South County

ALISO VIEJO

This Saturday February 11, 2012 from 7 – 10pm at the Renaissance ClubSport is an Valentine's Day Love Lounge and Wine Tasting. Valentine's Day is the most romantic day of the year and deserves an extra special night to celebrate the occasion. Enjoy delicious appetizers and taste the most exotic white wines and romantic ruby reds. Then, indulge in our flowing sweet samplers and hand-passed champagne, all night long! You can cozy-up and relax, while listening to our live entertainment, or get out on the dance floor and move to the music! We invite you to extend your evening and stay the night for just $99.99! Reservations are required; space is limited to the first 50 couples. Childcare is available in Kids World until 10:00pm through our Valentine's Day Party Parent Escape. Members: $75 per couple Non-Members: $90 per couple. For more information or to register, please stop by the Club Desk or call (949)330-5560.

DANA POINT

Valentine’s Day is TUESDAY! From 4:00-6:00pmtry this unique and romantic way to celebrate Valentine's Day! You'll sail aboard the 95' Dana Pride at sunset as we search for whales, dolphin and other marine life set against the beautiful Orange County coastline. Chocolates and Valentine's Day treats are included as well as a complimentary glass of champagne for guests 21 and over! Enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail from our cash bar as well! Be sure to make reservations at one of Dana Point Harbor's many romantic restaurants for after the cruise and you'll have an unforgettable evening! For reservations or more information you can call 949-496-5794. Also on Valentine’s Day at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa is a wonderful Valentine's Package! This Valentine's Day escape to an Oceanside luxury resort at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa. Spend the night in a deluxe guestroom and wake up the following morning to a warm, complimentary breakfast buffet for two at “Vue” restaurant. Later on, visit “OverVue” lounge for a mouthwatering Donut Holes Delight Dessert. A bottle of house champagne awaits your arrival when you book this scintillating package for two.

LAGUNA HILLS

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LADERA RANCH

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LAGUNA BEACH

February 11 &14, 2012 is the Annual Four Course Valentine's Winemaker's Dinner. Enjoy fine epicurean creations paired with artisan boutique wines while listening to live music. Their 2012 Valentine's Winemaker's Dinner is $125.00 per person plus 21% service charge plus tax. Members receive a 10% discount. For more information you can call 949.715.9463 (Wine).

LAGUNA NIGUEL

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LAKE FOREST

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MISSION VIEJO

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RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA

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SAN CLEMENTE

This Valentine’s Day from 5-7pm Casa Romantica invites guests to enjoy A Romantic Rendezvous on Valentine’s Day and will include live vocals and piano music by Elliot, delicious hors d’oeuvres, gourmet chocolates and champagne.
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

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Make your own cleaners.

Household chemicals, including some cleaners, contain volatile organic chemicals, which contribute to indoor air pollution and may cause disease.

A cost-effective way to make your home greener is to make your own household cleaners.

Many homemade cleaners use non-toxic ingredients and clean just as well as commercial cleaners.

*Making your own cleaner costs about 10% of the price a bottle of commercial cleaner, according to Karen Logan, author of "Clean House, Clean Planet." She says a bottle of her all-purpose cleaner costs 23 cents to make, versus a price tag of $2.69 for the off-the-shelf equivalent. If making your own cleaners isn't an option, look for cleaners carrying the Green Seal. Green Seal is a nonprofit organization that certifies products based on their environmental impact, biodegradability and other factors.

And that's your green tip of the day!

We are already into the New Year. Towards the end of 2011 I talked about updating your business & marketing plans for the New Year! However, did you also include a review of your website? Your website is a VERY important part of your business. After reading through the e-pro blog,  here are some quick tips for when you review your website!

Refresh the about page. Your About page is usually the second-most visited page of any site, which means it’s an important page that needs to put a friendly ‘face’ on the company. Rewrite it to include fresh company news — awards won, new products introduced, offices opened or new team members who’ve joined.

Check your links and content.Make sure all your links are active, nothing worse that orphaned links.  Read through your website. Is all your content still relevant? If not spruce it up and throw out the old photos and content.

Are Google Analytics installed and configured? Plan to review your web stats regularly. After monitoring these stats on a regular basis you will start to understand some powerful information that will help you change your website and make it better.

Google analytics now offers some new features including:

·         Visitor flow - what page they enter your site, where they go and where they exit, but visually

·         Mobile visitors - which mobile devices visit your site

·         Last – is your site mobile friendly? Visit http://www.howtogomo.com/en/#homepage and check out how your website looks on mobile devices and get some great ideas on how to make vital changes.

After reading from socialmediatoday.com here are the 5 most effective Social Media tactics that have given the best results for our clients in the real estate industry.

1. Property Search tool with a Facebook Page
This technique works great for Realtors. It allows your FB page visitors to search your available properties right from the Facebook page. Now that Facebook uses Iframes for all its pages it is easier to add more web functionality to a Facebook page. One of the most fundamental aspects of a Realtor's website is the property search tool so it makes sense to allow customers to use this tool without leaving Facebook.

2. Youtube T.V. Channel
Youtube Channels can be hugely powerful for the Real Estate industry if done professionally.  Most Realtors add video "Walk Around" or slide shows to show interiors of property. These videos are uploaded to Youtube. Using Youtube will improve online visibility and SEO for the company's website.

3. Youtube App for Facebook Page
Get a Youtube app for the Facebook page. Everything you upload to the Youtube Channel will automatically be fed to the Facebook Page making it easier for your Facebook page visitors to view more of your clients' properties. The App recommended by socialmediatoday.com is the Involver Youtube App. It's free for a start and it doesn't divert the viewer straight to Youtube to be bombarded by Realtors who have uploaded similar videos. It keeps the viewers on the current FB page allowing them to view more videos or engage in other ways on the page.

4. Geo Location Keyword Search
Perfect for realtors! Tools like Hootsuite have this fantastic feature. It allows you to keyword search for potentially prime customers who are looking for property in a particular area.

5. Use Linkedin to find Clients

LinkedIn has many purposes for the Real Estate Social Media Manager. If you would like to find landlords, property developers, home builders, etc. in order to rent or sell those properties on their behalf, then the LinkedIn property groups are a perfect place to start.

A London Lawyer in his flash new BMW is pulled over by a Scottish policeman.

He says, "Sir, I pulled you over because you didn't stop at the STOP sign. That'll be a 100 pound fine"

The lawyer looks at him "100 pound?!!!", then pretty agitated: "Look, I slowed down all right? What difference does it make, I slowed down surely that's enough."

The policeman raises a brow and looks at him: "Sir, it's a STOP sign, so that means you have to stop not just slow down." 

The lawyer rolls his eyes, thinks for a moment and then says arrogantly, "Okay, I'll tell you what, if you can show me how it makes a difference whether I slow down or stop, then I'll pay the fine."

The policeman says "all right then" pulls out his baton and starts to bash the lawyer.

The lawyer screams "what are you doing?"

The policeman says calmly "Do you want me to slow down or stop?"

When tackling home remodeling projects, you’ll find some projects pay off more than others at times of resale. Remodeling Magazine, in conjunction with REALTOR® Magazine, recently released findings of its annual Cost vs. Value report for 2011-2012, revealing which remodeling projects offer the biggest bang for your buck.

Overall, the trend right now is replacement over remodeling–swapping out the old for the new rather than doing a total gut job, which can be much more costly.

This year’s Cost vs. Value report found that exterior replacement projects–such as new garage doors and a new entry door–offer some of the best returns at resale, allowing home owners to recoup close to 70 percent or more of the costs of the project at times of resale.

The following are the top, mid-range projects from this year’s report, based on what home owners stand to recoup at time of resale:

1. Replacing the entry door to steel

Estimated cost: $1,238

Cost recouped at resale: 73%

2. Attic bedroom (converting unfinished attic space into a bedroom with bathroom and shower)

Estimated cost: $50,148

Cost recouped at resale: 72.5%

3. Minor kitchen remodel (including new cabinets and drawers, countertops, hardware, and appliances)

Estimated cost: $19,588

Cost recouped at resale: 72.1%

4. Garage door replacement

Estimated cost: $1,512

Cost recouped at resale: 71.9%

5. Deck addition (wood)

Estimated cost: $10,350

Cost recouped at resale: 70.1%

6. Siding replacement (vinyl)

Estimated cost: $11,729

Cost recouped at resale: 69.5%

1. Start with a guesstimate. Before your listing presentation, have a price range in mind. A quick chat or two with your colleagues and your own understanding of the neighborhood can help you come up with an informed guesstimate.

2. Firm up with comps. A search through recent comps as you work up your competitive market analysis will help firm up the price range.

3. Look for price trends. Bring to your presentation a summary of price trends in the neighborhood. Be prepared to share it - even leave it - with the sellers. That can help ground sellers who may be reaching for pie in the sky.

4. Case the community. As you drive up to the house and walk in, size up the neighborhood and the condition of the house. How does the home visually compare with the homes around it? How will that affect the price?

5. Take the economic pulse. Review your cities general economic forecast for the next several months. If economics makes your eyes glaze over, you need keep only one key factor in mind, say economists: local employment. Local employment - not national - is the key to housing turnover in communities and an indication of how long houses stay on the market in your area. Is employment high in your community? Or has a major company just laid off a significant number of workers?

6. Are there new houses? Check out the kind and quantity of new housing construction. That could change the balance of supply and demand and give you a clue as to how long your listing will stay on the market.

7. Consider the sellers urgency. Sellers anxious to get out of Dodge may be willing to come down or even start low. Ask the sellers why they’re selling; listen to their answers and watch their body language for hints on what your follow-up questions should be.

8. Ask for a built-in price reduction up front. Get an agreement from the seller up front that if the house hasn’t sold in X weeks or months, you may lower the asking price to a preset figure.

9. Know when to say no. An unrealistic selling price can strangle the transaction or get so time consuming you don’t have a moment to develop new business. The homework you’ve done in steps 1-8 above has prepared you to make this vital call. If the sellers refuse to set a listing price you consider realistic, be prepared to walk away from the listing.

The first set of earnings released in January focused upon the financial sector.  In all, the reports by larger national and regional banks were disappointing and showed that we are not out of the woods with regard to the legacy of bad loans piled up on the asset sheets of banks during the recession. While the economy recovers, debt loads of banks and nations will prove to be a drag on growth.  This is why analysts are looking at the good economic releases we have experienced in the past few months and are still remaining cautious.  For the consumer, this situation actually represents good news.  A recovery that does not get too strong too fast will continue to translate into record low interest rates for a longer period of time. If it were not for Europe or the banks right now, the sale on our nation's real estate would be over much more quickly.  On the other hand, looser credit standards will not come until banks dig out from their credit morass.  We are not likely to have looser credit standards and record low rates at the same time as the two just don't go hand-in-hand.

Home affordability is at 1971 levels, due to falling home prices and record low rates, pushing home ownership in reach to many more families, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Home owners are bringing in nearly double the median income they need to cover the cost of an average home, Housing Predictor reports. "With rates at historically low levels and markets across the country beginning to improve, home ownership is within reach of more households,” Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, said in a statement.  Home sales have been ticking up, according to recent reports by the National Association of Realtors® and the National Association of Home Builders, Source: Housing Predictor

The apartment vacancy rate is at its lowest level since late 2001 as the rental market continues to soar, according to the latest fourth-quarter data by Reis Inc.  As demand increases, the vacancy rate for apartments dropped in the fourth quarter to 5.2 percent compared to 6.6 percent a year prior. Meanwhile, as the rental market takes off, builders are rushing to play catch up in building new units to meet the demand.  In 2011, Zelman & Associates estimates that more than 173,000 units were started, and about 225,000 and 280,000 starts are expected in 2012 and 2013. Source: The Wall Street Journal

Borrowers who have a history of paying rent on time may see a boost to their credit score.  Experian, a leading credit report company, added a section to its credit reports last year that reflected on-time rent payments, which helped give a boost in the credit scores to some on-time rent payers.  Now the two other major credit reporting companies are following suit.  CoreLogic and FICO recently announced they are also adding a score that reflects payment histories from landlords, The New York Times reports.

No discussion of the prospects for our economy in 2012 would be complete without an examination of the housing sector. As daunting as the debt crisis in Europe is, there is no doubt that the real "x" factor is housing.  This topic is so complex that it is hard to sort out.  For example, we know that the housing sector will not rebound without employment strengthening.  But we also know that the housing sector is very important in creating employment. If that sounds like a catch-22, it is.  And it is one of the main reasons our recovery has been tepid up to now.  We also believe that it is no coincidence that the housing market seems to be improving now that the employment sector is also getting stronger.  Of course, we will know more about how strong the employment sector is in a few days because Friday we will see the release of January's employment report.

Regardless of the results of this report, we do know employment growth was stronger in 2011 -- especially towards the end of the year. In January first time unemployment claims fell to their lowest levels since April of 2008.  We also know that existing home sales and starts for single family homes also have increased in the last quarter of 2011.  Again, no coincidence.  The National Association of Home Builders has indicated that every single family home built creates three jobs.  To put it another way, just over 425,000 single family homes were built last year. That is over one million jobs.  Sound impressive? It is still a few million jobs less than the sector produced during the real estate boom years.  An increase of 100,000 houses this year would create 300,000 additional jobs and that does not include the apartment sector which is starting to boom and the commercial sector which has yet to awaken from its slumber.  Conceivably, we could see close to 500,000 additional jobs created this year with modest growth in building.  Even more importantly, those jobs create even more demand for housing.  Will this happen?

A recent headline of the San Francisco Chronicle was about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spiderweb of crab traps and line weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, tail, torso and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them.

Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.