The game of golf remains a leading participation sport across California—but over the past decade, its growth as an industry has rolled into a hazard. According to a sobering report in The Wall Street Journal, some unanticipated demographic factors have combined with legal problems to drive some golf-home property values out of bounds. Even Golf Operator Magazine calls golf’s decline “a perfect storm.” As a result, it’s fair to say that La Habra golfing enthusiasts who resisted the allure of some golf course community developments now have reason to celebrate their forbearance.

You didn’t have to have been a top-notch golfer to have appreciated the promise of life along the links. Especially in the 1980s and ‘90s, developers flooded the market with resort-like golf-course developments. There are 3,800 private clubs in the U.S.—a quarter of them built after 1970. Even non-golfers could appreciate the appeal of living near the wide-open green spaces of a beautifully kept private course—not to mention the anticipation of property value growth as the newly planted links matured into ever more desirable golf destinations.

Problems began to develop a few years back, as younger Americans failed to match their elders’ enthusiasm for the game. The National Golf Foundation counts 23.8 million active players, down from a 2001 peak of 30 million. The repercussions are many, but the dramatic falloff in revenue has caused the closure of 1,000 courses—with dire consequences for the real estate developments associated with them. For courses that continue to operate despite lower participation rates, homeowners’ association member fees can skyrocket (from $5,000 to $24,000 annually in one example). This can cause home sellers to find few buyers at any price—especially among younger people who are not interested in golf. Lawsuits have resulted—further weighing on property values. And when a course is shuttered, dried-up fairways and deserted clubhouses are scarcely an attraction.

Not mentioned in the Journal article is the possibility that the phenomenon could reverse at some time in the future, so the current trend could undergo a turnaround to the benefit of second- or third-wave buyers. But in the meantime, some area homeowners might take comfort that their homes lack a golf course connection. Their La Habra property values are rooted in their home’s condition and the health of the community—rather than an uncontrollable outside factor like the health of a sport. For all the latest La Habra real estate options, give me a call anytime!           

This spring’s Tustin homes for sale will, as always, highlight the special features that make them stand out. Just which features those are for today’s buyers is what realtor.com calls “the billion-dollar real estate question.” Zeroing in on them is the goal of a number of “must-have” lists. One of the most carefully-researched of those was just announced—and it’s topped by a surprisingly practical feature. It’s one that reached the number one position for the first time ever.

  The National Association of Home Builders’ Home Buyer Preferences poll strongly indicates that practicality is growing in importance in buyers’ minds. It’s still a cinch that a stunning, well laid out kitchen will always rate high on most everybody’s must-have list—and that a leading 21^st-century contender is the open-concept design. But the 4,000 respondents’ answer to that billion-dollar real estate question was, as one commentator put it, “both surprising and extremely practical.”  

So: what is that top feature—the one that 91% of 2019 home-buyers said was a have-to-have?  

It’s “a laundry room.”

When you think about it, it does make good practical sense—and it’s not hard to see why it deserves a prominent place in many a Tustin home shopper’s checkoff list. Today’s washers and dryers are energy efficient, quiet, and many really do do a superior job compared with their predecessors. But if their placement is a design afterthought, who wants to be constantly stepping over piles of dirty laundry, or around stacks of to-be-sorted baskets?

A well-situated laundry room allows the whole business to remain neatly sidelined until laundry day. And for the launderer or laundress, a well-lit, dedicated room instead of a dark corner of the garage or basement makes the chore a much more pleasant one.

Still, realtor.com is right: “laundry room” is a surprising Number One—probably because it lacks glamour. Even so, I’m betting builders will take note.

If your own property will be among this spring’s Tustin homes for sale, even if it lacks a dedicated laundry room, it might be worthwhile to direct some creativity toward improving the laundry area—possibly with additional lighting or an ingenious shelving solution. Give me a call, too—I’ll be happy to share other tried-and-true ideas for making your property one of Tustin’s gotta-have homes!

The past weeks have provided some news that could lift the outlook of Irvine landlords and those who’ve been thinking about rental real estate as an investment. The reports surfaced from statistics compiled by the Census Bureau and by rentcafe.com—an internet company that tracks the current U.S. rental market. Both pieces of information shed light on the makeup of the renter population. It’s broadening in ways that can’t help but boost the prospects for the rental market as a whole.

The first encouraging information was last month’s finding that the percentage of high-income households opting to become renters increased 175% over the past decade. The number of households earning $150,000 or more who decided to become renters swelled by 1,350,000.

The statistics were culled from Census Bureau data for the years between 2007 and 2017. It confirmed that the segment of the renter population consisting of top earners was growing at a faster clip than any other income bracket. Theories to explain the trend ranged from the lifestyle preferences of newly prosperous millennials to echoes of the post housing crisis mentality. Whatever the reason, it should come as welcome trend for Irvine landlords whose investments are in higher-end rental properties.

Added to this came last week’s finding that the same decade saw another increase—this time in the number of older residents who are renting their homes. Although the market is still dominated by renters in their 20s and early 30s, the number of renter households aged 60 and older grew disproportionately. According to rentcafe.com, that segment “jumped from 6.5 million to 9.4 million”—an increase of 43%. Real estate trade journal Inman News characterized the number of older renters as “skyrocketing.”

The combined findings add evidence to the broadening popularity of renting across all age ranges and income groups. For Irvine investors weighing the merits of diversifying their portfolios by adding rental properties, it came as further indication of a market that looks to be gathering steam. If you would like to investigate some local properties that could benefit from the trend, I hope you will give me a call!

If you have your sights set on a brand spanking new Tustin house, the romance of a home that’s witnessed the comings and goings of previous generations probably doesn’t call out to you. At least not nearly as powerfully as a front door lock that’s yet to be turned, a kitchen with nary a ding nor scratch—or a roof covered by a decades-long warranty with your name at the top.

On the other hand, if you are drawn to older houses, to you, the best ones have character that can’t be matched. They have substance in a way that only time can convey. To some extent, they’re all historic!

If you love older houses, a new home’s first-one-in advantages don’t beckon as much as the feeling of a home that’s stood tall through many decades. You’re well aware that its maintenance will be in your hands. You’re comfortable in taking up responsibilities that your predecessors have shouldered in the past. When an older Tustin house is in terrific condition, keeping it in top shape is a continuing source of pride—all the more so when it really is “historic.”

Now, about that word: historic. Whether or not an older house carries the official designation, most enthusiasts think of an older Tustin house in that light if it fits into one or more of these categories:

·       If a previous owner is a significant historical personage—or the home was known to have hosted such persons—it qualifies.

·       If it can be linked to a significant event in history, likewise.

·       If its construction techniques or characteristics are unique enough to be of historical architectural value, it qualifies.

·       If it is old enough to exemplify truly historical qualities (a common example is a house “built with wooden nails”). I think square nails should qualify.

 Being officially designated is another matter—and not always a welcome one. Once Tustin buildings are declared to be historic, they are likely to fall into a special category when it comes to changing anything about them—which can create hurdles that run-of-the-mill homeowners don’t always want to worry about.

 Designated historic Tustin homes are few and far in between in the Tustin listings, but whether you’re on the lookout for a well-cared-for older house or one ready to greet its first owners, I’m standing by to help you discover it!

Some new electronic gadgets have been gaining steam—some of which might be of interest to Tustin homeowners who find the strain of maintaining constant vigilance over all areas of the property can take a toll.

For any homeowner who has ever dealt with an all-but-unnoticed plumbing drip that suddenly turned into a flood, there is a new breed of wireless monitoring products that are easy to install and relatively inexpensive—especially when compared with wired security systems which require a subscription to an offsite monitoring center. These new wireless systems can also be unexpectedly versatile—capable of performing more than one monitoring task simultaneously.

One example is the Notion system. The basics are simple. A starter kit contains a central “bridge,” an inconspicuous box which is plugged into a centrally located wall outlet, the bridge connects into the household’s existing Wifi network. The kit includes three multi-purpose sensors—round, inch-high, 2-inch diameter plastic wafers that adhere to doors, windows, walls or the floor. Each one can sense water, temperature, the sound of an alarm, movement—or a combination. Powered by two AA batteries, they send wireless signals of what they sense to the bridge. 

The homeowner programs each sensor with limits which, if exceeded, cause the bridge to send alerts the owner’s smartphone and/or email account. For instance, if a door or window is opened at a time of day that’s not allowed—or a safe or liquor cabinet door is opened—the homeowner will be notified. If water is sensed under a distrusted water heater, or the temperature in a seldom-visited part of the house exceeds a set high or low limit, the alert goes out. The included smartphone app beams the current status of each sensor to anywhere a cell signal can reach. Since as many as a dozen additional sensors can be added, the result can be a flexible remote monitoring solution comprehensive enough to put the most anxiety-prone worrywart’s mind at ease.

For future Tustin households, an “Internet of Things” is projected to create a world where any appliance or doo-dad can be interconnected with the world at large. Part of my job is to stay abreast of the changing face of today’s Tustin household—and to keep my buying and selling clients aware of new cost-effective solutions to common needs.  Call me anytime!

A couple of storylines have dominated national real estate news outlets for more than a year. Santa Ana homeowners who are less industry-focused have been hearing the same thing from the national news media, too. Last week, they both staged a partial about-face.

The storylines are interconnected. The dominant one dealt with the national trend toward a weakening in the number of homes being sold. About a year ago, both new and existing home sales numbers began to falter. This wasn’t enough of a drop to cause genuine consternation—but it was persistent enough to generate headlines.

The reason that potential Santa Ana home buyers and sellers weren’t overly concerned was partially due to the second storyline, which focused on the fact that fewer homes were being offered for sale. That seemed to be a reasonable explanation for the falloff in the number of closings, rather than an underlying loss of public confidence in the value of residential real estate. More evidence was the continued rise in prices paid.

Last week came word that, for the first time in a long while, a change of direction was in the wind. On a month-to-month basis, both trends reversed. According to the press release from the National Association of Realtors^®, the Pending Home Sales Index for January registered “a strong rebound”—rising 4.6% above December’s levels.

“Homebuyers are now returning and taking advantage of lower interest rates,” according to the NAR’s Chief Economist. This was noteworthy—for months, Dr. Yun’s pronouncements had sounded considerably less optimistic.

The same release registered the first apparent reversal of the inventory pinch. Gauged by the number of properties tallied nationally by realtor.com, in January, the number of residential properties listed for sale grew by more than 14,000.

Neither of the two turnarounds was gigantic from a statistical point of view, yet they did portend good things to come, at least in the NAR’s view. It’s hard not to agree with that opinion. Incomes are rising faster than home prices in many areas. If mortgage rates hold steady and job creation continues, all trends should combine “to boost home buying.” All in all, these could be enough to nudge undecided Santa Ana homeowners into joining what is traditionally Santa Ana’s most active home sales season. If that’s your inclination, I hope you’ll give me a call!       

U.S. News and World Report may not be the primary source most homeowners turn to for Tustin real estate news flashes, but this month they have brought up some relevant insights regarding home improvement projects.

A week or so before Thanksgiving Day, they published an opinion piece urging homeowners to get off the sofa and “set yourself up for success” for coming home improvement initiatives. They pointed out that timing those projects can be tricky—not just because of weather considerations, but also because hiring professionals can be more difficult during certain times of the year.

I might add that planning in advance gives our local tradespeople the kind of notice they greatly appreciate. U.S.News listed their ideas on the best time of year for a dozen home improvement projects—and these four called for winter starts:

1. Interior paint: Winter (low humidity helps paint dry evenly, so Tustin’s drier winter air is a plus).
2. Electrical updates: Winter (avoid the crush of competing Tustin homeowners).
3. Building a deck: Winter (!!) (deck builders say pressure-treated wood stabilizes best when humidity is low—and cloudier winter skies help avoid early cracking that blistering direct sunshine can cause).
4. Full-room remodel: Winter (since updating any room can take place at any time of the year, avoiding jam-packed summer months can mean avoiding higher labor costs).

Number 3 includes the proviso that early winter is best—before inclement weather makes outside work too difficult.

Advance planning does pay off when it comes to home improvement initiatives—especially when you’re solidifying plans to put your own Tustin home on the market. In that case, another forward-thinking initiative is to call me for a no-obligation consultation!