Remember glass bricks? You seldom see them in newly constructed Costa Mesa residential settings, but in past eras, their unique properties made them popular with architects and interior designers. They were most prominent in structures built in the 1930s or ‘40s—as well as in later incarnations in the 80s by designers who sought to recapture their distinctive retro look.

Originally, glass bricks (the square ones are also called “blocks”) were favored for office building interiors where they were prized for their unique utility. When deployed in partitions or walls, you could see something through them, but couldn’t make out exactly what or who. They created a sort of public/private compromise that businesses found appropriate: there was…

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When the Forbes’ Advisor site posts a question in its top editorial slot, most Costa Mesa readers assume it will wind up being rhetorical. If an answer follows, it’s likely to be couched in ambiguities. But still, the question posed in the “Advisor” was intriguing: When Will Home Prices Become Affordable? The answer to that question has consequences for anyone looking to buy or sell Costa Mesa homes.

The opening paragraphs held no surprises (but also no answers). They reprised familiar observations about 2022’s skyrocketing interest rates and the pressure they put on the housing market. According to the authors, the pressure was “much-needed” because it acted to slow the rise in home prices, which had surpassed record highs. The reasons why the…

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A short article got Marketwatch.com’s month’s commentaries off to a fast start on February 1. It centered on a pair of numbers, and “What 2 Mortgage Numbers Say About Home Buying Right Now.”

Here are the numbers—followed by “what they say” (or don’t say):

  1. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s composite index tracks the weekly volume of home loan applications. Last week it fell a seasonally adjusted 9%.
  2. The average 30-year home loan interest rate was 6.19%—the lowest since early September.

In a considerable understatement, MarketWatch observed that the first number—the drop in applications— “does not appear to have been driven by a rise in rates.” Since the rates had gone in the opposite direction, that would seem to be an unexpectedly…

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Homeowners who plan to put their properties up for sale this year are discounting much of the pessimism that has percolated through the nation’s press in past months—possibly because they are staying well-informed about real estate in Costa Mesa. The sellers should be greatly encouraged by the report that headed The Hill’s ‘Finance’ section on Tuesday: “Survey finds Americans wildly misinformed on housing market.”

The facts it presents go to reinforce the prospects for this season’s Costa Mesa real estate market. It makes the case that fears that U.S. homebuyers are stampeding for the hills are “woefully” misplaced—on a variety of counts. Examples were cited from surveys by NerdWallet, the NAR®, and Redfin:

  • Twenty-eight million Americans…

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Another week has gone by with more than a few dour pronouncements about “the real estate market” as a whole—so future Costa Mesa buyers and sellers were offered a pleasant break with the publication of authoritative Freddie Mac’s counter-narrative on Thursday. Freddie is the government-sponsored, publicly traded corporation founded to support the secondary mortgage market. “Freddie” is the moniker that shortens its actual name (“The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation”) into something that those of us who aren’t full-time financial analysts can identify as the entity that greases the wheels of the mortgage markets. It makes them work better.
At any rate, Freddie’s Thursday release summarized progress toward a less daunting mortgage environment. Its…

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In addition to the mostly glum news about the likelihood of a downturn in the nation’s economy, you’ve probably also heard a blanket pronouncement for residential real estate that’s not so rosy. Based on the probability that we’re in for at least a short recession, at first glance that would seem to justify headlines like “Morgan Stanley: Home Price Declines Are Coming in 2023”—and even last week’s “When Will Housing Prices Drop?”

Not even IF, but WHEN!!! (Thanks a lot, U.S.News & World Report).

But hold on for just a moment. If you’ve been mentally rescheduling putting your Costa Mesa home for sale until a later time when the economy rebounds, there is a piece of information that’s missing—one that might change your mind. This was last…

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Monitoring the progress of Costa Mesa property values is serious business, but in any given week it seldom inspires eye-catching feature writing. Last week was a quiet one in that regard, so searches for “home values” yielded nothing new—which is how a commentary first published last year found its way near the top of the search engine results.

The dollar estimates in “The Actual Values of Famous Cartoon Homes Today” may be a bit dated given the effects of inflation and market changes since its original March 2022 publication date. Yet the relative findings are probably as accurate as any such entirely silly speculation could come up with. Highlights:

  • King of the Hill’s modest three-bedroom ranch is valued at $200,000, given its unremarkable…

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It’s a living arrangement that’s familiar to many in Costa Mesa who attended a boarding school or college away from their hometown—who left the comfortable family nest to experience “dorm life.” That sometimes wrenching living arrangement offers the economic advantage of dividing expenses that would be difficult for a single student to bear. In addition to the savings that result from sharing space and utilities, dormitory living (or sorority, fraternity, or other similar arrangements) can offer youngsters their first brush with how to share living facilities with others who aren’t members of their immediate family. The advantages that go with learning to respect lifestyles and customs that initially may seem puzzling (“take my shoes off every time I…

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It’s a situation faced by many Costa Mesa homeowners on the cusp of getting ready to sell. You’ve developed cooking skills customized for your run-of-the-mill kitchen for years, managing everything from the electric range (you prefer gas) to the slightly-too-small refrigerator. That takes thoughtful grocery ferrying between it and the old frig (it deserves retirement) that lives in the garage. There’s nothing to it, really!

But now, it’s selling time for your Costa Mesa house. Is the best course to assume the buyer will not worry about the kitchen because she/he will want to do a full-scale remodel to her/his own specifications? Or should you start writing a 50-page manual on how to actually prepare food in this kitchen’s current state (perhaps you…

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Last Wednesday, Fortune.com introduced Mia Taylor’s 1,850-word discussion of a question that many of today’s homebuyers may be pondering: “When is an adjustable-rate mortgage a good idea?” Just a year ago, when home loan interest rates were at historically low levels, the answer could have been dismissed more succinctly: “not now!”

Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are commonly offered in five-, seven-, and 10-year increments. These are 30-year loans that attract borrowers with temporary “introductory” bargain rates. The title periods specify the number of years after which the rates reset to reflect a level closer to then-current rates.:

When interest rates are high, some borrowers decide that, since rates are likely to move lower before the…

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