Real Estate Update: San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Niguel

Welcome to the new year and what our local area real estate has to offer. Broker preview is back for the new year and there were a total of 39 properties on the preview sheet for this week. Of these listings, 14 of the properties have been on the market for over 30 days - which means these are repreviews, trying to generate interest in a property that might have been overlooked - or was overpriced and has gone through a price adjustment recently.

Dana Point had 7 properties on preview this week, all single family residences with 2 properties having been on the market for over 30 days. One very interesting property to note is a new listing from my office, Keller Williams OC Coastal. This is a property on the bluffs in Capistrano Beach with fabulous ocean views. It is legally two lots, with a house on one. There are a multitude of options with this property and it has not been on the market for over 40 years. The current list price is $5,565,000 - but the agents say "make us an offer". If you have been looking for great ocean views on the bluff - you can't afford to miss this one.

Laguna Niguel only had one condo on the preview sheet this week, its a 1 bedroom, 1 bath with 747 square feet for an unbelievable price of $249,000! It seems the owner started to remodel - and never finished so it needs work, but what a deal less than two miles to the beach!

San Clemente had 23 listings on the sheet this week with only 3 of these being condos. One property in Talega is a short sale in the neighborhood of Seaside. It's amazing how there are still new properties coming onto the market that are overpriced for the current market conditions. One really cute single level detached home in New Providence is just adorable with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths with less than 1,000 square feet. This would be a great starter home or a move down for empty nesters and it even has ocean views! Another single level home to note is in the Broadmoor track (above from San Clemente H.S.) This is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with loads of potential. It has an end of cul-de-sac location with a nice rear yard and lots of privacy. One property that was on a repreview is on Avenida Salvador with great views! The price on this one has been reduced $200,000 so it is starting to come into line. Shows very well with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths in 2400 square feet - it has already been done so it is in move-in condition. There was also a very noteworthy property on preview this week in Sea Pointe Estates. It has 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths in 3800 square feet of custom Italian delight! It is extremely tastefully done with so much attention to detail. It is on the market for $1,995,000.

Only five properties in San Juan Capistrano this week with three of them having been on the market for over 30 days. One condo in Captain's Hill has recently been staged and is a great 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath unit that shows beautifully. This one should have sold! An add-on listing in San Juan is a horse property on 3 acres off Ortega Highway with a 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath, 3000 square foot home. Property has 4 stall barn and is on the market for $2.7 million.

A Tall Ship In The Distance From The Bluffs On Camino Capistrano

On a grey and foggy morning during broker preview, this tall ship was spotted on the horizon from the rear yard of a property on Camino Capistrano.

South Orange County Real Estate Update

Well, I haven't been on blogging for the past several weeks for a couple of great reasons. First, my 9 year old doberman Deon, broke his femur on December 9th, so everything else was on a temporary hold due to his hospitalization and surgery. Then Christmas was upon us, and the market comes to a grinding halt. Then the New Year, and now kids are back at school and life resumes.

The market trends statistics are out on December 2007. The good news is that our inventory is shrinking in San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, and Laguna Niguel. With current inventory numbers for each of these areas being closer to the inventory we started the year with. Obviously, pendings and solds are down with closed sales representing only around 5% of the current inventory for the month. This is low, but it is some activity with a total of 92 closed sales in these four communities. Market analysts are predicting that sales will continue to be slow for the first quarter of 2008, with some market recovery happening here locally come the later part of March 2008.

There are still some really great real estate opportunities in the marketplace and if you are looking for what is still considered a great investment, now is the time to enter the market since I don't think we will see prices this low again.