323 W. Paseo De Cristobal, San Clemente Awaken early on a bright morning and serenely sip your tea or coffee in the cozy breakfast nook looking out upon your own private rose garden, with a design that is reminiscent of Spain, or stroll out through wide-flung doors to enjoy the dazzling view of the crashing surf from the grove of “dancing” Torrey pines. Bask in the mid-day sun at poolside, bordered by roses, or enjoy the quiet shade of the central courtyard. Join the children as they play volleyball or other games on the green lawn overlooking the beach, marvel at nature’s ingenuity as you contemplate the roots of the sheltering ficus weaving in the grass, or enjoy a book curled up in the built-in window seat. The main home alone of this estate can amply embrace a growing family or welcome abundant friends for celebrations amidst stunning natural beauty, yet also offers quiet retreats for moments of rest and reflection. Each room opens to the outdoors, bringing the outside in. Wood paneled vaulted ceilings in both the main home and the guest home create spaces that encourage creativity in all forms, from decorating for an elegant occasion, to gourmet cooking, to painting or crafts. • Main home is 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, approximately 4,555 square feet, plus detached guest quarters on a 20,800 square foot lot with access off Paseo De Cristobal. • Pool home with kitchen facilities, laundry, 3 car garage, RV access and 3 bathrooms on a 22,201 square foot water front lot that is 84 feet x 285 feet. • The 2 parcels can be sold separately! Just above local favorite T-street beach, you, your family, and friends will never need to search for a parking spot as the capacious driveway, carport and three car garage will easily accommodate all of you. $9,750,000
Dan Yeilding / Broker (949) 370-3385 www.danyeilding.com 229 Avenida Del Mar San Clemente, CA 92672
Real Estate
ExpErt’s CornEr Save Money Now on your Property Taxes Chances are if you bought your house in the last 8 years, you are paying too much in property taxes. It is no secret that property values have depreciated almost 30% since the peak of the market but the assessor’s office does not take this into account each year when they send out your property tax bill. Appealing your property tax rate is simple and a quick way to save money. In 2011, almost two thirds of property owners who filed an informal request for review were granted a reduction in their property taxes. The deadline for filing the informal request for review for the 2012/2013 taxable year is April 30th, 2012.
Just email us at ellysellssc@cox.net or jillmitzev@cox.net with your property address and we will email you back comparable sales for you to submit with your appeal. As the economy limps along and gas prices are on the rise, we are all looking for ways to put more money in our pockets. Appealing your property taxes is a prudent way to make your real estate investment start working for you again. If you would like more information on this process or are interested in a full market analysis, please feel free to contact us direct. JILL MITZEV (949) 289-1783 jillmitzev@cox.net.
Just follow these simple steps. First, log onto www.ocgov. com/assessor. In the middle of the page, there will be a link to Request an Informal Tax Review. Choose the form for your property type (single family home, condo or multi-family) and fill out the information.
ELLY HARRIS (949) 412-2170 EllySellsSC@cox.net
The form requires you to submit 3 comparable home sales that support a reduced property tax assessment. If you feel your assessment is too high based on neighborhood values, we can help you with the supporting information.
Would You Like To Sell Your Home Quickly? Tips on lowering the market time for your San Clemente real estate sale If you are a prospective home seller who keeps up with the latest real estate market news, you may be discouraged that home prices are still low and inventory remains high. However, do not think for a second that you cannot sell your home in a short amount of time in the current marketplace. In order to limit the market time for your home sale, you need to be aggressive, flexible and proactive – the worst thing you can do is sit back and hope that the right buyer will find you. Here are a few tips for selling your home quickly: 1. BE REALISTIC WITH THE LISTING PRICE With the limitless amount of real estate information available to San Clemente homebuyers on the Internet, the days of secrets in the real estate industry are gone. Due to the growth of real estate websites such as Redfin and Trulia, it is simply too easy to see what today’s market trends are dictating with regards to home prices. If you want to sell fast, price your home based on the current San Clemente real estate market, not on your personal feelings about your home’s worth. Overpricing based on emotional attachment to your home is one of the most common and difficult obstacles for sellers to overcome, but this is the very thing that may turn off potential buyers as they will know not to overpay in a buyer’s market. 2. ALLOW AS MANY SHOWINGS AS POSSIBLE At the end of a long work day, all you want to do is kick off your shoes and relax for the evening, and the last thing you
need is some stranger wandering through your home. But remember - buyers have busy lives too, and you never know when the right buyer has time to view your home. Try to be flexible and accommodating with your showing schedule so that you maximize the number of prospects who see your home. 3. PREPARE YOUR HOME BEFORE THE LISTING When interested buyers view your home, you want and need them to envision themselves living there. Removing clutter and personal items, hiring a staging expert to bring out your home’s full potential, and keeping your house clean can make a huge difference. Make the home presentable before every showing – like everything in life, you have one chance to make a first impression, and your home needs to distinguish itself from today’s crowded marketplace.
Low Supply Jolts JANUARY MARKET PRICES But it’s not exactly late-breaking news, is it? There’s an old joke that the stock market has predicted seven of the last two recessions. Something similar could be said about the uptick in local real estate activity that tends to occur in January of each year. Lots of new post-holiday listings and “busy, busy, busy” anecdotes give the impression that market prices are on the rise. Usually, however, they’re not. But this January, local home prices experienced a substantial jolt to the upside, even though nothing else very dramatic happened with other statistics. According to the CRMLS -- the multiple listing service used by realtors -- San Clemente’s home median price came in at $625,000, up 4% from last January’s $600,000. Since the housing bubble burst in 2007, this is a rare year-overyear January price uptick. So, why did January 2012 turn in such a great market performance? It wasn’t because of high volume. Local sales actually dropped to 42 homes, 26 percent fewer than last January. It wasn’t because of a drop in short sales -- homes sold at prices less than owed. As a percentage of total volume, January short sales actually increased this year. I think January prices went up because buyers finally responded to a “for sale” inventory that has been steadily shrinking for 18 months. Right now there are only 265 San Clemente homes for sale. Compare that to 393 for sale last year at this time, and 630 homes for sale four and a half years ago. It seemed late in coming, but the law of supply and demand finally arrived in January. Another measure of supply is how long it would take to sell the current inventory at the current sales rate. There are different ways of doing the math, but I calculate four months. No matter how it’s calculated, however, San Clemente hasn’t seen this kind of limited supply in six years. So, what does the January market price jolt mean? Are rising prices finally back? Remember that the typical January closed sale represents an escrow opened 90 days earlier. So here in March, looking at January activity, we’re actually looking at buy decisions made nearly half a year ago, back in October. If rising prices are back, that’s great news. But it’s not exactly late-breaking news, is it? We always learn about the major moves well after they’ve started. For more on the San Clemente housing market, check out MCotter.com, especially latest market statistics and neighborhood stats.
MATT CABRERA DRE #01824940
(949) 281-5444 matt@sanclementecoastalliving.com www.SanClementeCoastalLiving.com
MIKE COTTER Broker Associate DRE # 00806890
Cell: 949.322.6009 E-mail: Mike@MCotter.com Visit: MCotter.com Blog: SanClementeRealEstateBlog.com
Landscape Tip # 10 for 2012
“Create a Landscape design on paper and install it in phases.” The economy is supposedly on the up swing… Despite this most of us do not have the money to budget redoing our entire front and back yard all at one time. An obvious solution is to rework one area such as the front or back yard, or reintsall an aspect of our yard, like the softscape and lighting, or an area of the hardscape. The problem that can occur is that after a number of years and a number of projects our yard may lack planning and good flow with consistency of theme. An excellent solution is to draw up a plan that takes into consideration the entire outside of our home or commercial building, and also the desired end result. Working with a professional who can design, build, and recommend where to start, will result in a yard that is completed as you have the funds but looks like it was done all at one time. Look for more discussion on Landscape and Hardscape ideas in this years SC Times Real estate section. Submitted by Rob McFadgen (owner of Costa Verde)
HOME AND GARDEN
Celebrating 25 Years serving North and South Orange County, Finishing Touch Floor’s would like to thank San Clemente for your overwhelming support through the years. We have watched many, many flooring stores come and go….some, being family-run businesses like ours that just couldn’t make a go of it for different reasons. Unfortunately, most of the stores that came and went caused a lot of grief to the community by their dishonest way of doing business and not caring about the people that they were supposed to be serving. We have been asked the question quite often from our suppliers, especially in the last few years, “Why is The Finishing Touch Floors the busiest flooring company in North and South Orange County?” Our answer is always the same, “Life is simple; you reap what you sow and our success comes from years of treating our customers with respect and integrity.” It is an easy business to get into, but staying in it is extremely challenging unless you do it right and grow in a healthy manner. The best tip that we could ever give to the floor covering consumer, is never buy from a retail store that does not install the product themselves. Stay away from companies who use labor houses for installation and
stay away from anyone selling out of their home as this will jeopardize the material and labor warranty. We are more confident than ever that we have the best customer service, the best installers and the most competitive pricing for our customers in all of Orange County. We are a family business who takes great pride in giving consistent quality wood flooring installations as well as carpet and stone installations. We have a no time limit warranty on all labor and have proved this to our customers for over 25 Years. Our overhead is structured in such a way that we are not forced to charge the higher prices and being family-owned, we are not on commission and can make the cost of the total job fit each homeowners needs. Whether it’s wood floors, carpet or stone, we offer the biggest “bang for the buck.” We can confidently say that we are a flooring family and we not only know what we are doing but have had the joy of beautifying homes with the right product for the right price for the past 25 years. When quality of product and installation is compared, we will not be under sold. Please stop by or call the oldest and friendliest flooring store today for a quote. Thank you for your business!
Laguna Hills 25252 Cabot Road (949) 770-1797
Long Beach 1804 South Street (562) 428-2523 www.ftfloorsinc.com
Los Alamitos 3273 Katella Avenue (562) 493-5497