If Hollywood action-adventure movie writers have figured anything out, it’s that after the bad guy has been defeated and the hero and heroine are relaxing, ANOTHER bad guy should suddenly appear to pose an unexpected post-finale even nastier threat! By now, audiences have learned to expect this (but if the filmmakers are clever enough, we can still be taken by surprise).

Selling your Costa Mesa home may not seem analogous to an action movie, but there can be some parallels—particularly at the last minute, when the sale seems in the bag and you’re all but packed up and outta there.

The danger here comes in the form of communications from the buyer. No matter how amicable the buyer and buyer’s agent may have been in the course of negotiations, as…

837 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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 year. L3 is not limited to serving just its clients; it is also committed to serving the community. Not only has L3 donated…

936 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

 

     When you are planning to sell your Costa Mesa home, the latest interest rate gyrations can become a worrisome element in your planning. Last week’s news should provide a measure of anxiety relief.

     Back a year or two ago, when almost all the credible financial voices were united in predicting that Costa Mesa’s historically low mortgage interest rates would soon be moving back up into more familiar territory, the effect was to prod buyers to get busy. Costa Mesa sellers took note, as well.

     Everybody knew that the imminent rate rises could make all the difference between a doable monthly mortgage payment and a budget-breaker. Frequently cited were examples like the one pointing out the difference that a single point could make on a…

863 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

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 year. L3 is not limited to serving just its clients; it is also committed to serving the community. Not only has L3 donated…

878 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Shopping for the best Costa Mesa mortgage rates was supposed to have been made easier by requiring lenders to advertise more than just their interest rates, but in practice, the result doesn’t always work as well as intended. What it does do 100% of the time is to put consumers on notice that the cost of borrowing is not a simple matter.

Finding the best deal takes a little figuring.

If you’ve ever shopped mortgages, you know that you’ll see both the advertised “interest rates” and an “Annual Percentage Rate.” The APR is usually higher because it incorporates the additional loan charges and fees not shown in the nominal interest rate. The 1968 Truth in Lending Act required that the APR be included—and it would seem to be a fairer way to compare…

855 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Open Houses

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 year. L3 is not limited to serving just its clients; it is also committed to serving the community. Not only has L3 donated…

757 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

It looks like Costa Mesa second homes may have just become more affordable for many who have considered investing in one, but who couldn’t make the numbers work. The reason is technical, yet far from being one of those ‘inside baseball’ details. Its practical impact can be significant.

The news was published with little fanfare at the start of this month, buried as it was in Fannie Mae’s revised Selling Guide. That’s the document that mortgage lenders refer to when the semi-governmental agency’s backing is being sought for a new home loan. In Section B2-1-01, which outlines the requirements for Fannie-sponsored home loans for various occupancy types, there appears a lone footnote at the bottom of the page dealing with “Second Home Properties.” The…

905 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

 

     Costa Mesa’s week starts off with Monday’s federal income tax filing deadline—AKA, Tax Day. Costa Mesa’s Tax Day may not be the kind of annual observance that people look forward to—although for homeowners at least, it does serve as a glorious reminder of the value of the home loan interest deduction. Then, too, for Costa Mesa’s non-procrastinators, a second positive may already have been experienced with the early arrival of a U.S. Treasury refund check.

     Along those lines, last Friday the IRS put out a news flash noting that a third of taxpayers had yet to file their returns. Of the 153 million individual returns Uncle Sam expects to receive for tax year 2018, 50,000,000 had yet to be filed. That meant that for many Costa Mesa…

864 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post