One of the primary assets to living in San Clemente is being in the middle of a beautiful natural setting, and outdoor junkies have a nice pick of hiking, biking and walking trails throughout San Clemente.  This move by the City Council is great news for outdoor enthusiasts and San Clemente residents, as they will now have easier access to the many trails of San Juan Capistrano along with a path to Cleveland National Forest.  The San Clemente City Council rightfully recognizes the amount of interest outdoor activities garner from its residents and consistently seek to improve the options, from building new parks to its support of the Coastal Trail in North Beach and this new trail connection.  If you have any interest in outdoor activities, you will find fewer places in Southern California to match the scope of all that South Orange County, including San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, has to offer.

SunCal  has indicated that it has “alternative sources” of financing to maintain the wetlands at Marblehead Coastal, some of the 125 acre open space to remain on this piece of land.  Hopefully the other communities that SunCal sells off will help to raise the capital to build this highly anticipated community once the real estate market settles and supports this type of development.  In the meantime, this 243 acre development sitting on an ocean front plateau will continue to be delayed and remain vacant.  Hopefully some good news will arise from this soon. (Marblehead Coastal is the yellow box at the bottom of the picture)

For more information on Marblehead Coastal real estate or to request updates from our team as they arise, please contact us. 

While you should not completely devalue your home just to get it sold quickly, it is very important to be reasonable when it comes to setting the listing price.  It is human nature to feel that something you own is worth more than it actually is, and in these erratic economic times, people are looking for ways to make the extra buck.  However, it is crucial not to price your home out of the market during a buyer’s market, because the home will just sit there, forcing you to lower the price on a consistent basis.  This plays right into the psyche of buyers in this type of market, so you need to find the most competitive ways to create urgency with your home sale.  First, the initial listing price is crucial; if your home is overpriced, buyers will not waste their time until the inevitable price drop comes.  Your agent should provide you with a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis), showing you current comparable San Clemente homes for sale, pending sales, recent expired listings and home sales from the past 6 to 12 months.  The article makes a great suggestion - once you have this list in front of you, pretend that you are a buyer and have your agent take you on tours of the current comparable listings.  A visual comparison of your home to others will go a long way in helping you set the listing price. 

Another arena that is vital to a quick home sale is reaching a wide array of potential buyers through creative and aggressive marketing of your San Clemente property.  In a buyer’s market, simply placing a sign on your front lawn and an ad in the local paper will not create the buzz you need to sell your home.  Today’s buyers are a lot more savvy in their real estate search, with many turning to the internet for guidance.  Studies have shown that between 75-80% of homebuyers begin their real estate search online, making an internet presence for your listing crucial if you want a lot of buyers to see the place.  The first two weeks your property is on the market are the most important, because this is the timeframe when you will get the most traffic in your home, both from buyers and real estate agents.  To ensure a high volume of traffic (which will aid in reaching the goal of selling the home within 30 days of listing), you need to be aggressive with your marketing.  Find out from the potential listing agents how they plan on marketing your home: print ads, online or both.  If they propose advertising online, find out the websites and do a little research on them to see the amount of hits they receive and where they are ranked on internet search engines (Yahoo, Google, etc.).  You will want your listing to be seen by as many people as possible, so make sure your agent plans on being creative and hitting as many arenas as possible.  This is something that is a specialty of San Clemente Coastal Living - we are a top-ranked website in a variety of keyword searches that promises front-page placement on our website.  While we cannot guarantee that this will sell your home, we give you a better chance by utilizing the popularity of our website along with a variety of innovative online and print marketing tools.

When it is finally time to set the price, use all of the above methods to set a competitive value for your home, and you will have a good chance of seeing a sale in a short period of time.  For more information on tips to selling your home quickly and how San Clemente Coastal Living can assist in this process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

First, to qualify for a 1031 exchange, the San Clemente real estate that you plan to sell or purchase must meet four basic rules:

• Be exchanged with a like-kind property; in other words any other piece of real estate
• The replacement property must be identified within 45 days after the sale of the previous property
• The exchange transaction must be completed within 180 days
• The property must be used for productive purposes in a business or for investment purposes (cannot be your principal residence)

Beyond these basics, you should note that it’s possible to do a 1031 exchange on a second home or vacation home.  In order to do so, you must own the property for at least two years, rent the property during each year for a minimum of 14 days at fair market value, and not use the property for your own personal use for more than 14 days.  If you have met these criteria for two years, now you can do a 1031 exchange into any other piece of real estate that qualifies.   

On the other hand, if you are an investor working towards your San Clemente dream home (i.e San Clemente ocean view home or condo), there are ways to do it through 1031 exchanges, however, pay special attention to the rules.  First, you must rent out your home for at least 14 days during the year and not use it for more than 14 days either.  At the end of the two years, you can now convert your San Clemente home into your principle residence.  In the meantime, if you have not taken any cash from your 1031 exchanges, you have deferred all tax on your gains (i.e. equity) to buy into your new home.  This beats taking money out of the stock market to purchase that home as it would be subject to capital gains tax.   Also, don’t forget that when you sell your principle residence to get into this home, you don’t have to pay tax on the first $250,000 gain if single or $500,000 if married.

If you are an investor that has done 1031 exchanges over the years and are ready to sell, don’t forget that capital gains tax is still at 15% and there is a strong possibility that this will be raised in the near term to 20-25%.

For more information on 1031 exchanges or San Clemente real estate, including a second home and/or vacation rental, please contact us for a free consultation.

San Clemente foreclosures currently range in price from $189,900 for a 560 square foot condo in Rancho San Clemente to $1,730,000 for a 5,633 square foot estate in Viscaya Talega.  The average price for a foreclosure is currently $653,763 with an average price per square foot of $306.  In our last analysis of the foreclosure and short-sale market, the average price per square foot was $308 or 0.6% higher.  For Talega real estate, the newest development of San Clemente, the average price for a foreclosure is $754,415 with an average square footage of 2,667.  This results in an average price per square foot of $282 for Talega foreclosures or short-sales. 

In terms of the concentration of San Clemente foreclosures,  Talega has the most at 34 or approximately 35% of the foreclosure and short-sale market.  Other areas of high concentration include North San Clemente and Rancho San Clemente with 19% and 18% of the San Clemente foreclosure and short-sale market respectively.  Foreclosures west of Interstate 5 closer to the coast represent 9.3% of the total foreclosures while east of the 5 represents 90.7%.

For more information on San Clemente foreclosures, please explore our website or contact us for a free consultation.

For more information on polling places and hours, please visit OC Registrar of Voters website. 

New listings year-to-date are down 22.6% from the same period prior year, representing approximately 300 less homes coming on the market.  Sales, on the other hand, are up 20.5% from prior month with 53 homes sold in the month of October compared with 44 for September.  This brings the total year-to-date sales up to 510 homes as compared with 566 proior year, which is only a 9.9% decrease as compared with an 11.5% decrease prior month year-to-date.  Homes under contract at the end of the month were 40 as compared with 24 prior year-to-date, representing a 66.7% increase.  This may be an early indication of good news to come for November sales.  Lastly, the average days on market for the month of October dropped to 80 days as compared to 98 days for October 2007, representing an 18.4% decrease.  While days on market are still 10% higher than prior year-to-date, October’s significant decrease indicates we are working back to historical averages.  The decrease in new listings and the average days on market coupled with the increase in homes sold and under contract are all positive indicators that the San Clemente real estate market is working through its inventory in order for prices to stabilize.

The average sales price year-to-date is $868,704 as compared with $991,835 for the same period prior year, representing a 12.4% decrease.  San Clemente real estate continues to hold on 2.5 to 3.0 times stronger than Orange County and California real estate respectively.  These sales prices on a year-to-date average are 86.6% of the original listing price and 94.1% of the final listing price before entering into contract.   

For more information on San Clemente real estate, please explore our website or contact us for a free consultation.

Get a CLUE report.  CLUE, which stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, is a database that keeps records of every claim a homeowner makes against their house, such as a broken pipe, window, etc.  When you purchase a home, you will receive this report as part of the due diligence process.  If the home has a history of damage or claims against it, this may drive the insurance policy up.  Like a credit report, however, a CLUE report may contain errors.  Luckily, you can receive a free CLUE report by visiting choicetrust.com, and if you believe the report contains errors, then you can visit consumerdisclosure.com.

Don’t over or under insure your home.  A homeowner’s policy should cover 100% of what it would cost to rebuild your home and not the entire home’s value that includes the land.  For example, your home may be worth $1 million, but it may only cost $300,000 to rebuild and therefore, this would be the amount you would insure.

Consider taking a risk.  If you move from a $500 deductible to a $1,000 deductible you could save approximately 20% on your premium.  Therefore, consider taking the highest deductible you are willing to stomach with your emergency fund.

Don’t be loyal to one insurer.  Some insurers may give a 10% discount to long-time customers, however, it is still worth exploring your other options as you may find a better deal.  You can get quotes from InsWeb.com or Insure.com.

Keep good credit with your insurer.  In other words, just like your credit score can be impacted, so can your insurance depending on the number of claims you make and whether you pay on time.

Please visit other sections of our website or blog for more information on your San Clemente real estate purchase or please feel free to contact us for a consultation.

The event begins at 6:00 pm and concludes at 10:30 pm.  Tickets are $75.00 per person (price includes food, drinks, valet parking and a complimentary commemorative wine glass or beer mug), and “Taste of San Clemente” is limited to 250 people, so buy your tickets soon.  For detailed information about the event, please visit the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce website.

• In today’s market, many sellers (those who are not in a short-sale or foreclosure) may be willing to provide financing.  Some sellers may be willing to finance all or part of the purchase price and let you repay them gradually as you would with a mortgage.
• Consider doing a shared equity arrangement with friends, family or an outside investor.  Under this scenario, your co-investor will buy a portion of the house and share in appreciation when the house is sold.  This investor will benefit from all the tax write-offs of an investment property for their share of the ownership, which includes being able to depreciate the property.  In the meantime, you will be able to enjoy the write-offs of a primary residence for your share of the property.  Since you will occupy the house, you will pay the mortgage, property tax, and all related maintenance costs.  This can be a win-win situation for both parties.  If family or friends cannot invest, there are companies out there that could potentially provide an investor on your behalf.
• Perhaps your family will loan you money for a downpayment which you can payback as if it were a mortgage or whatever seems fit for both parties.  If you have little credit history, a lender may want a co-signer.  In this case, it may be worth structuring the deal to offer your family the upside of sharing in the long-term appreciation of the home as addressed in the previous point.
• Don’t forget about your 401K as a means for a downpayment if you are buying your first home.  If you are single, you can withdraw $10,000 from your 401K without being taxed for early withdrawal, or $20,000 if married.  Who cares how your 401K is performing as the money going into this account is all pre-tax.  So if your effective tax rate is 30%, then you are saving 30% quicker by using your 401K as a means for your downpayment versus using after tax money in your savings account.
• If there are no other options to come up with the downpayment this year, then consider leasing the property with an option to buy.  This will give you more time to save for your downpayment and test out the house for a year.  In addition,  many owners will apply some of your rent towards a downpayment.  Be sure, however, you would want to buy this home as you may have to pay a small nonrefundable option fee to the owner.
• An option once the real estate market settles and credit becomes more available would be trying to qualify for a short-term second mortgage to assist with a higher downpayment.  This may be possible if you have good income and little other debt.
• The government is currently offering a $7500 tax credit to first-time homebuyers, so you could borrow the money short-term from family or friends and return it once you receive this credit on your tax return.  This credit, however, will have to be repaid to the government as if it were a loan.

For more information on creative ways to afford San Clemente real estate and how to structure your transaction, please contact us!