Wikipedia defines “consumer confidence” as “the economic indicator that measures the degree of optimism that consumers feel about the overall state of the economy...” Costa Mesa homeowners who are contemplating selling their Costa Mesa homes may not base their decisions on polls measuring public confidence levels—but when the climate is promising, it sure doesn’t hurt!

Wikipedia completes its “consumer confidence” definition with “….and their personal financial situation.” In fact, it’s well known that people answer pollsters’ questions largely based on their own situations. That’s why businesspeople of all stripes track the monthly University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index like hawks.

So – wow! Last week ended with news that upended…

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     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…

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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…

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You can’t blame Costa Mesa residents who’ve been bamboozled in the past for having grown cautious as April 1 approached. They braced themselves for this Monday, knowing that the practical jokers will have been hard at work concocting 2019’s April Fools Day tricks. There would be spoof ads, fake headlines, and who-knows-what else? to watch out for.

That’s why you could hardly fault those who instantly dismissed last Friday’s banner headline in the Wall Street Journal. It might be unfair to print an April Fools prank ahead of time—but pranksters have done that before.

And the article certainly bore all the earmarks: an almost believable premise (slightly understated to build credulity) followed by the requisite goofy supporting specifics. Maybe it…

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For those who’ve been waiting to list their Costa Mesa home until this year’s spring selling season, the waiting is over. Not only is spring busting out all over, but there is a claim that we are fast approaching the absolute best moment to list a home!

The desire to list your house at the best possible time is a logical enough ambition, but one that runs into a practical snag. The “best” time would be the moment when the most motivated buyers happen to be actively looking for a home like yours. But for any given property, there’s no practical way to identify whether it already passed before you listed or will happen after you’ve sold. Since springtime’s peak real estate season usually brings out the greatest number of buyers, that makes it…

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When it comes to industries, you’d have to place Costa Mesa real estate into the “stolid” category. The rules are set and agreed-upon. Everything having to do with real estate is entirely “real”—the opposite of “imaginary.” Certainly not frivolous, fleeting, or mercurial.

Major changes don’t come about often or quickly. It is true that one facet of the way real estate business is conducted has undergone a noticeable change due to the web. But that is actually only a shift in how clients find and qualify properties they might be interested in. They still overwhelmingly rely on real estate professionals to take responsibility for the consequential details of buying and selling.

But wait!

A new technology suddenly presents the possibility…

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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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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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