Housing Orange County

Michelle Ellis works and lives in Mission Viejo. But home for Ellis, 23, and her 10-month-old son, Ryan, is not one of the expensive houses that have mushroomed in this sprawling, affluent South County community. It's her tan 1983 Toyota Camry parked on the street in front of the home where she works as a housekeeper during the day. Ellis is among a growing number of low-income single mothers who can no longer afford the high cost of housing and child care in South County.

A very preliminary and completely unofficial model depicting a new high-rise home for the Orange County Museum of Art made an appearance Thursday morning in a Costa Mesa hotel ballroom. For the moment the museum, to be built next to the Orange County Performing Arts-center, resembles a lipstick -- but that's only the conception of an anonymous model-maker. "It's just a place holder" until the museum gets around to deciding how its building should look, said Anton Segerstrom, a partner in C.J.

Ken Karlstad lived in Orange County for 17 years before he learned that there are families living without homes or in substandard dwellings. What's more, he learned that most of these people are not lazy, footloose or irresponsible. "Many of the adults have steady jobs," he said. "They just can't make it." So now Karlstad, a former aerospace engineer, is dedicated to helping those people obtain decent and affordable housing.

Rising home values, long taken for granted in affluent neighborhoods, finally have begun to improve fortunes in working-class cities across Southern California. Modest homes in lower-priced neighborhoods in Los Angeles County drove the overall median price in July to a record high of $231,000 as home sales reached near-frenzied levels, according to figures released Monday by DataQuick Information Systems Inc.

The focus in Orange County's residential real estate market has been on new houses for more than 30 years, but now a growing group of home buyers has begun rediscovering the county's older neighborhoods and their vintage homes. Ironically, the automobile--which propelled the area's rapid development over the past four decades--is partly responsible for the old-home boom. With the freeway system jammed, more people are returning to the county's center, where the aging neighborhoods are located.

The ice cream trucks actually sell ice cream these days and the prostitutes no longer solicit door-to-door. Such small victories are the measurements of progress for Buena Clinton. Once it was hell in a very small place--just 38 acres on the Garden Grove border with Santa Ana, labeled the worst slum in Orange County. It's still a small place, but police and social workers, residents and bureaucrats say Buena Clinton isn't quite the hell it used to be. "This isn't a slum.

The number of building permits issued for new housing in Orange County almost doubled in January, according to the state Construction Industry Research Board. The number of permits totaled 591, up from 338 issued in January, 1993. "It's hard to read too much into January. I don't want to discount the increase, but I don't want to say it's a turn-around," said Ben Bartolotto, research director for the board.

Seniors Housing: As Orange County ages, creating housing for the over-55 buyer is becoming an increasingly important niche in residential development--a market segment a lot of developers would like to break into. However, selling that housing can be an even more challenging venture than building it. To help developers understand the special nature of the market, the Seniors Housing Council of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California has scheduled an Aug.

In a recent wire service story about executives hunting for homes, a writer in Vancouver, Canada, compared the prices of upscale "executive" homes in suburban Chevy Chase, Md., with those in "Los Angeles' Orange County." Obviously, either the writer needs a geography lesson or Orange County needs a better publicist. The story said that executive housing in Orange County, which hasn't belonged to Los Angeles for 102 years, carries a median price tag in the $500,000 range.

Because of an acute shortage of low-cost housing, more than eight out of every 10 poor families in Orange County rental units devote at least half of their income to rent--the second worst record in the country, according to a study released Tuesday by a national research group.

Home values in Los Angeles and Orange counties continued growing at a vigorous pace last month, led by sharp gains among moderately priced houses, according to a report released Tuesday. Sales of homes in Los Angeles County also exceeded expectations as consumers brushed aside concerns about the sluggish economy to take advantage of low mortgage rates. Analysts said the latest results suggest that the region's housing market will hold up well during the peak summer home-buying months.

New homes built in Orange County should be equipped with automatic sprinkler systems to combat fires, the Orange County Grand Jury recommended Thursday. Such fire sprinklers, installed in the ceilings of new one- and two-family residences, could reduce fire-related property damage countywide by at least 60%, according to a grand jury report.

New homes built in Orange County should be equipped with automatic sprinkler systems to combat fires, the Orange County Grand Jury said Thursday. Such fire sprinklers, installed in the ceilings of new one- and two-family residences, could reduce fire-related property damage countywide by at least 60%, according to the jury's report. Most California counties, including Orange, adhere to the state building code, which requires sprinklers in commercial buildings but not residential structures.

Boosted by entry-level and move-up buyers, home prices last month rose more than 10% in Orange and Los Angeles counties as the bellwether market for higher-end housing started to soften a bit. Analysts have been watching for signs of weakness in a surging home market that has defied a national economy soured by layoffs, poor corporate financial results and lagging stock prices. But housing overall has remained largely oblivious to the economic slowdown.

Finding an apartment in Orange County isn't getting any easier. A new report by Marcus & Millichap, a brokerage in Newport Beach, predicts that that vacancy rate will be slightly below the minuscule 2.9% rate last year. Average apartment rents rose 8% last year to $1,050, according to the report. And landlords, with waiting lists in hand, figure to demand higher rents this year.

Surging Southern California home prices last month matched a record in Orange County and set one in Los Angeles County, surprising analysts who expected the softening economy to slow down rising housing costs. The median price for an Orange County home rose 12.3% from March last year to $292,000, the same cost recorded in December, according to a report released Tuesday by DataQuick Information Systems Inc., a La Jolla research firm.

Inventories of unsold new housing in Orange County have diminished steadily since the depths of the recession in 1982, when there were more than 6,600 homes and condominiums waiting for buyers. The total declined to a low of 324 by the middle of 1988, increasing only slightly to 511 by year's end. Recent figures show a reversal of a longstanding trend: For the first time since 1982, the number of unsold detached homes in the county exceeded the number of available condominium units.

After a 90-minute tour of some of the city's most overcrowded neighborhoods on Friday, a top state housing official said he has seen few areas as densely packed with people, and agreed with local officials that the problem jeopardizes the health and safety of residents. "I've seen different underdeveloped areas that were overcrowded before, but probably never of this magnitude," said Carl D. Covitz, state secretary for housing, business, transportation and housing.

Home sales and prices in Los Angeles and Orange counties grew vigorously last month, providing further evidence that the region's resilient housing market is increasingly cushioning the blows of a weakening economy. Despite the energy crisis, layoffs and malaise on Wall Street, median home prices shot up 7% in Los Angeles County and 10% in Orange County from January a year ago, according to a report released Tuesday by DataQuick Information Systems Inc., a La Jolla research firm.

Unfurling blueprints onto his big oak desk at his estate overlooking Upper Newport Bay, John Crean gushes about his new housing development springing up in Hemet: The houses are being framed in steel, not wood. They will have quirky details like cutouts in the kitchen counter-tops for trash. And, perhaps most unusual of all in Southern California, these homes won't cost an arm and a leg. "Crean Acres," as he is calling his development, is no ordinary housing tract.