PORTOLA HILLS LIVING by Kelly Turbeville

Who likes to really do laundry?  Do you think if your laundry room was beautifully designed,  organized  you would like the chore more?   I don't know about you but one of my least favorite things to do is laundry and my laundry room shows that I don't have much love this chore.     However, recently  while I was previewing homes with a buyer, a wife commented she loved this one house, but wouldn't buy it cause the laundry room was awful.   It didn't have anything to do with size, the style of washer and dryer it was all about the aesthetics. The next house we looked at was just the opposite, the house wasn't great but the Laundry Room was beautiful. Guess which house the buyer wanted to put an offer in on.. you got it #2.   Why was the room so important... she felt it was a task she didn't really like, but she said she felt much more calm and about it when the room was beautiful. When I work with sellers, I will be honest as I preview the home to mak

I don't know if you are as shocked as I am that we have officially closed the 1st Quarter of 2016.   We are just about mid-month into April and many have taxes on their mind.  Is a move this next year beneficial for tax savings? The first quarter of the year typically is a bit quieter up until tax time. Then we tend to see the spring surge in inventory come on the market.  Will that be the case for the rest of spring... The market certainly needs more inventory so I hope so Homeowners who chose to sell their Portola Hills home in this last quarter saw significant price gains.   Below is a look at the entire area along with the gains split out for attached and detached homes. Portola Hills 2016 Real Estate Sales Jan-March Portola Hills 2015 Real Estate Sales Jan-March Comparing 2016 vs 2015 the number of sales was down slightly with 23 sold in 2015 and 21 sold in 2016.   The median sales price in Portola Hills is up about 15% from 2015.  The lowest price

Spring in Portola Hills is probably one of my favorite times of year.  The weather is just perfect.  Cooler mornings and evenings, keep the green on the hills.  As well the sunsets this time of year are just beautiful. Of course one of the other aspects I like about spring is the real estate market starts to heat up after a couple of quiet months.   However, in Portola Hills march was still pretty quiet, but so was the rest of South Orange County.  Inventory overall is very low throughout the county. Below is a snapshot of the Portola Hills Market: As you will note there was a significant up tick in the median sales price.  It is always important to note the mix of homes sold during this time last year was a balanced mix of both condo's and single family residence. This March the mix was all single family residences.   The lack of condo sales is a true indication of the low inventory.  In Portola Hills the average condominium sells between $375,000 to $500,000.