Jeremy Lehman

I was looking at the dataquick #'s earlier today myself. We have to really look deeper than the numbers to understand what it means when a median price is down. In Laguna Beach, there is such a vast difference in price ranges, as mentioned before. When the median price goes down in an area like this, it really shows that consumers are buying the cheapest homes available. If you really want to analyze an area like Laguna, you have to focus on specific neighborhoods and other factors like the features, square footage, type of home, lot size, etc. The high end market is suffering from a lack of move-up buyers and ofcourse less people today qualify for $1,000,000+ homes. Unless sellers are desperate or motivated to buy another great deal, they won't sell. According to realtytrac.com, there are less than 70 defaults in the area, which is one of the lowest rates in all of Orange County. I wouldn't count on seeing a ton of foreclosures in Laguna Beach, When the market comes back, and it always will, the beach cities will again be the most desireable. - Wed Nov 25 2009, 01:38