The latest home inventory report shows the demand for local homes is starting off 2010 at its highest levels in 5 years.

Homes listed for under $750,000 are selling like wildfire, with multiple offers on most homes and sales prices above the list prices. The expected market time of homes in this price range is less than 2 months meaning that there is a lot of competition for these homes.

There is starting to be more interest in homes listed from $750,000 to $1.5 million. Many homes for sale in this price range are starting to receive the same sort of attention and multiple offers as their less expensive counterparts.

The higher range market – those homes listed above $1.5 million – has a current market time of 8.4 months and has little to no interest being presented.

The home market is best for the lower priced homes but there is hope that the market will continue to improve.

In 2009 only 2,448 homes were sold in Orange County at prices of $1 million or more. That is a 14.5% decrease from 2008 when 2,862 homes were sold.

Compare those figures to 2007 when 5,200 million-plus homes were sold. This large decrease in number of homes sold is a product of the recession ad well as many home values being decreased.

About 1,900 of the homes that sold statewide last year for less than $1 million had previously sold for $1 million or more. The median price for those homes declined by about $420,000, or 35%.

The latest reports on Orange County homeowners shows that 14.4% were underwater in the 4^th quarter of 2009. Homes with mortgages larger than the current value of the home were used in this calculation.

Distressed properties currently account for 33% of the market in Orange County.  Out of all home sales that took place in Orange County in December, 19.57% were foreclosure resales. 19% of homes sold in December in O.C. were sold at a loss.

The number of homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure nationwide peaked in December with more than one in every thousand homes being repossessed. This was the highest number of foreclosures since the data started being collected in 2000.

At the end of 2009, rents throughout Orange County were falling at the 8^th fastest rate in the nation. The typical Orange County rent in the 4^th quarter was $1,504 a month – down $67 or 4.3% in the year.

Out of the 79 big markets tracked the average rate that rents fell was 2.3% for the fourth quarter of 2009.

The only markets with larger rent cuts than Orange County were San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Las Vegas, Ventura County and Los Angeles. San Jose had the greatest rent cut with an average of 6.8% in the fourth quarter.

Orange County landlords had a vacancy rate of 6.4% in the 4^th quarter, which is less than the 8% average vacancy rate that was seen nationwide in the 4^th quarter.

In 2009, the highest number of Orange County individuals and businesses filed for protection in the federal bankruptcy court in at least a decade.

In Orange County, filings for the year were 64.1% higher than in 2008 and throughout the entire Central District (which includes most of Southern California) filings were 64.9% higher than the previous year.

About 84% of Orange County’s bankruptcy filings are Chapter 7 liquidations, 1.8% Chapter 11 business reorganization and 13.7% Chapter 13 individual reorganizations.

Many more middle-class people are looking to bankruptcy as a way to save their homes or for  their lenders into giving them loan modifications.

Bankruptcy experts have predicted that the number of bankruptcy filings will continue to increase in 2010, with an actually decline in the number of filings not happening until three to five years from now.

postpone their Snow Day event for the second time this year. The new Snow Day date is February 13. The time will remain the same – 12pm to 3pm – and it will still be taking place at theBrea Dam Park, 1700 N. Harbor Blvd..

If you have already registered for the event you will be receiving an email letting you know about the events new date. There are currently 100 spots still available if you are interested in attending the event. Advance registration is $6 per person for Fullerton residents and $9 per person for non-residents. Children under 3 will be admitted free. Events at the Snow Day include snowball battles, sled runs, crafts, games and a family campfire.

In the event that there is rain on February 13^th the event will be formally cancelled and all registrants will receive a full refund.

For more information or to register – which is required – call 714-738-6575 or go online to www.ci.fullerton.ca.us.

The number of people that have California real estate licenses declined by 5.5% in 2009. December’s agent total was the lowest monthly total since May 2006 and at the end of 2009 only 503,284 people still retained a California real estate license.

In the state there is still one real estate agent for every 25 households; at its peak in 2007 there was one agent for every 23 households in the state.

Although the number of real estate agents has decreased, the number of real estate brokers has remained steady.

chance of price loss over the next two years.

Orange County was tied to 9 other U.S. markets for having the highest chance of risk. The other cities included Miami, Inland Empire, Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, LA, Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando.

The score was based on several factors including the fact that Orange County unemployment runs 5.4 percentage points above its 5-year average vs. a 4 percentage point increase for the typical Top 50 market.

In the month of November hotels throughout Orange County saw room rates fall 10% in a year and saw 41% of rooms remain empty.

The biggest cuts in room rates occurred in the hotels surrounding John Wayne Airport where hotel room rates were cut 17% on average. Due to the continued success of Disneyland in spite of the recession the hotels with the smallest cuts in room rates occurred in Anaheim which only saw average price cuts of 4%.

52% of rooms in hotels located in South Orange County were vacant this November but hotels in Costa Mesa were the hardest to book with 62% of their hotels filled.

In Orange County the estimated value of home remodeling permits was $302 million in 2009, down for a fourth straight year.

The combined, inflation-adjusted value of all home-remodeling work in O.C. in the past decade was $4.3 billion, 39% of which occurred in 2004-05.

Due to the economy the only people still hiring contractors for home remodeling jobs are people who haven’t been directly impacted by the economic downturn, for example: Teachers, police officers, retirees.