Orange County monthly cost of ownership falls to 1980s levels

 NEWS, WESTMINSTER
Oct 122012
 
Orange County monthly cost of ownership falls to 1980s levels

Each month before I prepare the OCHN market newsletter, I think about ways I can improve it and deliver more value to users. This month, I added a new metric to the report that I believe provides a more intuitive way to look at the current state of the market. I applied the mortgage interest rate to the median home price to backward calculate the monthly cost of ownership for the market. I like this approach because it returns a number immediately comparable to rent. When I first thought about this indicator, I didn’t think it would reveal anything of [Read More...]

Despite rising prices, Orange County still more than 20% undervalued

 GARDEN GROVE, NEWS
Oct 082012
 
Despite rising prices, Orange County still more than 20% undervalued

Each month I publish the OCHN Market Newsletter. It provides the most detailed and accurate view of the housing market available without the realtor spin. I believe potential homebuyers should have the best information possible to make reasonable and rational decisions regarding the purchase of a home. Despite how bearish I have been, my strictly mechanical reports have been issuing strong buy signals since last fall. Now that house prices have turned positive, rents are still going up, interest rates are trending down, affordability is at record highs, and houses are undervalued by historic norms, the report is very bullish. [Read More...]

OC Housing News market rating system: Where is it safe to buy?

 LADERA RANCH, NEWS
Mar 152012
 
OC Housing News market rating system: Where is it safe to buy?

I developed the OC Housing News Market Newsletter to provide information on the local housing market useful to potential homebuyers. I believe people make good decisions when given good information. We all know the information provided by realtors on the housing market is manipulated to motivate buyers to act. realtors numbers are rarely accurate, and like the boy who cries wolf, nobody believes the realtor who cries buy. I also follow a philosophy of constant improvement. When I first published the OC Housing News Market Newsletter, I assembled a great deal of data and struggled to find a coherent way [Read More...]

The OC Housing News Network

 LADERA RANCH, NEWS
Jan 072012
 
The OC Housing News Network

I believe the way to be successful is to do the greatest good for the greatest number. When I was only writing for the Irvine Housing Blog and focusing only on Irvine properties, I was limited. By expanding to the rest of Orange County, I can cover more ground. However, by only doing one property per day, I was not effectively covering the area. By developing the OC Housing News network of sites, I can give more attention to more properties, and in the process, serve more people. I have spent a great deal of time developing a market report [Read More...]

Supplying pre-packaged rentals will stabilize the housing market

 IRVINE, NEWS
Oct 062011
 
Supplying pre-packaged rentals will stabilize the housing market

Shadow inventory can not be absorbed by first-time buyers. There are simply not enough owner-occupants to absorb the inventory due to come to the market over the next several years. Real estate cashflow investors are needed to stabilize the housing market. These investors are the only other source of demand available. There are investment holdings companies that buy and hold rentals, and they will be part of the solution. I have recently formed Radiant Homes for this purpose. However, due to the practical problems with managing many properties over diverse geographies, it will still fall to individual investors to buy [Read More...]

Market data and analysis can identify timing and location of good deals

 NEWS
Sep 122011
 
Market data and analysis can identify timing and location of good deals

There are too many market indicators. Anyone who has studied technical analysis of stocks quickly realizes there are far too many ways of parsing data, and most of them are useless. As I pondered what I wanted to present to give an overview of the housing market, I considered many ways of looking at the data. I rejected many of the indicators I felt were irrelevant to answer the basic questions buyers have. What do buyers want to know? Most buyers want to know two things: (1) am I paying too much, and (2) are prices likely to go up [Read More...]

Investment holding companies that buy and hold rental properties

 NEWS
Sep 072011
 
Investment holding companies that buy and hold rental properties

As most of you know, I have been operating a flipping fund buying auction properties in Las Vegas and selling them on the local MLS. The business has had its ups and downs, and I have learned a great deal about Las Vegas and operating in the local business culture. One of the reasons I selected Las Vegas was due to my own research on the housing bubble. Prices have crashed well below rental parity to price levels where cashflow investors find the returns attractive just as I have described in many posts going all the way back to my [Read More...]