It’s a life-altering milestone if ever there was one: the decision to move away from the family home. There have always been a variety of reasons why retirees and near-retirees choose to make the leap—with today’s head-spinning social changes certainly doing nothing to pare down that list. Deciding to change your Costa Mesa housing situation often boils down to an intended (or already proceeding) lifestyle change. Since these are the very definitions of “personal” reasons, you might assume that since everyone’s situation differs, their motivations are all over the map—making them all but unclassifiable.

True enough—but it turns out that some generalizations are possible (and useful, if you are uncertain whether your own upcoming decision is an…

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One puzzle for homeowners deciding whether now is the time to put their Costa Mesa homes up for sale is whether rising mortgage rates will measurably slow the response. It’s far from certain that Costa Mesa home loan rates will continue to rise as we go forward—but it’s likely enough. The picture becomes even less predictable if you add in the notion that it’s far from certain that higher borrowing rates will necessarily dampen buyer activity.

The reason for the hemming and hawing on this point was laid out by realtor.com’s Sharon Lurye earlier this month. She points out that this has already been a “paradigm-breaking” real estate market—one with the promise of more common-sense-busting developments to come.

Granted, it’s a given that today’s…

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Once your Costa Mesa moving date has been determined, tackling the logistics of the upcoming move can cause even the most energetic among us to put off even thinking about getting started. As you look around at everything that’s going to have to be packed up for the move, the magnitude of the task is intimidating. But take heart: there’s a simple way to squelch the urge to procrastinate. You can start by simply sitting down with pencil and paper to organize one specific item—a gotta-have fixture that’s prominent in every moving day expert’s “how-to” planning list.

It's the “Open First” box (sometimes called an “overnight bag”).

Despite universal agreement on its indispensability, opinions differ widely on precisely what needs to go into the box.…

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If you are considering selling your own Costa Mesa home, one natural question you might be curious about is what specific features are currently boosting selling prices the most? A query to Google yields plenty of answers in the form of feature lists. Some popular lists put kitchen improvements first, bathroom improvements next, then features like lighting, energy efficiency upgrades, and so on. Other lists include “spruce up your landscaping” and “increase your finished square footage.”

HGTV lists “minor bathroom remodel” in first place (that returns 102% of the dollars invested), while moving.com finds “upscale garage door replacement” is currently adding the greatest value when keys change hands.

These are all valid ideas for increasing…

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A couple of years back, CPA and author Stacy Johnson published a sort of personal confessional under the attention-getting title, “Should I Sell My House While Prices are High?” Even if they have no other compelling reason to want to sell, that’s a question that may have crossed the minds of Costa Mesa homeowners who recall the rollercoaster housing markets of previous decades. Mightn’t the stock market’s “buy low, sell high” dictum be relevant today?

Johnson’s subject matter is finance rather than real estate—and it was a financial brainstorm he had in 2008. He had bought his Florida house for $400,000 in 2001, but seven years later, its value “was north of a million bucks.” His idea was to sell it for a hefty profit then rent a temporary…

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The median age of first-time buyers is 34. This is true even though many working adults come to the conclusion that the monthly cash outflow for owning their Costa Mesa residence would be nearly the same as what they pay in rent.

For some, it’s the tax breaks that finally prove decisive; for others (especially when home loan interest rates are as low as they are now), it’s the advantage of retaining the principal portion of their monthly mortgage payment. Regardless of when a first-time Costa Mesa home buyer concludes that homeownership is an achievable way to establish financial stability, making the right choice for their first Costa Mesa residence involves more than dollars and cents.

Failing to recognize the importance of the personal…

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Costa Mesa real estate activity may not echo U.S. results month-by-month, but since national media reports impact how individual Costa Mesa buyers and sellers gauge their own prospects, they are worth keeping an eye on. To date, this fall’s U.S. real estate picture can’t be summarized in a single word or phrase, but so far, what has leaked through from the national press has left a slightly negative impression.

Housingwire.com’s takeaway was typical. Last Monday’s “Homebuilders growing very concerned about affordability.” Likewise for CNBC’s Tuesday contribution. “Home prices in August hinted at possible cooling in the market.” ‘Possible’ ‘hints’ may not be strong language, but the direction they point to is clear. Given the actual activity…

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Apartment and condo dwellers who aren't personally responsible for yard maintenance get to remain blissfully unconcerned about the extent of their LCI (Leaf Consciousness Index). Their LCIs top out in the lower 2s and 3s—the scores for those whose leaf awareness is confined to occasions when they happen to notice the autumnal color exhibition that some Costa Mesa landscapes provide in years when conditions are just right.

Costa Mesa homeowners whose properties include more than minimal populations of leaf-bearing plants are (depending on the homeowner's disposition) either irritated by—or happily engaged in—fall's mass leaf swan dives. To some, what happens when the leaves take leave is an annual near-cataclysm requiring backbreaking toil. To the…

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If you are currently offering a high-end Costa Mesa property for sale, you could safely ignore most of the otherwise incisive article that appeared in last week’s Realtor® Magazine. Top Costa Mesa properties are bought and sold by a select but tiny segment of the real estate market—a segment that conforms to its own rules. The rest of the market is different.

The article on RM—“How to Reinvigorate a Lingering Listing”—contained some strategic insights wisdom from experienced pros that bears repeating. Given the current brisk pact of the U.S. market (typical homes now take just 43 days to be sold), a listing that spends too long without attracting much activity is bound to stand out.

That’s not good.

Potential buyers often assume the lack of…

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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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