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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Given the latest unsettling reports about everything from supply chain disruptions to the price of gasoline and groceries, almost anyone might hesitate before moving ahead with plans to buy a house in Costa Mesa or anywhere else. Mightn’t it be more prudent to wait until more stable conditions return?

One counter to that cautious stratagem is the example of recent history. A few years ago, would-be buyers who decided to hold off until the return of a more stable environment missed out on what, in retrospect, turns out to have been an opportune time to buy a house.

The fact is that residential real estate prices have risen steadily despite the unsettled public sphere. Buying a house in Costa Mesa has continued to reward buyers who ignored…

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Last week we learned that U.S. housing price increases continued their uninterrupted climb. But at the same time, accounts also included a few rays of sunshine for financially pressed homebuyers.

The nationwide appreciation in real estate values that's been gladdening Costa Mesa sellers blipped upward again in February. According to Tuesday's CoreLogic press release, the 1.2% rise over January capped off a 12-month increase: an eye-popping 10.4%!

Figures like those may cheer Costa Mesa home sellers—but, as CoreLogic's spokesman put it, it also "is sobering for prospective buyers." The spokesman's advice for ambitious home seekers was scarcely enlightening. Due to the price rises, they should "save more for a down payment, closing costs, and cash…

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For those who have never bought or sold a home during Costa Mesa real estate’s busy season, coming up with metaphors isn’t easy.

  • It’s not like end-of-model-year auto sales because that season draws buyers by offering heavy discounts. Newly manufactured real estate isn’t arriving from the factory, so price reductions aren’t called for.
  • Real estate’s high season isn’t like a nursery’s or hot tub dealer’s peak seasons, either—even though both get busier around the same time of year. The pricetags for Costa Mesa real estate transactions make such comparisons ill-suited—apt metaphors would have to be more momentous.

It might be more fitting to turn to nature or to science for a suitable analogy. If so, you could argue that Costa Mesa’s…

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If last week’s Realtor® Magazine commentary is accurate, the timing for Costa Mesa’s peak homebuying season looks as if it is apt to return to traditional seasonal patterns—unlike what happened in 2020. If the economists at the National Association of Realtors are reading the tea leaves correctly, last year’s scrambled real estate sales activity should give way to something more closely resembling the regular pattern. That would reflect the current rise in optimism that recovery from the pandemic is on the way—reversing the disruptions that first crippled spring sales, then brought unusually brisk activity in the summer and fall.

If Costa Mesa’s traditional peak homebuying activity does follow the spring-to-summer pattern, Realtor’s advice to real…

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No one may be sure of how many Costa Mesa homeowners chose to deal with their year-end stir-craziness by surfing the web last weekend, but for those who did so by Googling “top events of 2020,” there wasn’t much doubt about what finished as Number One:

The pandemic, of course.

Second place tended to be a jump ball between either the Presidential election or impeachment, after which a dozen other noteworthy occurrences vied for recognition. Among others, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s resignation from the Royal Family competed with the Australian and California wildfires, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, a stock market crash (although Wall Street’s swift recovery made that one a weak contender), murder hornets, etc.

What did not…

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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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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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One consequence of the pandemic was the on-again/off-again nature of this year’s Costa Mesa real estate busy season. The restrictions resulted in what you’d expect: pent-up demand. The promise of loosening restrictions is widely expected to bolster the number of “For Sale” signs that we’ll soon be seeing—in any case, we should know before long.

For house hunters who will be looking to land their first starter home, most are prepared to be satisfied with a property that falls short of a “dream home” designation. That’s to be expected: since homeownership is by far the most important component for building family wealth, it’s encouraging to watch how the equity being built from a first home is fueling the progression into the next, superior one.…

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