Straight Digs

  Photo by Down Town Pictures

There are several sources of information for seeing Orange County fireworks on the 4th. 

The Los Angeles Times just published a city by city list. 

Each individual city, in turn, has information on their fireworks displays.  So, for example, the Aliso Viejo community association Web site has a calendar with a menu that pulls up as you hover over the 4th.  Or you can go direct to the flyer for the Aliso Viejo fireworks show which has its own page.

We are planning on attending the Laguna Niguel fireworks show with friends.  Its not as glamorous as the beach city fireworks shows, but it is a short walk from our home. 

If you’re going to your first one in Orange County, the beach shows are always fun.  We’ve seen a couple and it’s worth it to brave the traffic at least once.   Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente are all having displays. 

If you don’t want to be stuck in traffic and want a really good time with the family, we’d recommend the Aliso Viejo show.  In addition to the usual band, games, food, etc., the fireworks are low level fireworks, which means they are very loud, very bright, and remnants have the tendency to land on you on occasion.  This year, the association is sponsoring an Apple Pie eating contest as well.  Yum?!

  Photo by Koichi Suzuki

Google maps now has street views for much of Orange County (thanks to SouthOCTracker for pointing this out).  Street views are just what they sound like: views at the street level for various map locations.  The site Everyscape has a similar interface and its photos seem sharper, but it is in its beta stages, so only Laguna Beach is featured thus far.  Google Maps is the way to go for Orange County street views.

We could not help but feel a little bit creeped out by the big-brother-like views you can get of many Orange County neighborhoods.  We were grateful that our street does not yet have a street view.  Also, gated communities can rejoice that Google seems to have passed them up as well.  Apparently, we are not alone in our privacy concerns, as Google has been sued recently over its street view as an invasion of privacy.

But, overall, this has to be good for the home buying and selling market.  Buyers now no longer have to wonder what a neighborhood looks like at the ground level while doing online searches.  Sellers won’t have to deal as often with buyers setting appointments to see a home, only to cancel at the last minute because they drove by and didn’t like the neighborhood.

It will only be a matter of time before all of the real estate brokers are mashing listings with Google Earth and street view so that your home buying experience is even more realistic than it is today.  Until then, bookmark Google Maps street view and use it with your favorite listing source.

  Photo by cogdogblog

Earlier this year, some Orange County real estate industry folks developed Realestatewiki.  A wiki is a site that allows users to add or edit content as a group.  The most popular wiki, Wikipedia, is one of the most visited sites in the world.  Realestatewiki is trying to become the real estate version of Wikipedia.

Realestatewiki looks like it has the potential to be a good resource for home buyers and sellers.  The glossary alone provides more definitions than are found on most real estate Web sites.  It has a Q&A section for home buyers and home sellers as well.

However, the site has a long uphill climb.  Graphically, its opening page is a step above Craigslist, not exactly inviting the reader to explore further.  Also, some of the language is stilted, especially in the definitions section. 

By contrast, Zillow has a wiki it calls the Real Estate Guide, which has a more intuitive feel.  You can tell the definitions and entries were written by a non-legal person interested in entertaining while educating.  Both sites are at least worth exploring. 

If you’re looking for more wiki real estate content, these two sites may be it.  Bigger Pockets, one of the leading real estate sites, closed down its wiki due to lack of contributions.  Inman supposedly has a wiki, but either it’s subscription only or it doesn’t seem to want to open on our browser.  And make sure when you enter realestatewiki that you add .com not .org.  The .org site is not developed at all.

For the uninitiated, St. Joseph is the Roman Catholic patron saint of carpenters (and a host of other things).  There is a tradition in Roman Catholicism that if you bury a statue of St. Joseph in your yard, you will sell your home more quickly.  A co-worker emailed info on St. Joseph kits and we just had to share.  Our official position on this tradition:

1.  It can’t hurt.

2.  It will only help if you believe in it.

One of our clients believed in it, did it, and attributed her fast sale to it.  So for those of you who are Roman Catholic, bury away.  Everyone else, you may have to rely on marketing and pricing alone to sell your home.

 Photo by Doug L

Magic Johnson, erstwhile NBA star, and current successful businessman just moved into town.  According to the LA Times, he bought a “newly built home in a gated community with a private beach, located between a cove and a five-star hotel.”  In other words, he bought a home in Ritz Cove part of the Monarch Beach area of Dana Point.  $7.6 million is a pretty good deal when you consider the same sized place sold for $12 million earlier in the year.

 Photo by ssh 

Famous people live in Orange County in case you didn’t know.  We thought we’d take a look around to see what their homes look like.

Some sites have done some of the work already.  The Real Estalker is a no-holds barred celebrity housing gossip blog.  Nicholas Cage is the only non-reality show celebrity from Orange County I found on her site.  However, there’s good coverage of The Real Housewives of Orange County.  She has posts on Vicki, Lauri, and houseboyfriend? Slade.

Debbie Burton, Orange County real estate agent, maintains a site where she’s posted pics of Kobe Bryant’s home, his wife’s childhood home and Donny Osmond’s childhood home.

Some sites don’t have pictures but do have info on Orange County residents.  Wikipedia has a list of notables.  The Irvine Company has a list of famous athletes who live in Shady Canyon.

 [Photo used under terms of use of  MegElizabeth]

If you’re perpetually fighting boredom at work or just want to do something less conspicuous than Peggle, try these sites.  Keep in mind, these are fun, not necessarily useful.

1.  Trulia:  Heatmaps, Voices, Trends, and Hindsight are my favorite tools.  Oh yeah, you can search properties there too.

2.  Zillow:  A bit of the cache may be gone, but you can still get an estimate of the value of your friends’ homes at the click of a mouse.  And who can resist the Cool Homes section?  Am I old if I zoom in on Archie Bunker’s place?

3.  Zipskinny: Statheads only need apply.  Get tons of demographic color-coded info and compare to other cities.  Here’s Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Hills.  Looks like we’re smart, employed and well off.

4.  HousingMaps:  Combine Craigslist and GoogleMaps to find that for sale by owner down the street from you.

5.  Rentometer:  Find out if you’re charging enough for that rental or confirm the potential rent for your current place complete with nifty graphics.

6. Everyscape:  From ground level you can zoom into an area and then inside the property itself.  The future of real estate marketing?  Too bad Orange County isn’t listed yet.

7.  Craigslist:  There’s all kinds of housing fun to be had on Craigslist, but my favorite is housing swaps.  Find out who wants to swap a Hawaiian beachfront for the holidays.

8.  Propsmart:  Culls listings from a variety of sources (not enough to be really useful) and overlays the information on Google Earth.  Anytime you can play with Google Earth that’s a good thing.

9.  MyOCLiving:  A little self-promotion never hurt anyone.  Search for homes by map, by payment, by school, or in the traditional way.  Get an instant appraisal for your home or market trends for an area.

10.  Google Moon:  OK, not quite real estate related, but still fun images of the moon crossed with the history of the Apollo missions.