Harrison K. Long, REALTOR, Broker, expert negotiator

One of our buyer clients asked whether the for sale inventory of homes in their range at South Orange County is good, and that's an important question.

Homebuyers here at Irvine and South Orange County, CA, simply don't have enough regular equity listings and REO homes to preview and buy.

Last year we had too many for sale listings relative to market. Times changed, and now we don't have enough homes for sale.

Investor buyers have made a serious buyer move and big impact on the market. Homebuyers are now struggling to find good equity and REO homes to buy (especially priced under $600k).

"Short listings" (some people call these "short sales" when we know that most are not actually for sale and won't sell, but rather they go away by foreclosure or loan mods) are clogging up the market and not real buyer opportunities.

Here's summary of inventory information for our local markets for the thirty days ending June 20, 2009.

Aliso Viejo, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 70 homes
• Active now for sale - 126 homes (less than 3 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 350 homes.
• Regular equity listings - 66 homes
• REO bank owned active - 5
• Short listings active - 61

Costa Mesa, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 59 homes
• Active now for sale - 176 homes (less than 3 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 295 homes
• Regular equity listings - 117 homes
• REO bank owned active - 9 homes
• Short listings active - 50 homes

Irvine, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 190 homes
• Active now for sale - 569 homes (about 3 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 845 homes for sale
• Regular equity listings - 431 homes
• REO bank owned active - 12 homes
• Short listings active - 134

Ladera Ranch, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 43 homes
• Active now for sale - 129 homes (3 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 215 homes for sale.
• Regular equity listings - 69 homes
• REO bank owned active - 3 homes
• Short listings active - 59

Laguna Niguel, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 86 homes
• Active now for sale - 311 homes (less than 4 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 430 homes for sale.
• Regular equity for sale listings - 214 homes
• REO bank owned active - 15 homes
• Short listings active - 96

Lake Forest, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 98 homes
• Active now for sale - 160 homes (less than 2 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 490 homes for sale.
• Regular equity listings - 90
• REO bank owned active - 10 homes
• Short listings active - 71

Mission Viejo, CA

• Homes sold during past 30 days - 97 homes
• Active now for sale - 281 homes (less than 3 months inventory)
• Balanced market would be 485 homes for sale.
• Regular equity listings - 179 homes
• REO bank owned active - 10 homes
• Short listings active - 96

Five months supply of homes is considered a balanced housing market. Less than 5 months is a seller's market, and more than 5 months is a buyers' market.

We have less than 3 months inventory of homes for sale in almost all of these markets at South OC, California, which is not enough relative to high buyer demand.

There are good current local buyer opportunities. Homebuyers need Realtor advocates to dig for information and help them about the local housing markets and those opportunities.

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

www.BuyersExploreHomes.com ~ www.ExploreTheOC.com

Community with some of the most beautiful and pleasant weather, homes and beaches, in all of Southern California.

Local Housing Market Report ~

May 2009 activity ~ seeing signs of improvement as compared to May 2008.

Number of Homes listed for sale during May 2009 ~ 133 homes

Average list price during May 2009 ~ $2,200,615

Number of homes listed for sale during May 2008 - 127 homes

Homes sold during May 2009 ~ 50

Average sold price during May 2009 ~ $1,517,000

Homes sold during May 2008 ~ 47

Average sold price during May 2008 ~ $1,487,000

REO homes sold during May 2009 ~ 3

Ave. price of REO home sold May 2009 ~ $478K (3 homes sold)

REO homes sold during May 2008 ~ 1

Ave. price of REO home sold May 2008 ~ $640K (one home sold)

Short listings during May 2009 ~ 20

Short listings during May 2008 ~ 7

Expired and canceled Listings May 2009 ~ 49

Expired and canceled Listings May 2008 ~ 87

Newport Beach zip code 92660 during May 2009 had 30 homes sold, a 20% increase as compared to May 2008.

Zip code 92660 had median sold price of $866k during May 2009, which was 36% down from same time May 2008.

Interesting article about OC beach areas ~ OC California Weakest Housing Markets at the Beach ~ Jon Lanser, OCRegister.com, June 18, 2009

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

www.BuyersExploreHomes.com ~ www.ExploreTheOC.com

Seeing lots of articles about California home foreclosures and real estate activity in May ...

...so we turn to Google Alerts and find some links:

California Homeowners and Renters Fall through the Cracks ~ American Chronicle, June 25, 2009

Californians Get 90 Day Foreclosure Moratorium ~ Examiner.com, June 24, 2009

Consumer Group to Pressure Lenders to Help Homeowners ~ San Diego Tribune, June 24, 2009

Despite Foreclosures, Housing Markets Bump Along ~ ForeclosureS.com, June 23, 2009

We're In a Slow, But Definite Recovery Mode ~ SacramentoBee.com, June 22, 2009

Foreclosures Grind On ~ USA Today, June 16, 2009

7 Lenders Get Immunity from CA Foreclosure Prevention Law ~ Sacramento Bee, June 20, 2009

California Foreclosure Protection Act Takes Effect ~ National Mortgage Pro Magazine ~ June 20, 2009

California's Mortgage Crisis Now Beyong Sup-Prime ~ SacramentoBee.com, June 20, 2009

Foreclosure Heavy Inland Impire Weighs Heavily on CA Home Prices ~ LATimesBlogs.com, 6-18-09

U.S. Foreclosure Prevention Plan Gains Steam ~ WSJournal.com, June 18, 2009

Foreclosure Sales Climb Steadily in California ~ RIS Media, June 18, 2009

Foreclosures Rising in Santa Clara County ~ San Jose Mercury News, June 16, 2009

Foreclosure Freeze Prods Banks to Modify Loans ~ San Francisco Chronicle, June 16, 2009

Southern California home prices rise slightly in May ~ Los Angeles Times, June 17, 2009

US Treasury provides $3B more for foreclosure program ~ Associated Press, June 16, 2009

California Foreclosure Still Climbing - Central Valley Business Times, June 15, 2009

Prices of Foreclosure Listings Still Down in California - June 15, 2009

Helping Clients Find the Right Cure For Foreclosures ~ Realty Times, June 15, 2009 ~

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

www.BuyersExploreHomes.com ~ www.ExploreTheOC.com

Reduced home asking and sold prices here in Orange County, CA, have inspired significant buyer ativity ~ especially for those under $400K.

Here's a SNAPSHOT OF HOMEBUYER ACTIVITY IN ORANGE COUNTY ~ during the past thirty days ending June 10, 2009.

ALISO VIEJO ~

• 66 homes sold
• 32 of homes sold were under $400k (49% of market)
• Average time on market for sold homes was 57 days

ANAHEIM ~

• 193 homes sold
• 173 of those sold were under $400k (90% of market)
• Average time on market for solds was 52 days.

COSTA MESA ~

• 60 homes sold.
• 18 of those sold were under $400k (30% of market)
• Average time on market for sold homes was 56 days.

HUNTINGTON BEACH ~

• 148 homes sold.
• 34 of those sold were under $400k (23% of market)
• Average time on market for solds was 78 days.

IRVINE ~

• 191 homes sold.
• 30 of those were under $400k (16% of market)
• Average time on market for solds was 53 days.

LAKE FOREST ~

• 78 homes sold.
• 46 of those sold were under $400k (59% of market)
• Average time on market for sold was 54 days.

SANTA ANA ~ Orange County's largest city in terms of people and housing units.

• 247 homes sold in past 30 days.
• 228 of those sold were under $400k (93% of market)
• Average time on market for sold homes was 56 days.

TUSTIN ~

• 76 homes sold.
• 28 of those sold were under $400k (30% of market)
• Average time on market for sold homes was 70 days.

Investors have returned to the Orange County market and have been buying entry level homes.

Properties with prices under $400K are going fast ~ especially at Santa Ana and Anaheim where prices have dropped dramatically during the past two years. REO homes in this range are flying off the market.

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If you want information about Orange County homes and properties, please contact us. Thank you.

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

www.BuyersExploreHomes.com ~ www.ExploreTheOC.com

With some of the best residential neighborhoods and homes at South Orange County, Irvine is located adjacent to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, and within a 10 minute drive of the Pacific Ocean at Crystal Cove.

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Irvine is famous for its pleasant weather, lots of sunshine, award winning public schools, healthy business climate with good job opportunities, the University of California Irvine, wonderful parks and recreation areas, encouragement for business and development, diverse backgrounds of residents, celebration of freedoms, places for freedom of worship, and one of the safest cities in the United States.

LOCAL HOUSING MARKET REPORT ~

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• 594 homes were listed for sale here as of May 31, 2009 (down from April of this year and May of 2008)
• Average list price of home at Irvine then was $723,000.
• 262 of the homes listed are SFR detached, and others are attached homes or condos.
• Average time on market for listed homes is 89 days.
• 141 of the Irvine homes on the MLS are short listings not yet bank approved.
• 15 of the homes active on MLS are REO lender owned (decrease from April and last year).
• 196 Irvine homes were sold with escrow closed during May 2009.
• We have market saturation of 3.29 months of inventory of homes listed (lower than a balance, which is about 4.5 months).
• Average price of sold home during May 2009 was $706,600.
• Average time on market for sold homes was 55 days.
• 22 of the sold homes during May 2009, were REO or lender owned.
• 27 of the sold homes during May 2009, were short listings.
• There were 379 homes under contract, pending sale and in escrow as of May 31.

379 Irvine homes under contract is an amazing and high number of pendings as compared to only 594 homes listed for sale.

We need more homes to be listed for a balanced market.

People and investors are buying homes at Irvine. Investors and smart people continue to make positive decisions about value.

Information Source for this article: Southern California Multiple Listing Service.

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If you want information about Southern California and Orange County homes and properties, please contact us. Thank you. Harrison K. Long, Explore Group Properties, Coldwell Banker Previews, Irvine, CA.

www.BuyersExploreHomes.com - www.ExploreTheOC.com