The California Association of Realtors has launched a campaign called Market Matters.This is a new effort to educate consumers in California on opportunities within the current real estate market. Check it out. Read it through.
From the C.A.R. website:
“Without question, these are challenging times for REALTORS®, made more difficult by the barrage of negative stories about the home-buying process to which consumers are being exposed in print, on TV, the airwaves, and the Internet,” said C.A.R. President William E. Brown. “To that end, the Market Matters initiative will help make sense of what’s happening in today’s market, bolstered by clear, fact-based proof members can pass along to consumers about why now may be an opportune time to buy a home in California.”
From the C.A.R. website:
“Without question, these are challenging times for REALTORS®, made more difficult by the barrage of negative stories about the home-buying process to which consumers are being exposed in print, on TV, the airwaves, and the Internet,” said C.A.R. President William E. Brown. “To that end, the Market Matters initiative will help make sense of what’s happening in today’s market, bolstered by clear, fact-based proof members can pass along to consumers about why now may be an opportune time to buy a home in California.”
Well stated, but is this true?
I mean, I like the sound of finding that diamond in the rough. What pearls of wisdom can fence-sitters like me in Orange County California come to expect from Realtors after being bolstered with knowledge from such an educational initiative based on market data and facts? (And why won't Realtors just share this illustrious historic statistical data openly with the rest of the public and allow for independent review and scrutiny?)
I'm very interested to know how it is that someone like myself who, teetering along the borders of the OC median income level, would love to buy a single-family home, is now suddenly able to afford the $490,000 to $750,000 priced 3 to 4 bedroom homes in this area?
Explain to me what has changed and how that is done.
Please, all-knowledgeable realtors and mortgage brokers in Orange County, do share with me how I will magically afford a $3,000 plus monthly mortgage payment, gasoline, groceries, insurance, monthly household expenses, OC property taxes and still managed to save any money?
Do explain how buying a home "now" as President Brown cajoles above, has perhaps never been such a great idea before. That home values in O.C. are just itching to skyrocket again and that homes are actually, today in February 2008, undervalued when all indications point to the reverse.
Use your Jedi mind tricks on me so that I may wander the OC open houses and be dazzled by the smell of warm chocolate chip cookies, granite countertops, ignoring the painted-over termite-infested boards and oil spots on the driveways.
Don't hold back, now! The C.A.R.'s Market Matters has almost surely enriched you with wisdom beyond that of mortal men and women. You are the real estate industy's trusted advisor. Help me and others to see the light. (Because most of us are actually ready to run for cover!)
I just want to understand how $650K and $800K is the accepted norm for home prices here, and how it's never going to get any better from this point forward in terms of affordability.
More importantly, why is now - February 2008, with all that has happened and all that we know - a great time to buy a home in Orange County?
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