The following numbers are from Redfin’s Costa Mesa “Overview of Homes for Sale” webpage. This page includes the Costa Mesa inventory and pricing numbers as well as the associated charts and graphs. So if you would like to see the charts and graphs, click on the link for the above mentioned overview page. Also, note that the numbers with an asterisk (*) are based on homes sold or taken off the market in last 90 days.
Following are the Costa Mesa condo housing numbers for September 2008. With the overall median sold price and the median price per square foot considerably lower than last month, the Costa Mesa housing numbers tell the same story that they have been telling for some months now: In a nutshell, housing prices are still declining in Costa Mesa. Also note that the asking (list) price and the sold price are still not in alignment.
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the September stats for detached homes in Costa Mesa. Preview: a different story than what the Costa Mesa condo stats tell us.
Median List Price:
September 17, 2008: $360K
August 21, 2008: $380K
Median Sold Price for*:
September 17, 2008: $200K
August 21, 2008*: $262K
Median List Price/SF:
September 17, 2008: $299
August 21, 2008: $297
Median Sold Price/SF*:
September 17, 2008: $200
August 21, 2008: $217
Median Days on Redfin*:
September 17, 2008: 85
August 21, 2008: 85
Total Number of Homes on the Market:
September 17, 2008: 164 (10 are bank- and MLS-listed foreclosures; 3 are for sale by owner.)
August 21, 2008: 189 (13 are bank- and MLS-listed foreclosures)
% Homes with Price Reductions/Median Number of Reductions/Median Total % Reduction*:
September 17, 2008: 49.1%/2/11.6%
August 21, 2008: 46.1%/2/10,5%
*Based on homes sold or taken off market in the last 90 days.
For more information on the September Costa Mesa housing numbers, see tomorrow’s post “The Costa Mesa Market Report: Detached Home Stats, September 2008.”
Lehman Brothers in bankruptcy, Fannie and Freddie in federal conservatorship, and Bear Stearns bailed out. These are all signs that the economy is hurting and many businesses are having difficulty. One more sign of difficult times is a rising unemployment rate (currently reported as 5.8% in Orange County by the Employment Development Department ). However, some businesses are striving. And the pool cleaning business seems to be one of these.
This seems counterintuitive. Having your pool cleaned would seem to be one of the first services that homeowners would give up in financially difficult times. But the experience of one pool service owner that I talked to recently reveals that this business is booming. His observation is that instead of going out for entertainment or taking an out-of-town vacation, homeowners are entertaining and taking vacationing at home. In fact, a new term has been coined to describe this: staycation.
These staycations might involve entertaining at home by the pool (if you have one) instead of going out, as well as taking vacations by the pool instead of going out of town. Therefore, homeowners are willing to pay a bit more to keep their pools in top condition. In any case, this pool service business owner said that his job has been so busy lately that he needed a break, so he took a staycation of his own.
If we are looking for silver linings in this storm cloud we are now under, more business for some local enterprises from local residents might be a candidate.
Note: The thought just occurred to me to ask if anyone else has noticed any other business that are doing particularly well during this business downturn. I am mostly interested in those jobs that, like the pool service business, would seem unlikely candidates. SW 9-20-08
In a recent post, I identified which neighborhoods (or villages as they are called in Irvine) are in Irvine’s University district. I also provided links to the pricing and inventory statistics for these Irvine villages. But the stats are only part of the story. Neighborhood characteristics are also important. With that in mind, following are some links that provide descriptions of villages in Irvine’s University district. Special thanks goes to the Irvine Housing Blog.
Crossroads is one of the three districts into which the Irvine police department has divided the City for its geopolicing program(the three districts are Crossroads, University and Portola). Roughly speaking, the Crossroads district is in the center west portion of the City of Irvine.
The Crossroads district contains the following Irvine neighborhoods or, as they are called in Irvine, villages:
To see pricing and inventory information for these villages in Irvine’s Crossroads district, click on the links provided above. This will bring you to Redfin’s Community Overview Page for that village (if you prefer, you can also enter zip codes or city names in the Search box at the top, left of each page).
In addition to pricing and inventory information, the Community Overview Page provides the most recent listings, open houses, recently sold, most expensive, least expense, and price reduction information as well as community and school information for these villages.
To see what homes are available in each village, type the village name (for example, Woodbridge or Walnut) in the Search Listing box at the top, left of the page. This will bring you to a Redfin map that is populated with homes that are currently available in that area.
Note: Following real estate by the neighborhood in Costa Mesa and Irvine is something that I have wanted to do for some time. Redfin’s new inventory and pricing tools that are provided on Redfin’s Community Overview Pages has given me a convenient way to do this. In the future, I’ll be expanding on the Irvine village information that I have provide here, and I’ll be make this an ongoing blog feature.
We all need energy, and so does your home. So we might as well provide it in the most efficient and, in the long run, most cost-effective way.
Here are a few possibilities:
Home Depot offers free clinics that will help you to repair and maintain your home in an energy efficient way. Currently, these clinics are held on Saturdays at 10 am at the various Home Depot locations. In October, Sunday clinics at 1 pm will be offered in addition to the Saturday clinics. A range of topics that will help you conserve energy, such as installing dimmer switches as well as caulking and sealing your windows, is covered. Topics vary store by store, so check with your local Home Depot to see what is available. The Costa Mesa and Irvine stores are at the following locations:
Also, South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (AQMD) Lawn Mower Exchange Program will start up again in spring 2009. For a relatively small fee, the Lawn Mower Exchange Program allows you to trade an operable gasoline-powered lawn mower for a zero-emission cordless electric lawn mower (the fee was $100 in 2008). The electric mowers reduce VOX, CO and NOx emissions. The number of electric mowers allocated for 2008 has already been given out, so if you would like to get an e-mail notification that tells you when spring 2009 registration will be available, click here.
To begin, the first vintage plane for the planned air museum has arrived. As with many features planned for the Great Park, the air museum is ment to be a reminder of Irvine’s past (and we need those reminders in Irvine). he plan is for the plane to be restored and eventually take a spot in the air museum. Great Park boardmember Bill Kogerman is in talks with military officials at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. The officials have expressed to Kogerman some willing to turn over the plans for building and maintaining an aircraft museum. In addition to being a member of the Orange County Great Park board, Kogerman is a retired aviator (Lieutenant Colonel USMC) who served at El Toro.
Next, Lennar has made available some pictures of the July 12 Great Park festivities. This event was a celebration of the third anniversary of the Navy’s transfer of the Great Park land to the City of Irvine and Lennar. To see these pictures and get a sense of what is planned for the Great Park, click here.
The next Great Park board meeting will be held at 10 am on September 18 at Irvine’s City hall. If a trip to city hall is not possible, you can watch on ICTV or on demand through the City’s website.
If you are interested in following the sustainability aspects planned for the Great Park, the Environmental Coalition is hosting a talk at 7 pm on Friday, September 12, at the Irvine Water Ranch District headquarters (15600 Sand Canyon, Irvine).William Morrison, Senior Project Manager for the Great Park, will discuss sustainable elements planned for the park’s early construction projects as well as those planned for the whole park. Also, Great Park directors Larry Agran and Sukhee Kang will talk about the City of Irvine’s sustainability programs. For more information, contact Stephanie Pacheco at stephaniepa@socal.rr.com or 714-963-1658.
And, of course, you can read my Redfin blog. I will provide updates about once a month.
University is one of the three districts into which the Irvine police department has divided the City for its geopolicing program. The University district is bordered by the San Diego Freeway (I-405) on the north, Laguna Canyon Road (I-133) on the east, the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor (SR 73) on the south.
The University district includes the following Irvine neighborhoods or, as they are called in Irvine, villages:
Irvine Business Complex (IBC) The IBC, which includes both commercial and residential, is bordered by the San Diego Creek on the east, Barranca Parkway on the north, the Newport Freeway (I-55) on the west, and MacArthur Boulevard on the south. The area is often listed as the airport area on real estate maps. The San Joaquin Marsh locale is also included as part of this area.
To see pricing and inventory information for these villages in Irvine’s University district, click on the links provided above. This will bring you to Redfin’s Community Overview Page for that village (if you prefer, you can also enter zip codes or city names).
In addition to pricing and inventory information, the Community Overview Page provides the most recent listings, open houses, recently sold, most expensive, least expense, and price reduction information as well as community and school information for these villages.
To see what homes are available in each village, type the village name (for example, Turtle Ridge or University Park) in the Search Listing box at the top, left of the page. This will bring you to a Redfin map that is populated with homes that are currently available in that area.
Note: Following real estate by the neighborhood in Costa Mesa and Irvine is something that I have wanted to do for some time. Redfin’s new inventory and pricing tools that are provided on Redfin’s Community Overview Pages has given me a convenient way to do this. In the future, I’ll be expanding on the Irvine village information that I have provide here, and I’ll be make this an ongoing blog feature.
If you want to sell your house, home staging can often help to accentuate the positive while minimizing the negative. But sometimes staging can go awry. A three-bedroom Mesa Verde home in Costa Mesa is an example of this. Click on the link to see what I mean. For the most part the staging is fine. In fact, the first picture is appealing, but look at picture four, the living room picture.The diagonal furniture arrangement cries out that the size and shape of this room makes it difficult to fit all the furniture that would normally be placed in a living room. Sometimes the diagonal arrangement works, but not this time. A few pieces of furniture in a more traditional furniture arrangement would be a better idea.
Here is what some other homes in the area have sold for recently:
2903 Pemba Drive: 3 beds/2 baths, 1768 SF, built in 1960
Sold for $775,000 on 6-15-08 ($438/SF)
Note: The stats for detached homes provide a good overview of market trends in each city. However, condos also play a significant role in the Orange County housing market, so taking a look at these numbers is also helpful. That is what we will do with the following housing numbers. As with yesterday’s post (which was a overview of the statistics for the detached homes market in Irvine), I am switching over to the Redfin’s inventory and pricing tools to help with determining the status of the housing market. So unless otherwise noted, the following numbers are from Redfin’s Irvine “Overview of Homes for Sale” webpage. This page includes the Irvine inventory and pricing numbers as well as the associated charts and graphs. So if you would like to see the charts and graphs, click on the link for the above mentioned overview page.
The following Redfin numbers include MSL-listed, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO), and bank-foreclosure homes. Also, note that the numbers with an asterisk (*) are based on homes sold or taken off the market in last 90 days.
Following are the Irvinecondo housing numbers for August 2008. As with the Costa Mesa numbers, I will let you draw your own conclusions concerning the difference between the overall list price and overall selling price as well as the difference between the list price per square foot and the sold price per square foot in Irvine.
Next month we’ll have some numbers for comparison; however, even without these numbers, we can safely say housing price increases are not going to be in Irvine’s near future. Rather, after the recent drop-like-a-rock price declines in Irvine, we currently have the possible scenarios of prices staying in a trough or prices drifting down slowly (IrvineRenter predicts that Irvine housing prices will start dropping when Alt-A and prime loans start resetting). I think that we are currently in scenario 2 (the slow-drift-downward scenario) with the possibility of sharper declines when resetting starts.
Median List Price:
August 29, 2008: $510K
Median Sold Price for*:
August 29, 2008*: $487K
Median List Price/SF:
August 29, 2008: $372
Median Sold Price/SF*:
August 21, 2008: $345
Median Days on Redfin*:
August 29, 2008: 80
Total Number of Homes on the Market:
August 29, 2008: 505 (13 are bank- and MLS-listed foreclosures; 10 are for-sale-by-owner)
% Homes with Price Reductions/Median Number of Reductions/Median Total % Reduction*:
August 29, 2008: 43.1%/2/7.7%
*Based on homes sold or taken off market in the last 90 days. These include MSL-listed, for-sale-by-owner, and bank-foreclosure homes.
Also,according to DQ News in July 2008, the number of sales of condo and detached Irvine homes combined was 119. And, according to DQNew, the July median sales price in Irvine was $591,000, down 17.80% from the July 2007 price of $791,000.
And, finally, Refin’s median numbers for all Irvine homes sold in last 90 days are $568K and $378 per square foot. The number of Irvine homes (condo and detached) currently on the market is 939.
This page includes the Irvine inventory and pricing numbers as well as the associated charts and graphs. So if you would like to see the charts and graphs, click on the link for the above mentioned overview page. Also, note that the numbers with an asterisk (*) are based on homes sold or taken off the market in last 90 days and include MSL-listed, for-sale-by-owner (FSBO), and bank-foreclosure homes.
For more information on the August Irvine housing numbers, see tomorrow’s post “The Irvine Market Report: Condo Housing Stats, August 2008.” For a review of the January 2008 to July 2008 Irvine housing numbers, see “The Irvine Market Report: Detached Homes Stats, July 2008” and “Reality Check: Irvine Market Detached+Condo Housing Stats, July 2008.”
Following are the 2008 detached home statistics for Irvine. Last month’s detached home numbers for Irvine showed a market that hinted of a upward trend for the detached home market in Irvine. However, this month’s numbers indicate another holding pattern or even downward-pricing trend in this market. The most significant number is the median price per square foot, which went down.
Median List Sales Price: On August 29, 2008: $889K
On July 20, 2008: $939,431 (Source: Altos Research) Note:The Altos August number for this category is higher ($944,957), most likely because Redfin includes FSBO listings and bank-foreclosure properties. However, the median list price per square foot decreased in both Altos and Redfin charts. See below.
Median Sold Price*:
On August 29: $705K
Median List Sales Price/Square Foot:
On August 29, 2008: $388 Note: Altos Research has this number at $395**. For more explanation, see above, Median List Sales Price.
On July 20, 2008: $469 (Source: Altos Research)
Median Sold Price/Square Foot*:
On August 29: $351
Median Days on Market: On August 29, 2008: 85*
On July 20, 2008: 109 (Note:This is average days on market, not median days on market. Source: Altos Research)
Number of Homes on the Market (Inventory):
On August 29, 2008: 436*
On July 20, 2008: 401 (Source: Altos Research)
% Homes with Price Reductions/Median # Reductions/Median Total % Reduction*:
On August 29, 2008: 46.2%/2/6.2%
Market Action Index (Source: Altos Research):
On August 24, 2008: 17.28**
On July 20, 2008: 17.00 Note: The Market Action Index shows the balance between potential buyers and sellers, in other words, the balance between supply and demand. Above 30 is a sellers’ market; below 30 is a buyers’ market.
*Based on homes sold or taken off market in the last 90 days. These include MSL-listed, for-sale-by-owner, and bank-foreclosure homes.
**These Altos Research numbers are those that were listed on August 24, 2008.
In a recent post
