sales have declined X percent nationwide. Foreclosures are up X percent over last month.” As a buyer or seller of Orange County real estate, how can you apply that information in a meaningful way? Yeah, I’m not sure either…

I wanted to better understand housing market changes on the city level. So I decided to choose a city, choose a house type (3 bedroom, detached homes), and chart the average price per square foot based on 3 month comparable sales. Here’s the logic: if you decide to sell your home, the price will be determined by the sale of similar homes in the last 3 months. So if an appraiser came to your home on January 31st, he would be looking at sales that closed in the months of January, December, and November.
When you look at the chart, the number shown for a particular month is the average price per square foot of all the comparable 3 month sales. Let’s look at Irvine:

irvine real estate prices chart

Here, you can see the last 2 years of sales, along with June 2006, which I included as its $469/sqft is right round the peak of the market. Over this period the average ppsf has fluctuated between $357 and $400. This also shows the seasonal midsummer price bump we’ve come to expect as most people prefer to move in the summer time before the traditional school year begins.

So there it is. Granted, it’s by no means a perfect system. A few multimillion dollar home sales, or a significant drop in the total number of homes sold in a given month could skew the numbers quite a bit. But I do think there is some real world application to the data. If nothing else, it reminds me that these grand, nation wide figures we hear in the media don’t tell much of a story. In much the same way, these city figures are still too broad.

For those considering an Orange County purchase or sale, consult with a professional real estate agent to focus on pricing in your local neighborhood and on houses that are the most comparable to your property or the property you’re looking for. If you aren’t already working with an Orange County real estate agent…well, let’s just say I know someone waiting to dazzle you with his tireless work ethic and above average calculator skills.

-Brian Donlyuk

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Why Orange County Condo Purchases May Require Higher Down Payments

February 10, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

FHA financing has been a popular financing choice for first time buyers of Orange County condos. While an FHA loan carries higher closing costs than other loans, they allow buyers to purchase with a down payment of as little as 3.5%.

However, new rules have been implemented disqualifying many Orange County condominium communities from FHA financing.

  1. No more than 25% of a property’s total floor area in a project can be used for commercial purposes (live/work condos and “urban living” communities with retail shops on the bottom floor may not qualify).
  2. No more than 10% of the units can be owned by one investor. This includes projects where builders rent unsold units.
  3. No more than 15% of the total units in the community can be 30+ days delinquent on HOA dues (communities with a lot of short sales and foreclosures often also have HOA dues in arrears)
  4. In new construction, 50% of a community’s units must be sold before endorsement of the mortgage.
  5. At least 50% of the units in a community must be owner occupied or sold to owners who intend to occupy.
  6. FHA will not insure more than 50% of any one condo project.

These changes mark a tightening of the FHA belt.  With some buyers no longer able to buy the home of their choice with FHA financing, buyers with larger down payments are at more of a premium.

-Brian Donlyuk

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Renting – Apartments or Privately Owned Rentals

February 01, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

When making the decision on whether to rent from an apartment community or private owner, there are a few subtle differences to consider.

ORANGE COUNTY PRIVATE RENTALS
Private rentals are homes or condos owned by individuals who, rather than living in the homes themselves, have decided to rent them to the public. The owners may act as landlords, collecting rent and dealing with maintenance issues on their own, or they may hire a 3rd party management company to handle day to day tasks for them.

There are some nice advantages to renting a privately owned home or condo. In general, these homes are less expensive from a dollars per square foot perspective. They also tend to be less densely occupied than apartment communities, where homes are often stacked four high with shared walls on 2 sides. Many private homes have their own pool, yard (typically maintained by professionals), attached garage or other unique features that many apartment communities just can’t provide.

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2 New Laws Orange County Property Owners Need To Know

January 28, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

We strive to keep our real estate clients and potential clients informed on the latest industry news. We are real estate professionals, not lawyers or tax professionals. The following information should not be construed as tax or legal advice.

Carbon Monoxide Detectors

HOMES NEED CO DETECTORS BY JULY 1, 2011. California passed SB183 in 2010 requiring installation of carbon monoxide detectors in existing homes that have fossil fuel burning appliances, fireplaces, or attached garages by July 1, 2011. All other homes have until January 1, 2013 to comply.

We recommend installing one CO detector on each living floor, out of the reach of children. All CBPP Property Management clients will have detectors installed by our maintenance crew prior to the July deadline.

New IRS Requirement

LANDLORDS REQUIRED TO 1099 VENDORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS. The Small Business Jobs Act, passed in late 2010 requires all owners of rental property to issue a 1099 to all service providers who are unincorporated and receive at least $600 in compensation for the year. Failure to report the payments made to a gardener, plumber, handyman, pool guy, etc. could lead to stiff fines and penalties. It’s also believed that, in the event of an audit, the IRS may invalidate any deductions an owner failed to report via 1099.

The good news for our clients is we have conducted this type of reporting for years. For landlords who self manage their properties, this requirement could be a paperwork and reporting nightmare as they now have to collect tax ids and report 2011 payments.

-Brian Donlyuk

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Aliso Viejo 2 Bedroom Condo Special

January 24, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

Recently, this amazing two bedroom condo we manage in Aliso Viejo came available after our previous tenant bought a house. The listing description is below:

This turnkey home in the prestigious Canyon Point community has a great open and spacious floor plan. It is highly upgraded with Brand New high quality Emperor Garden pattern carpet, crown moldings, custom paint, and much much more. It is a corner unit in a quiet cul-de-sac location, ready for move right in. No one above and one common wall.

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Short Sale Listings Obscure Actual Real Estate Prices

January 23, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

In some pockets of Orange County, shortsales account for as much as 70% of the homes for sale. This often gives buyers an unrealistic impression of where housing prices are.

The price of a short sale home is determined by the bank holding the mortgage. In a perfect world, an Orange County real estate agent would be able to call a bank’s short sale department, present them with their market analysis and ask what price the bank will approve before placing it on the market. Unfortunately, banks usually won’t start processing a short sale until they have an offer from a buyer.

Agents need an offer in hand before they can approach the bank…any offer. Some agents accomplish this by listing a home well below the fair market price. Their hope is that this drives a lot of traffic to the listing and they get their offer to submit to the bank quickly. Almost invariably, the bank declares the original offer to be too low and counters back with a price much closer to the fair market value. The agent now knows what the bank is willing to accept. If the original offeror decides not to meet the bank’s counter offer, remarket the home as “an approved short sale” at the bank’s counter offer price.

Why do many agents do this? Well, their client, the home owner, doesn’t care what the home sells for. By short selling they don’t receive any proceeds from sale. They get relieved of their mortgage burden without losing the home to foreclosure. The agents are happy because the short sale process can take months, and the sooner they begin, even if it is with an hopelessly low offer, the sooner they can hope to finish the transaction successfully.

SO HERE’S HE BIG TAKEAWAY: Buyers usually begin their home search online, looking primarily at what’s available. The prices they see are often artificially low, leading them to think they can get an unbelievable deal. The truth is, prices are fantastic. Orange County real estate is “on sale.” But to get the true sense of where prices are, you need to get in touch with a qualified, experienced Orange County real estate agent. They need to show you CLOSED SALES of homes similar to what you are looking for in a particular area. Only then will you get a sense of what banks are approving and what the real price tag is on Orange County real estate.

I’m happy to provide this information. Please contact me if you are beginning your new home search.

-Brian Donlyuk

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Renters Need An Orange County Real Estate Agent.

January 22, 2011   yourocagent   No comments

MANY ORANGE COUNTY RENTERS WONDER, WHY SHOULD I HAVE A RENTAL AGENT?

Finding a rental home is something you CAN do on your own, but since having a rental agent represent you costs nothing, ask yourself, “Why shouldn’t I have an agent?”

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  • CONTACT ME

    Brian Donlyuk
    Coldwell Banker Platinum Properties
    714-552-8687 ph
    949-269-9159 fax
    Brian@yourOCagent.com
    dre# 1489728

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