Today as I was thinking about some of my friends who are trying to purchase a home for a wonderful program they have going to help homeless people, I was thinking about how even though the market is great for buyers with a lot of money, it's tough for those who don't have much money. My friend is the founder of Grandma's House of Hope, which is a transitional living home in Garden Grove.  The house has 17 beds and we take in homeless, recovering addicts and alot of women who have been victims of domestic violence.  I'm a therapist and I run a group in the house and I can tell you that the need for more properties and homes like this one is run for, are needed. But then there's also the issue of how to market ourselves during hard times.  And a friend of mine recently told me about Fabus... 06/11/2009

In Orange County, homebuyers are finding out how quickly interest rates can go up. After several bad days for Mortgage Backed Securities, FHA interest rates have increased anywhere from .5% to 1% just in the last 10 days. Interest rates had dipped as low at 4.5% for FHA loans under $417,000 and 5% for FHA loans over $417,000 up to $729,750. Now rates are ranging from 5.5% to 5.75% for loans under $417,000 and 5.75% to 6% for FHA loans over $417,000.How Much Will this Effect Orange County First Time Home Buyers?For most people, the increase will have very little effect on what they qualify for. For example, a .25% rate increase will translate into a payment increase of approximately $15 per $100,000. So on a $300,000 loan, the monthly payment will be approximately $45 more per month with... 06/09/2009

With some of the best residential neighborhoods and homes at South Orange County, Irvine is located adjacent to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, and within a 10 minute drive of the Pacific Ocean at Crystal Cove.  ____________________ Irvine is famous for its pleasant weather, lots of sunshine, award winning public schools, healthy business climate with good job opportunities, the University of California Irvine, wonderful parks and recreation areas, encouragement for business and development, diverse backgrounds of residents, celebration of freedoms, places for freedom of worship, and one of the safest cities in the United States. LOCAL HOUSING MARKET REPORT ~   ____________________ 594 homes were listed for sale here as of May 31, 2009 (down from April of this year and May o... 06/08/2009

RE/MAX Homes & Estates Pre-Foreclosure Division 9241 Irvine Boulevard, Suite 150, Irvine, California 92618 (714) 588 -7676 ∙  www.ReMaxAnn.com   If you are in a situation where: •You lost your job •Your Medical Expenses are too high •Just went through/going through a divorce •You are behind on your payments •You have no equity •You can't afford the cost of selling your home •Your income has been reduced •You are in foreclosure   WE CAN HELP YOU! It's easy and doesn't cost you any MONEY! Our services are Free!!! WHEN THE DEBT EXCEEDS YOUR HOME'S VALUE... we can help is with a SHORT SALE.   Benefits of a Short Sale: •Avoid Foreclosure •Avoid Bankruptcy •Reduced damage to your credit •Postpone your foreclosure sale date •A short sale will stay on your credit approx 3 years •BE FREE of fina... 05/26/2009

Orange County FHA loan limits are higher in 2009 than they have ever been, allowing for home buyers to purchase "high priced" homes with only 3.5% down payment. Just last year, at the beginning of 2008, the highest the Orange County FHA limit had ever been was $362,790. In mid 2008 the limit was increased substantially to $729,750. For a few months at the beginning of 2009 the limit was down to $625,500, but in March was again increased to $729,750.What Does this high loan limit do for an Orange County home buyer?This allows an Orange County FHA first time home buyer  (or any home buyer) to purchase a home for $755,000 with only 3.5% down payment. For a price that high their income would need to be at least $165,000 per year, verifiable, but that's a lot of leverage in a finance environ... 05/23/2009

I'm very excited to announce that I've recently joined First Team Real Estate in Irvine, CA.   First Team Real Estate currently has 35 offices located throughout Southern California with almost 2000 professional sales associates.  First Team has been open for business since 1976 and has achieved #1 status. - 1976 Opens 1st office - 1980 Becomes #1 selling office out of 6,500 franchise offices in North America. - 1985 Becomes an independent firm and expanded to 6 offices. - 1990 Ranks #1 in Orange County with 10 offices and over $1 billion in sales. - 1999 For 10 consecutive years sold more homes in Orange County than any other firm and named the #1 independent real estate firm in Southern California. - 2003 With 26 offices and $5.4 billion in sales First Team is named the #1 independent... 05/04/2009

With some of the best residential neighborhoods and homes at South Orange County, Irvine is located next to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, and within a 10 minute drive of the Pacific Ocean at Crystal Cove.  Irvine is famous for its pleasant weather, lots of sunshine, excellent and award winning public schools, healthy business climate with good job opportunities, the University of California Irvine, encouragement for business and development, diverse backgrounds of residents, celebration of freedoms, places for worship, and one of the safest cities in the United States. As of today, April 15, 2009   ~  there are 743 homes listed for sale at Irvine ... with average list price of homes is $690,375  ... with average time on the market of 87 days.  Of the 743 Irvine homes now l... 04/15/2009

RE/MAX Homes & Estates Pre-Foreclosure Division 9241 Irvine Boulevard, Suite 150, Irvine, California 92618 (714) 588 -7676 ∙  www.ReMaxAnn.com   If you are in a situation where: • You lost your job • Your Medical Expenses are too high • Just went through/going through a divorce • You are behind on your payments • You have no equity • You can't afford the cost of selling your home • Your income has been reduced • You are in foreclosure   WE CAN HELP YOU! It's easy and doesn't cost you any MONEY! Our services are Free!!! WHEN THE DEBT EXCEEDS YOUR HOME'S VALUE... we can help is with a SHORT SALE. Benefits of a Short Sale: • Avoid Foreclosure • Avoid Bankruptcy • Reduced damage to your credit • Postpone your foreclosure sale date • A short sale will stay on your credit approx 3 years • BE ... 04/13/2009

The following case study outlines a successful short sale the was conducted for a detached home located in the Parklane Tract of Irvine, CA.  This 4 bedroom home with 2,080 square feet of living area was sold and closed escrow in January of 2009, via a Short Sale by ShortSalesASAP.   This single family home was purchased by the homeowner in February of 2002′  for $405,000.  In 2005, the owner refinanced and also obtained a Equity Line of Credit loan (HELOC) with a total new loan balance of approximately $650,000.    The 1st Mortgage was held by Virtual Bank with an adjustable rate mortgage balance of $508,000. The HELOC loan was with WAMU, which was an interest only loan with a balance of about $142,000. Due to the dramatic decline in real estate prices in Southern California, this home... 04/05/2009

When evaluating an SEO, it's good to get a cursory understanding of what a qualified SEO has to know.  The SEO  process requires knowledge of technical on page SEO as well as off page link building with content rich publications. Keyword analysis is also critical in determining the value of target keywords.. These keywords are used in certain areas of websites. Head and body section are the two sections focused by on page. In the head section, Meta tags and title tags are edited to add keywords and the body section content is held with article. The site’s tag, file names and URLs are tweaked to the search engine spiders. The languages applied for modern web development are HTML 4.01, XHTML. It helps to have knowledge of these languages when optimizing websites. Keyword research and inco... 04/04/2009

Are We Moving From a Buyers To Sellers Market? ~  Irvine, CA  ~ Market Report ~ March 2009   Irvine is one of the most beautiful and sought after residential communities in the OC and Southern California.    We saw and experienced increased Irvine buyer shopping activity during March 2009 as compared to last month, Feb. 2009, and with the past six months.     Lots of first time Irvine homebuyers expressed interest in some of the best home loan rates in years, their credit opportunities in the US Spending Bill 2009, and lowered asking prices from the peak of two years ago.        115 Irvine homes were sold with closed escrows in March 2009 v. 125 sold the same time during March 2008 (10 percent down year to year).   _______________________________________________ 197 homes were under con... 04/03/2009

I was pretty close! Instead of 14 closed sales as I predicted, there were 15 closed sales in Woodbridge in March. (Close, but no cigar.)The prices of these sold homes ranged from $215,000, (a 3 bedroom probate sale), to $1,045,000.71 Woodbridge homes are currently "for sale". These range in size from 715 square feet to 4,200 square feet. 04/01/2009

Did you know you could use your VA to buy a home or receive help if you are having trouble making your mortgage payments? There are many benefits of a VA home loan Equal Opportunity Loan Limit $625,000.00 CA No Down payment, (unless required by the lender or the purchase price is more than reasonable value of the property. Negotiable interest rate Ability to finance the VA funding fee (plus reduced funding fees with a down payment of at least 5% An assumable mortgage Right to repay without penalty   Lastly, existing VA loans are eligible for VA Assistance to veteran borrowers in default due to temporary financial difficulty.   03/27/2009

FHA financing has become the primary way to finance the purchase of a home when the buyer has less than 20% for down payment. Why is this? And who should get an FHA loan? There are numerous reasons, but below are some of the primary advantages that FHA financing has versus Conventional (Fannie/Freddie) financing. FHA only requires 3.5% down payment. In California, a "declining market" state, the minimum down payment is generally 10%, though a buyer using Conventional financing with 10% down better have a 740 FICO. The down payment can be "all gift" with FHA. With general Conventional guidelines, a buyer would need to have 20% down payment for the entire down payment to be a gift. No need for approval by an outside Mortgage Insurance company when financing with FHA. For anyone with less ... 03/21/2009

Hi, I'll be moving to Irvine after I get married in September 2009. I'm looking to work with a very experienced and intelligent broker in the Irvine area specializing in residential and commerical real estate. Preferrably with a brand name franchise. I'm currently a broker associate with an independent office in Glendale. 03/21/2009

  IRVINE is considered to be the economic center of THE OC, CALIFORNIA  ~  with vibrant businesses and quality employment positions in medical, banking, finance, education, high tech, hotels and travel, service, real estate, business consulting, research and development. There are now 755 homes for sale at Irvine ... each with average of 79 days on the market. 179 of those homes now for sale are SHORT SALES NOT YET LENDER APPROVED (which is 23.7 percent of market and up from last month and one year ago) 24 of those homes now for sale are REO bank owned  (3.2 percent of market, which is down from last two months). 232 of the IRVINE homes are now under contract and in pending escrow (which is up from last month and one year ago). 98 of the IRVINE homes have been sold with escrows closing ... 03/18/2009

A quick recap - 4 homes have sold so far this month, (closed), and there are 66 Woodbridge homes for sale, (Active), right now.13 homes are in Backup Offer status, and a further 13 are "Pending". After last month's very disappointing Closed Sales numbers, (one home!), I have a feeling that we'll see a FEW of these 26 homes close in March.If I were a gambling lady, I'd bet that 10 of them will close, which will bring the number of Closed Sales in March to 14.Let's see how close, (or lucky), I am, when I report the final numbers at the end of the month. 03/13/2009

35 Woodbridge homes are currently for sale, and there was only one "closed sale" in February. That condo sold for $375,000. If any more "closed sale" Woodbridge homes are added, (late), I'll let you know.Right now the prices of homes for sale in Woodbridge range from $299,900, (for a 3 bedroom bank-owned condo), to $1,219,900, (for a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, Single Family Residence).  The sizes of the homes for sale are from 917 Sq Ft to 2,794 Sq Ft. 32 homes are in "back-up offer" or "pending" status, and 20 of these homes have special conditions like "bank-owned", "short-sale", and others. 03/01/2009

First-time homeowners - read about the new Homebuyer Tax Credit - The bill provides for a $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. The credit does not require repayment. Most of the mechanics of the credit will be the same as under the 2008 rules: the credit will be claimed on a tax return to reduce the purchaser's income tax liability. If any credit amount remains unused, then the unused amount will be refunded as a check to the purchaser. Read more about this at www.WoodbridgeCondo.com Info from the Realtor on-line magazine. 02/28/2009

                        Another Home Irvine Buyer Caught Red Handed! YOU!                                    Did you just type into www.Google.com or www.Yahoo.com something like EL CAMINO REAL HOMES FOR SALE IN IRVINE?? How about EL CAMINO REAL CONDOS IN IRVINE, or IRVINE HOMES FOR SALE ?? Which one was it?  Well, if this sounds familiar, we already anticipated what you were searching for so we have made it easy to find these Irvine Properties for you WITH NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED!!!!!!!!!  Searching for Homes in Irvine with NO GUESTBOOK REGISTRATION helps you feel like we are  NOT trying to catch you red handed. JUST CLICK ON THE EASY IRVINE REAL ESTATE LINKS AND FEEL FREE TO VISIT OUR IRVINE REAL ESTATE BLOG again or our Irvine Real Estate website www.Real-Irvine-Homes.com El Camino ... 02/23/2009