Housing bubble part 2 (Garden Grove, Orange: real estate market, homes, buying)

[Joe Van Fossen]

Originally Posted by seraphita

Could a 4-person family with $70,000 in household income, $70,000 for a down payment, and no debt, afford to buy in OC? Or would we need to take UC Irvine's subsidized faculty housing (since my husband would be working for the university)?

Near Irvine, in some of the newer Tustin townhomes, there are some homes available that are a part of Tustin's moderate income housing program that you could likely qualify for.

[niteflite]

realistically, what is the current price range for a fairly updated 3 bedroom, 2+ bath, 1,500+ SF in the more family friendly and slightly higher income areas of the county?

what are property taxes like out there?

[Ultrarunner]

Headline in one of today's papers, "Housing Prices Surge in Bay Area" December median of 470k is 24% improvement over a year ago...

So it's not just in Orange Country...

[Joe Van Fossen]

Originally Posted by niteflite

realistically, what is the current price range for a fairly updated 3 bedroom, 2+ bath, 1,500+ SF in the more family friendly and slightly higher income areas of the county?

what are property taxes like out there?

If you're talking detached homes, you're looking at around $500K minimum and upwards of about $700-800K--specifically based on areas like Irvine, Aliso Viejo, nicer parts of Tustin, Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda.

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Headline in one of today's papers, "Housing Prices Surge in Bay Area" December median of 470k is 24% improvement over a year ago...

So it's not just in Orange Country...

Yeah, that's about the same year-over-year increase as OC

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Couldn't he just get a second and avoid the PMI?

No. Lenders are very strict now about the borrower providing proof that they have their own funds to pay the down payment. The days of creative financing are long gone. The borrower's income and assets have to be very well documented.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by seraphita

Could a 4-person family with $70,000 in household income, $70,000 for a down payment, and no debt, afford to buy in OC? Or would we need to take UC Irvine's subsidized faculty housing (since my husband would be working for the university)?

I would definitely say no. Both the income and down payment are insufficient to buy a home in a decent area.

[Joe Van Fossen]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

I would definitely say no. Both the income and down payment are insufficient to buy a home in a decent area.

That would generally be true, but taking into account some of the moderate income programs available in much of OC, it's doable. For example, a 3bd/2b townhome in Columbus Grove (a nice, newer family oriented area in Tustin) goes for about $335K under this program. With $70K down and an interest rate of about 3.5%, the monthly payment would be around $1190 a month (not including property taxes, HOA or utilities). Then again, I don't see anything wrong with living in the subsidized housing provided by UCI.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by Joe Van Fossen

That would generally be true, but taking into account some of the moderate income programs available in much of OC, it's doable. For example, a 3bd/2b townhome in Columbus Grove (a nice, newer family oriented area in Tustin) goes for about $335K under this program. With $70K down and an interest rate of about 3.5%, the monthly payment would be around $1190 a month (not including property taxes, HOA or utilities). Then again, I don't see anything wrong with living in the subsidized housing provided by UCI.

I will admit that I am totally ignorant of any moderate income programs available. I just learned today that there is a program in Santa Clara County ( Metro San Jose ) for people with a household income less than $85,000 /yr. that provides help for both renters and purchasing.

That is a good deal. Actually you can get a 3.00% 30 year fixed right now. I am pretty familiar with the rates as I am going to refinance my home. I just did it less than a year ago at 4.5%.

[Joe Van Fossen]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

I will admit that I am totally ignorant of any moderate income programs available. I just learned today that there is a program in Santa Clara County ( Metro San Jose ) for people with a household income less than $85,000 /yr. that provides help for both renters and purchasing.

That is a good deal. Actually you can get a 3.00% 30 year fixed right now. I am pretty familiar with the rates as I am going to refinance my home. I just did it less than a year ago at 4.5%.

Yeah, a lot of people aren't aware of these programs, but they can be really beneficial for some buyers. Of course there are qualifications and restrictions. For example, when you're ready to move/sell you have to find buyers who are also qualified for the moderate income program.

3.0% on a 30 year fixed is a great rate! I'm starting to see rates creep up a little, so your timing couldn't be better.

[CarawayDJ]

Hardly a bubble. Prices dipped too low in the recession. As the economy improves you will see a quick rise to recover prices to something more reasonable. They will not return to where they were. If I had a lot of money sitting around I'd be buying homes left and right myself. Homes are still undervalued, albeit probably not for long. The banks have also gotten smart. They're holding on to their foreclosures and releasing them into the market at a slow pace. This is keeping inventories from being too high. I think a lot of homeowners will be happy to see a good chunk of their home values return.