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.

Welcome to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Irvine!

Mitsuwa Marketplace is a Japanese grocery store here in the U.S.  There are several stores located throughout the country, including a relatively large one in Costa Mesa.  Prior to the opening of Mitsuwa in Irvine just last month, the Costa Mesa location was the only one here in Orange County, California.

When I heard about the opening of a new Mitsuwa in Irvine a few months back, I was really excited since it’d be closer to where I live than the Costa Mesa store.  I was even more excited to have easier access to the food court, since I really enjoy the variety of food counters at the Costa Mesa location.

Mitsuwa Marketplace in Irvine is located at 14230 Culver Drive, Irvine, CA 92604, where the old ACE Hardware store used to be, in the well-known Heritage Plaza, a shopping center that includes a unique mix of both franchise and mom-and-pop stores, restaurants, specialty stores, fast food places, grocery stores, banks, and businesses.

Upon arriving at Mitsuwa last week for lunch, I was taken aback by the smaller location compared to the one in Costa Mesa.  I shouldn’t have been surprised since I knew that there wasn’t that much space available for such a large store at Heritage Plaza, but I guess I was just used to seeing the larger Mitsuwa stores in Costa Mesa, as well as in Torrance (near where I grew up).

Upon walking in, the entire store is clean and quaint, which is the same experience and feeling that I get walking into the other Mitsuwa locations.  But the grocery store section was super small compared to what I was used to.  But I wasn’t there for grocery shopping at that moment — I wanted to check out the food counters!

The food counters are all against the far left end of the store.  There are currently only three food counters there, with no room for more.  There was ample seating there at the time, though if you had a huge group of people, that of course would be a challenge at any cafeteria-style seating area.  One of the food counters (i.e. restaurants) was some sort of pastry place, I think.  Another was for ramen; the other was for other types of Japanese cuisine.  I didn’t see any sushi there.

Seating area near the food counters at Mitsuwa in Irvine.

I ended up getting a couple of dishes from Misasa, the food counter with Japanese cuisine.  Soba noodles and a rice dish…quite good.  I’m not much of a food critic, so I won’t go into whether it’s the best Japanese food I’ve ever eaten, but it certainly left me full and not wanting anythign more (except maybe some dessert!).

Meal from Misasa, one of the food counters at Mitsuwa in Irvine.

Walking around the grocery section after lunch was interesting too.  There’s a little bit of everything there in terms of Japanese items — teas, candies, snacks, frozen foods, desserts, meats, seafood, vegetables, and kitchenware.  There’s just not huge aisles of this stuff, and the prices are not the cheapest around, in my humble opinion.

Overall it was a positive experience, and I think Mitsuwa will do well at this location in Irvine as long as they can attract people who are looking specifically for Japanese grocery items that they can’t find anywhere else in the local vicinity, and for those who don’t want to drive to other places for a quick Japanese meal.

Congratulations to Mitsuwa Marketplace for your grand opening in Irvine!

For more info on Mitsuwa, visit their website here: http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/index.html

For more info on Irvine, Costa Mesa, Orange County, and other local spots, feel free to contact me.

Costa Mesa is wonderfully unique city in Orange County that is nestled between Newport Beach, Irvine, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, and Fountain Valley.  While Costa Mesa doesn’t have any beachfront property, its residents benefit from the more even, moderate beach temperatures year-round.  South Coast Plaza, a premier shopping mall, is also one of the more famous destinations within Costa Mesa that draws people in from all over Southern California.  There is a diverse population as well, which is evident from the different types of retaurants and eateries peppered throughout the city.

Costa Mesa is also a very pet-friendly city.  There are also some wonderful hiking and biking trails that lead you directly the beach, which is great for those who enjoy outdoor activities. 

There is no wonder why so many people are interested in calling Costa Mesa “home.”  Growing up in the L.A. area myself, it’s not as big of a “culture shock” to visit and live in Costa Mesa as you may experience if visiting or living in South County (southern part of Orange County). If you’ve ever lived in L.A. for a while, you’ll know what I mean!

So for those of you who are interested in or considering a move to Costa Mesa, here are the latest active listings on the MLS as of today.  These are single family detached homes listed for $500,000 and under (29 listings total):

Costa Mesa SFR Active MLS Listings for $500K and Under_as of 01-17-2012

If you have any questions about Costa Mesa, Orange County, or real estate in general, please feel free to contact me.

MLS Disclosure:

Based on information from the CRMLS /Association of REALTORS® for as of January 17, 2012.  Display of MLS data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS.

(Note: Please welcome Tasha Poblete to our blog family!  She will be contributing some wonderful blog posts starting this year, including some great features of local professionals and businesses, that will add some “flavor” to what we’ve already been talking about when it comes to life and real estate in Orange County, CA.  Enjoy! – Alicia)

Living in Orange County, there are many different community activities to choose from. So when I found a Yoga Booty Ballet class, aka “YBB”, offered through OC Dance Productions (OCDP), I couldn’t have been more excited!

I’ve been looking for a unique approach to my regular workout routine (walking to the mailbox) as to hold my interest and produce real results. I first heard about YBB through celebrities on TV swearing by it. Turns out OCDP had the only certified instructor in Orange County. Director and owner Kimberly Esmond started OCDP in 2007 and has been steadily expanding ever since.   

OCDP offers the full spectrum of dance and fitness classes. Taught by qualified instructors who all have specialized training, each class is specifically catered to our community’s needs. From Mommy and Me classes, traditional ballet, and Glee-inspired hip hop for kids, to Barre Cardio and Burlesque Body (meow) for the mommas, there’s something for everyone. The best part is that it’s truly great for any age or experience. When I took YBB for the first time, I was eager to get my workout on. Having a dance background myself, I could easily maneuver the moves to my comfort level; as could the 60-something year-young fitness nut up in front. She often outstretched me and finished all the cardio, all while looking cute in her matchy-matchy jogging suit. Alas, grandma rocked it.

Being a mom, I often look for classes that are well suited for my two daughters.  I am thankful that I found OCDP. My girls have participated in dance classes, cheer camps, Girl Scout events, and even had a birthday with OCDP! (yup, affordable birthday packages uniquely done for your child!) We are even participating in OCDP’s first community dance recital this summer.

Above all, Kim and her team have found the perfect combination of professionalism and fun. all while keeping the integrity of the fundamentals of dance.

To find a class in your city, visit Kim at www.ocdanceproductions.com.

Now go dance the day away…you know you want to!

For more information on OCDP and other local activities, feel free to contact us.

Ainsley Park at Columbus Grove in Tustin is almost complete.

The new neighborhood called Ainsley Park in the Columbus Grove community in Tustin is just about complete!  Built by William Lyon Homes, these paired homes will complete the build-out of the entire Columbus Grove community on the Tustin side as well.  There will be a total of 84 homes upon completion.

There are only a few homes left to purchase.  There is one home available for Plan 1, which is 1,659 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.  This particular unit is priced at $475,990 with a move-in for July.

There are three homes available for Plan 2 right now, which is 1,766 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.  One of these homes is priced at $488,285 with a February move-in, and the other two are priced at $490,990 with a July move-in.

There is only one Plan 3 floor plan left now, which is 1,827 square feet with 3 bedrooms (including a first-floor master bedroom) and 2.5 bathrooms, plus a “great room” layout and a loft.  This home is priced at $496,490 with a July move-in.

Plan 4 has been completely sold out.  This was the largest floor plan at 2,364 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  They were priced from $611,990 in this final phase, and they are only taking back-up applications at this time.

According to the builder, as of 10/22/2011, HOA dues will average about $312/month.  There are two HOA’s — one for the entire Columbus Grove community, and the other specifically for Ainsley Park.  The Ainsley Park HOA dues will vary in monthly amount based on which floor plan you have.

As for property taxes, the base tax rate is about 1.17% of the final purchase price, plus Mello-Roos which is estimated to be $4,540/year for Plan 1 and Plan 2, and $4,973/year for Plan 3 and Plan 4.  This is according to the builder as of 10/22/2011.

Prices and terms are subject to change without notice.  Contact the sales office at 949-679-9488 for more details about any of these homes.

The onsite sales office has now been moved into one of the model homes, as the previous location of the sales office is now being prepared for construction of the final homes in the project.

I’ve watched this neighborhood be built literally from the ground up over the past year.  I’ve met some wonderful new neighbors who now live in these homes.  It’s amazing how quickly everything was done!  Below are some photos of the newer phases of these homes.  You can compare these photos to the video I took back in November 2010 of the same site before these homes existed, as shown in a previous blog post, just by clicking HERE.

If you’re looking for a brand new home in a wonderful, friendly community, Ainsley Park may be it for you.  Columbus Grove also has a lot of newer homes for sale that you can check out too.  Feel free to contact me for more info.  Thank you!

Welcome to Ainsley Park!

Siteplan for Ainsley Park, according to info provided on the website for the builder, William Lyon Homes.

View of Ainsley Park homes from the corner of Bonsai Way and Larkspur Street.

View of Ainsley Park homes along Jasmine Place.

Location of former onsite sales office on the corner of Jasmine Place and Carrotwood Drive.