Whenever the U.S. economy is booming, there are naysayers who view it as terrible news. It’s not surprising since economists can disagree about just about anything and point to statistics that prove their point.
A recent CNBC report provides a golden example. It’s one that, if you’re inclined to think it’s time to sell your Costa Mesa house anyway, would reinforce that thought. It ran under the gloomy headline “Housing is providing another in a line of troubling signs”—the signs were those “pointing to an economic downturn.”
The report elaborated on a finding that compared home sales statistics from a recent period with those that preceded coming recessions. To the analyst author (Fed economist William Emmons), the result indicated that an
We are built on a philosophy of Heritage & Hustle L3 is a full service real estate agency with a regional office located in the heart of #CostaMesa, offering a wide-array of custom services to meet their clients’ needs with roots in the community since 1976. It’s L3 mission to provide trusted, convenient, responsive service to ensure clients enjoy their real estate experience. L3 was originally formed to offer personal, concierge-level service as an alternative to the large, nationally based real estate companies. From its small beginnings of only two employees, L3 has grown to a full staff of 20 serving over 300 clients a
The text that accompanies your listing as it appears in the Costa Mesa MLS listings is called upon to do more heavy lifting than you might think. If it reads something like: THREE BEDROOM ranch style Costa Mesa charmer with 2 ½ baths, attractive kitchen, and fully landscaped backyard… —then it will only be serving half-duty. A blurb like this does succeed in emphasizing basic nuts-and-bolts details, but every Costa Mesa listing already includes the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and the rest. What’s missing is the story part of the story—the human element that strikes a chord with a reader’s own personal experience. It’s the pathway to emotions that astute marketers strive to reach. Successfully employed, it adds power to any Costa Mesa listing. One
With home prices and interest rates on the rise, you’re likely to assume that the cost of that next Costa Mesa home you’re thinking about buying has made it a financial stretch—especially compared with “the good old days.” But news stories tend to omit the effect of rising incomes and actual inflation on the real cost of a home in today’s market—which turns out to be something of a bargain! A recent calculation may not hold true for everyone, of course—nor does it apply to the cost of every Costa Mesa home—but the details make sense when you think about them. The comparisons are from a study by Zillow Research on housing affordability across the U.S. Researchers were looking into how much havoc the rise in U.S. mortgage interest rates has wreaked on
The experts seem to have gotten it slightly wrong. Costa Mesa real estate observers always expect a surge in activity when the spring buying season gets underway—an annual phenomenon that’s frequently accompanied by an uptick in prices paid. Because of optimism about the national economy and the ongoing nationwide shortage of homes for sale, a continuation of last year’s gradual rise in residential prices had been what the experts expected. Last week, if CNBC’s Realty Check has it right, those predicted “gradual” price rises took an abrupt lurch upward. “Home prices just took the biggest jump in four years” was the headline, backed up by the new numbers: a surge in March’s U.S. median home prices of 8.9% compared with last year. Costa Mesa homeowners
“Circumlocution” —the hefty word for “beating around the bush”—describes what the national
real estate news feeds have been practicing for a while when it comes to the state of the marketplace. Until recently, most analysts seemed reluctant to call this spring’s U.S. lineup a “sellers market”—perhaps because the phrase might discourage would-be buyers. That began to change last month.
As the week came to a close, Costa Mesa homeowners who’ve been putting off their own decisions about whether to list their properties could find ample reasons for acting. Not only was that “sellers market” label showing up more often, but a host of supporting reasons had appeared in month-end reports:
Compared with the last quarter of 2017, the percentage of
Fantastic Mesa North Home in Quiet Cul-De-Sac! - $775,000
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
Parking Spaces: 2
Year Built: 1965
Garage Size: 2 Car
School District: Newport Mesa
Square Footage: 1242
Agent Name: Larry Weichman
Broker: The L3
MLS #: PW18069036
Price: $775,000
3012 Buchanan Way
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
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Costa Mesa real estate agents are like everyone else when it comes to Easter Sunday. There is the holiday part, the spiritual part, and the kids-searching-for-hidden-Easter-eggs part. The day can also serve as a sort of mental signpost that reads “Spring is here!” (or something like that). When I think back to major events that happened around this time in years past—like memorable spring vacations—Easter is usually the clearest mental reference point: This happened just before Easter or that happened a couple of weeks after Easter. I bet I’m not alone in that.
But for Costa Mesa real estate agents, this time of year has some other, distinctly professional overtones. It’s the time of year when keeping a clear calendar becomes more necessary than
Amazon—or, more precisely, the Amazon phenomenon—is bound to have an increasing impact on Costa Mesa residential neighborhood preferences. The connection hasn’t yet been widely acknowledged, but it’s hard to deny the logic behind it.
The connection I’m pointing to isn’t the web behemoth’s rumored expansion into real estate. That was quietly floated last summer—and just as quickly abandoned. Without ceremony, Amazon had debuted a “Hire a Realtor” page under a “Coming soon” blurb—but took it down the next day. The Seattle retailer has been mum about the reason for the misfire—but it could well be its use without permission of the NAR’s “Realtor®” designation (it’s a registered trademark).
Nor does a prediction of an increasing “Amazon effect” on
