Larry Weichman's Real Estate Blog

If you are over the age of 12, you’ve probably developed a healthy skepticism about New Year’s resolutions. Or at least the life expectancy any one of them can anticipate. But whether or not the good intentions they signify live past Groundhog’s Day, they do, at the very least, serve one noble pu...

 It’s a tempting scenario: after succeeding in gathering a substantial trove of cash, you find your Costa Mesa dream house—and sit down to write out a check for the entire agreed-upon sum, buying it outright! The future looks like ultra-smooth sailing, financially speaking. No mortgage payment. N...

 The wry observation that “the three most important things in real estate are location, location, and location” has been around for the better part of a century. The wisdom of that wisecrack is still undeniable—including for when it comes to buying Costa Mesa homes. It is, after all, why a house ...

 Our Costa Mesa listings contain one figure that’s quite useful for apples-to-apples comparisons of the properties being offered. This one is quietly tucked away beneath the more prominent pieces of information. It doesn’t usually draw much attention, although it probably deserves more. And last ...

First-time homebuyers might not be aware of something veteran homeowners assume automatically: those advertised mortgage interest rates are not necessarily the rate that will be offered. To Costa Mesa consumers who usually assume that they are protected from false promises in ads, that can be pre...

Last week ended with such horrendous news in California that it was a blessed relief how in at least one narrow slice of the news—one of interest to Costa Mesa house hunters, among others—there was blessedly very little worrisome to report. Against the grim reality of how November 2018 was beginn...

  Downsizing has gotten a lot of attention as Baby Boomers—many of whom have become empty-nesters—discover that they don’t need the space, expense, and elbow grease required to keep up the family property. But there is a counter-trend that could well explain the popularity (and desirability) of m...

For a while now, one of the themes we’ve been hearing on the news has been less than encouraging—particularly if you’re one of the Costa Mesa homeowners thinking about listing your home. It’s the item that’s reported as “home sales.” When you’re about to put your home on the market, you’d like th...

   Costa Mesa home buyers and the home sellers will have at least one thing in common—it has to do with that famous saying about misery loving company. Misery in all its forms is never welcome because miserable anything doesn’t lead to a lively real estate market. A miserable economy doesn’t help...

From the home sales analysts at Pulsenomics comes the latest findings on how home sellers are likely to fare if they decide to list their properties this autumn. Our Costa Mesa market is only one data point in national surveys like this one—but Pulsenomics has a history of accurately zeroing in o...