In a recent post, I wrote about the Indian Village of Lukup which was the original settlement in Costa Mesa.

For hundreds of years, the Indians lived a simple hunter-gatherer lifestyle until July 1769 when Don Gaspar de Portola and his soldiers arrived in Central Orange County. They came up from Mexico to explore California and to help settle the land for the King of Spain had offered large grants of land to encourage people to move to California.

Don de Portola arrived in what would come to be called Orange County on July 26, St. Anne’s Day, so he named both the valley and the river in her honor. Thus, the valley and the river became Santa Ana., Spanish for St. Anne.

The Spaniards who came to settle the land changed the Indians’ way of life, teaching them to raise cattle, grow crops and work on the Spaniards’ ranches or ranchos.

The Indian Village of Lukup was absorbed into the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana.

After the Spaniards came to Costa Mesa, three adobes were built near Lukup.  An adobe is a house made of dried mud bricks.  Only one of these three adobes still exists today; it is known as the Estancia or Diego Sepulveda Adobe.  The original use of these adobes is not known, but many believe that they were originally built to shelter those traveling along the mission trail.

The Estancia Adobe has been restored and can be seen in Estancia Park.

Costa Mesa remained a Spanish territory until Mexico gained its independence in 1821.

See the following links for more information on Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

 

Raising two sons in the Newport Mesa area has caused me to start thinking about all of the wonderful things I have experienced here and resulted in me writing a blog about growing up locally in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

There are so many wonderful experiences here from the Pacific Ocean, and the Back Bay to the Diego Sepulveda Adobe to share with my family.

Click these links for more information on Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

What is your favorite part of living here?

Can you imagine how different Costa Mesa looked in years gone by?

Costa Mesa was first settled by a group of American Indians over 2,500 years ago. The village was call Lukup (pronounced Luck-Up). It was located along the Santa Ana River, which they referred to as the Wanawna (pronounced Wa-nana), up on the bluffs that are located in modern day Fairview Park. Although 400 or 500 people might seem very small to those of us living in Costa Mesa today, it was one of the larger villages in the area.

The Indians lived here for hundreds of years, living a simple hunter-gather lifestyle until July of 1769, when men showed up riding strange, four-legged creatures, the likes of which the Indians had never before seen.

The arrival of Don Gaspar de Portola, signaled the beginning of the end of the Village of Lukup and the beginning of the Spanish settlement and ranchers.

Raising two sons in the Newport Mesa area has caused me to start thinking about all of the wonderful things I have experienced here and resulted in me write a blog about growing up locally in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

There are so many wonderful experiences here from the Pacific Ocean, and the Back Bay to the Diego Sepulveda Adobe to share with my family.

Lido Theater opened in 1938 with beautiful tile work done by an Italian family. It now specializes in both independent and surf films.

There are so many places and traditions past and present that make up our local history.  We thought it would be fun to review a few of our favorites.

 

Balboa Pavilion has been a Newport Beach landmark for over 100 years.

 

Bal Week and the Rendezvous Ballroom.  Bal Week started in the early 1930’s with thousands of teenagers coming to the Balboa Peninsula for Spring Break and ending the evening at the Rendezvous Ballroom.

 

Robins Hall Bell Tower, Newport Harbor High School. Once a nautical landmark, the tower, graced Newport Beach for 77 years, and was torn down last year due to seismic instability and will be replaced with a similar design. 

 

Balboa Fun Zone and Balboa Bars.  A summer’s day is just not complete without a visit to the Fun Zone and a Balboa ice cream Bar rolled in chocolate sprinkles.

 

Balboa Ferry has provided continuous service between Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island since 1919.

 

Mesa Cinema. This theatre, on the corner of Newport Boulevard and 19^th St. was a landmark with its $1 movies and sticky floors.

 

Kona Lanes.  How many played a game at this local bowling alley between 1958 and 2003?

 

Corona del Mar Tide Pools.  Many kids remember taking a school field trip to learn more about our local inhabitants.

 

The Arches.  This landmark, which opened on PCH in 1922 has moved to Cannery Village which was once the location of Aubergine, while the new A Restaurant has opened in the old Arches location.  The A Restaurant was opened by the same people who once owned Aubergine.  Sounds like they all just exchanged locations.

 

The Wedge has long been known as an amazing spot for body surfing.

 

The Dory Fleet.  Founded in 1891 when fisherman began selling their catches directly to the public.

 

McFadden Wharf/Newport Pier and Balboa Pier.  Newport Pier was first built in 1888.  It was the terminus of the Santa Ana and Newport Railway.  Balboa Pier was built in 1906.

 

 

 

Which one of Newport-Mesa’s landmarks and traditions holds the most memories for you?  Are there any that we missed that you think should have been on the list?

An out of town friend wants to buy a home for significantly less than the listing price.  Typical in this market she figured, so why would her agent tell her that the seller had taken a lot of money out of the home?  Why would that matter to her?  She figured it wasn’t her problem.

For the most part she’s probably right.  However, if the fact that the seller has borrowed a lot of money means that he can’t pay off the entire loan amount, plus costs, commissions, etc., it could result in a short sale.

What is a short sale, and who cares anyway?  A short sale occurs when the seller asks the bank to accept less than they’re owed on a loan on a property because the seller can’t sell the property for enough money to cover the loan and/or the costs of selling the property.

The bank doesn’t have to accept a short sale and can take a long time to make a decision.  This can be very frustrating to the buyer who may have to wait and wait only to be told that the bank will not accept their offer.  On the other hand, if the offer is accepted, it can result in a great deal for the buyer.

A short sale can also have significant tax consequences for a seller.  If the lender forgives the seller’s debt, it can result in “income” to the seller.  This has been somewhat ameliorated by the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 which allows the exclusion of this “income” under certain circumstances such as when the loan was used to purchase or significantly improve a principal residence.

Thus, in the case of a short sale, both the lender and the seller may have something extra to lose, and the decision to move forward must be carefully considered. And, for the buyer it may mean a significant delay in waiting for a decision to be made on their offer.

To see current short sales and foreclosures available please click here.

I received a question from a friend’s sister.  She attempted to apply for a mortgage loan online and was barraged with questions she didn’t understand.  She was asked if she wanted a 30, 45 or 60 day lock on a 30 year, 15 year of 5/1.  She was told she could have a 30 day lock on a 30 year for 1.75 points.

For those of us in the real estate industry, all of those terms may be as clear as the ocean off the coast of a tropical paradise, but for the ordinary consumer, they are about as clear as a murky pond.

So, for those who are not as familiar with the terms – a 30 year fixed loan will have the same interest rate and the same payment on the principal and interest for 30 years.  The 15 year fixed loan is the same, except that it is the same payment for 15 years, not 30.  The 5/1 is an ARM or adjustable rate mortgage that will have the same interest rate and payment for five years but will change at the end of the five year fixed period.

The lock is a guarantee from the lender that it will give a specific interest rate provided that the loan closes during a certain period – 30 days, 45 days or 60 days.  The longer the lock period, the more cost there will be either in fees/points or interest rate.  It is important to close the loan within the lock period to avoid losing the interest rate or incurring additional costs.

Points are another thing about which consumers are not always clear.  A point is simply one percent of the loan amount – 1 point on a $100,000 loan is $1,000.

Hopefully this will move some from the pond towards the clear blue ocean.

It looks like the higher-end, luxury homes in Orange County are starting to feel the same pinch that has been felling the “moderate” priced homes (or at least as moderately priced as homes get in Orange County) for some time. 

According to DataQuick Information Systems, the median sales price in zip code 92260 in Newport Beach fell by 34% in April 2008, which would lead to the likely conclusion that high end prices are coming down. 

The fun thing with statistics is that sometimes they are hard to follow.

Although the median sales price for Newport Beach’s 92660 fell, there was a dramatic increase in the median sales price in Newport Beach’s 92663 zip code to $2.49 million, up 66% in the same month that saw 92660 down 34%. 

How is this possible, and what does it mean? In a time when there are fewer sales happening, a few extraordinarily high sales or low sales can tip the median prices significantly.

Given the confusion, how can a person truly value a home?  The best bet is probably to look at comparables sales as close to the home as possible and as similar as possible because there is likely to be a huge diversity in prices even within zip codes, especially in a zip code like 92663 which encompasses everything from beach front and bay front mansions to small condos with no view of anything.

 

 

On May 16, 2008, Fannie Mae announced that they are withdrawing their Declining Market Policy and replacing it wtih a National Downpayment Policy. 

Under the new policy, Fannie Mae will allow loans that are underwritten by Desk Top Underwriter® (DU®) a loan to value (LTV) of up to 97% and 95% for loans that are manually underwritten. 

This new policy becomes effective June 1, 2008 and will apply to one unit owner occupied properties.  This policy will replace the Declining Market Policy which required the lender to reduce the maximum LTV and CLTV (combined loan to value) by 5% in declining markets. 

This may be helpful for places like California and Orange County that are effected by a declining market.

We’ll have to wait and see if this will help the housing market,  I’m still unclear on how the MI companies are reacting to this decision by Fannie Mae which may limit its usefulness.

The Annual Lion’s Fish Fry will be held on May 31 through June 1, 2008 at Lion’s Park, located at 18th and Park Street in Costa Mesa.

As always. there will be a carnival with rides and games, food, entertainment, and the baby contest.

Carnival rides open at 11:00 am. Dinner start at noon.

The Baby Contest will be held on Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 1:00 pm with the awards presentation at 2:00 pm. Completed forms and $5 entry fee must be sent by 5/31/08. For more information, go to http://www.cmnhlions.com/fishfry/fish_fry_003.htm.

See http://www.cmnhlions.com/fishfry/fish_fry_005.htm for the entertainment schedule.

The Annual Lion’s Fish Fry will be held on May 31 through June 1, 2008 at Lion’s Park, located at 18th and Park Street in Costa Mesa.

As always. there will be a carnival with rides and games, food, entertainment, and the baby contest.

Carnival rides open at 11:00 am. Dinner start at noon.

The Baby Contest will be held on Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 1:00 pm with the awards presentation at 2:00 pm. Completed forms and $5 entry fee must be sent by 5/31/08. For more information, go to http://www.cmnhlions.com/fishfry/fish_fry_003.htm.

See http://www.cmnhlions.com/fishfry/fish_fry_005.htm for the entertainment schedule.