The past weeks have provided some news that could lift the outlook of Costa Mesa landlords and those who’ve been thinking about rental real estate as an investment. The reports surfaced from statistics compiled by the Census Bureau and by rentcafe.com—an internet company that tracks the current U.S. rental market. Both pieces of information shed light on the makeup of the renter population. It’s broadening in ways that can’t help but boost the prospects for the rental market as a whole.

The first encouraging information was last month’s finding that the percentage of high-income households opting to become renters increased 175% over the past decade. The number of households earning $150,000 or more who decided to become renters swelled by…

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A couple of storylines have dominated national real estate news outlets for more than a year. Costa Mesa homeowners who are less industry-focused have been hearing the same thing from the national news media, too. Last week, they both staged a partial about-face.

The storylines are interconnected. The dominant one dealt with the national trend toward a weakening in the number of homes being sold. About a year ago, both new and existing home sales numbers began to falter. This wasn’t enough of a drop to cause genuine consternation—but it was persistent enough to generate headlines.

The reason that potential Costa Mesa home buyers and sellers weren’t overly concerned was partially due to the second storyline, which focused on the fact that…

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“Good fences make good neighbors” was among poet Robert Frost’s most memorable lines. Quoted by rote by his rigid neighbor in Mending Wall, it illustrated an unchallenged notion, handed down for generations. Frost’s point was that, although a fence does show respect for another’s property, where unnecessary, it can also insulate them from each other.

Local homeowners might agree or disagree (or agree with both)—but when it comes to Costa Mesa real estate property boundaries, it’s a pretty good idea for homeowners to know where their own lie. And with precision.

That was the takeaway from last week’s U.S.News feature which sported the promising title, “How Do I Find My Property Lines?”  To make short the answer to that question, the most…

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Baby Boomers

Overall, the U.S. residential market has behaved itself predictably for a couple of years. As a result, there’s been little chance for commentators to point out any new phenomena that might affect our own Costa Mesa listings. In general, price growth has remained moderate while the volume of homes changing hands has been relatively quiet.

That might be headed for a change if CNBC’s Diana Oleck is right. In a brief report last week, she made the case for a new trend that could have an effect on the home-selling picture—including the number of our own Costa Mesa listings.

The trend is an uptick in one choice seniors are making—in this case, the tendency of retirees to stay put in their current home. “Why seniors ‘aging in place’ is affecting home…

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The numbers are in!

If you are among the local homeowners counting the days until Costa Mesa’s hot selling season begins, unless your house is already in perfect showing shape, you might be pondering which—if any—possible remodeling projects would be wise to take on before you list.

The answers aren’t simple. The first consideration is the calculation for whether your property is likely to attract top dollar in its as-is condition. If not, you need a prospect’s-eye take on which areas are most likely to detract from the apparent overall value of the property. Then comes another factor: identifying which of those projects will go furthest in recapturing their cost.

Even if leaving everything as-is doesn’t inspire much confidence, it might…

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