On Site Auctions
November 23, 2009
The new way to market your home is through an on-site auction. For more informaton call (949) 836-1193.
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Groundbreaking Ceremony for Upper Chiquita Reservoir…
June 16, 2009
More than 100 people on Friday attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Upper Chiquita Reservoir in Rancho Santa Margarita.
For the original article posted online by the City of San Juan Capistrano, click here…
For a Quick Reference Fact Sheet on the Upper Chiquita Reservoir, click here…
For an overview w/map for Upper Chiquita Emergency Storage, click here…
For a City Council (SJC) Agenda Report outlining Capacity Rights, click here…
The reservoir is a new emergency water storage facility by the Santa Margarita Water District in partnership with Moulton Niguel Water District, South Coast Water District and the cities of San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente. San Juan Capistrano plans to obtain a 10 percent share, along with the other agencies, in the capacity of the facility. The City Council tonight will consider entering into a participation agreement to formally become a partner in the project.
Upon completion in December 2010, the reservoir will provide South County water agencies with up to 244 million gallons of emergency drinking water – enough to supply more than 168,000 local families with 200 gallons of domestic water per day for one week in the event of a regional or statewide water service disruption.
The facility will increase and diversify the City’s emergency storage volume and provide San Juan Capistrano with an additional three days of average demand to manage import water shutdowns.
The Upper Chiquita Reservoir will provide the region with substantial new water reserves to meet customer demand during disruptions of water deliveries to the district. These interruptions can be unanticipated, like the break of the district’s primary supply pipeline in 1999, or planned, like shutdowns of the Diemer Filtration plant in Yorba Linda.
The reservoir is located on the western slope of Chiquita Canyon, just north of Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita.
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Orange County Fire Authority Names New Chief…
June 15, 2009
Posted online at the City of San Juan Capistrano’s ”Community News” section…
For full article, click here…
The Board of Directors at the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) appointed Keith Richter as its new fire chief, replacing Chip Prather who is retiring this July. Richter takes the helm on Aug. 1 at one of the largest fire agencies in California with its nearly 850 firefighters at 62 fire stations, according to an OCFA press release.
“We’re very excited to have Chief Richter at the OCFA,” said Don McCay, Chairman of the OCFA Board of Directors. “We’re confident he has the leadership skills we need to keep OCFA as one of the premier fire service agencies in America.”
Richter was selected by the OCFA Board from a large pool of well-qualified candidates from throughout the nation.
“This is a very exciting day for me, to be named Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority,” Richter said in the statement Thursday. “OCFA is known to be one of the finest fire departments anywhere, and it is a high honor to be chosen as its next leader.”
Richter comes to the OCFA from Contra Costa County Fire District where he has been chief since 1998. He has more than 30 years experience in the fire service. He started his career with the Tucson Fire Department back in 1977 as a firefighter. Richter holds a Master of Science degree in Fire Administration and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is an Executive Board Member of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association.
Richter replaces Chief Chip Prather who has been OCFA’s leader for the last 12 years. Prather is retiring after nearly 38 years in the fire service.
Posted on the OC Register’s online site…
For full article, click here…
Richter takes over as the OCFA, along with departments across California, are facing a financial crunch. A proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to borrow from local government to help the cash-strapped state could take $14 million from the OCFA, Prather wrote in a May 29 message to his department.
That is the equivalent of six engines and 18 firefighters, Prather wrote.
The board hired Alliance Resource Consulting, a Long Beach-based firm, to help find its next chief.
But the two-month selection process and a feeling of being largely excluded from the process touched nerves with the OCFA union. Joe Kerr, president of the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association, lashed out in a May 26 letter sent to all city council representatives of the OCFA’s 22 cities and the county.
The letter accuses the board of directors of failing to give reasons why candidates were either rejected or allowed to move forward in the process, failing to allow the union to give a recommendation and/or a veto on the three final candidates and failing to spell out how the union’s members would be included in selecting the next chief.
“It does no make sense that the OCFA takes far more time to recruit a new firefighter than has been put into the testing process for only our third fire chief in three decades,” wrote Kerr.
“The feeling of collaboration and good will which has brought the OCFA much success in recent years has now suffered major damage by the haphazard manner in which the (board) has decided to ‘fast track’ this testing process and marginalize OCFA employees,” Kerr wrote.
OCFA Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion, a spokesman for the department, said he had not seen the letter.
“This fire chief is going to have some serious challenges,” Kerr said in a telephone interview. “One man cannot come in and solve all these problems by himself. Hopefully, he will seek out some help from labor.”
Prather, 56, is officially retiring July 2 but is scheduled to help with the transition through Aug. 7, Concepcion said.
Richter’s first day is Aug. 1.
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More on the New Home Buyer’s Tax Credit Bill/ Currently on the Senate Floor…
June 12, 2009
Here is the Wall Street Journal follow-up article related to the post we had written and hoisted up on Wednesday.
For Wednesday’s post, click here…
For the full article we are commenting on today, posted on the WSJ Developements Blog, click here…
An excerpt from the aritcle at hand…
“Sen. Johnny Isakson has reintroduced a bill that would give home buyers a tax credit worth 10% of the purchase price of a home up to $15,000. The Georgia Republican unsuccessfully tried to get the credit inserted into the $787 billion stimulus package that went into law in February. Congress instead opted for extending and boosting an existing credit, worth up to $8,000, for first-time buyers. That credit is set to expire Dec. 1.
The proposed credit wouldn’t have income restrictions, unlike the current one, which phases out for individuals making more than $75,000 and couples making more than $150,000.
The legislation already has co-sponsors from both parties, including Senate Banking Committee Chair Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat. In February, congressional budget estimates figured that the $8,000 credit for first-time buyers would cost between $2 and $3 billion, while the $15,000 credit would cost an additional $35.5 billion.
That’s a big hurdle for the bill. Lawmakers would have to justify a considerably larger subsidy for more affluent homebuyers.”
Response…
The removal of toxic mortgage paper (ie: home sales of distressed homeownship situations and the unloading of recouped property assets) from our banking institutions is THE key to unlocking their liquidity, credit confidence, and greed in the form of slightly looser loan qualifying requirements, which would further accelerate the home purchase necessity.
A little recap here if I may… an $8,000 tax credit projected at a tax revenue cost of 2-3 billion has equated to some, if little improvement to home sales. On the other hand, a $15,000 tax credit with no income cap, made available to all home buyers, not just first-timers, has a projected tax revenue cost of 35.5 billion. The amount of proposed tax credit would basically double to $15,000, and in turn so should the tax revenue cost. But it doesn’t! Congress’s own budget estimate for the new proposal projects home purchases to rise almost 6 times the current rate of consumption with those purchases involving the tax credit!
Here’s the math… $3 billion in tax revenue loss doubled to 6 billion, divided by 35.5 billion in projected tax revenue loss for the proposed bill, equals 5.91 times more use of the new tax credit bill, then the current rate of home purchasing being transacted with the existing tax credit as it sits.
Yes, this bill would be a big hurdle for a Democratic majority whose sole consideration is funding for their social programs, as opposed to a real solutions for real economic problems, per their own estimates and projections.
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City of Laguna Niguel Discusses Plans for New City Hall/ Public Invited…
June 11, 2009
The City of Laguna Niguel is seeking input from all residents, businesses and community organizations on plans for the new City Hall.
On Monday, June 22nd at 7:00 p.m. the City Council will hold a Public Workshop/Open House at which the public is invited to:
- Hear project history and overview.
- View current building and site plans.
- Meet and talk with the architects.
- Share your thoughts and comments.
The meeting will take place in Council Chambers located at…
27841 La Paz Road, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
For dirctions using a map, click here…
For more information, please contact the City at…
(949) 362-4300.
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The Push for A Real Home Buyer’s Tax Credit to Benefit All…
June 10, 2009
There appears to be a multi-organization push for the expansion of the home buyers tax credit, an ongoing saga that sees Congress ready to move off of this issue and spend the summer reforming health care. Bearing in mind that housing will not soon recover without the purging of two more years worth of bad mortgage paper, perhaps our appointed representatives should just stick with the task at hand until the job is finished.
Pending, is the the monetization of the home owners tax credit, another amendment in a series of amendments that would allow first time home buyers to temporarily hold a bridge loan from the IRS/HUD with their tax credit as security, and use the advanced proceeds as a down payment on a home purchase. This may or may not be a great way to improve the rate of home purchase consumption, seeing how hard FHA worked to get rid of the Down Payment Assistance Program (DAP) last year. DAP allowed a seller to contribute 3% to closing costs to a third party “charity organization” who would then transfer the funds to the loan, and this was in addition to the minimal 3.5% down payment required. Many believe the monetization of the current tax credit to be very similar to DAP, in the respect that they are both programs designed to help home buyers get into a home ownership situation with minimum dollars involved. The overlying question: should we be perpetuating this current cycle of distressed home ownership with more probable candidates for the same?
Up to bat, the push for the permanent placement of expanded conforming loan limits to $729,750, and the enjoyment of an increased tax credit to $15,000 for all home purchasers, not just first time buyers. These two are probably the most likely candidates to genuinely yield an increase in purchases, and accelerate the very much needed consumption of toxic paper our banking institutions currently hold. These improvements would be actually helpful, but not the complete answer. Time, coupled with good incentives, will be the most critical components towards the the widely desired direction of a stable housing market.
Please find below two relavent articles from the Wall Street journal that have been merged to omit redundancy.
For the full article posted on the WSJ Development Blog, click here…
For the full article posted online in the WSJ Politics section, click here…
From the Wall Street Journal..
Worried that rising mortgage rates could damp the prospects for a housing recovery, a business group is making a new push for Congress to boost and extend a home-buyer tax credit.
The National Association of Realtors has said it will join in the push to extend the tax credit through 2010. But it’s not clear that Congress has any plans to address this anytime soon, as it prepares to work on health care legislation this summer.
In February, Congress approved a 10% tax credit for first-time home purchases, up to a maximum of $8,000. The credit, which expires Dec. 1, phases out for buyers with incomes above $170,000 for married couples and $95,000 for individuals.
The business group also wants to see Congress make permanent the temporarily expanded conforming loan limits, which are set at $417,000 and rise to as high as $729,750 in the most expensive housing markets. Those limits are tied to median home prices, which have fallen and should make for lower limits in 2010.
The National Association of Home Builders and other industry groups have long argued that the credit isn’t large enough to help reinvigorate the housing sector. Now the groups are being joined in their efforts by the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives.
The Business Roundtable is calling on Congress to increase the credit to $15,000 and extend it to all home buyers. “What is being billed as a recovery is not showing up in the cash register yet,” says Richard A. Smith, chief executive of Realogy Corp. and a member of the Business Roundtable. Realogy is the parent of real-estate brokers Century 21 and Coldwell Banker.
The Business Roundtable is also urging policy makers to sustain efforts to keep mortgages at or below 5% for one year. Mortgage rates climbed to 5.74% on Tuesday a six-month high and up from 5.03% two weeks ago, according to HSH Associates, a financial publisher. Rates have fallen since the Federal Reserve stepped up debt purchases earlier this year in an effort to drive down rates.
The Roundtable argues that while the tax credit has succeeded in getting some first-time buyers back to the market, existing homeowners who serve as “trade-up” buyers are sitting on the sidelines. Part of that has to do with the fact that prices have fallen at the bottom end of the market more than anywhere else, thanks largely to distressed sales and bank-owned foreclosures.
A buyer typically needs income of $92,000, assuming a 10% down payment, to qualify for a $400,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. With rates at 4.5%, the borrower only needs income of around $84,000, according to an estimate by real-estate firm Long & Foster Cos.
The real-estate industry made a similar push for a $22,000 tax credit for all buyers and interest-rate subsidies earlier this year as Congress considered a range of measures to stimulate the economy. Congress instead opted to increase to $8,000 an existing tax credit for first-time buyers.
Business leaders say that while the first-time-buyer credit has succeeded in jump-starting the bottom end of the housing market, more needs to be done to lure “trade-up” buyers back to the market. Realtors and builders argue that boosting sales among existing owners as opposed to first-time buyers will spur more sales because each transaction involves two home sales. “That ‘move-up’ buyer has got to have somewhere to go,” says Mr. Smith, who warns that without more incentives for existing homeowners, the housing market’s “stalemate will be nasty and protracted.”
The business group’s campaign also pushes for Congress to make permanent recently expanded limits for loans eligible for government backing or purchase.
Congress in February boosted those limits to as high as $729,750 in the nation’s most expensive housing markets, from $417,000, and the February stimulus bill renewed the higher limits through the end of the year. Those limits are set to expire at the end of the year and are tied to median home prices, which have fallen.
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City of San Juan Capistrano/ Summer 2009 Programs, Classes, and Events…
June 9, 2009
For a city events calendar, click here…
For the Summer Newsletter, including class schedules for a variety of things, click here…
Find out about popular community events such as the City’s San Juan Summer Nites concert series, which kicks off at 6 p.m. June 17 at Historic Town Center Park, and the July 4th celebration from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the San Juan Capistrano Sports Park.
The newsletter also contains information on everything from flower arranging, CPR, youth music and kids’ cooking to ballet folklorico, tennis, dance and a senior trip to Laughlin.
For more information, call 949-493-5911.
Be sure to also follow the City of San Juan Capistrano on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cityofsjc.
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Squeaky Floor Repairs…
June 8, 2009
Here are tips and instructions on how to effectively eliminate squeaky flooring. Article was tapped from eHow.com, and written by Murray Anderson.
For original article, click here…
Things You’ll Need:
- Hammer and flooring nails
- Screws (square headed – 1 1/2 to 2 inches long)
- Shims
- Stud finder
- Talcum powder
- Powdered graphite
- 1 x 4 lumber for bracing or blocking
- Step 1 Often you can’t get to the underside of your floor to work on the squeak (the squeaky floor is on the second story or there is a finished ceiling below the squeak).
- Step 2 Eliminate small squeaks by sprinkling some talcum powder or powdered graphite (NOT liquid graphite lock lubricant) along the seams of the floorboards. (Graphite is messier to work with than talcum powder). Cover the powder with a paper towel or a cloth and step on the boards a few times to work the powder into the seam. Then vacuum up the residue.
- Step 3 The powder will often provide enough lubrication between the boards to stop them rubbing against each other.
- Step 4 Still squeaking–fasten the floorboards more securely to the sub floor.
- Step 5 Install 6d or 8d flooring nails at least 1/2 inch from the edge of the floorboard right down into the subfloor. Predrill holes slightly smaller then the nail shank to prevent the floorboards from splitting.
- Step 6 Sink the nail heads below the board surface and patch with wood filler color matched to your floorboards.
- Step 7 Alternatively you can use small screws to fasten the boards, since over time, screws hold better than nails. Countersink the screw heads below the floor surface and patch the hole with wood filler.
Eliminate squeaks when you can get to the underside of your floor
- Step 1 Check the cross bracing between your floor joists. If it’s loose, reattach it–using screws.
- Step 2 Try putting shims on top of the floor joists directly under the floorboards. Push the shims in tightly but don’t pound them in or you might actually push the floor up from below.
- Step 3 Alternatively, fasten your sub floor to the floor joists by installing extra screws driven at an angle through the floor joist up into the sub floor.
- Step 4 Another option is to install extra 1″ x 4″ bracing between floor joists. Screw the bracing firmly into the sub floor using screws just long enough to go through the sub floor, but not all the way through the floorboards themselves.
Eliminate floor squeaks under your carpet
- Step 1 Roll back the carpet if possible, so you have direct access to the floorboards. Use one of the techniques suggested for working from above.
- Step 2 If you can’t remove the carpet you can nail right through the carpet and the flooring directly into the sub floor.
- Step 3 Use a stud finder to find your floor joists then drive your nails into the underlying joists.
Eliminate squeaks from the top
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High End Housing Reality Puts Geithner In Check…
June 4, 2009
It’s been some time now that the nationwide high end real estate market has all but come to a screeching halt. An acute absence of available financing over $729,250 for an extended period of time has not helped. Even now as larger loan amounts at lower rates start to become available (a rare collision coupled with historically low pricing on homes), it is the case that the loan process is extremely difficult to see through to final funding, which is true for all loans of all sizes, and for all lending institutions that are still in business. For those few buyers who are in the high end market, and actually buying, forclosures and short-sales lead the way for those who will mostly pull the trigger on bargain pricing.
So, it is only fitting that some Washington D.C. personalities are getting bit by the current state of the market, just like everyone else. Below you will find a story on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s home in Larchmont, New York. It’s sort of encouraging to see in print that our nation’s leadership are affected as well. But then again, personal exposure may only encourage the current push for bigger government, more spending, and ridiculous perspectives and legislation on what the government thinks the private sector needs to do.
For the original article on the Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Blog, click here…
WSJ Article…
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is getting a lesson in how sales at the high end of the housing market have stalled: He hasn’t been able to find a buyer for his five-bedroom home in a tony Westchester County hamlet of Larchmont, N.Y. Instead, he’s renting out the unit, according to the Associated Press.
Mr. Geithner reduced the price on the home that he bought in 2004 to $1.575 million, which is $60,000 less than what he listed it for in February and $25,200 less than what he and his wife paid for it five years ago. A couple weeks ago, the Geithners opted to rent out the home for $7,500 per month. (Luxist has photos.)
Median prices in Westchester County are down to their 2003 levels. Developments has noted time and again the confluence of forces that have stalled sales of $1 million-and-up homes, including tougher financing for jumbo loans, which aren’t eligible for government backing, and job loss among white-collar professionals.
Mr. Geithner’s real-estate tutorial also sheds light on how rising numbers of homeowners are finding themselves trapped as they try to sell their homes because their jobs have relocated. Mr. Geithner served as president of the New York Fed before he was named Treasury Secretary by President Obama.
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City of San Juan Capistrano Considers 132 Acre Purchase from Rancho Mission Viejo…
June 3, 2009
The City of San Juan Capistrano may acquire 132 acres from Rancho Mission Viejo, a 23,000 acre cattle ranch operation in Southeast Orange County. The City Council reported after closed session Tuesday that the property would preserve and enhance the eastern gateway to the City and become part of San Juan Capistrano’s ever expanding open-space portfolio.
For original story, click here…
For an overview of the city’s Open Space Initiative (Measures X & Y), click here…
For a map of the general area in question, click here…
Officials have been working with the Ranch on details to possibly purchase the property, known as “the old ranch headquarters and lemon grove” area next to Ortega Highway and the “rodeo or polo grounds” south of Ortega Highway from City limits to La Pata Avenue. The property would only be used for equestrian, organized sports, agricultural and open space/creek habitat preservation. Other than the possibility of one equestrian facility and the annual Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo, no commercial, industrial or residential use would be allowed on the property.
“I am extremely excited about the opportunity for our City to preserve this key piece of Open Space,” said Mayor Mark Nielsen. “With this acquisition, we can reverse the loss of a defining entry to our City that reflects our equestrian and rural history. I applaud the leadership of Rancho Mission Viejo for their willingness to work with the City to preserve this property for future generations and give up a large amount of development that was already approved on this site.”
The City is in a 60-day “due diligence” period to appraise the property and review the title report and other conditions affecting the land. Once that’s complete and a purchase and sale agreement is prepared, the City would acquire the property within 180 days. Funding would come from the $30 million open space bond approved by voters in November and any other available funding sources.
Purchasing the property east of the City would benefit the community as a whole – providing more recreational and agricultural areas and preservation of the creek/open space lands. It would also add to the City’s and Open Space Committee’s recent acquisitions and victories. In January, members of the Open Space Finance Subcommittee were responsible for the City and Redevelopment Agency entering into an agreement with Continuing Life Communities (CLC) for an option to buy 116 acres of open space land in the Northwest area of town. The committee and City also worked together to buy 109 acres of land from the J.F. Shea Co., and committee members lead the campaign for Measures X and Y, which added additional protections for open space and approved the $30 million open-space bond.