Vicki Lloyd ~ MBA, ACRE, e-PRO, Realtor Lake Forest and South Orange County, CA

The September closed sales number of 47 properties was 19% below the number of sales in September 2008, when 58 were sold. The good news was that the average price per square foot only fell 4% since then! There may be a few more closings reported in the next few days, so I may update this to show the late closings.

Bank owned sale $120K

Read the rest of this report.....

The numbers are in, and the real estate market in Lake Forest, California is definitely more active this year than last year when only 28 properties were sold. Sales more than doubled with 69 closed sales in Lake Forest for the month of March 2009. The prices ranged from a low of $122,000 for a one-bedroom condo, up to $711,000 for a 3 bedroom lake front home.

The average price (add up all the sold prices, and divide by the 69 properties that sold) was $339,168, or $231 per square foot. This was down almost 20% from the average price of $412,000 and $276 per square foot in March 2008. The house pictured below is the closest to the average, but really closed at $325,000 after being reduced from an original list of $379,000.

The median price of the closed sales was $370,000, at $323.14/square foot! (To find the median, list all properties in order of sale price, and find the middle value, which was the #35 property.) That property was a bank-owned home and was listed for $325,500 and sold in 7 days! Note to bargain hunters - just because it is bank-owned, doesn't mean that other people might not want to bid the price up!

Search all 11,500+ homes in Orange County (some aren't even distressed!)

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The market continues to be busy in the lower end of the price range, and bank-owned and short sales are making up about 61% of all closed sales in Orange County.

Today, there are a total of 11,577 homes for sale in Orange County. Of those, 4783 (42%) are labeled as either bank owned or short sales. Of the 4363 that are currently in escrow, 2925 (68%) are distressed. In the last 30 days, 1018 (61%), of the 1653 closings were distressed.

Buyers are looking for the best values that they can find, and the best priced homes are usually bank owned. Short sales are closing more often than in the past, but it is still frustrating for a buyer to make an offer, then have to wait weeks or months to get an answer from the lender. It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the President's new stimulus plan will have.

The latest foreclosure listings are now posted on my other blog for selected cities or areas in South Orange County. If you are looking in an area that I haven't included, please let me know and I'll run the list just for you!

Yesterday I found in my mailbox an official looking letter from "Property Tax Assessment Adjusters, LLC". In addition to a lot of legalese type verbage, it said:

IMPORTANT : Upon a preliminary check your assessed value appears to be higher than your current market value. You may obtain property tax relief, even if you have received a reduction for a previous tax year.

For a fee of only $93, they will "advocate as my agent for the purposes of filing an application, answering all questions pertinent to the inquiry, attending a hearing, and accepting a modified assessment through the Assessor or the Assessment Appeals Board."

Our former Governor, and current Attorney General, Jerry Brown, warned today that many of these companies are complete scams and will only take your money and disappear while you patiently wait for your tax adjustment.

This is something that most homeowners can do for themselves, by contacting their county's assessor's office and asking about it. There are a few forms to fill out, and it helps if your local real estate agent can provide a list of the current comps (call me if you are in Orange County!), but the proceedure is very simple and shouldn't cost you more than the price of a stamp!

The Orange County Tax Assessor's website has a good explanation of the process, and forms available to download.

The annual Lake Forest Keys Boat Parade around the lake was held on Saturday, December 13. About 25 boat owners, battled the cool breezes and sprinkles off and on all day, but still turned out to show off their decorations on Saturday evening.

Several lakefront homeowners who were having parties at their homes, offered to provide judges for the decorating contest. (This also makes a good party game!) At the end of the evening, a few judges forgot to call in their results, so the final tabulation had to wait until Sunday morning, but the winners were announced, and prizes delivered by Sunday evening.

The grand prize (also known as the "Clark Griswald" award for most lights) went to John & Evy Gasca, on Arrowhead Lane. Their grandson, Bryan, gets most of the credit for the design and decorating of their boat. The "Most Creative" boat, was designed and decorated by Rex Buxton, from Huron Lane, for his very realistic looking ‘57 Chevy in an authentic turquoise and white combination. Kathy Griffen's boat, from Ponchartrain Lane, won the "Most Festive" category - based on the boat's passengers appearing to be having the most fun. (No, ladies, this is not Mardi Gras - you didn't have to flash anyone to win!)

Thanks go out to the Lake Forest Keys Association as well as to Keys resident, Tina Ross at "Our Place Restaurant" for her donation of gift certificates for prizes, and to our local music diva, Kim Beaney, of Superior Lane, for allowing us to include her song on the video.

Wouldn't you love to live in this great neighborhood and participate in the fun next year?

Check the current list of 12 homes for sale, ranging from $569,000 up to $1,650,000.