it is most likely that home values will continue to drop, However i agree with Mr. Zorn as well you are talking about your home. If you wait and purchase at a latter time you might not be able to purchase the home you want. Interest rates could rise and move you right out of the market place. At the present time there are a lot of homes for sale on the market so go pick out the cream of the crop and make your offer you just might get the home of your dreams for the price you want to pay.

I think that Mr. Zorn hit the nail on the head with "a home is more than just an investment." If buyers would come off the fences about "loosing" money the market could potentially be stabalized. I commend him for that statement. It has always been my opinion that a house is your "home". IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY FOR IT, BUY IT! When the market is down you can live in your home, you can't live in your stocks and people still invest! The NATIONAL rate of annual appreciation is 5-9% since they started keeping track sometime in the 60's I believe. The stock market averages returns of 10%.

Wait a couple months. The price will keep going down. There is no appreciation at this time. Plan on losing 5-10% a year for the next 1-2 yrs. I wouldnt buy unless the home was 20-30% below the lowest sales in the neighborhood

The gated community off Green River has a wonderful recreation center. The homeowner's dues are well worth it there. Sierra Del Oro is a nice area because the landscaping is more mature, the Mello Roos/Special Assessments are mostly paid off and it is currently the closest proximity to Orange County.

I don't think that the value movement will be much different from South Corona/Eagle Glen/Dos Lagos area. Who knows? Maybe they'll have a tunnel through the mountain to Orange County in another 10 or 20 years:) Currently, there are a lot of high end office buildings going up in that vicinity. Since Corona still has a very low vacancy rate for office space, that should keep that area from declining faster than any others.

The Real Estate decline is being fueled in large part, by the many people who bought in 2005 & 2006 with creative adjustable mortgages. Now, they are starting to adjust upward raising monthly payments up to several hundreds of dollars. The tightening in the lending industry is making it harder for people to qualify for a loan. Many of those with the adjustable loans planned on refinancing. They are finding that they no longer qualify. Foreclosure.com reported that the number of NODs filed in Corona (notice of default) have almost quadrupled in the last month. There are a lot of "short sales" and "repos" currently for sale.

One of the things that happened in the 90s was that a lot of jobs were shut down, & people lost homes back to the banks. The banks lose around $80,000 when they take back a home and re-market it. That's why they agree to "short sales" (where they accept less than is owed for the home of someone who has demonstrated that they have no way of making the payments for various reasons). If the bank takes the home back, they want to sell it as quickly as possible while losing the least amount of money. Without personal attachment /pride issues, they tend to make whatever adjustments are necessary to sell the home. This means they usually clean it up, paint, carpet and replace any unworking appliances. Then they market it at current market value. If it doesn't sell, they will make periodic price adjustments until it does. When the neighbor puts their home on the market, the bank sale is one of the "comps" demonstrating the value of a home in that neighborhood. The neighbor, then, must price their home accordingly to get it sold. The law of supply and demand is in effect: Out of 250-300 homes for sale in any given month in an area, there are only 0-6 sales. Those who must sell will lower their price and those who don't have to sell will remain.

The question to ask yourself is "is this a home that I plan to stay in for at least 8 years?" If so, you should have no worries. The Realtor helping you with the sale should do a "CMA" showing you the prices of homes in the same area that are comparable in size, age, lot size, etc. It should include homes listed, pending and sold within the last few months. This is how you figure out what the current market value for your home is. If the home needs work (not because you don't like the owner's choices in carpet color, etc), you would usually offer less than market value minus repair costs because you will have to live through the repairs. Another consideration is whether it is a short sale, repo, or if the owner has equity enough to sell the home, pay costs of @7% of sales price and pay off any loans.

Interest rates are still historically good. You will have a tax deduction as a homeowner, and if you plan on staying in the home for a while, the cycle will eventually go the other way and you will come out ahead. The best way to get the best price on the home is to be fully approved for a loan by a reputable lender (contingent only on house and appraisal,) before even making an offer. This puts you in the position of a "cash buyer". The other ingredient to having the strongest position is to have a Realtor representing you that is a full time Realtor. Those who combine selling with lending, or who are part timers, often make mistakes when filling out the offer. This is quickly apparent to the listing agent who, if experienced, may feel less than confident about the chances of completing the transaction and may be less cooperative in finding a win win solution to bridge you and the seller.

The prices in Corona, and in all of California will continue to drop. Corona’s average price is down 13.8% for the year. There are over 2,400 homes active on the market, and only 89 sold in September. The rapid rate of the price decline will slow, but I would plan on prices going down another 10% to 20% or more over the next year or two. I do not foresee a significant difference in the price decrease from Sierra del Oro (West Corona) to that of South Corona. The key to your situation is to buy a home at a discount below current market rates. This is an excellent move up market. Is the home you are considering now a bank owned property, short sale or in foreclosure? If you buy at a discount, and you can afford the payment- Buy it. A home for your family is more than just an “investment”. If you like the area and community, get the best deal you can and move in. If you purchase at a discount you will have some room to absorb the continued down turn in the market. Good luck. Visit us at http://www.ZECRealty.com