Last month ended with a continuation of the same housing market conditions that had held for most of the summer—adding only a glimmer of optimism for Costa Mesa house hunters. The big picture for the U.S. on Labor Day, 2022, was still a slowing of the volume of pending home sales everywhere except in the West (which notched a minuscule monthly gain). But slowing transaction totals didn’t seem to have created much market turmoil—certainly, sellers weren’t listing en masse.

Although many homeowners had relished checking into websites that showed estimates of their home’s value that leaped by thousands of dollars seemingly every month, many of those estimates were now coming down. Still, there was ample reason to suspect that this was merely a…

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Homeowners who are on the fence about selling their Costa Mesa home in the coming months find little guidance from the national and regional trends. Reports from the U.S. market have highlighted the minority of sellers who are dropping their asking prices—yet even so, closing prices are still significantly higher than those of a year ago. They also report an increase in the national inventory. More homes being listed is a boon for buyers—but also a mixed blessing for sellers who will need to secure their next home.

Regardless of how the national or local markets are performing, one way sellers maximize their bottom line is to boost their Costa Mesa property’s value without squandering an undue amount of time and capital. The first step is to assess…

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What a difference a year makes—at least where Costa Mesa home loans are concerned. For what seems like forever, the recommendations of experts, man-in-the-street consensus, and plain old common sense had all aligned to point to the same advice: take advantage of today’s home loan interest rates while you can!

The unanimity was comforting, especially since the decision to sign on the dotted line for a 30-year mortgage is a commitment that stretches decades into the future. But when everybody can agree that the entire history of homebuying verifies the wisdom of taking advantage of a loan offered at historically low interest rates, the only issue is whether the property being financed is reasonably priced.

But now, at the end of last week, Money…

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Although you’d think that when a celebrated Yale economics professor is queried about home prices, he’d trot over to the whiteboard and start scribbling equations. If the prof in question is Robert Shiller—co-creator of the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index—all the more so. The Index has become the benchmark reference tracking residential real estate prices. When it comes to American home prices, Shiller is The Man.

So when the vaunted economist seeks to examine the factors best explaining the latest dramatic changes in Costa Mesa home prices, you expect to hear a lot about the inflationary effects of trillion-dollar government expenditures, the bond market’s inverse reaction to Fed funds management, etc., etc. You expect formulas with…

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Costa Mesa utility bills are headed upward—with nobody expecting them to head in any other direction. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that their Energy Index increased 32.9% for the year ending last month—and that was the good news, since June’s 12-month increase had been 41.6%! Costa Mesa utility bills didn’t need to match those pain-producing national averages for the writing on the wall to be evident: household utility bills are bound to become big news—with some predictable real estate repercussions.

There are also actions Costa Mesa homeowners can take—most of which are well-publicized (and common sense, anyway). But last Tuesday, an event took place that could rate refiguring the cost-benefit analysis in one…

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As a rule, those who have Costa Mesa homes for sale generally welcome real estate headlines that include words like “soars” and “surge.” On the other hand, words like “slowdown” are less likely to be well received. Last week’s residential real estate dispatches featured all of the above—although not always in the most welcome contexts.

The ‘soars’ came into play in Bloomberg.com’s review of U.S. home inventory levels. These were said to have expanded at a record rate in July. The authors cited realtor.com®’s tally of active listings nationwide, which jumped 31% from a year earlier. Even more notable was that this marked the third straight month of record increases. Such soaring inventory levels were clearly “good news for shoppers still in the…

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By the end of last week, Costa Mesa real estate observers were finding confirmation from across the nation of what the NAR’s chief economist had just told Forbes. July data reflected buyers who were “tightening their budgets” and sellers “responding with price reductions.” The seller’s market conditions that had been ruling the market might have largely vanished, but buyers who “expected to find a bargain” were likely to be disappointed. Nonetheless, “home shoppers who kept searching saw more available options.”

All in all, local Costa Mesa real estate watchers were left without a clear way to characterize the late-summer market. Nor were the experts particularly helpful—nowhere were the words ‘buyer’s market’ to be found. One 38-year real estate…

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For generations of Americans, owning their own family home has been the single most defining element of The American Dream. For obvious commercial reasons, the National Association of Realtors® must certainly be counted among the leading proponents of the validity of that ambition. The Sun rises in the east, also.

So it was startling to find last week’s NAR.com “Trends” section headed by a lead article with this headline:

Forget the Traditional ‘House’-Everybody Wants These Types of Homes Right Now

“Forget the traditional ‘House” ???? Realtors (of all people!) telling everybody to forget the traditional house? As single-family home prices continue to rise, it may be a fact that an increasing number of buyers are finding themselves all but…

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Throughout the sustained run-up in home prices, there’s been sporadic speculation that a reversal must be imminent—possibly driven by a natural urge to assume that too much good news is bound to invite a corresponding nosedive.

Throughout the run-up, the commonly accepted reason for U.S. home price increases has been the sustained supply and demand imbalance. For a number of well-documented reasons, the supply of homes for sale dropped below record levels at the same time that demand continued to mount. As competition for the available housing increased, so did the willingness of buyers to pay top dollar. Super-low mortgage rates helped make many high-priced Costa Mesa real estate buying decisions entirely reasonable.

Now, as the summer wears…

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This month has brought news of buyers backing out of pending sales contracts at a record rate—which could also have many would-be buyers asking themselves if buying in Costa Mesa right now is the right move. The questions are reasonable: “Will I be overpaying if I buy today?” “Will prices drop tomorrow?” “Will I get a better deal if I hold off?” In many cases, the best answers actually depend less on the marketplace than on the personal circumstances of the person doing the asking.

If, for instance, you are currently considering buying a home in Costa Mesa but think there’s a chance you may outgrow the home within the next few years, buying could be inadvisable. If you think there is a chance you might need to relocate or change jobs or income…

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