Live Lake Forest

Foreclosure properties continue to lead the market in Orange County home sales.  In the last three months, 2,438 out of the 5,907 sales (41%) have been bank-owned properties! 

Sometimes, these homes are agressively priced to immediately attract buyers, which leads to multiple offers and results in selling for over the list price!  The average time on the market for these REOs is only 36 days – almost twice as fast as the average 69 days that non-REOs are taking. 

In order to buy one of these homes from a bank, you need to be pre-approved and non-contingent on the sale of any other property.  They also almost always require that you “pre-qual” with their selected loan officer.

With foreclosed homes making up such a large portion of our active real estate market, I’ve set up a new page on this blog where I will post the REO lists for each city in South Orange County.  If there is an area that I’ve left out, please let me know and I’ll send out exactly what you want!

If you aren’t looking for an REO, take a look at all the other properties available:
 Search ALL the homes for sale in the Southern California MLS  (there must be at least one that you like!)

Don’t miss the next exciting update to this blog – click on the envelope to be notified by email! 

Thanks for visiting!

Home sales in Lake Forest, California, slowed down a bit in December compared to the prior few months, but still finished 79% ahead of the miserable number (29 closings) from December 2007.  The 52 closings were split exactly down the middle with 26 each of condos and single family homes. 

Condo sales ranged in price from $102,900 to $355,000, with an average of $198,965 at $194/sqft.  In 2007, sales of condos totaled 7, representing less than 25% of the total, but the average price was $294,628 @ $292/square foot!  At that time, 5 out of the 7 units were bank-owned, one was a short sale and there was only one traditional sale.  Comparing $/sq foot, condos have fallen about 34% in the last 12 months! 

Single family homes in December 2008 ranged from a low of $310,000 to a high of $975,000 with an average sale price of $481,611 at $239/square foot.  Compared to 2007, our average sale price ranged from $449,900 to $905,000, with an average sale price of $605,600 at $301.51/square foot.   Comparing $/sq foot, the SFRs have now declined a bit over 20% in one year.

Of the 204 active homes in the Lake Forest California MLS today, there are 37 that are bank-owned (REOs), 107 that are offered as short sales (subject to lender approval), 47  that (I think) are over-priced, and 13 that are in the range to sell within the month. 

The current average list price in Lake Forest is $418,441 at $265/square foot and has been on the market for an average of 109 days. 

Out of curiosity, I sorted all the active properties in Lake Forest to check various highs and lows.  Here are the extremes at the far ends today: 

• The least expensive home is a one bedroom condo offered at $107,500. 

• The most expensive is a large re-built home on the lake front at $1,650,000.  This house also has the most square feet of 3850, the most baths with 5, and is the newest built in 2006. 

• The smallest property is a one-bedroom condo of 610 square feet, priced at $162,000. 

• The highest price per square foot ($562) is another lake front home  priced at $1,295,000. 

• The lowest price per square foot ($138 ) is a 2 bedroom condo at $140,000, which is a short sale. 

• The oldest listing came on the market in October 2007, and is a short sale.  The price started at $485,000 and is now down to $420,000.   (This is a classic case of “chasing the market down”.)

• The one with the most bedrooms of 6, is a short sale and listed for $375,000.

If you would like to check my statistics, or do your own research, please click this link to  Search ALL the homes for sale in the Southern California MLS  (there must be at least one that you like!)

Don’t miss the next exciting update to this blog – click on the envelope to be notified by email! 

Thanks for visiting!

I can tell already that this will be a good better year for Southern California real estate.    To start off, it didn’t rain on our parade (Rose Parade) on New Year’s day, and our University of Southern California (my school) Trojans won their Rose Bowl game under sunny blue skies!  I think this is always a good start for the year, and like to think that all the people living in cold places will suddenly decide to move to California!

I’m still gathering all the statistics from 2008, and will be posting my final analysis along with my predictions for 2009 in the next few days.  I already know there were more total sales in 2008 than in 2007, but we were still under the numbers for an “average year.” 

I just updated my “Vic’s Picks” with the better valued foreclosed homes available today, so if you are looking for a bargain, start there.  Almost all of the properties on the list are offered at less than 60% of their last sale value! 

If you don’t like any of the foreclosures  You can Search ALL the homes for sale in the Southern California MLS  (there must be at least one that you like!)

Don’t miss the next exciting update to this blog – click on the envelope to be notified by email! 

Thanks for visiting!