Jennifer,
Prices are still going down, but the question is, will the rate stay low. If you can find the house that you can afford right now, buy it. I was in Anaheim today to show properties and I found the properties in the area in the prices 300k-400k that are in good neighborhood and excellent condition.

Good luck,
Charita King 562-276-8681

Fri Jul 4 2008, 00:27

You know, no one really knows where the market will be in several months or years. We do know that is is a buyers market right now, with low interest rates and sellers that are willing to negotiate! If you find a good house, at a great price now is the time to buy.

Sat Jun 21 2008, 20:58

Hi Jennifer,
Wow, some discussion you've solicited here.....I think a couple of these folks forgot your question! That is a great question and there is not really a right answer. Orange County Real Estate is very strange. It's not the price so much that is going to rise or fall but supply and demand. Many of the areas that are being hit the hardest had the highest demand several years ago and the prices where driven through the roof due to a very low barrier of entry...ie, no down payment, no income documentation...etc...

What I tell all of my clients is that if you find your "Perfect Home" - i mean you absolutely fall in love with it, and the mortgage payment is affordable for you......There's your perfect price. Real Estate will always be a great investment if you're in it for the equity - This market will produce great returns in the next 7-10 years, you will not find a single real estate professional or economist that will argue that.

Hope that helps :) - Good luck with your home search!

Mon Jun 16 2008, 08:28

Hi there Jennifer, that is the million dollar question.There are so many factors that will come into the picture here such as
Location that you are looking to buy.
Price Ranges,
How much of a mortgage you will need.
What will be the Interest rates be for that loan
Levels of Inventory
Levels of Suppy vs demand
Market values
How will the US econony be?

No body is really qualified to give you an accurate answer. People can look into a crystal ball. There may be a few out there who think that they have a crystal ball.
General rule of economics would tell you to buy low and sell high.
There are homes selling now contrary to what you may think if they are in alignment. If you give me a city or Zip code I can pull up all the market data for you to show you activity levels.
Some ecomomicts predict a further drop and some predict 7% interst rate by end of 2008 so this could all nullify the best time to buy scenario. There are some amazing buys out there for savvy buyers.
Ask yourself is it better to buy when less people are bying than then everyone is buying?? Why?

If you would like some real time market information on OC or any particular city you are considering feel free to drop me a line and I can help you.

KInd Regards
Michael Barron
Real Estate Consultant
michael-barron@scbglobal.net

Sat Jun 7 2008, 13:46

Markus - You don't have a way to contact you anonymously, but I spoke with my lender yesterday about the buying situation you commented on. He says you could get a loan using the low conforming limit of $417,000 plus your $50,000 down bringing your upper price point to $467,000 to stay within your budget. There are 17 detached homes in Lake Forerst with 4bd/2ba to choose from that fit this price point. This is assuming that you have good credit.

If you would like to speak with Nate Lindsey (he is the same lender that saved the client I mentioned below the additional $500 per month), you can reach him at (714) 394-0506 or by email at nathaniel.j.lindsey@bankersfundingcompany.com. I've found email to be the easiest way to communicate with him. Bankers Funding is an affiliate of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and First Team. (Sorry, we have to disclose affiliates...) Let him know I referred you.

After you have spoken with him, feel free to contact me about those homes or to get together and talk about the current market in Lake Forest and the history of it.

Thu Jun 5 2008, 10:40

Eric - Again, until computers grow legs, have ESP, knock on doors & talk to people, my information will never be a click away. A good Realtor knows which homes use to be on the market and are still available, are currently on the market and which ones will be coming on the market in their particular neighborhoods. Computers can only report what people enter into it.

Markus - Let me try and end this confusion for you.

Imagine real estate inventory as a triangle. Lower priced homes on the bottom, the highest priced homes on the top. This same inventory triangle is also the buyer pool. There are more lower priced homes than higher priced ones and more buyers able to purchase in the lower range than the upper range.

Does it cost more or less money to advertise and market a home at the top or bottom of the triangle? It costs more money (costs are always a consideration in the pricing of any product) to find the fewer buyers for a higher priced property than it does for a lower one which is why commissions are set at a percentage of the sale price. Our costs in marketing (for buyers and sellers) go up and down depending on where the property falls in the triangle and how hard we have to work to find that one buyer who is willing to purchase that home. Our legal liability, dollar wise also moves up and down according to this triangle.

And yes, I said marketing for buyers. You guys (and gals) don't just walk into our doors and choose us. We have to market, spend time doing Open Houses, get listings so you call on our signs etc... (All of which have a cost associated with it.) You won't call if you don't know us, just like any business.

There are also less sales available the further up you move up on the triangle. Where an agent working in a mid to low area might sell 20 homes a year because the volume of sales is greater, an agent working the high end might only sell 2-4 per year since the volume is lower. It's easier to fish when the lake is stocked...

Why not take an hourly rate? Most people won't pay as they go, this model has been tried before and it didn't stick. Most buyers choose to pay the commissions or "cost of a buyers agent" through escrow as a portion of the sales price so that this amount can be financed into their loan. That's why, when someone pays all cash for a home or has a substantial downpayment, they write a separate check for commissions. It lowers their tax rate a bit since it isn't tacked on to the sales price.

Commissions are the costs paid for marketing and advertising. Period. Everytime you click on a property on any of these sites, including this one you are receiving the benefit of commissions that someone else paid. That is what keeps all of these sites up and running and full of data.

Your job as a buyer is to find an agent that also adds the VALUE of helping you gain knowledge about the market, having the home inspected, deciphering the disclosures and helping you structure your offer so that you and your deposit are protected during the discovery period of escrow while still getting accepted. You agent should also be able to point you to great lenders, home inspectors etc... all of which save you more than the commission spent.

I had a client that bought a home for $515,000 in Costa Mesa recently. He was going to use a friend of his who was a lender. I asked him to double check with my lender before he closed on his home. My lender was able to save him $500 per month on his payment ($6,000 per year). He is pretty happy with that service.

I will use this buyer's situation to show you how the commission is broken down on the buy side of a typical purchase.

The seller was offering 2.5% - $12,875
Take 6% right off the top of that which goes into the marketing and advertising pot for my company on every sale made, buy or sell side - $12,102.50
My split of that is 80% or $9,682. This is the amount I would receive from this sale. I am responsible for taxes, insurance and anything else associated with earning money in the U.S. Take that out to the tune of about $2,420.50 and that leaves me with about $7,261.50.

Out of that remaining $7,000 or so dollars, comes my actual costs. Gas driving him to see the homes, time spent calling the neighborhood, previewing property that matches what he wanted, networking with other agents about what they have coming on the market, sending him properties on a regular basis, etc...

I worked with this particular buyer for 3 years before he found what he wanted and was comfortable buying. He would have paid substantially more if I worked at an hourly rate.

I hope that helps you to understand why real estate agents are paid the way they are.

Thu Jun 5 2008, 10:13

Hey Tony,
As much as I'd like to help you out with your mortgage, I'm already helping out another guy with his.
If I move in the future, it will be to a nicer and bigger home to rent, or I may buy.
Thanks.

Wed Jun 4 2008, 17:28

Hi Sandra,

Your statement about the out of pocket costs again is confusing to me.
Costs don't justify the price for your service.
Instead the VALUE provided by you should support what you charge.
What you're saying is not unlike a milk farmer justifying why a gallon of milk should be $10.00 due to all of his operation costs, vet bills, cost of feed, volume produced, weather impact, transport costs, bottling, equipment expense, etc. (and I like milk!). I just don't consider realtor services to be a cost plus market. Markets with inefficient cost structures usually get rubbed out by more efficient practices or technologies. The fees I pay a realtor should be representative of the value that you provide me as a consumer, not as a function of the costs you incur providing it.

For example, I'd be willing to pay a realtor for the time they invest in helping me find a house to live in, including all the paperwork, etc. (i.e. work that I don't want to do). Just like, for example, I may not want to build a deck in my backyard myself, so I'll pay a good carpenter to do it for me - and pay for materials and his labour per hour to complete the work. And so it should be with realtors. I'd pay a good realtor $40.00 an hour for their work to help me buy the home I want. But what I, and I presume, many consumers find troubling is how realtor fees instead end up getting to $10,000 and $15,000 based on the sales price of the house. Other than "that's the way it's always been", please explain how this arrangement makes any sense? I find it hard to believe that a realtor's efforts (and operation costs) are any different for selling a $650K home verses a $400K home. So why would the commission paid out to a realtor be $19,500 for one and $12,000 for the other, as an example? That doesn't make sense either.

It would be more straightforward if realtors charged an hourly fee for their work with clients.
For the work the realtors do, in my opinion, the commission arrangement is just inefficient for consumers of real estate.

Wed Jun 4 2008, 17:20

Hi Marcus

I just bought a 4 bedroom home in Lake Forest that I would be happy to lease to you for $2,400 a month. If you would be interested in paying my mortgage for me, let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

Wed Jun 4 2008, 14:48

Hello Eric.....and Jennifer (the inspiration for this thread)

I make the MLS available FREE OF CHARGE to my clients and everyone else.

Visit Official OC Home Search.com @ www.officialochomesearch.com

Technology won't replace ALL real estate agents...but it will replace ALL real estate agents that DO NOT use technology.

Clients enjoy looking for properties on line and I PREFER that they do!! When they find something they like I will be available to educate them and answer their questions regarding:

1) short sales vs REOs vs auction vs FSBO vs probate vs living trusts

2) writing up an offer and basing that offer on intensive homework..tax roll searches..comps...etc.

3) what it means to buy a property "as-is" and all of it's implications

4) visiting properties in person

5) legal disclosures and paperwork

6) unpermitted add-ons and code violations

7) Mello Roos assessments and HOA fees

8) transfer of tax bases

9) 1031 property exchanges

10) loan point buydowns

11) soil and engineering reports

12) property liens and title reports

13) government siezures and imminent domain

14) reverse mortgages and senior living

15) Jessica's Law

16) price-per-square foot data

17) property boundaries and easements

18) school district information

19) crime statisctics

20) SHALL I GO ON??????????????

It's quite clear that ERIC in Chicago thinks that most people are like him and don't work and have all day to post threads......and surf the net and become armchair experts like ERIC.

The reality TECHNOLOGY + REALTOR = SUCCESS!!

Welcome the reality ERIC>

Kurt @ Century 21 Orange County
kurt.century21@yahoo.com

Tue Jun 3 2008, 18:06

As a consumer, I'm not at all interested in IT administration or upkeep charges or what dues Realtors pay and what that money is purportedly used for. I'm interested in value.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looks to me like you're interested in "free".

Tue Jun 3 2008, 18:01

Not for ever.

Your information will eventually be available with a few mouse clicks. Bet on it.

Tue Jun 3 2008, 15:02

Than you are missing out on a lot of available homes.

Tue Jun 3 2008, 14:48

I don't knock on doors. I click. It's really hard work, but I am up to it.

Tue Jun 3 2008, 14:38

Markus - Just because you are uninterested in where the fees go doesn't mean that the costs don't exist and doesn't change the fact that it comes out of my pocket year after year. It doesn't change the fact that I have to go out and find, through marketing $$$ and elbow grease, these listings that you think you should have for free (which you do have access to for free because we Realtors agreed to put it out there to benefit our clients.)

No one is stopping you from doorknocking the neighborhood you want to buy in for your own inventory... It's what we do everyday, yet you want access to it, unfettered, off of our hardwork, time & expense.

A monopoly? We have at least three different boards that serve Orange County alone . Maybe you could start your own, I'm sure a fourth could find a home here. Then when you've put in 60+ hours a week compiling the information and finding the listings, paying a full time staff at your own expense, you can give it away for free because, after all, your own gas is free, food is free and the mortgage fairy will take care of your house payments for you when you realize that it actually takes work & money to keep this data manageable and current.


Sellers choose to use Realtors because of the incredible marketing tool we created. (The MLS) You don't have to become a member of the board when you get your real estate license. Many agents choose not to because they don't want to pay the fees associated with it.


Who is N.A.R. blocking from listings & websites? Unaltered Information? What exactly is altered? The information in the MLS comes from tax records and sellers...it's not a work of fiction.

Tue Jun 3 2008, 14:16

John wrote:

"I'd be happy to talk in specifics. I think you are a slimly and unethical salesperson, and it would be unwise to call your number and ask for real estate advice. Welcome to the internet"

Need John say anymore about himself! Notice his lack of data!

If you would like FREE MLS access go to:
Official OC Home Search.com
www.officialochomesearch.com

Tue Jun 3 2008, 12:53