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In a survey conducted from May 1-May 5, 2009 by Harris Interactive on behalf of Trulia and RealtyTrac, Inc., almost 2,400 adult, prospective home buyers said they would “expect to pay at least 50 percent less for a foreclosed home.” We read this and wondered how much of a discount people are actually getting in South Orange County by purchasing foreclosed properties from a bank versus properties that are not foreclosures and sold through a more favorable (to the buyer) process. Read on to find out what we discovered. (…)

In the May 25, 2009 issue of Time Magazine, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” was interviewed. One question asked of him was “Is it safe to start investing in stocks again, or are we better off investing in real estate?”

Here is Jim’s answer in its entirety:

“I think that real estate is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because there are no competitive buyers. Mortgage rates are the lowest in my lifetime. Affordability is the best in my life. Clearly, real estate is much better than stocks right now.”

Call the Csira Group and we’ll assist you in making a sound real estate investment.

Following is more empirical evidence of how strong the market is at the lower end (for Orange County) of the market for single family properties. While working with a very motivated buyer this past week, we saw a property come up in Dana Point that met the buyer’s criteria. Just two days on the market, we went to have a look.

The property had recently been purchased as a foreclosure at auction for $460,000 and had been refreshed to appeal to a wider audience. By refreshed, it appeared the current sellers put travertine and new fixtures in the two bathrooms, granite counter tops in the kitchen, replaced the kitchen appliances, painted the existing cabinets , painted the walls and put on a new asbestos roof. Our guesstimate was that they invested about $25,000 of repairs. The home was offered at $579,900. (…)