As expected, inventory in Orange County still remains low.  There are slight fluctuations, but overall, its staying somewhat steady.  San Clemente, however, has gone down a tad.  In our blog posted a few weeks ago it was mentioned there are 235 active listings in the whole city.  Today, there are 204.

These are all the current active listing per city;

San Clemente- 204

San Juan Capistrano- 106

Dana Point- 197

Laguna Niguel- 207

Aliso Viejo- 103

Huntington Beach- 386

We’ll be posting the inventories each month of these cities to keep an eye on how things change.

So what do all these numbers mean?  Well, since the inventories are low– as a seller it means you have a little more power in your hands since the buyers are limited with options.  Low supply means higher demand.  Simple economics.

However, as a buyer this means it will generally take a little more time to actually purchase a home.  As mentioned in other posts, the low supply keeps high demand where we see houses getting multiple offers and buyers.  I generally see that with some buyers we’ll have to put in 4-6 offers until something is finally accepted.  Don’t be alarmed if you don’t get accepted on the very first offer you submit.  Granted, your price range will largely dictate the time frame in purchasing a home.  For example, buyers that are looking to purchase in the low $200-400k range will typically see over 85% of listings being short sales (or pre-foreclosures).  Anytime a bank is involved, expect to wait! Clients in this price range will see that it can take several months until an offer is finally accepted and we open escrow.

On the other hand, we have clients looking in the $1 million range and up will typically see only 15% or less of the inventory as bank owned or short sales.  In other words, the more expensive homes are able to work with regular sellers and no banks at all– this saves time in the sense you receive an answer to an offer within 3 days.  With a bank, they can take a couple of months to respond to an offer.

The bottom line is that the inventory affects everyone.  It changes the game for both buyers and sellers.

Feel free to contact me at anytime with real estate questions.  I would be delighted to help with any further questions of inventories, current conditions, etc.  I’m here to help!