Alright - at this point I think you're all familiar with the "Location, Location, Etc." mantra in real estate. I thought I'd pay a little homage to the macro location of Coto de Caza as Spring sweeps across the hills. Here are a few photos from the last couple of my hikes into the hills over the past few weeks:
I don't get as much time as I'd like to write anymore... I've been super busy lately, working on more things than can be listed, but I have been able to keep snapping pictures of the amazing transformation of the hills after the fires last November. When the hills turn green and get covered in flowers, I go nuts... I imagine this is what Orange County must have looked like before anyone trod here; before the cattle came and before the houses marched in. Don't get me wrong - I sell homes for a living, but I grew up in Hawaii, and spent my first ten years of life tromping through forests and glades, so wide-open space covered in trees and breeze-swept grasses really tugs at me.
Here are a couple of pix I've snapped recently as I drove along the 241 from Coto to Irvine; enjoy!
For the longest time, I've needed at-a-glance market stats about the areas I serve... just a few generalities I can use to share with my clients... last month, my wish was granted when I contracted with a company to provide me with daily reports that span the past year for each of the cities I represent. The reports/charts detail four market factors - "Median Price", "Days on Market", "Number of Listings" & "Price Per Square Foot" - all of which are excellent determinants of market conditions.
For home sellers, the data can give them insight into market conditions in their areas right now. Of course, every home needs to be evaluated individually, but there is some benefit in seeing what an area's price-per-square-foot is in helping a home seller determine their home's value.
For home buyers, the data gives them the ability to measure the homes they are looking at against what the trends suggest in a broad sense... if a 2,000 square foot home in Irvine is priced at $750,000 and today's price-per-square-foot in Irvine is $425, that would suggest that the $725,000 home is $100,000 under what the general conditions for the city are {[($425 x 2,000 = $825,000) - $725,000] = $100,000}. Now, it is never this easy, nor will it ever be, to determine a home's real value, but it does give some sense of a base value for an area and can be used as a general guide when shopping.
At this point, I'm publishing data at the city level, but am driving at getting data at the zip-code level for greater refinement. Here's what I've got so far:
Real Estate Market Data for Aliso Viejo, California
Real Estate Market Data for Corona del Mar, California
Real Estate Market Data for Costa Mesa, California
Real Estate Market Data for Irvine, California
Real Estate Market Data for Ladera Ranch, California
Real Estate Market Data for Laguna Beach, California
Real Estate Market Data for Laguna Hills, California
Real Estate Market Data for Laguna Niguel, California
Real Estate Market Data for Mission Viejo, California
Real Estate Market Data for Newport Beach, California
Real Estate Market Data for Newport Coast, California
Real Estate Market Data for Orange, California
Real Estate Market Data for Rancho Santa Margarita, California
Real Estate Market Data for San Clemente, California
Real Estate Market Data for San Juan Capistrano, California
Real Estate Market Data for Tustin, California
Example Median Price Chart for Irvine, CA
Market Update Example for Irvine
(You'll need the Flash player to see this)
If you can't see that FlashPaper version of the "Market Report", here is an Adobe Acrobat version of the same report - Example Irvine Market Report
At this point, I'm not publishing the Market Reports on my site; they are too big...However, I am sending them to my client base, so if you want to receive one or two reports, just email me and I'll set you up to automatically get them in your inbox!
This is the second half of the photo series documenting the aftermath of the fires that swept through South Orange County last week.
It's been about a week since the fires burned through the hills behind Irvine, Foothill Ranch and through the Canyons... I grabbed my camera between some appointments the other day and took these photos of what is largely now an aftermath of burned-out canyons, torched trees and scathed homes.
I haven't been back into the Canyon areas, but I imagine it's far worse there; my heart goes out to the people who lost homes there.
The fires have largely died down but there are a few still raging along the front of Saddleback Mountain. I managed to take a few photos a few days ago early in the morning. Here they are:
I was coming home from a dinner in Koreatown in Westminster last Friday night; we were out with our neighbors and had some great food... another story for another time... on the way home we could see what was obviously a terrible fire raging on one of the hillsides out ahead of us... we were just getting on the 22 freeway, heading back to the 5, so it wasn't evident yet where the fires were burning.
As we came into Irvine, heading south on the 5, it was clear that the fires were a lot closer than either of us had thought... they were raging along the hillsides that abut Portola Parkway... just as quickly as we were able to make out where the fires were, we were plunged into a stinking cloud of ash and smoke billowing across the freeway. We broke out of the smoke near Sand Canyon Road and we could make out the fires clearly, so we pulled off to get a little closer.
Apparently, we weren't the only ones thinking about getting a closer view, as the cars started lining up on the side of the road to watch the fires blaze. I don't think anyone knew then that the fires would get as out of control as they ended up getting. They are still burning on Saddleback at this very moment, almost ten days later, despite the change in the weather for the better over the past few days.
I didn't have my camera with me that night in Irvine, but I started carrying it later in the week, documenting what I could when I could. Here are a few photos from the past week.
I was driving out near the old El Toro Marine Base in Irvine this afternoon. The deconstruction/destruction of the old structures is well under way and has been for some time... I remember when the Marine Base closed down in 1999; the buildings have stood yawning and empty since, bees and creatures taking up residence behind the barbed-wire fences that ring the property.
I had an hour before meeting a client today and had to stop and document where the land is at right now, for better or worse. Either way, it is where it is, the rubble of 40's- & 50's-era barracks, hangars & buildings underfoot as progress marches forward.
Playground, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Up-Ended Footers, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Playground, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Canary Island Palms & Tangled Foundation, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Cracked Ceramic Electrical Insulator, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Fallen Metal Halide Street Light, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Northwest view of Hangars, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Barracks, Eucalyptus, & Blocked Street, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Service Bay, Warehouse, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
"End" & "Road Closed", El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Ranger Manual, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Dirt Piles Echoing Saddleback, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Chain-Link Fence, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Barracks & Dead Eucalyptus, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Sunlit Sandy Canyon, Near El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Dead End, Near El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Dry Palms & Blank Sign, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
Canary Island Palms & Light, El Toro Marine Base, Irvine, California, October 2007
At first I didn't know what to think of the giant orange balloon that kept rising and falling out over the growing mass of detritus that piles higher every day as the Great Park Demo Teams munch and crunch their way through the old military structures that dot the El Toro Marine base... I kept wondering how to frame the image in my mind... was this some terrible and wacky first-step towards carnival-like attractions that were headed our way? Was it some terrible PR campaign gone awry? A giant orange floating above piles of rubble? Where was the sanitization committee? The Irvine Company I know would never let a project go down like this... This was like getting a tour of the Emerald City and seeing Oz in his undershirt midway through a shave... But, I knew this wasn't a mistake... there is far too much riding on the Great Park to make mistakes...
No, I thought, the balloon has got to be something else... a continuous event to get people engaged in the place, in the hope of a place... I know, I know... you're thinking "hope of a place" is the corniest thing you've heard in recent weeks, but hope is what I'm holding out for the Park... something grand, something sublime smack dab in the middle of the fabrication of suburbia... something formed with natural edges... a bit shaggy at the hem, if you will...
Anyway, I had a free moment the other day when I was out driving with my daughter... the day was perfect... huge billowy clouds traveling across a midday sky... a cool breeze coming up Laguna Canyon... you know - the perfect OC day... the kind that makes you slip into a waking daydream... I flipped a u-turn and headed back to the entrance off of Sand Canyon... After passing through the unmarked entrance, I followed the signs guiding me to the balloon... not that you need much help - there's an enormous orange globe hovering only slightly in the distance... you'll get there...
As I drove in, I remembered biking out to the Base when I was a kid... taking Irvine Center Drive out to Sand Canyon and hanging a left... stopping at Knowlwoods for a lemonade, my money stuffed into a sock... there was nothing out there then... just farms, fields and a lonely road heading towards the base...
As we pulled in my daughter was getting more and more stoked - "We're gonna ride in that big balloon, Daddy?! Yes!!" She's an adventurer...
We parked, hopped out and made our way across the lot... There was a beautiful little hangar that was behind a fence... the patina on the roof spoke volumes about the place... baked under the sun, once home to servicemen and women who would've laughed out loud if you'd told them there would be a giant hot air balloon in their parking spaces.
We followed the fencing to the temporary structure that serves as the check-in for the ride... i picked up the pace as I noticed that we weren't the only ones who thought this was a dreamy day to ride the balloon. The staff were handing out free tickets with numbers on them "You're about an hour away from riding, is that going to be ok?" one attendant asked me... I knew right then that we couldn't swing it... my daughter is too young and the wait would kill ME, not her... "Oh, really? Bummers! We'll just kick around a bit and check the place out; thanks anyway!"
We walked around the room for a bit and took it in... there is a sense of exuberance here... I loved the idea of the balloon rising up over the beginnings of the Park... the riders were smiling and taking pictures, just simply enjoying the day... this was a brilliant stroke, I thought... get people to see the underbelly of the project... get them to experience it and be able to recall it years from now and see themselves in the creation process... I loved it... kudos to the whoever came up with the balloon idea and kudos to the people who pitched it and pulled it off...
While we didn't get to ride the balloon that day, it was enough for me to get out there, remember what the place was like twenty years ago, see what it has become today and to be able to picture what's coming... I think it's going to be an amazing place...
The LA Times wrote a good article about the recycling efforts being done on the former base here. Check it out.
This is the Orange County Great Park's official website: http://www.ocgp.org/
There is a growing "Great Park Conservancy" that you can support and join to help shape the future of the Park; their site is here: http://www.orangecountygreatpark.org
I'm constantly looking for new vistas to shoot for my real estate website - www.ocexclusives.com . I carry my camera with me everywhere, and when I can remember it, my tripod.
The challenge for me is to capture an area's soul without being too literal. I'm not exactly interested in the stucco work in Rancho Santa Margarita or Irvine's latest development... those can all be great things, but they have a tendency to fade with time... I think people are looking for more than just architecture in a neighborhood... I think they're looking for "place"... I'm more interested in the way the trees bend to the light and the way Saddleback rises in the distance to frame the area. Every city I visit has these unique qualities... it just takes slowing down and sometimes squinting into the light to blur out the details so you can see the big picture...
Here are a couple photos I took yesterday for the site:
San Juan Capistrano real estate
Rancho Santa Margarita real estate
Coto de Caza real estate
Ladera Ranch real estate
Robinson Ranch real estate