For anyone who follows Costa Mesa real estate trends, this year has upended all expectations. Even following the declaration of the national pandemic emergency, the course of activity continued to follow an unpredictable path. Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors® Newsroom revealed new details about the unforeseen shifts in the housing market. Normally, when the national economy sputters as profoundly as it has since to onset of the pandemic, it constitutes “a condition usually associated with slower home sales and lower home prices.” The opposite has come to pass on both counts.

The NAR’s key findings detail a market that has tilted toward more expensive—and more spacious—properties:

  1. Buyers have been seeking housing with more…

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“Why Wednesday?”

Many younger residents will probably be wondering about Costa Mesa’s Veterans Day scheduling. Except for Thanksgiving—the ever-Thursday celebration—most national observances are arranged to sidle up to or include a weekend, one way or another, making the most of any time off. But 2020’s Veterans Day is on Wednesday, period. Why?

The answer is straightforward. True, in some communities, Veterans Day observances (parades, in particular) may be scheduled for surrounding days—but the central event, the national ceremony in Washington DC, is always observed on November 11 (there are more “11’s” involved, too). Here’s why (the story is kind of neat).

World War I was a particularly horrendous affair—especially when compared with…

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Every profession creates them—an ever-expanding vocabulary of specialized terms, followed by the list of acronyms they spawn. Costa Mesa real estate is certainly no exception.

Fortunately for the numerous house-hunters who have been out prospecting for Costa Mesa homes this fall—and for the homeowners whose properties are their quarry—there’s really no need to memorize them all. Your Realtor® (ideally, that’s me) will acquaint you with all the definitions you need to know, if and when they crop up.

Even so, since some of the most common ones do occasionally creep into blogs, ads, and various other Costa Mesa real estate communications, here is an abbreviated list of some common ones. Anyone with personal home buying and selling experience will…

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Location, Luxury, and Lifestyle! Three words that immediately come to mind after experiencing 2841 Europa Dr. located on a quiet interior street in the prestigious high-demand Mesa Verde neighborhood. Immediately upon approach you will fall in love with the stunning curb appeal of this home. Boasting white and black color tones, a custom Dutch door, brand new front lawn, and a charming tree swing...it is like something out of a storybook. The main level of the home features a formal living room/family room, dining room area, an office that was originally a bedroom (easily converted back), guest bathroom with shower, stunning designer kitchen, and a bonus Great Room addition that will make your jaw drop. Upstairs you will find two spacious guest…

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Costa Mesa residents who dutifully set their clocks back an hour last Saturday night may have been grateful for the extra hour of shuteye—but if they've been reading what shrinks and biologists are telling the Wall Street Journal, they probably spent the extra hour tossing and turning. The Journal's "Why the Time Change Is Trickier When Working from Home" provided a new reason to append some additional anxiety to the workweek ahead.

It's long been known that winter's shortened daylight hours cause a mood shift in some people—with the 'fall backward' clock adjustment exacerbating the effect. One Danish study found that depression increased by 8% following the time change (and that was before the pandemic).

For Costa Mesa homeworkers who've spent…

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Come Saturday night, Halloween in Costa Mesa is going to be a lot different this year, for sure—but for one large group of individuals, it won’t differ from any other year.

Driving around Costa Mesa lately, it looks as if the witches, goblins, black cats, skulls, and skeletons are as numerous as we’d expect—and there are plenty of pumpkins. Still, on trick-or-treat day, the youngsters will have this year’s candy haul somewhat curtailed.

In regular years, officialdom’s warnings to parents are limited to measures like checking the little goblins’ Halloween booty to eliminate unpackaged treats. But this year, in addition to the social distancing measures, the CDC is advising parents with two new DON’Ts:

Do not use a costume mask as a substitute…

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They were at it again last week—the party-poopers who wanted to quibble about what newspapers and broadcast media were proclaiming: a shattering of the record lows in mortgage interest rates. For Costa Mesa real estate followers, the argument missed what is most important: the bottom line that the rates being offered continue to create a heady environment for home buyers and sellers.

“Don’t Believe This Week’s Mortgage Rate News” headlined the Mortgage News Daily, which once again picked apart the underlying figures published by Freddy Mac. The government-sponsored entity had reported a mind-bending average rate on the 30-year mortgage of 2.80%! That, wrote Freddy, constituted “another record low…amid the release of new housing data reinforcing how…

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As it relates to Costa Mesa residential properties, the “location, location, location” homily is usually thought of as referring to neighborhoods. Homes in superior Costa Mesa neighborhoods are visibly well cared for, usually have larger footprints, appealing architecture, etc. Their higher resale values are self-sustaining because their buyers can afford attentive maintenance.

But the locationX3 adage can also be valid for how a property is sited. Costa Mesa listings that read like absolute steals online can sometimes prove the point (one that remote buyers without local representation can learn to regret).

A fabulous home situated in the wrong place can be a mistake waiting to happen.
Examples:

  1. An otherwise exceptional Costa Mesa home…

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You can forgive those responsible for the Costa Mesa family shopping if they tend to be suspicious when we go for long without hearing much about inflation. Last Wednesday’s Associated Press headline, “Yes, your grocery bills have gone up,” probably confirmed their feeling from recent supermarket forays. Earlier, the AP had already reported a summer surge at the nation’s grocery stores, illustrated by the fact that July rang up the biggest monthly gain since late 2018. September’s rise (.4%) “was bigger than economists had been expecting,” constituting the sharpest rise since May, which was when pandemic-triggered shutdowns at food processing plants caused a 5.6% spike in prices.

Yet, inflation-wise, Costa Mesa home budgets have emerged relatively…

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The U.S. News & World Report weighed in last week with a quite useful list: housewarming gift ideas that are both thoughtful and practical. The entire list ran to 15 entries—some less appropriate than others (right now, the “hummingbird feeder” might be more appreciated come springtime)—but for most Costa Mesa readers, on the whole, it presented a very useful compendium.

It spurred a wider search for other lists that have appeared in recent years. Here, in addition to some of the U.S. News ideas, are ten good ones:

  1. Customized return address stamp or stickers.
  2. Personalized doormat.
  3. A choice item from a favorite local Costa Mesa business.
  4. Cooking herb planter.
  5. Step stool.
  6. Keyholder (a tray, bowl, or set of hooks).
  7. Personalized…

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