Ladera Ranch Community

Beautiful home in LAGUNA Niguel

I think these grub worms are causing a lot of the dead grass in our neighborhood.

Coming soon in Rancho Santa Margarita with an Awesome view.

And My first interest rate was 11%

Great Community, Great homes

Probably the most desirable location in Ladera Ranch, this highly upgraded home is nestled at the end of a cul-de-sac on a private gated flag lot of 9632 square feet, in the award winning Clifton Heights Neighborhood, in the Tesoro School District. This incredible home offers a floor plan with a Kitchen/Family Room combined and a Bonus Room, all encouraging family time! Each Bedroom includes a full Bath, so sharing Baths among the children is obsolete! Complete with Family Room, Formal Living...

Have a fun weekend

Just add crackers, apples and grapes and you'll be fine

Ladera ranch homes

Enjoy... but be safe.

Beautiful homes in Ladera...

Awesome music! Good Job Lara

Great deal with tons of upgrades

Not your typical track home

Find your perfect home

The home buying season is starting. If you would like a free home value analysis, contact Sherrie at Prime OC Properties through www.PrimeOC.com

Still one my favorite movies

Life is better by the beach.

Merry Christmas to You and Your Loved Ones

Happy Thanksgiving from Sherrie and Manny at Prime OC Properties

New Lease Listing! 3 bed | 1.5 bath | 1174 sq. ft. - Priced at $2,300 CHARMING HOMES ARE NOT ALWAYS THAT EASY TO FIND! SEARCH NO LONGER! THIS ADORABLE 3 BR CAPE COD IS WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! REMODELED AND MOVE IN READY IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. THIS LOVEY HOME IS A CORNER UNIT WITH ONE WALL TO SHARE WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR. GRANITE COUNTER TOPS, STAINLESS APPLIANCES, LOVELY CABINETRY, HARDWOOD FLOORING, AND FENCED IN FRONT AND BACK PATIOS MAKE THIS H...OME PERFECT. ALL 3 BEDROOMS ARE LOCATED UPSTAIRS. THE LAUNDRY CLOSET IS CONVENIENTLY LOCATED IN THE KITCHEN. PROPERTY INCLUDES 1 CARPORT AND 1 PARKING SPACE. THE COMMUNITY POOL AND SPA ARE STEPS AWAY FROM THE FRONT DOOR. 125 ABBEYWOOD IS SUPER CLOSE TO RESTAURANTS, GROCERY SHOPPING, RETAIL CLOTHING BOUTIQUES AND THE MOVIE THEATER. THIS LOVELY HOME IS AFFORDABLE AND CONVENIENT! Contact me for details! See more

New Home Communities in the OC

If you prefer a new home... We can show you what's available. http://www.showingnew.com/sherrielevan

May 2016 Current Home Market Info for OC CA: Average list price for OC is $1.5 Million There are 175 more homes on the market compared to 2015 Due to increasing values, the $500K and below is slowly fading... There are 22% more homes on market valued at above $1M compared to 2016 Homes priced below $750K, market time, 58 DOM or less Expected DOM for all OC homes is 55 to 56 Days, still Seller's market Distressed Homes make up 2.3% of all listings 97% of all sales in OC were equity sellers Thanks to Steven Thomas for OC 5/2016 Housing Market Summary!

Beautiful Ladera Ranch Home sold in one day for full price. Way to go Sherrie at Prime OC Properties

Market Stats reported in April 2016 *Active Inventory added 267 homes in the last 2 weeks *There are 5732 active listings currently in OC *The average "pending" price in March $756,015 *The average list price for Orange County is $1.5 Million... *The current expected time on the market for all OC is 57 days *The sales to list price ratio, currently at 97.6% Stats provided by Steven Thomas, Quantitative Economics See more

For more info on market conditions, email us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.primeoc.com!

Keeping an eye on the Real Estate Market in anticipation of selling or buying a home? This recent summary of the Real Estate Market for OC will help. If you would like a free evaluation of your current home, or NEW listings of homes to purchase as they hit the market, call Sherrie LeVan at 949-887-9613 or email her at [email protected]. Report furnished by Steven Thomas, an OC RE economist

The vast majority of Purchaser's today go about the process entirely wrong, putting themselves at an overwhelming disadvantage! Let's look at this from the Seller's perspective for a moment. If you were the Seller and had multiple offers on your property, all things being equal, would you accept the one with Certificate of Financing Approval or the one that was still conditional on financing? The answer is obvious. Why then, do so many buyers wait to start the financing afte...r they have found the home? As a prospective purchaser, it makes all the more sense to start the financing early on so you can get a firm handle on your interest rate and estimate of points and closing costs. If you do this before finding a home, you are not under any time constraints and are less likely to over pay, such as a buyer who has found a home and is floundering under strict time constraints. Please contact me at [email protected] or call me at 949-887-9613 for a loan agent referral, to get you started on your way to purchase your new home today! If you have a home you would like to sell, we can help as well! For more info about us, visit our website at www.primeoc.com .

New Loan Programs Making Home Ownership a Reality In today’s mortgage markets, one can, with good credit scores, place less than 20% down on a residential purchase. Many make enough money to afford a monthly mortgage, but do not have monies saved for a down payment. Determining your qualifying position, before beginning your home search is a good idea! No need to wrap yourself up in the emotional buying process if you cannot obtain a loan, unless of course your purchase wi...ll be 100% cash! With less than 20% down, most loans will require private mortgage insurance, which protects the lender in case the borrower defaults. If you need to pay PMI, the size of your loan will be slightly smaller, to allow for a bigger monthly mortgage payment. A homeowner can ask that the PMI be removed once they have more than 20% equity in their home. The cost of private mortgage insurance, (PMI) depends on one’s credit, besides the size of their down payment. Freddie Mac estimates the cost to be $30 to $70 a month for each $100,000 borrowed. There are other new programs such as an equity share, where in, an investor matches your monies down. No monies are owed to the investor for up to 30 years or until the home is sold. The equity is shared, 60% to the Owner and 40% to the Investor. If there is no equity gain on the property, there is no money owed to the investor. Even with no down payment, homebuyers will still need some cash to cover closing cost and upfront costs such as a year’s worth of taxes and insurance. Some loan programs allow Buyers to use a contribution from the Seller, or a gift from family for closing costs and down payments, but others do not. These miscellaneous costs will be estimated for you during your loan qualification process. With loan rates still at an all time low, there really is no reason to pay your Landlord’s mortgage for their ultimate financial benefit, if you can qualify for a purchase, and invest in yourself. Contact us today at [email protected] or 949-887-9613, so that we can discuss the possibilities of you owning your new home! We can refer you to the best loan agents in southern California. Whether you are a first time Buyer, just getting back into home ownership, or looking for a 2nd home, we can help! As home prices continue to rise, what are you waiting for?

THE MISSING LINK IN HOUSING For years, first-time home buyers have accounted for approximately 40 percent of all buyers. However, since the recession, this percentage has been shrinking. In 2015, first time buyers made up fewer than 30 percent of the market share, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS. The decrease of first-time home buyers will have broad economic implications, housing analysts say. Without first-time home buyers, an entire cycle of homeowners...hip is stalled. Current homeowners are usually unable to sell their homes and move up. And without move-up transactions, many older people can’t sell and downsize for retirement. It’s not that millennials don’t show an interest in home ownership: according to a survey conducted by Fannie Mae, 56 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 plan to buy a home next time they move. But housing analysts say that the real estate industry has an important part in bringing them into homeownership by driving home the financial benefits and teaching them about ways to make homeownership possible.

HOME PRICES UP 6.3 PERCENT YEAR OVER YEAR CoreLogic recently released its CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast data for November 2015 which shows home prices are up both year over year and month over month. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 6.3 percent in November compared with a year ago and increased 0.5 percent compared with the previous month, according to the CoreLogic HPI.... The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase 5.4 percent on a year-over-year basis from November 2015 to November 2016, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to remain flat. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state. Call Sherrie LeVan to set up your receiving free reports regarding available homes meeting your search criteria at 949-887-9613

It can be Cheaper to Buy a Home than Rent

Rental rates have risen even faster than home prices in some markets. Buying a home is 36 percent cheaper than renting nationwide for millennials and now is the best time to buy since 2012, according to Trulia. Buying is cheaper than renting in every one of the country’s 100 largest metro areas. The disparity could likely grow as rents are expected to increase by 8 percent next year, according to a Rent.com survey of property managers.

Dec 2015 Housing Trends

Home prices nationwide, including distressed* sales, increased by 6.8 percent in October 2015 compared with October 2014 and increased by 1.0 percent in October 2015 compared with September 2015**, according to the CoreLogic HPI.The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices are projected to increase by 5.2*** percent on a year-over-year basis from October 2015 to October 2016, and the projected month-over-month gain is negligible (0.1 percent) from October 2015 to Nov...ember 2015. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.The rise in home prices over the past few years has largely been a healthy trend. The shadow inventory has been reduced significantly and home equity levels are now approaching pre-recession levels, said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. As we move forward, the rise in home prices will need to be better correlated to family income trends over time to avoid homes becoming unaffordable for many. This is especially true in several metropolitan areas where home prices have grown rapidly. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com. See more

Orange County Housing Market Summary The active inventory continued it descent and dropped by 247 homes in the past two weeks. It now sits at 5,885, its lowest level since last mid May. The average list price for all of Orange County CA is $1.5 Million. For demand, the last 30 days of pending sales, the average price is $747,000. For homes priced below $750,000, the market is HOT with an expected market time of just 51 days. This range represents 50% of the active inve...ntory and 71% of demand. For luxury homes priced between $1-$2 Million, the expected market time grew slightly from 4.7 months to 4.8 months in the past couple of weeks. For luxury homes priced above $2 Million, the expected market time grew 7.8 months to 8.8 months. The luxury end, all homes above $1 Million, accounts for 33% of the inventory and only 14% of demand. The expected market time for all homes in OC CA dropped from 76 days to 72 days in the past two weeks. It is a slight seller’s market between 60 and 90 days. The drop in the expected market time is due to an increase in demand and a drop in the inventory. Distressed homes, both short sales and foreclosures combined, make up only 3.3% of all listings and 5.8% of demand. There are 59 foreclosures and 137 short sales available to purchase today. There were 2,418 closed sales in October compared to 2,419 in October 2014 Last year this time there were 213 fewer pending sales, 10% less, totaling 2,234By Steven Thomas11/22/2015 PRIME OC PROPERTIES WISHING YOU A BLESSED HOLIDAY FULL OF HAPPINESS WITH THOSE YOU LOVE! See more

Today’s sellers and buyers turn to the Internet to determine their home’s value but forget to look at the fine print.Online Home Valuation Tools: even though sellers and buyers turn to Internet sites to establish the property value of a home, it’s not even close to being accurate.Everything is on the Internet. Recipes, comparison shopping, product ratings, music, dating, news, financial tips, economic analysis, entertainment, medical information, every business and every pers...on is now on the Internet. With access to so much information, sellers and buyers now feel empowered with the ability to go online to learn as much about the home selling and home buying process as they wish. They can search to their hearts content as everything is now seemingly at their fingertips.With this access comes the sense that sellers and buyers can control the process. They feel like they are in the driver’s seat. From home searches, to researching about the skillset of a REALTOR, to looking at payment calculators, they can do a tremendous amount of research from the comfort of their homes. Zillow.com, REALTOR.com, Trulia.com, OCRegister.com, LATimes.com, YahooRealEstate.com, CNN.com, CNBC.com, etcetera, there are plenty of choices to learn more about the local, regional, and national real estate markets. There is a lot of great information available to real estate consumers to help in the process. Unfortunately, there is plenty of misinformation too. The number one real estate website is Zillow.com. The main purpose of the site is to determine a home’s value, what they more affectionately refer to as a Zestimate. Tragically, sellers and buyers rely on this site in their attempt to secure the precise value of a home. In looking up the Zestimate of a home, sellers and buyers feel as if they are tapping into the most complex, accurate real estate program known to man. They enter in an address and Zillow spits out the exact market value of a home. The problem is that it is NOT accurate at all. The site admits to its own shortcomings on the landing page and states, Use the Zestimate as a starting point in determining your current and future home value. Not too many buyers are going to take the time to read that admission.Good luck on finding the fine print too. You have to click on the term Zestimate, even though it does not have a hyperlink, to learn more about what goes into their estimate. The fine print can be found by then clicking on How Accurate is the Zestimate? Isolating Orange County is an even further challenge. The numbers illustrate exactly why sellers and buyers cannot rely on this tool to accurately hone in on a home’s value. It also illustrates why they should not even rely on the site as a starting point in the home valuation process. Author: Steven Thomas See more

Home Buying is a process everyone needs to understand. I can help!

Housing Will Still Expand Despite Economic Weakness Contributor Lawrence Yun/Forbes Oct 26, 2015 After solid GDP growth of 3.9% in the second quarter, nearly all economic indicators in recent months have pointed to a sizable slowdown. Industrial production has been falling for several months, retail sales are barely rising, and exports fell while imports rose in the most recent month from a combination of a strong U.S. dollar and some big countries either already falling int...Continue reading

Housingfest! Naturally the market slows a bit after the kids go back to school. Just as the seasons change, so does the housing market. Generally families move during the summer however, buying and selling in the fall allows families to move during the holidays. There are several benefits to this period of time to transition. With the frenzied buying practices and bidding wars in the Spring and Summer, it is not unusual for Buyers to offer more than fair market value for ...their desired purchase. Banks will not make a loan for more than the Comparables reveal, or homes previously sold within the last 6 months. Therefore the Buyer pays cash for the amount over and above the allowed loan value, or the Seller has to reduce the purchase price. Usually when a Buyer pays more for a property than market value, they are planning on staying in the home for a longer period of time. In the Spring and Summer it is not unusual for a Seller to over price their home. Smart Buyers choosing to avoid the sales mania in the summer use this slower market to their benefit in that they are not competing for the same property with many, other Buyers. Sellers are not bothered during these seasons with all the shoppers who are not interested in buying and more interested in getting decorating ideas for their current home. It is a known fact that those buying or selling in these slower seasons are serious in their quest. Homes are greatly valued as a safe haven for making family memories! If it is time to move up in size or purchase your first home, the loan rates are still excellent. No reason to miss out on this opportunity! For your free list of available homes for purchase as they come on to the market, or a free evaluation of what your home is worth, send your request to [email protected]

Property managers in the U.S. are raising rents - possibly by as much as 8 percent next year - as demand rises and vacancies fall, a new survey from property rental website Rent.com found. "An overwhelming 88 percent of property managers raised their rent in the last 12 months, and there does not appear to be any signs of stopping," the survey of more than 500 U.S. property managers who used Rent.com found. Of the property managers surveyed, 68 percent estimated rents would r...Continue reading

Easy to understand explanation of Buyer's Market verses Seller's Market.....Enjoy!

Current Orange County Real Estate Stats

Real Estate Stats for Orange County CA

Current Market Stats in Orange County!

His and Her Sheds... these are a far cry from the metal sheds I remember.