Thursday, March 15, 2007

San Clemente Real Estate: Homes Are Where The Heart Is Updates for Week of March 12th

Every week we are seeing more homes enter the preview sheet with this week being no exception. A total of 67 properties made the cut-off for the preview sheet and there were several write-ins at the Wednesday morning meeting. Of these 67 properties, 17 are re-previews or have been on the market for over 30 days. Some income properties (duplex, four-plex, etc.) usually take more time to sell, but price is a definite factor in this market. If you want to sell, listen to your agent and price it correctly the first time. Many agents will let you, the seller set the price. This works for the agent, in that these agents get more listings, but they go through more price reductions, and the properties sit longer. If a property is priced correctly, it will sell!

This is a different market than we have had over the past few years and buyers expect more for their dollar. Just because the house down the street sold for an inflated price last year, does not mean that you will get that price today! That house down the street might very well have an upside-down owner who owes more than the house is currently worth. Pay attention to the news, many people are upside due to sub-prime loans.

Although only 13% of all mortgages are sub-prime, if too many of these people default, sell at a discount, or are pushed into foreclosure, the market will be flooded with inexpensive real estate, diluting home prices. Sub-prime loans are loans for people with low credit scores and they have become a problem because most of them had adjustable interest rates. As these rates increased, so did their monthly payments, causing many homeowners to struggle to pay their mortgage every month. Many of these loans also contain prepayment penalties which makes refinancing the property difficult.

Of the 67 total listings, 16 are in Dana Point, 16 in San Juan Capistrano, and 35 are in San Clemente. Let’s first look at the Dana Point listings.

In Dana Point, of the 16 listings, 6 have been on the market for over 30 days. There are 4 condos and 12 single family residences (SFR). The condos range in price from the low of $335,000 for 650 square feet to $600,876 for 982 square feet. Of the 12 remaining properties, one is a duplex and two properties are listed as SFRs but actually are attached with one common wall, identical units on Camino Capistrano with ocean views. The remaining properties range in price from $849,000 for 1300 square feet to $3,750,000 for 2670 square feet in Niguel Shores on the oceanside of PCH next to the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

San Juan Capistrano has 16 listings, 3 which have been on the market for over 30 days. There are 3 condos, 12 SFRs, and 1 mobile home. The condos range in price from a low of $395,000 for 864 square feet to a high of $649,000 for 1640 square feet. The SFRs include a detached home in San Juan Hills East a 55+ community for $589,000 to $799,000 for a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home with 2052 square feet to a 5100 square foot home with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths priced at $2,749,900.

There were a total of 35 properties on the market this week in San Clemente which includes a four-plex, 10 condos, and 24 SFRs. Of the condos, 2 have been on the market for over 180 days but are priced at over $1.6 million with white water views. The low end on the condos is 864 square feet for $485,000 that has been completely remodeled. Within these numbers include 12 properties in the community of Talega. This includes 1 condo and 11 SFRs. The condo has a golf course view with 1881 square feet for $835,000. The SFRs range in price and size from $879,900 for 2327 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths in Escala to $2,479,000 for 4476 square feet with 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths in Careyes. Other properties to note include a cute French Country beach house on T Street with 2 bedrooms and 1 ¼ baths for $1,265,000; an original owner Shorecliff’s home with 1820 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths in original condition that is a trust sale at $999,950 to a large lot in Rimrock with 1558 square feet of house, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths with pool that has RV access for $799,000.

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