“St.” Pat’s Pub

To find out if the assessor reduced your taxable value this year in Orange County, go to the following link and enter your

assessor parcel number or your address and you’ll get your answer, and the reason….

http://www.oc.ca.gov/assessor/taxpayer_eca_search.asp

If it’s not reduced and you think it should be lower than assessed, it’s not too late to appeal..

Call me if you have any questions….

Pat McGinnis  714-814-1490

I know many of you are attending your various City’s concerts in the park but I wanted to take a minute to talk about the Yorba Linda’s concerts in the park…

The city and city workers have done a fantastic job to put on these concerts on each Sunday afternoon during the Summer..

Hurless Barten Park is always clean and neat, and the park attendants are constantly on alert for additional trash to clean up..

I’m sure the attendance exceeds 1000 people with children and pets running around enjoying the true “Sunday in the Park” American Lifestyle…

It was dissappointing to see that the City had to cut back the number of concerts this year to only four…  I guess the concerned citizens of Yorba Linda don’t see a need for recreation and cultural events in the community…

What do you think??

By the way the next two Sunday concerts are: July 26th “The Swing Cats Band” and August 2nd “The Answer”(Classsic Rock)

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District’s Web Site- http://www.pylusd.k12.ca.us - has a new feature that helps parents locate schools for their neighborhood attendance…  By clicking on the “Find Your School” button, users can enter their own address and find the elementary, middle, and high schools for their attendance area…  This is a great service for families who are moving into the district, relocating within the district, or enrolling children in kindergarten..  For more information: call (714) 996-2550

FREE for fire victims…..

I have a good condition, california king bed, box springs, frame, black laquer oval headboard and matching nightstand.

along with a white down feather comforter,,,

I also have miscellaneous used kitchen appliances.

Items are in storage in Yorba Linda..

Call me at 714-814-1490 or email me at pat@patmcginnis.com

I have been told by Jonna Barragan that Dr. Barragan’s Dental office at 18276 Imperial Hwy, Yorba Linda is a Red Cross drop off point for gift certificates, checks, money orders, and certificates, etc.  for the Fire Victims.

Make your checks and/or money orders out to American Red Cross..

If you would like to donate services etc. go to Dr. Barragan’s office and they will direct you to the proper authorities..

They also have a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo available to rent while property is for sale, and a large bonus room with separate entrance, private bath, laundry room, pool/spa and BBQ.

Jonna and Dr. Barragan’s office telephone number is 714-993-7910

If you have rental housing, food, clothes, or anything else that might be helpful for our local fire victims, please respond to this blog and we will publish…

Thank you,

Pat McGinnis

Associate Broker

First Team Real Estate

Whenever you want to know the details of what’s going on in your local neighborhood, feel free to register for my personal market “SnapShot” service..

All you have to do is fill out a simple request form that goes directly to me only… and within hours you’ll receive a “SnapShot” of your neighborhood’s real estate market..  The “SnapShot” will contain all the information on properties For Sale, and Sold within the last 6 months… It will also give you the photos, prices, sizes, graphs, and marketing info..

Go to the following link and try it out:  http://www.homeinsight.com/Widget/default.asp?RBBU6MJTJ38M

Currently, seniors age 65 and above own more than $2 trillion in home equity. Yet less than 1% of this total has been engaged by a reverse mortgage. That’s untapped money that seniors on limited budgets could use to meet daily expenses, pay off bills, travel, remodel, fund a new property purchase or a grandchild’s college education, or use in dozens of other discretionary ways.*

In 2007, seniors took out 107,000 reverse mortgages compared to just 7,000 in 2000, according to AARP. Applicants must be 62 or older.

A reverse mortgage may be a good choice for some of your clients or family members. Let them know that:

• A reverse mortgage converts home equity into cash that can be distributed as a lump sum, line of credit, life payments or any combination of payments.
   
• If they continue to live in their home, they will never have to repay their reverse mortgage. In fact, they will retain title to their home and cannot be forced to leave as long as they pay their property taxes and insurance and maintain their home in reasonable condition.
   
• Their loan amount will depend on the applicant’s age, available home equity, house condition and current interest rates.
   
• As part of the application process, they must speak with an independent HUD-approved counselor. Although their mortgage proceeds are tax-free, they should consult a financial advisor before proceeding to ensure that a reverse mortgage will not affect medical or other public assistance benefits.

For those of you that are still waiting for the real estate business to hit “the bottom”, have you noticed the interest rates went up 1/2% in the last two weeks???… or Have you noticed the activity of buyers looking at open houses on the weekends has increased 300%????   Sales activity has also increased, but you won’t hear the industry pundits talking about an increase in activity until at least 60 days after it’s actually happened, and even then you’ll have to look for the small print articles deep inside the papers…

Does this mean that prices have bottomed out???  Maybe, Maybe not, but I’d like to remind you when the interest rate goes up 1%, you lose 10% buying power….  That would mean the homes you were considering two weeks ago just went up 5% for you, because you just lost 5% of your buying power… 

Wise buyers are buying while the selection is great, the prices are down, and the interest rates are low… That’s what is offered in today’s market….  What else are you waiting for???

It’s unbelievable how many people have been telling me they’re looking for work, or their personal business volume is way down from what it was just a few years ago…. 

I didn’t think the real estate industry had such an impact on so many areas of our employment base, but when you stop and think about it, it’s definitely true…  I know many Realtors that have given up and gone out on the street looking for any kind of work…. those in the construction trades are looking for work….  the furniture stores are closing… the accessory shops are hurting.. the mortgage brokers… contractors.. draftsman…. carpenters.. plumbers.. electricians.. title company representatives.. escrow officers.. and the list goes on and on…

For those of you that might be looking for a way to work part time and make $500 to $1000+ a month, while you’re between jobs, you might want to consider this site:  www.patmcginnis.buildlastingsuccess.com