October 2007 resale home sales in OC are down about 40.0% and condo sales down 41.0%from last year per The Register newspaper. Sales volume has slackened all over the country.  Mortgage companies laying off staff; office vacancies increasing due to lack of demand for various real estate related professionals; gasoline at above average cost per gallon. Home remodels are slow this winter for all kinds of contractors. Commute daily to and from Temecula will cost average driver about $25.00 per day for gasoline for that spiffy SUV; there is less demand for purchase loans and loans for refinancing due to higher interest rates, tougher appraisals and tighter borrower qualifications. Office vacancies increasing  somewhat due to the total real estate industry employment downturn, layoffs, consolidations, etc. The hard/soft/average market has commenced.  It was bound to happen!!!!

New home sales are sagging. Listings have been increased significantly for used homes; condos sales are in the tank...  Prices for homes are starting to fall somewhat...... Oh! When will this end. There is a wise saying: Every other generation is doomed to commit the mistakes of their grandparents.  Forecasts for prices in 2007: a moderate downturn in OC. Prices being held up by low interest rates and high employment. Some feel prices will drop significantly if interest rates and/or employment falls noticeably.  Market cycle is maturing. San Diego, Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix are going through a major downward adjustment in housing prices.  

Home prices have increased well over 80% in the last five years. Taking money out of property to buy consumer goods, U.S. and foreign, increases the national debt load and has increased our balance of payments problems. United States personal savings rate is  almost ZERO, alarming considering almost 80% of the population will not have enough money to support themselves in retirement years. In California, our economic recovery is fueled by dollars from property sales and refi activity more so than from increased manufacturing and productivity increases similar to the years prior to the recession in  the early 1980's. The early 1980's recession was brutal.....foreclosures, lost equity, small business failures, property deterioration.   Of note is the "Real Estate Lobby"......they say will be a GREAT YEAR. have a nice day.

A recent survey by the National Low Income Housing Coalition points out it takes $21.92 per hour in wages for someone to afford a modest two bedroom apartment in Orange County. Service jobs in OC pay about $8.60 per hour per California Employment Development Department. OC is vastly different since the 1980's, being urban, curiously exciting, most everything is costly, looking somewhat deferred....  The current game plan: smile and work hard at your job, rent out rooms, take a lunch bag to work, drive your car on fumes and don't get sick!!!  Have a nice day too!!