PORTOLA HILLS LIVING by Kelly Turbeville

Have you seen those commercials, your home doesn't need anything just my sign in front to get it sold?  What those commercials doesn't tell you, is your home will sell for less in most cases.  Yes, with the current Buyer demand your home is in demand, but that does not mean it is in front of the right buyers nor does it mean it will sell for top dollar.  Plenty of homes sell below market even in this market. 😳 If you ever bought a home, you know walking into a beautiful home makes all the difference.  That is why new homes sell so well. Home buyers often don't realize the cost of those addition and staging would add over $100,000 in upgrades to your purchase. So the question comes up, do we have to stage.  Truthfully, the answers depends on your home!    One thing is for sure, staged homes sell for more $$.   We love helping our clients prepare their home for sale.  Some chose to stage others we assist the sellers on the best preparations for the home to present well.  We

Congratulations to another KW client who just moved into the Portola Hills neighborhood of Serenado.  The Serenado community is a fairly small community of 166 homes and part of the Portola Hills II homeowners association. There are 3 floor plans: Rhapsody: 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1561 sq.ft. 2 car garage Concerto:  3 bedroom, 3 bath, 1771 sq.ft. 2 car garage Symphony: 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1891 sq. ft. 2 car garage I wrote a blog back in 2015 with more details of this tract and since then homes have just about doubled in value.  Here is a look at the overall values today!  Right now, offers Portola Hills homes sellers in the Serenado tract and excellent opportunity to take advantage of their equity growth.  Whether you are thinking about selling and moving up or downsizing into your next home,  utilizing some of your equity to upgrade the home or leveraging it into an investment property, we are here. We will review with you if you can benefit from Prop 19, which allows you to take your t

What would you say if I told you pricing right now is right on track! You would probably say, pricing is crazy!  I recently attended Keller Williams Economic Recap and Forecast and a couple of details really hit me.  Because I too, even being in the business, was thinking this pricing is crazy! Then I saw this graph.  Home Prices This above graph shows the average home prices over the last 20 years has averaged about 4%. That is below the historical average of 6-8% before the downturn in 2008-2011.  Portola Hills saw appreciation of over 20% last year, so while that is great, it really was just the market making up for downturn.  Four percent appreciation is a very healthy real estate market.  Annual Home Appreciation The biggest hurdle to the market right now is inventory of homes.  There simply has not been enough building to keep up with demand since the downturn.  How we catch up is going to be a challenge certainly for the near future.  Below is a look at the inventory of homes an

 So have you heard the 22 real estate market is starting off with a bang!  Overall in Orange County we have the lowest inventory on record.  Currently there are about 1200 homes available for extremely high demand throughout the OC.  In Portola Hills, we have about a half a month of inventory available.  So what does this mean... In order for us to have a more balanced market for buyers and sellers, we would need to have about 6000 homes available.  For the market to turn to a buyers market we would need about 8000 homes.  As you can see with the current inventory of under 1200, listings are needed, which is an amazing opportunity for sellers.  Especially if you are looking to make a move up, because right now interest rates are still low and we know they are projected to increase throughout the year. RIGHT NOW, provides the opportunity to sell high and save $$ on your purchase! Below is a look at how the Portola Hills real estate market performed!  Enter our Valentine's Giveaway C

If I had to describe in one word how the Portola Hills real estate market performed in 2021...it would be Crazy.. AF (well technically that is 3 words abbreviated).  Below is a video recap of the details. Take a listen and for more details, you'll find the complete report below.  What is the value of my Portola Hills Home? In 2021 there were 185 sold properties in Portola Hills, pretty much split between Single Family Homes and Attached homes.  Fun fact, in 2020 93 single family homes sold and in 2021 the exact same number sold.  Interesting the value of homes both Attached and Single Family homes, grew 15% from 2020. It is important to note that this is overall, your home may have had more or less, depending on the community, conditions and recent sales specific to your home.  If you would like a report for your home specifically, please do not hesitate to request a Home Value Report here . Search Portola Hills Homes If you are considering a move in 2022, please do not hesitate to

  We took a look at the current real estate market and we only have 1 wish for Santa this Christmas... More Listings please!!  Overall, in the OC inventory is at record lows.  We are entering unprecedented levels when it comes to the number of homes on the market and available to buyers.    So we anticipate the market to remain strong in 2022, but there are a couple of factors that you should be aware of... but first let's look at how the Portola Hills real estate market performed last month.  As you can see in the above report the Portola Hills real estate market is extremely strong.  Currently there are only 6 Active Listings and 27 properties under contract.  That means we have less than half a month of inventory for prospective buyers.  With the majority of those homes, being new homes in IronRidge and Portola Oaks. The 3 hottest neighborhoods that sold in November were: Montecido at an average price of $590,000 Serenado at an average price of $885,667 IronRidge at an average p

Are you wondering if you missed the height of the real estate market?  Are you hearing homes are not selling as fast and the number of offers has died down.  This is partially true, but it is not because the market is shifting to buyers market...  It is a seasonal shift.  Did you know July and August, typically are the slowest months of real estate in the OC.  Why, simply summer distractions!   For our monthly Portola Hills market recap, this month we looked at how the market performed the last 3 months, from July - September.  Take a peek at the numbers below:   As you can see in the above report, homeowners who decided to sell in the last 3 months received on average 103% to their list price.  Low Inventory and Interest Rates remaining below 3% is keeping the buyer demand high.  Homes priced right are still selling quickly for over asking price.  For our clients this year we are averaging about 112% of list price.   I would caution sellers to simply list their home over the last home