Boker's Blog

“Glass Half Full” Perspective

LOS ANGELES TIMES REAL ESTATE SECTION 8/14/2011
Michael Hiltzik
“Foreclosure reforms may be coming to a head”
According to Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times writes, we are now starting to see “glimmers of optimism that solutions to the crisis might finally be emerging.” Several initiatives have been proposed that discuss reforming the entire foreclosure process. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and his group of 50 state attorneys general, proposed a 27-page foreclosure reform that may be considered to be too lenient. Miller and his group are “under pressure to issue a final proposal around Labor Day.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER REAL ESTATE SECTION 8/12/2011
Kelli Hart Kehler
“Laguna Beach Home sales up 29% over year”
Laguna beach home buying patterns showed a 29% increase in home buying for July 2011, compared to a year a go. That puts the median selling price of Laguna Beach at $1,366,000. This is a 210% increase vs. the rest of the county. A year ago Laguna beach was only up 150% from the rest of the County median selling price.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 8/8/2011
Jonathan Lansner
“Home sales Hot only at the Beach”
“It’s hot near the ocean, real estate speaking, as beach communities are only neighborhoods seeing home-sales growth… For the 22 business days ending July 22—freshest numbers from DataQuick—our region by region analysis of local real estate trends find that Orange County home buying market is improving.”

The number of homes sold in the beach cities of Orange County is up 10% from a year ago.

“Glass Half Empty” Perspective

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 8/16/2011
Jeff Collins
“Numbers no rosier even after subsidy’s effects expire”
Both sales volume and median price are down 2.8% compared to a year ago, foreclosures are down 3.5% but the “results don’t look good.” Chief Economist for the State Realtors Association, Leslie Appleton-Young, added, “Economic uncertainty caused hesitation among buyers.”

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER REAL ESTATE SECTION 8/14/2011
Marilyn Kalfus
“Half of Homes sold are Distressed”
“One out of every two Orange County homes sold in July was either a bank-owned property or a short sale.” Distressed homes represent 32.6% of 11,103 homes listed. The median estimated value of all Orange County homes decreased by 6.3% in this second quarter of 2011.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 8/13/2011
Jeff Collins
“Home sales dollars down for 2011 MLS says”
“Orange county home sellers fetched $6.9 Billion in combined sales during the first half of 2011, which is down nearly 11% from the first half of 2010. Falling sales and lower prices are one of the main causes of the sudden drop in home selling revenue.”

The number of homes sold this first 6 months of 2011 dropped by 8.1%, from 14,094 homes sold to 12,956. Average prices are down 2.8% and 46% of the homes sold this year so far were “bank-owned repossessed homes, short sales, or some other type of distressed property.” This is up by 3.3% compared to 2010.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER BUSINESS SECTION 8/11/2011
Jeff Collins
“Many homes underwater”
“One out of every six homes with a mortgage in Orange County was underwater this spring, meaning the owners owed more for the mortgage than their homes were worth, according to a Zillow report out Tuesday. The median estimated value of all U.S. homes fell 6.2% in the second quarter this year compared to a year ago.”