My New Blog

I decided it was time to blog again after I finally saw some published local data that confirmed what I have been seeing over the last 6 months. The blather coming out of different channels informing the public that values were on the mend, job numbers are looking rosy and spending was on the rise was, as it turns out, just blather. I have my own opinions about the job market and consumer spending, but I will stick to what I know, and that is real estate values.

Dataquick reported that the median home value in Orange County has dropped below $400,000 (it was $399,000) for the 1st time since April of 2009, ouch. I've appraised approximately 40-50 homes in the past few months and I concur that values have slid in most OC zipcodes over the past 6 months. The outook in my opinion is more of the same. At the height of the market in 2006 it used to take 2.5 median incomes to afford the median OC home. I wonder what the figure is now, considering home values have dropped, but so has the number of jobs........