County of Castles: Orange County Real Estate Blog

Laguna Niguel will be having its 2007 Holiday Parade this Saturday, December 8th (rain or shine).  The parade takes place at 10:00am along Crown Valley Parkway.  Celebrity guests include Tommy Lasorda (others can be seen on the official website for the parade)What a great chance to get out with y...

This is a recipe I just sort of threw together last night.  I still have a lot of leftover meat from a turkey I cooked on Friday, and I'm at that use-or-freeze point, so it made sense to make some soup.  Technically, you could do this exact same soup using chicken meat and it's a basic chicken no...

Original article hereCould it be that we're finally seeing some action out of Washington, or is this just more talk?  Only time will tell, but the idea proposed here would be very helpful.  By freezing interest rates on those loans, people living in those homes not only could avoid running into t...

In tough markets like this one, this more than a school fight song, it's a good personal motto.  We're in a "feast or famine" business, as my real estate veteran parents are so fond of reminding me.  We all know that prices like we're seeing now will not last forever, and eventually the buyers ar...

Every year I have a somewhat infamous Christmas party for all my friends.  One reason I do this, oddly enough, is to save money - rather than try to buy junky little gifts for everyone I know, I throw one big party and send them off with party favors instead.  Now, the flavor of this party (and t...

After hearing repeatedly how great oven-cooked bacon was (yes, I watch a lot of cooking shows), I finally decided to give it a try last night.  ... It really IS better!Place a cooling rack inside a cookie sheet (the kind with sides, obviously, to catch the grease), and lay your bacon across the r...

It's raining... it's pouring... the inventory's soaring...Okay, not really.  Actually, according to my company's latest Market Time Report, the inventory is dropping as frustrated sellers remove their homes from the market.  Demand (the number of homes placed into escrow within the prior month) h...

I can't believe it's already time to check on interest rates!  But, interesting thing... mortgage interest rates are dropping!  Here are today's national averages according to MSN Money:Today's National Averages Mortgages        APR 30-yr. fixed      6.04%   <-----Wow!15-yr. fixed      5.63% 1-yr...

You know, this real estate market is kind of like the recipe I tried to make last night.Too much supply (too much batter) and too little demand to match it (too small a Crock Pot).  Guess what happens when you make a dish designed for a normal (4-quart or more) pot in a 1.5-quart pot?  Even thoug...

Watch the skies Saturday night/Sunday morning... it's time for the Leonids meteor shower!They're saying that after midnight is best because of the angle of attack (before midnight the only ones you see are the ones that can overtake the Earth's orbit), but that the actual peak of activity will be...