Explore The OC
Real Estate information for Orange County & Southern California homes and properties. Articles with local character and current real estate news and trends.
ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2008
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Upside Down Homeowners Should Be Careful When Considering to List a Short SaleWith home loan foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, sellers will take a hit of 200 to 300 points on their FICO scores. The exact penalty on FICO will depend on overall condition of credit. The effect of a short s...
04/30/2008
Some folks believe our high prices at the gas pump can be blamed on the big oil companies. Wrong. Rising prices in free markets result from an increase in demand and/or decrease in supply. Supplies of oil have been reduced by environmentalists' demands that no more oil wells be drilled, that no ...
04/28/2008
Sellers sometimes make the mistake of contracting with a buyer for a home sale and asking earnest money deposits of less than three percent of the price. That's painful when the buyer backs out of the deal. One way to assure that a buyer is serious is to require 3 percent or more of earnest money...
04/28/2008
Do Lower FED Rates Signal That Mortgage Rates Will Fall? That depends. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage is not tied to short-term treasuries. Fixed mortgage rates are tied to long-term bond yields that move based on anticipation of the economy and inflation. Fixed rates usually come down when t...
04/27/2008
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At the center of our housing crisis is that many people here in California and the United States have no remaining home equity or that they are upside down on their loans. Too many people purchased homes during the past five years with no or little down payment, based upon no document loans, and ...
04/26/2008
News today is that the National Assoc. of Realtors is considering new rules for listing and advertising of short sale and distressed properties. That's good. We need strict rules to bind owners and sellers, listing agents, and lenders, in the short sale process. The market needs for all such lis...
04/24/2008
The Mission Viejo, California, City Council on April 21, 2008, joined a growing list of cities in OC adopting the national motto "In God We Trust" after unanimously deciding to display it. This is the fourth Orange County city to follow the trend to post the display in council chambers. Mission V...
04/22/2008
The Market Needs More Control Over Information on MLS Listings for Distressed Properties. Consumers and buyers need more accurate information on distressed property listings. The markets and MLS should have better control over listings of distressed properties, including foreclosures and short s...
04/22/2008
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Top Five Reasons to Use a REALTOR® 1. REALTORS® subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics-a set of obligations that often go above those mandated by law. Known as the REALTOR® Code of Ethics, these principles embody a strong commitment to fairness, integrity, and moral conduct in business relations. U...
04/21/2008
Is Cancellation of Debt Always Income Taxable? What does IRS say? Not always. There are exceptions. Some situations when cancellation of debt income is not taxable involve:A. Bankruptcy: Debts discharged through bankruptcy are not considered taxable income. B. Insolvency: If you are insol...
04/19/2008
Rainmaker
519,568
519,568
Harrison K. Long
REALTOR , GRI, Broker associate, Attorney
