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Finding The Orange County Home Buyers – Our 10% Theory For Real Estate Sales

Orange County, California homebuyers are certainly not as plentiful as they were for the last six or seven years. If anybody has picked up a newspaper recently, they are well aware of the headlines that that would like them to believe that absolutely no homes in Orange County have been sold in the past twelve months! Headlines such as “Record Foreclosures”, “Flat Sales”, “Prices Falling”, have been doing enough damage on their own, to speak nothing of some rather famous pundits and authors adhering to a lazy broad brush generalizations in stating things like “Don’t buy any real estate for at least a few more years!” Stating things as blatant as this is not only irresponsible, but it just could not be any further from the truth! Homes are still being sold, and buyers are still actively looking for houses in Orange County. The question is how to find them.

Perceptions Of Real Estate In Orange County

The average Orange County home buyer has perceptions of the market and the sellers of the real estate have perceptions as well. People looking at purchasing the Orange County real estate are often told that it is a buyers market, all the sellers are in foreclosure, and that they really should wait more as prices will come down. The owners of Orange County real estate have some perceptions of their own. They usually believe that the buyers have magically disappeared, the ones that do exist are all trying to make low ball offers, and that if they just wait, the prices will come back.

The Reality of Orange County Realty

Obviously, we have some discrepancies of opinion between the two sides! The fact is that real estate continues to sell throughout most of Orange County, albeit at a slower pace than two years ago. Real estate always has been and always will be a local business, and by local we mean zip code, neighborhood, or even street specific. It is completely normal to see a rapidly slipping market on one side of the street, while just on the other side, sales continue to chug along.

While Orange County real estate statistics remains rooted at a local level, there are some general concepts that can be applied across the county. One such concept is what we call the top percentage principle. Our principle states that only a certain number, or percentage, of homes will sell each month within a specific neighborhood, and a house will not sell until it enters into that top percentage of real or perceived “deals.” For example, lets say the top percentage in a certain neighborhood is 10%. This means that if a home owner in the area wants to sell their home, they will need to be in the top 10% of real or perceived “deals” within that area in order to get it sold. If they are not, they will need to break into the top 10% of deals for next month or the home will still not sell. The actual percentage number will fluctuate with area and time, but the concept itself will hold steady.

Sales volume is not the only factor that should be measured at a local level. Home prices throughout Orange County are also fluctuating zip code to zip code. Even though its beyond the scope of this post, we can provide home buyers with many examples of areas in the county that are not in a price decline.

What it all means to Orange County home buyers and sellers

Sellers:

For sellers of the local real estate, the most important thing they can do is get into that top percentage of homes that are selling, and get there quickly! This can be done a few ways, but remember first that value is just as important as tangible value. Perceived and tangible value can be created by a combination of the proper marketing, benefits, and competitive pricing. More often than not, home sellers do not mind the first two factors, but find the third to be excruciatingly painful. Despite the pain levels, Orange County real estate owners need to have their Realtors evaluate the market and get their property priced according to what has sold this month. This needs to be done quickly because time is not the cure when new listing are coming up every day making it tougher and tougher each month to get into that top percentage.

As a seller of Orange County real estate, if your saying things like “I can just wait for the right buyer/market”, “I don’t really need to sell”, or “I need xxx dollars despite what the research says” our best advice for the market is to just get out. This truly is not a time for unmotivated sellers to “play the market” and just see if they can get some unjustifiable price. For motivated sellers who really want to sell, careful adherence to our top percentage principle will enable them to find the buyers and ultimately get their Orange County home sold.

Buyers:

Orange County home buyers also need to understand a few things about the current market. Despite what the headlines read, the best deals on the market are selling, and often selling fast. To illustrate this point, we operate a section on our website that we call the Orange County hot property of the week. In it, we post some of the best deals to be found on property in all types of price ranges. As of this date, we need to update our section at least every week and a half or our site is outdated as these good deals are just not available. This speaks volumes as to the health of the market!

It is true that there are many properties on the market in Orange County, and as we all know, many of them are still grossly overpriced. Some sellers have gotten ahead of the curve and offered attractive properties at very competitive prices. These are the properties that fit into our top percentage principle. Now then, just because a limited number of homes are actually selling, and some of them may be distress sales, like foreclosures, it does not mean buyers will be able to buy the homes for pennies on the dollar. This concept is best explained in our 6 part write-up on our website.

Basically, if Orange County home shoppers want to become Orange County home owners, and do so by finding a good deal, they had better have good help, reasonable expectations, and be able to move quickly. The best way to do this is to let a local real estate team help in finding these good homes, and the best way to do that is to use our home finder service where they just tell us a little about their needs, and we custom build a home search campaign around those needs for free! Best of luck and happy hunting.

Insider’s guide to bargain real estate: The complete guide to buying properties below market value (Unknown Binding)

January 26th, 2010 CheapFlatsInLondon No comments

Insider's guide to bargain real estate: The complete guide to buying properties below market valueNo description for this product could be found, but have a look over at Amazon for reviews and other information.

Real Estate Hype 2008-2009

December 2nd, 2009 CheapFlatsInLondon No comments

Since 2006 the media has butchered real estate. It seemed that every time the 6:00 news was on there was some horror story about foreclosures or depreciating markets. The market has been bad, but it has been worse because of the negative coverage. The negative vibe in the media echoed through the real estate market.
Well things are at the beginning stages of a turn around. The media is right back in there with their hype, this time positive. Is it going to have the opposite effect that it did when the market was turning bad?
Real estate value use to be based on the last comparable sale in the neighborhood. In the down turn real estate became worth only what somebody would pay for it, which isn’t very much. With the negative vibes in the market the active homes for sale on the market were being priced well below the last comparable sell. It was a downward spiral. It seemed every time the media came out with something negative it only got worse. Real estate became emotional. Comparable sales didn’t mean anything.
Now with the hype that this is the time to buy, we may see the opposite effect. So what does that mean for you? Well in my opinion if you are a home owner than it is great!. Hype isn’t all bad if it will counter balance the bad publicity we’ve had so long in this market. With the government reinforcement, the positive news coverage, and the low interest rates things definitely can change for the better. In the post when the government has given incentives to buy real estate and the media coverage publicized it, things got better fast. Anything can happen at any time. Is this the time? It may be.
Well what does this mean for buyers? Should you schedule an appointment with a realtor and go buy a house this weekend? The answer is it is up to you. All you can do is watch for the signs and make your best judgment. There are always opportunities in the real estate market wether it is down or up. In my opinion there are more opportunities in a down market, but they take more work. If you are looking to buy a home to enjoy and live in yourself than this is a great time to buy. Take advantage of the vast inventory of homes. Never before have there been so many homes to choose from.
Well what about working with a realtor? Every realtor is different so find one that is looking out for your needs. Did your realtor encourage you to buy a home in 2005 right when the market crash? Did your realtor openly talk to you about the declining market even though you were a buyer? If he or she didn’t than maybe you should find a new realtor who is more cautious of your needs than their own pocket book. There are plenty of good realtors out there, look for an honest one who can decipher the hype.

Weak Dollar Is a Huge Draw for Foreign Investors in US Real Estate

November 29th, 2009 CheapFlatsInLondon No comments

The weak US dollar has been good news for real estate. Taking
advantage of the favorable conversion rates, foreign investors
are eagerly picking up real estate in major cities across the
US. Who is buying and where are they investing?

WHO IS INVESTING?

In recent years the US real estate market has seen the highest
amount of investing from foreign investors in Germany, Britain,
Canada, Japan and the Netherlands. Germany was the strongest
player in 2004 reporting over $4 billion in investments for that
year.

Where are they buying? In the past Europeans were drawn to East
Coast properties and Asians to the West Coast. Now, because of
the lower interest mortgages and a weak dollar, foreign
investors are picking up property, commercial and residential,
in all major US cities, including Chicago and Las Vegas.

CANADIANS AND AUSTRALIANS BENEFITING TOO

Even neighbors north of the border in Canada are seeing the
benefits. Although the Canadian dollar has been weaker than the
US dollar for years, many Canadians own vacation homes in the
US, particularly in Arizona. They are one of the highest volume
investors in the US real estate market. Whether buying or
selling, Canadians are enjoying stronger purchasing power while
the US dollar remains low.

Some Canadians, instead of buying, are following the lead of
foreign investors who are selling current US properties in
preparation for buying at an even better rate if the US dollar
continues to fall.

While Germans are slowing down in the volume of investments due
to recent caps, Australians are picking things up. Australia,
with one of the largest pension funds in the world, must look
beyond their own real estate market for investment
opportunities. Investing in US real estate permits them to
invest their huge national pension funds into diversified
holdings.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?

Although the current mortgage rates are an appealing draw, they
will not remain low indefinitely. However, lower priced
properties such as foreclosures would make the financial
investment potentially lucrative for foreign investors despite
the interest rates as long as the dollar remains low.

Foreign investors looking for long run profits anticipate an
increase in the US dollar as an incentive to buy. Investing
while the euro is strong and the US dollar is weak means they
can pick up real estate for a relatively low investment. Already
some countries are seeing up to a 35% discount based on the
favorable exchange rates. However, the aim is to hold the
property until the US dollar is strong and then the conversion
to euro would be highly profitable.

With the availability of properties online it is easier than
ever for investors to find properties without crossing an ocean.
Some of the best deals, such as foreclosures, can be researched
and purchased without coming to the US. This makes investing in
US real estate a great opportunity for investors no matter where
they live.

Copyright (C) 2005 A1-Foreclosure.com

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Why Buying Dubai Properties is a Good Investment

November 27th, 2009 CheapFlatsInLondon No comments

At present Dubai is one of the famous cities in the world. For its continuous booming at different parts such as tourism industry and Dubai Property industry, Dubai has become the center of attraction for millions of people and businessmen around the world. Now Dubai is moving away from its traditional oil reliance to a more balanced one based on tourism and services. Therefore, the economy of Dubai has grown with more and more tourist regions coming up to meet this aim.

There are several reasons why you should consider Dubai for your real estate investment. In fact Dubai properties are today’s hot selling properties in the international real estate market. Investment in apartments, offices or villas in Dubai can be the most important milestone in life.

Buy, sell or rent, you can do anything you desire and in each case you can expect a quick return of your investment. Actually Dubai is now a service center and a financial service hub for the foreigners. The number of foreigners is increasing day by day in Dubai. They are gathering there to work with a high pay and tax-free status. The standard rental amount of properties in Dubai is now typical. At present the single apartments are providing the best facilities in terms of rental. The foreigners who work in Dubai are single individuals. And so this would be a great real estate investment offer for you.

There are now lots of attractions that are built in Dubai and this would result in an increase in tourist visitors in Dubai. If you can manage a property in some famous places like Jumeirah Village, Dubai Sports City and Jumeirah Lake, The Burj Dubai etc. then you have a good opportunity that you will be able to rent out your property to people going there on holiday.

Moreover, when you consider the cost of Dubai property with the other famous places such as London property, New York property etc, you will find that the prices are comparatively low but the quality is equal. But it is hoped that the prices of real estate investment in Dubai will be set to fly within the next few years.

Dubai has become an attractive place for big investment, because investing in Dubai is surprisingly easy with smallest administration. The country wants private investment and to increase its population. Political stability and low crime are also the attractive features of Dubai. International visitors feel safe and the presence of heavily armed police and army is not present in Dubai.

In fine, it can be said that Dubai represents one of the rising markets and it will be absolutely safe as well as profitable to invest in Dubai real estate now.

Investing In Northern France Property

October 27th, 2009 CheapFlatsInLondon No comments

Anyone considering investing in France should most certainly consider investing in northern French property.
Traditionally, Brittany and Normandy have been incredibly popular with British holidaymakers and investors, largely down to their accessibility for short breaks or for those who do not wish to fly.
Despite the close proximity to Great Britain, northern France has a genuinely ‘French’ feel and has an impressive range of traditional fishing ports, as well as historic sites of notable interest.
One thing that does affect northern France, however, is the climate, and the regions of Brittany and Normandy are largely similar to Britain in terms of both temperature and rainfall. This doesn’t stop the tourists though and the popularity of these regions has continued to soar over the last five years.
Investing in property in northern France is ideal for those looking to take on a renovation project. Although there are plenty of new developments to choose from, in particular along the spectacular coastline, there are still some truly hidden gems if you move a little further inland.
In some parts of inland Normandy, ramshackle property can be found for as little as £17,000 and given that most of these areas are within an hour’s drive of the popular beach resorts, it is easy to envisage investors picking up a bargain!
In a similar way to rural England, Normandy is reliant largely on its agricultural trade and more recently the tourist trade. Therefore, those looking to invest in the area should be prepared to embrace the rural outlook in terms of the property they purchase and the way in which they renovate the property.
A recent trend that has swept the northern France property market is the British commuter. Many individuals who work in London have realised that they can commute within a reasonable time frame from most parts of northern France.
As such, a whole new rental market has been established and Brits abroad, either as commuters or holidaymakers are largely responsible for fuelling this demand.
Prices are hugely variable, across the region, with average prices ranging between £70,000 and £130,000. As a general rule, prices are more expensive the closer the property gets to Paris or to some of the more popular coastal resorts such as the Gulf of Morbihan.
In Normandy and Brittany, the most popular areas are Saint-Malo, Rennes, Brest, Quimper, Dinard and Dinan and although the prices are generally higher in these well-established locations, there is the potential of an excellent rental return, due to the high number of tourists that travel to this region.
The best thing about investing in property in northern France is its timeless appeal. Tourists have flocked to this area for decades and the appeal of packing up the car and simply driving, without the hassle of flying, is certain to keep the holiday rental market in this region booming for years to come.
Although northern France may not have the potential for explosive capital growth that some under-developed countries have, there is certainly the opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to pick up a renovation bargain and make a very comfortable profit.
Investors who want a secure return and a property that they can easily enjoy themselves would do well to look at northern France for their property investment business.