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The Dangers of Overpricing Your Orange County Home

Whether you’re in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar, or elsewhere, the dangers of overpricing your home are the same: It just won’t sell. Simple enough, no? Well, if you’re still curious, then read on to explore the reasons that pricing your home too high for the coastal Orange County market is perhaps the worst thing you can do when trying to sell.

Say you love the old tile smattered over your split-level floor plan. You feel the pool you installed for six figures was an excellent investment. Your afternoon naps simply wouldn’t be the same without those blaring trains. You love everything about your home, so it must be worth a little extra, right? Not necessarily.

An all-too common mistake by those selling a home in coastal Orange County (and literally everywhere else) is that they overvalue their property. Maybe they want to recoup their investment on costly improvements. Maybe their personal taste doesn’t match with market trends. Maybe they did some misguided research, or maybe they’re just going with their gut. Whatever the reason for an unrealistic sense of their home’s value, they can all be deadly to a listing’s chances.

Inevitably, a portion of sellers will heed poor advice from agents who will say anything to sign a listing. Others may scorn the advice of a good agent. But what really happens when a home is overpriced?

More is Less

Ironically, if your listing is overpriced, it’s more likely to sell for less than if you had priced correctly at the outset. Buyers are often reluctant to offer a “lowball” price to an overpriced listing, for fear of wasting their own time or possibly offending the sellers. Sure, some bold buyers might decide (or be convinced by their agent) to bid low, but many more of them won’t even bother.

When a listing is priced too high, buyers will move on to spend their time and energy on the reasonably priced listings in the area. They don’t want to waste their effort. That leads to decreased competition for the overpriced listing, and in the end a lower sales price. Good agents can spot an overpriced listing from a mile away. When they spot one, they will know that their clients needn’t worry about getting stuck in a bidding war. A seller who has overpriced should expect to see lower bids and fewer of them.

Losing Steam

Your first days and weeks on the market are the most crucial. When your listing goes live on the MLS, it triggers a cascade of events meant to help drum up interest in your property. Notifications are sent to buyers and agents through automated MLS alerts and search websites like Zillow, when a home that meets their criteria hits the market. If your listing is overpriced, those alerts won’t get a second look. In fact, if your pricing is way off, those alerts won’t even go to the “right” subset of buyers at all. Either way, you’ve wasted an opportunity.

As soon as your listing goes live, open houses and broker tours will populate on search sites, and your agent’s marketing plan should be in full swing. Snail mail, email, social media, agent networking—everything is full-speed ahead to supercharge your entry into the market. But, if you’ve priced too high, then you’ve stymied that effort from the get-go. Overpricing is an exercise in self-sabotage.

Going Stale

Once the initial marketing period is over, an overpriced listing will continue to linger on the market. And linger. And linger. And linger… you get the point. “Going stale,” in industry lingo, means being confronted with two options. First, you can simply wait. Perhaps you have the time to wait for conditions to improve. You’re not in a rush, and at the very least inflation will catch up to your unrealistic expectations eventually, right? Some sellers choose to pull their home off the market, but many don’t have that kind of time to spare, or they don’t want to live in listing limbo.

Your second option is a price drop. Sometimes, a price drop is a perfectly reasonable course of action; if it’s spurred because of a shift in market conditions, then you’re at least somewhat insulated by the fact that everyone else is floating in the same ebbing tide. However, if you must drop your price due to your own initial mistake, then you’ll turn into easy prey. Much like the lion that hunts the sickly gazelle, buyers will identify your listing as fundamentally weak. Offers will come in low, and buyers who see multiple price drops will just wait around for the next one.

Hitting the Sweet Spot

The dangers of overpricing highlight the importance of finding an agent who you trust. You deserve a real and honest discussion. At the Stavros Group, we apply our experience in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar and beyond to fit your needs, and we offer guidance based on the realities of the market—good or bad, up or down. We are your trusted advisor in selling or buying a home in coastal Orange County. If you’re considering making a change, reach out to start the no pressure conversation and we’ll discuss all your options.

No Green Thumb? No Problem: 7 Easy Houseplants to Liven Your Living Space

If you’re buying Newport Beach real estate, staging your Laguna Beach home to sell, or if gloomy fall weather starts getting you down, then you could stand to benefit from some bright and lively houseplants!

Houseplant History

For thousands of years, people have been bringing a little piece of the outdoors into their homes. According to the legend, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon commissioned the fabled Hanging Gardens for his wife, Queen Amytis, way back in 600 BC. The Greek scribe Berossus noted that the queen was not native to Babylon, so the Hanging Gardens were filled with familiar foliage to help her feel at home in a foreign land.

Historical findings have also documented houseplants in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and among eastern civilizations. Roses and violets in marble or terracotta pots could be seen bestrewn about the homes of wealthy Roman citizens, eager to display the tallest and brightest flowers. Miniature potted plants such as the Japanese Bonsai and Chinese Penjing first appeared around 200-500 CE.

Throughout the Middle Ages after the fall of Rome, houseplants largely fell out of practice, surviving mainly in monasteries by monks who grew practical plants like herbs and vegetables. When the Renaissance came around, interest in houseplants was revitalized, and wealthy individuals paid handsomely for exotic specimens procured by explorers such as Christopher Columbus. Suffice it to say that humanity has long known the value of the humble houseplant!

Green Living

Aside from simply looking nice, houseplants have some great additional benefits. First and foremost, plants purify the air around us. The hungry buggers gobble up our exhaled carbon dioxide, and they release fresh and clean oxygen for us to breathe in—all at the low cost of a little water and sunshine. Plants also clean volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air in our homes, although at such a small scale that it doesn’t make much difference.

Additionally, houseplants have shown various health benefits in clinical trials. In one example from the Department of Horticulture, researchers found that hospital patients recovering from surgery in the presence of houseplants had lower blood pressure and less anxiety, pain and fatigue. Patients reported that the plants “brightened up the room environment, reduced stress, and also conveyed positive impressions of hospital employees caring for patients.”

These effects can be realized in the home or workplace by adding plants of your own! If you have a home office or even occasionally work from home, consider adding a plant or two in view. A study by researchers at Washington State University found that workers with a potted plant in their line of sight saw increases in productivity of up to twelve percent.

Houseplants Made Simple

You may be interested in houseplants to liven up your home’s decor or to reap the health and other benefits covered above. If you’re new to taking care of plants, however, you’re likely wary of making a purchase just to see it die in the weeks or months that follow. But fear not, as there are plenty of options for those less floriculturally-inclined.

Here are just a few plants that DON’T require a green thumb to keep alive and well:

Aloe Vera

This hardy succulent only needs to be watered every couple of weeks. Allow soil to dry completely between waterings. As an added benefit, you can cut a piece and apply the latex it secretes to ease sunburns and minor cuts.

Snake Plant

Another plant which doesn’t need frequent watering, this succulent’s thick and waxy leaves store plenty of moisture. No need to stress while you’re away on a two-week vacation!

Spider Plant

This popular houseplant is perfect for newbies. A mainstay of homes around the country, and for good reason, the spider plant can withstand plenty of neglect. Just keep them watered and in indirect sunlight.

Pothos

Although tropical in origin, this viney plant’s heart-shaped leaves thrive even in cooler and drier climates. They don’t mind lower light or humidity levels, making them an easy and beautiful option for any home around the country.

Cactus

A symbol of the dry desert, cacti are the quintessential low-maintenance plant. Allow soil to dry between waterings; roughly a week if your pot has drainage holes, longer if not. As you might have guessed, these do require lots of sunlight, so place them in a brightly-lit space.

Cast Iron Plant

This lush evergreen is as resilient as its namesake. It is known to survive drastic shifts in temperature, and it doesn’t need a whole lot of sunlight or water to thrive.

Tillandsia (Air Plants)

As their name suggests, these beauties don’t even require soil to grow! As “epiphytes,” plants which extract nutrients directly from the air around them, you can hang tillandsia from the wall or ceiling as an attractive decorative piece. Just place them in bright sunlight and mist them occasionally to prevent drying, with frequency depending on the season.

Boost Your Quality of Life

As local real estate experts, we aim to show your listing in the best possible light. Just like a fresh coat of paint, a few well-placed plants can revitalize a room, so we love to use them when staging a home! The truth is that you don’t need a green thumb to enjoy the mood and health benefits of indoor plants. Give some of these houseplants a shot, and let us know how you fare! We’re always happy to hear from you.

Spooktober Special: On Haunted Homes

Hear ye, hear ye, guys and ghouls: Spooktober is upon us, and with it come the costumes, the parties, the candy, and of course the haunted houses. Right up there with graveyards, real estate has long been the setting for scary stories of things that go “bump” in the night.

Haunted House Hunters

To the true believers, living in a haunted house sounds like a recipe for many sleepless nights. Research from YouGov shows that about 45% of Americans do indeed believe in hauntings and ghosts. Those folks will likely shy away from visiting, much less purchasing, a haunted home.

To the skeptical, real estate with a haunted past might sound like a good way to snag a deal on a property. But, in most cases, a home will sell for roughly the price that it’s worth based solely on its location and material value—haunted or not.

However, there are some examples of homes garnering significantly less buyer interest due to their spooky reputation. For instance, this Victorian mansion in Massachusetts, once a Freemason hall and then a brothel, was listed shockingly cheap at just over $300,000.

If the House Has Ghosts, Must You Disclose?

Something you may not know: depending on where you live, some states require real estate agents to disclose in a listing whether there was a death in the home, or even whether the house is considered haunted by some. For a fee, you can find out about deaths in a home from services like DiedInHouse.

In California, an agent must disclose whether there has been a death in the home in the past 3 years, including natural deaths. In Hawaii, however, any occurrence that had no material effect on the physical structure of the house does not need to be disclosed.

Other states, like Georgia, don’t require anything to be disclosed up front, but they do require any questions to be answered truthfully. A majority of states do not require deaths or reports of the paranormal to be disclosed, in order to protect sellers from undue stigmatization.

A Selection of Spookings

In the spirit of the season, we thought we’d share a few of the spookiest homes in America. How would you like to live in one of these?

The Los Feliz Murder House

Source: Realtor.com

Early in the morning of December 6th, 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson murdered his sleeping wife with a hammer and attempted to do the same to his daughter, Judye. The teen girl managed to escape and rouse her neighbors who called the police. Dr. Perelson proceeded to ingest dozens of pills and died before an ambulance arrived.

Rumor has it that this Spanish-style mansion in the upscale LA neighborhood of Los Feliz was briefly rented out to a family in the early 1960s, after which it remained empty for decades. Christmas decorations were visible inside the home, likely left by those renters as the Perelson family was Jewish. Neighbors reported paranormal activity, and the house became an attraction for thrill-seeking tourists. Decades later in 2016, the home was sold.

The Winchester Mystery House

Source: Pixabay

Once the residence of Sarah Winchester, widow of firearm magnate William Wirt Winchester, this Queen Anne Victorian mansion in San Jose, CA, is well known for its puzzling design and its frequent paranormal sightings.

The home has been featured in media such as Ghost Hunters, and it was the set location for the Winchester film starring Helen Mirren as Sarah Winchester.

The Amityville House

Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family family were found murdered at this house in Amityville, New York, 30 minutes outside of New York City. Roughly one year later, the Lutz family bought the home at a huge discount. They lasted 28 days in the home before leaving due to sightings of paranormal activity.

The Lutz family’s short time in the home was memorialized in 1977 in a novel by Jason Anson, The Amityville Horror, which has since been made into multiple feature films.

The Whaley House

Source: Wikimedia Commons

This haunted house in San Diego’s Old Town district is said to have been the site of hangings before it was built in 1857. The owner’s daughter, Violet, killed herself at the house in 1885. Stories say that a number of spirits roam the house to this day.

Now a California Historical Landmark and a museum, you can take a tour of the Whaley House for yourself during a trip to Old Town… if you dare!

Tis the Season for Spooking

These are just a few of our nation’s many reportedly haunted homes. As a Halloween attraction, the haunted house industry brings in over $300 million each year. Do you plan on visiting a haunted house with your friends or family this year?

The Art and Science of a Listing Price

Selling real estate is a unique career. Agents come in all shapes and sizes, with diverse backgrounds ranging from business management to entertainment to homemaking to everything else under the sun. Given these vast differences in abilities and past experience, your process working with a real estate agent can vary dramatically from one to the next. And yet among every single agent, there’s one skill that matters more than all the others. One skill which can make or break your sale. One skill which is truly the heart and soul of an agent’s work.

“So, what is it?” you say. “Spit it out! What’s the most important skill that every agent needs?”

Well, since you asked so nicely: It’s setting the listing price.

Buy Low, Sell High

We all know that negotiations are the name of the game when buying or selling a home. You want an agent who will apply force to every lever of a deal, fighting at every opportunity to save you money or boost your closing price. What you may not know is that a properly priced listing can earn you more money right from the outset. Conversely, an agent who can spot an improperly priced home might just snag you a deal.

In nautical terms, setting your listing price means choosing where to drop anchor. Once you’ve settled on a location, you throw out your bait to see what house-hunting fish swim in for a nibble. Yet no matter how tasty the bait or how shiny your lure, if you price too high, you simply won’t get any bites.

This metaphor is particularly apt when you consider broader business strategies. An “anchor price” is a widely used tactic that companies use to establish a psychological baseline for their products. If the shoe store says some boots are worth $200, then you’re getting a great deal when they’re on sale for just $100, right? (Even if they cost the store just $5.) While it’s exceedingly rare to see a home listing’s price drop anywhere near 50%, real estate is still affected by this psychology—with very real effects.

Bigger Might Not Be Better

Those effects are most clear in an overpriced listing. If you list too high, you’ll be subject to lowball bids, upturned noses, and open houses as empty as a ghost town. New listings tend to see the most activity and buyer interest within their first few weeks on the market. When your listing is overpriced, you’ve essentially wasted the most crucial days of your home’s marketing period.

After a few lonely weeks with too few or too poor of offers, you’ll likely consider a price reduction. Mind you that price reductions are a completely valid tactic in many cases, as markets can shift during the listing period for a myriad of reasons which may be impossible to foresee. However, it’s not a fun thing to do, if the lack of interest stems from simply pricing too high for the current market at the time of listing.

Ultimately, an overpriced listing is one of the great tragedies of real estate. The reverse, however, is not so dire. Let’s look at underpriced listings next.

How Low Can You Go?

An under-priced listing is not nearly the same catastrophe as an overpriced listing. In fact, setting your home’s listing price below its current market value can be a compelling strategy. Like a Black Friday sale, a low listing price can draw folks out of the woodwork to take a look at your home. Remember that the first few weeks of a new listing are the most important—a low listing price can pack those weeks with open house visitors, agent showing requests, and “saves” on sites like Zillow and Trulia.

That’s not to say that pricing low doesn’t come with risks. If your home still garners less than the critical mass of interest needed to boost offers and counters above market value, you’ll wind up in another sad state of affairs. In a worst case scenario, the market may shift under your listing and (like current interest rates) you’ll have little room to maneuver the lows any lower amidst an economic downturn.

The safest bet for most sellers and agents, especially those with less experience under their belts, remains to price a listing right around market value.

Finding the Sweet Spot

So how does an agent find exactly the right price to drum up the most interest and highest offers on a listing? The best tools at an agent’s disposal are the recent sales around your home.

When you first meet with an agent, they’ll likely provide you with a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, detailing the price and statistics of recent listings in your area. Much like an official appraisal, CMAs compare the sold homes in your area, their features, amenities, and the dates they sold, against your own. They’ll also compare the homes that are active and pending right now, more indicators of your current local market conditions.

By comparing and contrasting your home with other listings in your neighborhood, your agent can triangulate a ballpark figure for your home’s value. That’s the science of setting a listing price. Popular home search tools like Zillow have grown that science into complex algorithms which claim to output estimates within a few percentage points of error.

Then there’s the art of pricing a home. Like painting a masterpiece, it takes years of experience and a profound professional insight to obtain an organic sense for pricing. Through dozens of transactions and persistent study of the local market, consumer tastes, national trends and lender criteria, a seasoned agent has the acumen to see beyond the comparables. Even in a subdivision with identical floor plans, every home is unique. To assess every variable and produce a strategic, targeted price is a talent which not every agent possesses.

Your Local Experts

At Stavros Group, we’ve been working in your neighborhood for years. We know what works, what sells and how much it sells for. If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and greater Orange County, let us know. We’d be happy to discuss your options during a free, no-pressure consultation. Real estate is our passion. We’re excited to share that passion with you, to match you with the great results that you deserve!

The Importance of Interest or: How I Learned to Love the Fed

The year is 1984, and despite Orwellian predictions to the contrary, nothing seems to be going poorly at all as you amble down your tree-lined street. A neighbor cheerfully hollers across the road, but with Purple Rain cranking through your Walkman, you can’t quite make out what he said. Nudging the headset off one ear, you hear him repeat, “Howdy neighbor!” Well, howdy, yourself!

You’ve rented here for quite a while. It’s a sleepy little suburb with friendly folks and good schools. For years, you’ve saved diligently with the goal of making an offer on one of the charming homes for sale that you see every day on your walks. Browsing the Yellow Pages and consulting with friends, you finally found a real estate agent who you can trust. Now all that’s left is to get approved for a mortgage! Considering your outstanding credit, the lender is willing to make a deal—thirty years fixed at a low rate of just fourteen percent!

Today’s Rates are Hard to Beat

It may seem crazy to young homeowners and aspiring buyers, but throughout the 1980s the national average mortgage interest rate was well into the double digits. Recession and inflation starting in the late 70s prompted drastic measures from the Federal Reserve who cranked up interest rates to even as high as twenty percent. Since then, and especially after the financial crisis of 2008, the average rate has seen a precipitous decline. After years of wavering around four percent, the notion of a thirteen or fourteen percent mortgage is unthinkable to most new and would-be homeowners.

Let’s compare an average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in August 1984 with August 2019:

Loan of $200,000, 30-yr fixed
- August 1984 avg rate: 14.47%
  - Total cost over lifetime of mortgage: $879,962
- August 2019 avg rate: 3.62%
  - Total cost over lifetime of mortgage: $328,154

In 1984, your mortgage would cost over four times the amount borrowed over the course of the loan. Whether you’re bearish or bullish on the economy as a whole, with a little perspective it’s abundantly clear that home buyers have it very, very good these days. As an extreme example, the stark contrast illuminates how important interest rates are in a home purchase.

Using more recent and normal examples, the current average still beats recent rates including just last year. In August 2018, an average fixed-rate loan of $500,000 would cost you $917,389 over 30 years. One year later in August 2019, you would save nearly $100,000, at $820,386 over 30 years. That’s a huge difference and huge savings after a rate drop of less than one percent (4.55 to 3.62%).

Use Low Interest Rates to Your Advantage

So what does this all mean? First off, it’s clear that buying a home when rates are low is the most effective strategy to ensure that you’re getting a good deal. Both buyers and sellers benefit when rates are low, as buyers can afford to borrow more money for less overall cost. When buyers can afford bigger and better homes, competition is increased across the market, listings garner wider interest, and ultimately sellers receive higher offers and closing prices. All at essentially no extra cost to the buyer, because their money simply went further at a lower interest rate.

This also means that homeowners who purchased recently could be eligible to save big by refinancing an existing mortgage above current rates. According to analytics firm Black Knight, four out of five mortgages originating in 2018 are at least 0.75% higher than today’s rates. Additionally, they found that most mortgages from before 2004 could have rates lowered by about 1.75%, leading to massive savings.

We’re Happy to Help

Inevitably, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and the market will retract to some degree. Of course, nothing about the economy happens in a vacuum, and there are always countless extenuating factors. So we’ll skip making bold predictions. Instead, we will simply recommend this sage old advice: “Get while the gettin’s good.” Rates are nearly as low as they can be, and real estate is entering its most active time of year. If you’ve been thinking of buying or selling, now is an excellent time to do so! Give us a call to find out how we can help.

How Does Smart Home Technology Affect the Sale of My Home?

In the 1950’s, homeowners were wowed by dreams of the future, with flying cars, self-baking ovens and automated vacuums. Many of these concepts have come to life with smart home technology, though not necessarily in the way they were once imagined.

Smart homes today revolve around making life easier, letting you adjust everything from temperature to lighting from anywhere in the world. These types of improvements do a lot to attract millennial buyers who have grown up with technology and look forward to its integration into the home.

A Little Does a Lot

Having access to tech in a home office, kitchen and bathroom will set your home apart from other houses without such modern conveniences. Fortunately, unlike completely remodeling major portions of the building, adding value to your Orange County home with smart tech won’t break the bank.

Spending around $1,000 before putting your Newport Beach house for sale, a paltry sum where renovations are concerned, will result in significant gains on the housing market. Though these aren’t always monetary, it can result in a faster sale since these features are very attractive to buyers that would be interested in installing some of the same units themselves.

Doorbells and Detectors

Many tech tools don’t take much of a time investment when it comes to installation but provide a host of benefits that you and future homeowners will inevitably enjoy. Some of the most common items that will help craft the perfect smart home include:

Video Doorbells – Security is always a major concern, and being able to keep an eye on your front door while at work or even in the shower makes a home feel that much safer.

Smart Locks – Another front-door option, these take a little more effort to install but the added security and keyless entry options make it a worthwhile addition.

Smoke Detectors – Knowing anytime when there’s a fire or batteries need changing is a definite boon, and the cost of multiple detectors can be offset by smart devices that listen for the alarms already present in your house.

Thermostat – The first real integrated smart device, this can ensure your home is always at the correct temperature and can even respond to voice commands when you’re relaxing on your couch!

Light Bulbs – Lamps on timers have been a mainstay of vacationers for decades, but smart bulbs will turn on with your phone, and many can even adjust color and brightness on a whim!

Smart Speaker/Hub – Alexa and Echo, Amazon and Google’s smart-home supermodels, are just two examples of units that respond to your voice and tie all of your tech together into a cohesive unit.

These simple upgrades will transform your home, and even though they seem like superficial additions they let possible buyers see your house as more than building. Safety and security are just as important as comfort and convenience, and when it’s all integrated it becomes one irresistible package!

Room to Improve

While all of this technology does wonders for your home, you also need to consider which rooms will benefit most from electronic additions. Every area can be upgraded, but certain tech fits more easily in specific locations.

Living rooms or gathering spaces are definite spots to create a centralized hub for technology. Having your smart hub where everyone congregates makes it much easier to control and monitor the house while entertaining, and hose-shoppers will take notice when the primary living space is set up to be a control room for all of their toys.

Another space that benefits from these upgrades is the kitchen. While a smart refrigerator is more expensive than other options, adding high-tech appliances to the most complex room in the house makes it that much more alluring. Even something as simple as adding receptacles with USB ports by the nightstand can be a deal-maker!

Selling My Home With Savings

It’s not just a fancy screen on a dryer that makes it a big selling point. Making your home smarter also makes it energy efficient. If lights turn off when you aren’t home and thermostats regulate heat and cooling efficiently, homeowners are going to see a drop in their energy bills. High tech security also looks good to insurance companies, so fire alarms and video doorbells are a definite win for you and potential buyers.

Getting your house ready for the Orange County real estate market is never easy, but make sure you keep smart home technology in mind as you prepare to put your Newport Beach house for sale. The added value comes in a variety of ways, and if spending around a thousand dollars helps you make the sale more quickly, it’s an investment any homeowner can get behind!

If you find it time to buy or sell your home in Orange County, I hope you’ll think of me!

The Best Newport Beach Neighborhoods: A Look at West Newport

You’ve decided to make the move to Orange County and you’ve even started browsing some houses for sale in Newport Beach. If you’re new to the area, the next step in your house hunting journey you may be thinking, “What is the best neighborhood for me?” We’re here to help!

Welcome to the next edition of our Neighborhood Spotlight Series, where we provide a little insight into some of the best neighborhoods Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar have to offer, so you can feel more comfortable in the purchase of your new home in Orange County.

This month we will be featuring West Newport, a neighborhood in Newport Beach that boasts over two miles of coastline and some of the best beaches in Newport. West Newport is ideally located where the coastline splits into the mainland and Balboa Peninsula, giving it a ‘beach city’ culture. This means West Newport residents enjoy the best of both worlds, with the convenience of quick access to the rest of Newport Beach, as well as the restaurants, shopping, and attractions that the peninsula offers.

We have created an infographic to provide a quick glimpse into some of the housing and residential statistics that a potential homebuyer may be interested in. We hope you find this information helpful!

We happen to have a beautiful property currently on the market, that’s located on the edge of West Newport, but in a prime oceanfront location. This spacious multi-unit property at 2212 W. Oceanfront totals approximately 3,200 square feet and includes a 2-bed double-master unit with 3 baths upstairs, as well as a 3-bed, 2-bath unit downstairs. Both the upper and lower units feature a chic updated interior and stellar ocean views. The prime waterfront location provides convenient access to hip shops, restaurants and bars. Wake up with a stroll along the shore and an espresso at Urban Cup, pop in for lunch at local favorite Dory Deli, or enjoy a night out at newly-opened Fable & Spirit nearby. Whether you choose to rent both units or keep one for yourself, one thing is for certain: your residents will love waking up to the beach right outside their door.

We know that trying to settle on the right Newport Beach neighborhood as you’re looking at homes for sale in Orange County can be tricky, but here at The Stavros Group we’re here to provide a helping hand and make the process of buying the Newport Beach home of your dreams as easy as possible. Please do not hesitate to give us a call!

A Tour of Some of the Most Beautiful Past Presidential Homes

With the July 4th holiday marking America’s 244th birthday this week, we thought it’d be interesting to take a look back at some of the beautiful old homes once lived in by some of our founding fathers. It’s fascinating to see how real estate trends have changed over the years, however certain influences have also remained steady. Many of these historic homes have been preserved over the years and are even open to the public.

Whether you’re traveling outside of Orange County, planning to watch fireworks in Newport Beach, or spending some quality time on the shores of Laguna Beach with friends and family, we hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Adams ‘Old House’ – Quincy, MA

Peacefield, also called Old House, is a historic home in Quincy, Massachusetts that served as the former residence of U. S. President John Adams and his family for four generations. It is now part of the Adams National Historical Park. The oldest portion of the house was built in 1731 by Leonard Vassall, a sugar-planter from Jamaica, and acquired by John and Abigail Adams in 1787 after its loyalist owners had abandoned Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War. The house was given by the Adams family to the United States in 1946, and is now open to the public as part of the Adams National Historical Park operated by the National Park Service.

Lincoln Home National Historic Site – Springfield, IL

Lincoln Home National Historic Site is the historic-site house that Abraham Lincoln lived in with his wife, Mary Todd, from 1844 through 1861, before moving to Washington, DC to serve as the 16th President of the United States. This historic house, located in Springfield, IL, was the only home that Lincoln ever owned. While it was first built in 1839, Lincoln purchased the 12-room Greek revival, located 200 miles south of Chicago, in 1844; it was later restored in 1860. In 1887, Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln donated the family home to the State of Illinois under the condition that it would forever be well maintained and open to the public at no charge. Today, the home has been completely restored to look like it would have in 1860.

Westland Mansion – Princeton, NJ

Westland Mansion was the home of Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, from his retirement in 1897 until his death in 1908. The house is located in the historic district of Princeton, New Jersey, and is a National Historic Landmark also known as the Grover Cleveland Home. The house, built by Robert F. Stockton in 1856, was patterned after a nearby 18th-century mansion and was described as being a 6,345 sq. ft., 2-½ story, stone structure covered with yellow-painted stucco, twin parlors on the first floor, spacious rooms, high ceilings, and handsome marble mantelpieces. Cleveland named it “Westland” in honor of his friend Andrew Fleming West, a humanities professor at Princeton University who assisted Cleveland in securing the purchase of the home. During Cleveland’s time there he made several changes, including updating the building’s façade in the Italianate style popular at the time. In 2015, it was sold for $4,325,000. It is not currently open to the public.

Springwood Estate – Hyde Park, NY

The Springwood Estate in Hyde Park, NY was the birthplace, lifelong home and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The estate was purchased by FDR’s father, James Roosevelt, in 1866 for $40,000, at a time when a textile worker’s earnings were less than a dollar a day. The estate remained the center of Roosevelt’s life through all stages of his career. In 1915, much of the home was remodeled and the exterior was altered to look like a mansion in the Colonial Revival Style. In 1943, Roosevelt donated the estate to the American people under the condition that his family maintained a lifetime right to usage of the property. Today, the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, which was established in 1945, preserves the Springwood estate.

Wheatland – Lancaster, PA

Wheatland, or the James Buchanan House, is a brick, Federal style house outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that served as the home of the 15th President of the United States, James Buchanan, for two decades. The house was constructed in 1828 by William Jenkins, a local lawyer, and later purchased by Buchanan in 1848. Wheatland is a Federal style that includes design elements, such as lunette windows, that show the influence of various architectural styles that were prevalent in the early 19th century. Wheatland was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Today it is open to the public for tours and is filled with original furnishings and personal artifacts to help tell the story of Buchanan.

The Best Newport Beach Neighborhoods: A Look at Dover Shores

You’ve decided to make the move to Orange County and you’ve even started browsing some houses for sale in Newport Beach. If you’re new to the area, the next step in your house hunting journey may be, “What is the best neighborhood for me?” We’re here to help!

This month we will be featuring Dover Shores, a charming residential neighborhood in the heart of Newport Beach. Although mostly quiet and very family-friendly, Dover Shores is not short on beauty and things to do. With the Upper Newport Bay (or Back Bay to the locals) bordering just to the east, you’re close to ten and a half miles of some of the most picturesque running and biking trails in Southern California. Many homes are even lucky enough to boast panoramic views of the Back Bay area. The community also has three private beaches, all which feature summer lifeguard service and are perfect for families. You’re also only a stone’s throw from Irvine Avenue, which boasts a wide variety of restaurants, shops and other retail needs. Or if you’re looking for a night on the town, head over to Fashion Island for some world-class shopping and dining. This is becoming a desirable neighborhood, so bear in mind that Dover Shores homes for sale go quickly!

We happen to have a beautiful home in the Dover Shores neighborhood that will be yours for the taking when it hits the market on July 8. Completed in 2019, this exceptionally appointed home at 2101 Leeward Ln., showcases on-trend style and state-of-the-art smart-home technology. Curb appeal is off the charts, with Modern Farmhouse architecture complementing a soft-contemporary interior with 6 bedrooms, 4 baths and a bonus room in approx. 4,226 s.f. Discover light European oak wood flooring, white walls and millwork, a formal living room, large family room, and an enormous chef’s kitchen with marble countertops and stainless steel appliances. Entertaining is a delight in the backyard with a pool, spa and raised deck.

The Best Apps to Make Your Orange County Home Search Easier

With over 3,000,000 people living in Orange County, the competition for homes for sale in Orange County is high. This constant struggle for housing means that the old ways of looking for properties are out. Looking for signs in the yard or reading the local paper no longer gets you the house you are looking for, and house hunters have now turned to technology to aid in their search.

As your Orange County real estate expert, it’s our mission to match you with the perfect home. That’s why we scour the market every day, attend private tours, and maintain a wide professional network of local realtors. We understand that sometimes during the house hunting process it’s only natural for buyers to want to browse the market themselves. There’s no doubt that looking through the gorgeous Laguna Beach or Newport Beach oceanfront homes for sale is exciting. With all kinds of real estate apps available these days, it makes it easy for our house hunting clients to browse through the inventory and bring ideas to us. Although nothing replaces the knowledge, experience and personal customer service that you gain from working directly with a realtor, there are some benefits in utilizing these apps in conjunction with your agent.

Since you may be inclined to browse the market in your spare time, we’ve listed some of the key features of the most popular home-search apps. Have a look:

Zillow

Many people consider Zillow to be the best home searching app. Zillow provides what it calls a Zestimate, which allows you to see the estimated worth of the property you are interested in. (Read a comparison we did on a few online home value estimators.) Bear in mind that this is just an estimate, so it’s always smart to work with a realtor to come up with the most accurate home value based on the current market and your needs. Tools on this app also give you the opportunity to look up various statistics and even search properties based on certain specifications, such as property type, price, region, and features. You can create your own account on Zillow to keep track of your searches and the information you gather.

Redfin

This app is helpful because of its holistic nature. The app updates every 15 to 30 minutes to keep you on top of the game. You can also draw a box around the area you are searching, and only see homes within that perimeter. Search on Redfin for homes for sale in Orange County, and get a thorough list of short sale alters, foreclosures, and sale-by-owner properties. Discuss your favorites with friends, family or your realtor by using the sharing tools that the site provides.

Realtor.com

The National Association of Realtors designates this app as its official search engine. Additionally, the organization has various connections with Multiple Listing Systems, meaning the app updates faster and lists more properties. Connect to your Google Chromecast through this app and stream information to your television. Filter your search based on price, square footage, or even schools in the area.

Trulia

This app is a great choice for those actively seeking to buy an Orange County home. The tools that the app provides have the sole purpose of helping you find the perfect home to purchase. One tool, for example, allows you to filter for very specific features, such as type of flooring. You can also utilize the mortgage calculator as you become more serious about a property, as well as take a thorough look at the home through the various photos and immersive video tours.

LoopNet

This option is great for those looking for properties with multiple units. It provides a wider range of detail about these properties than many of the other apps. LoopNet offers data on traffic, financial details, street views, and geography of Orange County real estate. The app allows the opportunity to consider these commercial or multi-unit properties whether you live in the area or not.

HomeSnap

This app is especially useful for buying a home with your partner or getting input from family and friends. HomeSnap has special features specifically designed for sharing and messaging not only home listings but also home features and details. The app also has the capability of displaying details of a home from just a quick photo of the exterior. Take a picture and see the estimated home value, related schools and ratings, taxes, interior photos, and more.

While nothing compares to the personalized experience you get from working with a seasoned Orange County real estate agent, in certain situations utilizing these apps may be beneficial in helping you get ideas on the type of home, price range, and the area you want to target. Having an idea of what you are looking for, whether it be one of the gorgeous Laguna Beach ocean view homes for sale or a brand new Corona del Mar home, although not a requirement, often makes the job of the real estate agent easier in locating your dream home, as well. Whatever step you are at in your house hunting process, we are honored to help you get you where you want to be. Please don’t hesitate to contact us today so we can discuss your home buying plan and get you into the Orange County home of your dreams!