Harrison K. Long, REALTOR, Broker, expert negotiator

Our Orange County, California, communities with homes for sale under $500k are very busy these days with homebuyers.

Irvine has 167 homes now for sale in this range ... amazing that huge number 204 homes are now pending or in escrow.

Aliso Viejo has 77 homes now for sale at this range, with huge number of pending sales at 166.

Costa Mesa has 63 homes for sale at this range ... 104 now pending and in escrow.

Lake Forest has 74 homes for sale at this range ... with incredibly high number at 198 pending and escrow.

Mission Viejo has 128 homes now for sale at this range .. with 203 now pending sales and in escrow.

What this means ~ Buyers are busy at Orange County, and the housing market for homes under $500K is very hot.

We believe this is because of continued buyer demand, asking prices much lower than 2 years ago, good mortgage interest rates, better affordability for those who can qualify, and first time homebuyer tax credit, which expires November 30, 2009.

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Contact us if you have questions about the Orange County Real Estate Market. Thanks. Harrison K. Long, Explore Group, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.

• Buyer Opportunities are improving these days at the Orange County luxury home markets.

291 of the Orange County homes now on the market priced at $1 million or higher in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Dana Point have had price reductions during the past 30 days.

• Orange County homes for sale priced at $1 million and above received an average price reduction in more than 85 percent of the situations.

See Orange County Register article ~ Are Luxury Home Prices Collapsing? (click here).

The current expected market time for Orange County homes priced between $250,000 and $500,000 is about one month, and market time for all of O.C.'s active inventory is less than 3 months.

High end homes take longer to sell. Orange County Homes priced at $1 million or more will take at least seven months or more to sell.

• Recent price reductions in luxury coastal neighborhoods appear to be because homeowners are concerned about the economy, high unemployment in California, the Orange County housing market, slow selling of these homes, and that they need to offer better value for buyers.

The Orange County luxury housing market has distressed situations ... like other markets ... including short sales and foreclosures.

• Distressed situations at Orange County luxury homes do exist.

At the high end OC housing market, 9.2 percent of active for sale inventory between $1 million and $1.5 million is distressed. For homes listed between $1.5 million and $2 million, 5.6 percent is distressed.

Example: A distressed home is now listed for sale at Newport Coast ~ check out Shoreridge at Pelican Crest, Newport Coast (click here) ~ REO bank owned and listed at $5,100,000. ~ located at one of the luxurious neighborhoods in Southern California ~ with six bedrooms and seven baths, 7300 SF interior size.

• If you are motiviated and qualified to a buy high end luxury home at Orange County ... your opportunity time is now or will be coming soon for you.

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Harrison K. Long, Explore Group, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.

Loan Modifications Scams have popped up in California big time. Our state Attorney General posts articles at its site with news on this ~ and how to Avoid Loan Modification Scams (click here).

Five Tips to Avoid Being Scammed

1. Don't pay up-front fees.

• Foreclosure consultants are prohibited by law from collecting money before services are performed.

2. Don't ignore letters from your lender or loan servicer.

• Responding to those letters is your best bet for saving your house.

3. Don't transfer title or sell your house to a "foreclosure rescuer."

• Beware! This is a scam to convince homeowners they can stay in the home as renters and buy their home back later. It might also be part of a fraudulent bankruptcy filing. Either way, a scammer can then evict the victim and take the home.

4. Don't pay your mortgage payments to anyone other than your lender or loan servicer.

• Mortgage consultants often keep the money for themselves.

5. Never sign any documents without reading them first.

• Many homeowners think that they are signing documents for a loan modification or for a new loan to pay off the mortgage they are behind on. Later, they discover that they actually transferred ownership of their home to someone who is now trying to evict them.

See my article ~ Foreclosure Prevention and Loan Modification Help The Right Way ~ If You Are Upside Down on Your Mortgage.

See article at CA Attorney General web site ~ Five Tips to Avoid Being Scammed (click here).

Other article ~ Brown Directs Foreclosure Consultants to Register with his Office and Post $100,000 Bond.

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Harrison K. Long, Explore Group, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.

Tustin Ranch, California ~

beautiful residential community located north and adjacent to Irvine, part of The Irvine Ranch and land preserve until creation of residential communtity in 1986 by The Irvine Company ~ about 4,000 homes.

Buyer and investor demand for homes at TUSTIN RANCH, CA, has been increasing.

There are now 48 homes under contract with pending escrow and backup.

There are now 65 homes active for sale at Tustin Ranch.

Increased buyer demand shown by recent sales and pendings is pressuring the regular for sale equity market.

Realtors need more homes to show and sell at Tustin Ranch.

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Market saturation (absorption) ~ number of homes sold during past thirty days (31) as compared to current listings (65) ~ TUSTIN RANCH homes on the market should sell in less than 3 months.

A balanced market time (absorprtion rate) would be 5 to 6 months, so Tustin Ranch is trending toward a home seller's market.

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For your Tustin Ranch home and property search, click here. If you have questions about Tustin Ranch and Orange County real estate, please contact us.

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Harrison K. Long, Explore Group, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.

The California Association of Realtors has offered since April 2, 2009, a mortgage protection Plan (insurance program) for first time homebuyers.

CAR has purchased and provided about 400 such insurance policies for first-time homebuyers at no cost to the buyers. This can provide up to $1,500 a month in mortgage assistance for six months if the buyer lose their jobs.

CAR has said it use $1 million that its members California Association of Realtors had donated to a charitable fund earmarked for affordable housing, which was to buy the one-year mortgage payment protection policies for about 3,000 first-time homebuyers.

The CAR program has been successful, and it has now received a $420,000 grant from the National Association of Realtors to extend the program after initial funding is gone.

Qualifications for CAR Mortgage Insurance program ~

• Buyers must not have owned a home in the last three years
• Escrow must have opened on or after April 2, 2009, and closed before Dec. 31.
• Buyers must use a California Realtor
• Purchase of a property in California.
• Person cannot be self-employed.

See the CAR article ~ More than 380 first-time buyers approved for MPP

I am proud to be a member of California Assoc. of Realtors and that our organization is providing a real benefit for first time homebuyers ~ and that this won't cost taxpayers a nickel.

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Harrison K. Long, Explore Group, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.