I have a new lease listing in the Westpark area of Irvine within the “Brio” community.  It’s a 2br/2ba, 2-car attached garage (direct access), lower level condo, great location within the community, and available as early as 4/16/2012.  See the listing below for more info.

Here is a general description:

Welcome home to this wonderful, well-maintained 2br/2ba condo in the desirable Westpark area of Irvine! This one-story, 1,028 sq ft corner end unit within the Brio community includes a 2-car attached garage with plenty of storage space, full kitchen that opens up to the dining area and living room, fireplace in the living room, private laundry area in the garage, full hallway bathroom, master suite with a walk-in closet and a full bathroom attached with dual sinks, central heating and A/C, custom window coverings, and private front patio. Refrigerator, washer, and dryer are all included. Plenty of guest parking available. Amenities include access to association pool/spa/BBQ areas, tennis courts, and sport courts. Close to shops, restaurants, parks, movie theaters, businesses, and much more. Located within Irvine Unified School District boundaries. Look no further – this is the home for you!

Please contact me for more info.  Thank you!

Check out the website for Financially Yours at www.financially-yours.com.

These days everyone is experiencing some kind of penny-pinching.  One less latte a week.  One less dinner out.  One more DIY project to work on.  With gas prices going up and paychecks going down, our finances are becoming more and more part of our daily conversation.  From tips from talk shows to magazine how-to’s, financial freedom is more than just a topic, it’s an investment.

One way to secure your commodities is to have a financial advisor to, well, advise.  The sound of someone else going through your credit card bills and seeing how much your cupcake habit really is may be daunting.  However, getting your finances in line doesn’t have to be as intimidating as it sounds.  Choosing the right person for you can help you save and help secure your future.

Donna Lea, CEO and President of Financially Yours, is motivated to help her clients become good stewards of their resources.  This Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is unique as she is independent, therefore customizing your plan to your best interest.  Since she does not work for a bank or other investment companies, she is not dependent on their recommendations and products.  The client receives a personalized plan for their personalized life, implementing the best resources suited for the client.

This sensible planner’s background is rooted in having her Chemical Engineering degree from UCLA.  However, serving people’s needs became her skill set and she started her own practice in 2003, becoming a corporation in 2009. She also touts being certified in series 6, 7, 63, and 65.

Financially Yours’ services include, but are not limited to, wealth accumulation, family financing, and wealth maintenance.  Donna helps “Tier the Plan”, basically creating customized plans only a personal advisor can do.  Financially Yours is devoted to personal touches keeping the client’s best interest in mind, developing a relationship with the clients while providing a professional service.  The bottom line being that they care.

So whether you are a business owner or parent planning your child’s college fund, Financially Yours may be just what you’ve been looking for.

And especially for those who have real estate properties or intend to sell or purchase one or more someday, it’s a great idea to get that added to your financial plan as well.

You can contact Donna Lea at 714.750.3090 ext. 108 or http://www.financially-yours.com/ for more information.  I’ll be investing my dollar at the new bakery.

For more info about this article, or if you’re interested in being a “local feature” in the future, please contact us.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, a “hidden” mortgage fee that is included in your interest rate is set to increase on April 1, 2012.  This fee is called the guarantee fee, or the “G-Fee,” which comprises one of three components of an interest rate.

This will only affect new loans that are set to close on or after April 1st.  Existing loans will not be affected.

“One way to avoid the guarantee fee is to use a lender that does not sell off its loans — for instance, a community bank or a credit union,” said Vickie Elmer, author of this article being referenced in the New York Times.

For more details, click here check out this article in the New York Times from March 1, 2012 by Vickie Elmer.

For more info on how this may impact you, feel free to contact me to discuss.

It’s that time again…to ”lose” another hour! 

For folks in the U.S. (with except to those in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), don’t forget to turn your clocks forward one hour this weekend, specifically at 2:00am on Sunday, March 11, 2012.

Losing one hour when it comes to Daylight Savings Time is not always desirable during that weekend of transition, but soon we will be able to have more sunlight available to us into the evening and welcome in the Spring season soon.

Do you know what that also means?  More daylight time for buyers to see more properties, and more opportunities for sellers to have more exposure to their homes! (Yes, this is after all a “life and real estate” blog!)

Happy “Spring Forward”, everyone!

Chef, not cook. Teacher, not instructor.  Designer, not decorator.

These are all separated by skill and an innate sense of style.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with finding the perfect lamp to go with your drapes; designers just want you to understand it must also help define the space. And the room. And the interior architectural details it possesses.

Tania Soo is one such designer. Her specialty is commercial and medical designs.

This savvy designer has been at work since 2000. She received her BFA in Interior Design from Cal State Long Beach, one of the top Art and Design Universities in California. 

Tania started at a design firm before she graduated and became project manager for most of her career. As a designer, she not only oversees the entire project, she in onsite and meets with clients starting from the foundation on up. Going to construction sites and planning with the clients, Tania is involved every step of the way.  Her custom attention to detail and strong work ethic results in perfect harmony, both functional and inspiring.

During her time at design firm LWA, she concentrated on commercial design, with CalNational Bank being one of the biggest clients. Her repertoire consisted of over two hundred branches in both Chicago and California.

More recently, her freelancing blossomed into launching her new company, Tania Soo Design Concepts, Inc.  She describes her designs as clean, minimalistic, and simple, “less is more” being her mantra. From exploring restaurants and lounges in her travels to perusing through magazines and books, Tania is constantly taking mental notes on what inspires her.  

Tania is certified with both NCIDQ and CCIDC and is currently serving the Orange County area. Please contact her at Tania@tsdesignconcepts.com for details and portfolio. She proves that hard work and a good eye isn’t just a pretty lamp, it’s a work of art too.

For more information, please contact us.  Thank you!

Here’s my new listing in Chino Hills.  It’s a short sale property in good condition and ready for a good, qualified buyer!

Charming detached 2-story single family house in the highly-desired neighborhood of Somerset-The Cottages! Includes 3BR/2.5BA, 2-car attached garage plus private driveway, open floor plan, & enclosed backyard. Kitchen has granite countertops & breakfast bar area that opens to the dining area. High vaulted ceilings in living room & bedrooms. Laminate wood floors downstairs, ceramic tile floors in kitchen & bathrooms, carpet upstairs. Several skylights & large windows throughout home provide plenty of natural light. Master suite has 2 closets (1 walk-in closet), dual sinks with corian countertops, & shower/tub combo. Other bedrooms have spacious mirrored sliding door closets. Half bathroom is downstairs near kitchen & direct garage entry; full bathroom in hallway upstairs. Garage has laundry hook-ups & plenty of storage space. Association pool, spa, BBQ, & tot lot. Close to parks, shopping, restaurants, movie theaters, & easy access to freeway. Great opportunity for a wonderful home! 

Currently listed for $319,000.

Please contact me for more info.  Thanks!

The price of first-class stamps (e.g. Forever stamps) have increased to 45 cents each.

Effective January 22, 2012, postage and some mailing service prices have increased.

First-class postage for 1 oz. letters have increased a penny to 45 cents.  Postcards have increased 3 cents to 32 cents.

For more info on these and other price increases, refer to the USPS website here: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_116.htm

So make sure when you send another “snail mail” letter out, double check that you are including proper postage.

And what does this have to do with real estate?  Not too much since most things can be done online or via email/fax when it comes to paperwork these days.  But it definitely impacts our lives, even if only in a small way right now.  And if I can save you some time and energy by providing this little tidbit of information, then I’m glad to pass this bit of news along!

For more info about life and real estate in Orange County, please feel free to contact me.

Homeowners may want to talk to a qualified real estate professional when deciding to miss mortgage payments. A Notice of Default may result from missing too many payments.

I often get this question from sellers who are deciding whether to do a short sale of their property: “Do I have to be delinquent on my mortgage payments?”

For those whose financial hardship is quite severe, they often have been delinquent on their payments by the time they come to me for help.  But there are some homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments, or they have some big bills to pay in the near future, and so they are trying to figure out how best to allocate their limited disposable income every month.

In my experience, homeowners who have already decided to proceed with a short sale usually decide to start missing their mortgage payments immediately so that they can start paying off other mounting bills.  They have already come to terms with the fact that they will eventually be moving out of their home and are ready to accept all that comes with doing a short sale, including the tax consequences, negative impact on their credit, and potential for the bank to foreclose on the property.

But for those homeowners who have a hard time swallowing this reality, they wonder whether it’s REALLY necessary to be delinquent on their mortgage payments in order to at least start the short sale process.

And of course the short answer is: it depends.

It depends on the bank that is servicing your loan, as well as the investor in your mortgage note.  Some bank servicers won’t even start processing your short sale package until you miss payments.  Others may be okay with it, but the investor may eventually require it.  It becomes a bit stickier when you have more than one loan related to your property.

It’s pretty easy to determine who is servicing your loan — you pay that institution every month (or you are supposed to, at least).  In order to determine who is the investor behind that note the bank is servicing, it takes only a bit more info and digging, but typically not much. 

That’s where it helps to get a good, experienced, local real estate agent into the mix.  Whether you reach out to me or another agent to help you, make sure that you deal with someone who can explain the process to you effectively.  Anyone who promises that they can get you tons of money back after the short sale probably has some sort of “catch” to their services (though there are some rare cases that banks do provide incentives to sellers, but that’s not something that can be assured early on).  They also shouldn’t be charging you fees up front to help with a short sale.  If you sense any of these red flags, don’t be afraid to talk to another agent.

So before you decide to start missing payments “to get the bank’s attention”, you may want to take a moment to step back and talk to a qualified real estate professional before you set yourself unknowingly on the path to foreclosure.

For more info, please feel free to contact me.

This is a short sale property located in a wonderful neighborhood on a cul-de-sac in La Palma, California.  It’s currently listed at $509,000.  This 2-story detached single family home has 5 bedrooms (one of which is located on the first floor), 2.5 bathrooms, with a separate living room, formal dining room, family room and kitchen with granite countertops.  There is an inside laundry area adjacent to the family room.  The home also has a driveway and 2-car attached garage with plenty of storage space.  The master bedroom is spacious and has its own remodeled master bathroom.  There is marble tile and hardwood flooring throughout the house.  The front and back yards are beautifully landscaped.  The property is 2,226 sq ft according to the county assessor (the video indicates 2,228 sq ft, which was an estimate).  Major cross streets are Moody St. and La Palma Ave.

If you’re interested in checking out this property, please feel free to contact me.

Look up property tax info online at the Orange County Tax Assessor's website.

Many home buyers ask me what the property tax rate is for a particular property in Orange County, California.  They often ask me too if there is Mello-Roos associated with a property.

Here’s a little secret: You can look this info up yourself online.  For free.  Here’s how to do it:

1)  Go to http://tax.ocgov.com/tcweb/search_page.asp. 

2)  You can search by parcel number, address, and a few other ways.  Usually you’ll have just the address of the property, so go ahead and type that into the section where you can search by address.  Then click on “Find”.

3)  The next screen will show you the property address and parcel number record for that property.  Click on the parcel number.

4)  The next screen will show you the property tax records available online for that particular parcel number.  Click on the parcel number.  If there is more than one property tax record available, click on one for the most recent tax year available.

5)  The next screen will show you the property tax detail for the selected tax year related to that parcel number.  This will show a summary of the total property tax amounts due per installment for that tax year.  You can also view the actual tax bill online by clicking on “View Original Bill”.  Further down the screen, you can see a payment summary as well as a breakdown of the property’s assessed value and exemptions used for calculating property tax for that particular parcel and tax year.

6)  For more detailed info on the total tax bill amount, scroll down until you see a bright yellow highlighted area that says “Click Here for Detailed Information on What Makes Up Your Taxes!”  Go ahead and click that area.

7)  A new screen will pop up with detail of your total annual property tax bill amount.  Remember, this is for the whole tax year, not just one installment.  It will detail all the different fees that comprise your property tax bill amount.  Mello-Roos and any other special bonds will be included in the section called “special assessment user fees” — these are amounts that are not part of your actual property tax calculation, but rather additional amounts that you have to pay for this property that are lumped into your overall property tax bill.  There are usually phone numbers included for each of these fees that you can call for more information about them.

And that’s it.  No need to wait for your real estate agent to call you back about it.  No need to call the county.  You have this available at your fingertips for any property in Orange County, as long as you have the parcel number, address, etc.

Los Angeles County has a different process for getting such info online, but it’s actually available for you to view online as well.  We’ll save that tutorial for another day, but you can try to find it yourself by going to the county assessor’s website for L.A. County and browsing around for property tax data.

Happy searching!

For more information on Orange County property taxes or real estate in general, feel free to contact me.