"Budget better, shop smarter!" might be unassailable advice for shoppers of all stripes, but at the outset of 2022, Costa Mesa house-hunting readers of USA Today's Real Estate pages could have used a few more precise tips on how to follow the exhortation. "After a year of bidding wars and record-high prices, here's what's changing for homebuyers…" was a promising headline—but what followed consisted mainly of reasons why intelligent shopping is a good idea.

The reasons included cautions about rising home loan interest rates, which would make better budgeting important, and the continuing national "supply-demand imbalance," which would make more nimble (if not specifically "smarter") shopping advisable.

Experts added reasons why this year's…

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It didn’t take long for home decor industry pundits to sift through recent house sales data to announce evidence of the latest trend shifts. Relying on the insights from a nationwide cross-section of real estate agents, technology company Homelight supplied the NAR® with “7 Hot Trends” said to have resonated with recent buyers. In addition to the trends, a one-word style summary was also advanced.

For those planning on selling their own Costa Mesa house in today’s market, a neutral observer might point out that seizing on the latest trend is largely unnecessary. If the Costa Mesa home you plan to put on sale is in presentable condition, does not have a leaky roof or crumbling foundation, and whose ownership is not being claimed by title bandits,…

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As real estate’s peak selling season nears, one element that characterizes the strength of the U.S. housing market is the one that CNN Business highlighted last Thursday. For a growing number of homeowners in California and Costa Mesa whose properties align with the national data, it came as a pleasant piece of news.

The subject was homeowner equity—a key element in the financial standing of those who own their residences. Real estate analysts at Attom Data Solutions took a look at homeowner balances owed in relation to their property’s market value. By definition, homeowners qualify as “equity rich” when they have at least 50% equity—that is, when their equity percentage matches or exceeds the lender’s share.

Attom’s findings were impressive:…

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The speculation about the direction Costa Mesa home loan interest rates will soon be taking finally pretty much disappeared last week, given the Fed’s declaration about their intentions. Would-be Costa Mesa home buyers would be hard-pressed to interpret Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks as anything other than a central banker’s version of a railroad conductor’s “all aboard!”—at least for those intending to take advantage of bargain Costa Mesa home loan rates.

The Wall Street Journal minced no words: “Steadily rising interest rates beginning in mid-March” left little comfort for those whose natural inclination would be to wait on the sidelines until the regular springtime busy season has gotten underway in earnest.

For them, it was USA Today’s…

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Whenever another celebrity appears on Costa Mesa TV screens to offer their two cents' worth about the value of reverse mortgages, young people can be forgiven if they tune out the message. After all, reverse mortgages are only available to homeowners who are 62 years of age or older.

It's also highly probable that many of the Costa Mesa homeowners who meet the age eligibility requirement tune out, too. Experienced people tend to be suspicious of strangers whose message seems to rely on the "trust me" element. The TV actor-spokesperson may be a beloved personality, but it's important to remember he's reading a script composed by less-beloved advertising writers.

Reverse mortgages can, as promised, provide some valuable "peace of mind" for…

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Usually, paranoia is a mental disorder—a subject more suitable for psychiatrists than for Realtors®. But that depends on its being entirely divorced from reality. When the subject is your offer to buy one of Costa Mesa’s listed properties, it may well be that a slight touch of paranoia can be useful—at least when it comes to defining contingencies.

Back last October, Realtor.com had an excellent commentary about realism and contingencies. It listed five of them “you should never waive.” “Never” is a strong word—especially in a season when competing offers abound. But the reasons for including basic contingencies in your offer are anything but paranoid. These are Realtor’s Big Five:

First is the inspection contingency. Unless you are an…

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Costa Mesa homeowners will not be surprised to hear that the U.S. rate of inflation will impact some of their 2022 income tax calculations—the basic income tax tables among them. The Labor Department charted the rate at an annual 6.8% increase through November, although locally, the actual prices paid for many day-to-day purchases were definitely higher than that. Calculating Costa Mesa inflation as experienced here is inexact for a number of familiar reasons—but nobody who shops for groceries or drives more than a mile or two to work hasn’t noticed it.

On Friday, Laura Saunders, the Wall Street Journal’s tax expert, sounded her take on how inflation will affect 2022 federal income tax bills—and the details touching on Costa Mesa real estate…

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Leave it to the news media to uncover the latest threat to Costa Mesa house-hunters’ peace of mind. Last week, the guilty party was the Associated Press, whose contribution seemed timed to introduce a disquieting competitor into the already-crowded field of prospective home buyers.

Today’s Costa Mesa house-hunters had already been subjected to scare-mongering stories about recent buyers having to dig deeper into their pockets to land houses over the bids of hordes of competitors. Now comes the AP with word of a new sci-fi addition to the reputed multitude of overeager competitors: robots.

Robots who want to buy houses.

It might not have inspired a War of the Worlds panic, but CBS News’ headline was alarming:

Friend or Foe? Home-buying Bots…

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When a website like lexology.com assesses the year in real estate as one “which faced unprecedented challenges,” Costa Mesa readers know what to expect: details that amount to a torrent of excuses justifying a lame showing in the year just ending. But--not so. As Year 2021 goes into the record books, its history is anything but—as any number of Costa Mesa homeowners will attest. They have good reason to be elated by the ballooning value of their primary investments—their Costa Mesa homes.

The buoyant details weren’t limited to Costa Mesa, either. Throughout most of the nation, the story was the same. Home.com “saw home prices skyrocket like never before.” CNBC headlined, “Homeowners are sitting on record equity,” while theclose.com could note, “the…

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When it comes to the holidays, one favorite story that might seem to be Grinch-worthy is a true one about an evergreen Christmas song—a classic that Costa Mesa shoppers couldn't avoid even if they wanted to. It's strains haunt Costa Mesa's holiday atmosphere, everywhere from markets to department stores—and if there's a Christmas tree lot with a PA system, it will play at least once every half hour.

The musical perennial that's at the center of the story is the perfectly-named "The Christmas Song." That's the one that Nat King Cole first immortalized; it's his or Mel Tormé's voice we hear most often. For younger readers who only vaguely recognize Tormé's name, you'll recognize his "smooth, soft vocal timbre" singing voice in an instant. Not for…

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