This is a lemon tree grown in one of our neighbor’s backyard. Every day I drive by, I try to count as many as I can and I imagine what if this was in my backyard.
Then I think, what if I find the front door of this house and ask them if I could help in picking some lemons. Or what if and what if and so many other what ifs… that reveal my desire to get to those organic, juicy, and sour lemons.
But, it seems for now, I just get to enjoy the view. This reminds me of MasterCard’s ad: there are some things money can’t buy but for everything else there is MasterCard.
The world as is!
We didn’t decide to stay home, but we can decide on how to spend our time while staying at home (hopefully not catching the virus and not passing it). What is upon us, is a unique situation which doesn’t happen that often and many of us has only read about precedent incidents in history books.
Time to time the world get tired of standing tall and strong and need some down time. And it takes all of us with itself in this journey and very unfortunate that some of us don’t bear the journey.
This is a painful knock on our conscious, may we get a better understanding that how deeply we are all connected, how strongly we are fragile, and how carelessly we are in denial. There is an invisible chain wrapped around our ankles connecting us to things beyond our surrounding people. As free as we feel we are, our actions/reactions/words carry a huge load of responsibilities.
A tiny tiny virus could cause a pause in our lives all together and more serious side effects if we don’t act together, if we don’t understand how influential is our role in a society that we are sharing with people in all range of health and age.
This tiny tiny virus is the image of pure truth, no bluffing, no pretending, no denial, no hiding is able to shield its reality.
Let’s stay home as part of our social duties, everything can wait for a safer time for all of us.
And special thanks to the same social media that once was blamed for disconnecting us from our surrounding world which now has come to our rescue in this social distancing time to let us stay connected virtually.
Housing In 2018 With The New Tax Bill
The new version of tax reform bill was released on Friday, Dec 15th. In this 500 page bill, there are some changes that will have negative impacts on homeownership if it’s voted through by both Houses of Congress next week.
Limiting the mortgage interest deduction (MID) from – the current – $1 million to $750,000 on mortgages for the first or second home, will affect homeowners in high-tax states like California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois. Chief Economist, Nela Richardson, the lead of housing market research team on data reports at Redfin, published an article a few days ago and made some predictions for housing in 2018. According to her, if state and local tax (SALT) deductions are eliminated, people living in aforementioned states will consider moving to other states where they can get more for less money.
The 10 Best Places to Live in America
This might be a title that you have seen before but what makes this study differs from others is the factors used to make the list. In this study, Realtor.com® teamed up with Money magazine on their annual “Best Places to Live” list. They blend their data and insights into local housing markets to examine great places to raise a family with all aspects involved in it.
The analysis focused on smaller cities and towns, where population is between 10,000 and 100,000. Data points used to make the list, included realtor.com data on housing market costs and growth, economic health, cost of living, and public education. To read more in detail about this study and factors used and omitted click here.
Here is the list:
- Fishers, IN
- Allen, TX
- Monterey Park, CA
- Franklin, TN
- Olive Branch, MS
- Dickinson, ND
- Lone Tree, CO
- North Arlington, NJ
- Schaumburg, IL
- Bozeman, MT
Share your insights if you live in any of this cities.
First Post Of The Year!
How Fed Rate Hikes Will Affect Sales Of U.S. Homes To International Buyers
In a recent article by Forbes Magazine, Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of National Association of REALTORS states that The Federal Reserve’s steady round of rate hikes over the next two years will hold back foreign home buyers from Western Europe and Canada. He explains that the reason would be related to a stronger US dollar comparing to aforementioned regions. He added that one major exception to this trend is likely to be China.
According to him, the Fed raised its interest rate in December and is expected to do so throughout 2016 and 2017 due to the following factors: Continue reading First Post Of The Year!
Top 10 Cities With the Best and Worst Air Quality
When it come to the quality of air, every body wants their city to rank number one in the list. Yuqing Pan at Realtor.com, with the aid of 2015 EPA data, came up with a list of the nation’s top 10 cities with the best and worst air quality based on the percentage of days with good air quality. This is the list of ten cleanest cities and their median prices:
Continue reading Top 10 Cities With the Best and Worst Air Quality
Hottest U.S. Markets in September 2015
By the end of September, Realtor.com published the 20 hottest market for housing and California with 11 regions on the list dominates the market. The following map focuses on these 11 regions. Here is the list:
Market Trend for Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo in South Orange County
This is market trend for past 3 years in Laguna niguel and Aliso Viejo.
To see an interactive image click here
C.A.R. released its 2016 housing market forecast
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ (C.A.R.), released the 2016 California housing market forecast on Oct 8th. According to their forecast;
- California’s housing market will continue to improve into 2016, but a shortage of homes on the market and a crimp in housing affordability also will persist.
- Existing home sales will increase 6.3 percent next year to reach 433,000 units, up from the projected 2015 sales figure of 407,500 homes sold.
- In regions where inventory is tight, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, sales growth could be limited by stiff market competition and diminishing housing affordability.
Continue reading C.A.R. released its 2016 housing market forecast
Annual Market Comparison in Laguna Niguel and Irvine
Following charts demonstrate annual changes in housing market for Laguna Niguel and Irvine for detached and attached properties.
