Roger Merrill Realtor

I help people get what they want.

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First Time Home Buyers Made The Easy Way! THE VOICE OF MERRILL ...  For the first time buyers this is a one minute commercial I made for you.  How to buy a house the easy way.

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Selling a Home Yourself: Not the Best Do-It-Yourself Project

Selling a Home Yourself: Not the Best Do-It-Yourself Project

THE VOICE OF MERRILL … You pronounce it “FIZZ-bow.”

That’s FSBO: For Sale by Owner, and it’s the Road Less Travelled by area homeowners bent on selling a home in Orange County as economically as possible. It does seem to make common sense, after all. It’s the homeowner who knows the ins and outs of their own home best—so who could be more qualified to show it off to the buyers who’ll be lined up,…

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Mortgage Rate News Prompts ‘Bird in the Hand’ Thoughts

Mortgage Rate News Prompts ‘Bird in the Hand’ Thoughts

THE VOICE OF MERRILL … If you’ve ever had the kind of neighbor who is apt to borrow something (like your hedge trimmer), only to later complain about how it performed, you know how much patience it takes to hold your tongue. The Mortgage Bankers Association would be justified if they felt that way about me: I read their website, and sometimes quote it in posts about current Orange County mortgage…

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When a Home goes Searching for its Identity: Comparables

When a Home goes Searching for its Identity: Comparables

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  There are two kinds of situations that homeowners looking at town comparables run into:

1. THE SIMPLE COMPS: Your Orange County home is part of an area that’s more uniform than not, in a neighborhood where there are a sufficient number of similar houses to have produced several sales recently. Your street may not be part of a literal development with models that have…

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Orange County Real Estate News Can’t Compete with this China Item

Orange County Real Estate News Can’t Compete with this China Item

THE VOICE OF MERRILL … Orange County real estate news is fairly predictable—at least compared with some of the stories that filter in from the rest of the world. Here in Orange County, for instance, wherever a new home is being built, you’re likely to see familiar evidence like stacks of lumber and drywall, cartons of nail gun ammo, sacks of cement, and workmen hustling around as they put…

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Orange County Home Inspection Should be Positively Negative!

Orange County Home Inspection Should be Positively Negative!

THE VOICE OF MERRILL … Whenever we think of how our Orange County home staging professionals approach their craft, it’s all the positives that come to mind—how they transform a ho-hum living room into a welcoming showplace; a run-of-the-mill front porch into a curb appeal magnet, etc. That is true, but equally important are the negatives they address. Stagers locate and eliminate elements that…

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A Surer Way to Find the Average House Price in Orange County

A Surer Way to Find the Average House Price in Orange County

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  When you do a web search for “average house price in Orange County,” you come up with a lot of good, not-so-good, and just plain lame information. If you were looking for a general idea of what the current market says that homes like yours in your neighborhood are worth, the results are likely to be more amusing than anything else.

You always come up with the national…

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Will Orange County Real Estate Reflect Trend to Downsizer Nation?

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  I, in fact, have changed the verbiage from ‘Downsizer’ to ‘ReSize’.  ReSize has a much more positive feel to it, because Downsize sounds so negative!

You would think that smaller homes would be skyrocketing in popularity right about now. Statistics show that the average number of people in American households is shrinking. Practicality would seem to dictate that a trend…

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Bullish U.S. Residential Sales Projections Cheer Orange County Owners

Bullish U.S. Residential Sales Projections Cheer Orange County Owners

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  Residential sales in Orange County, in fact, all real estate dealings anywhere—remain the most local of commercial transactions. If your house is in San Francisco, a price spike in suburban Newark is probably of little interest, unless you plan on moving anytime soon. Even so, the new projection for overall U.S. residential sales had to perk up area homeowners’ interest.

T…

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Now or Later: When Is the Right Time to Buy a Orange County Home?

Now or Later: When Is the Right Time to Buy a Orange County Home?

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  A few weeks ago, an eye-catching article surfaced on the Investopedia web site—one with the arresting title of “When is the Right Time to Buy a Home?” I have always assumed that for prospective Orange County home buyer, the answer to that question varies by the individual circumstances. But if there is a more cut-and-dried universal answer, it would certainly be good to…

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Orange County Spring Real Estate Selling Season: it’s Sprung!

Orange County Spring Real Estate Selling Season: it’s Sprung!

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  When the first spring day comes along (as opposed to the first day of spring), a goodly proportion of Orange County’s residents feel the annual pull toward the garden store aisles. Even those who’ve stoutly resisted ordering seeds, gardening tools, or any of the other back yard paraphernalia the catalogs kept hawking all winter can succumb to this particular Call of Nature.

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Orange County Real Estate Value Boosters: Worth Researching

Orange County Real Estate Value Boosters: Worth Researching

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  “The best real estate value in Orange County” is certainly a little bit over-the-top when it’s used in a listing, but in truth, that’s pretty much what most prospective homebuyers in every price range actually hope to find. For homeowners planning to list their own Orange County homes, it’s good to keep in mind. When home improvement projects are going to be part of the…

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Orange County Rental Investment also has Rent-to-Own Possibilities

Orange County Rental Investment also has Rent-to-Own Possibilities

THE VOICE OF MERRILL … Suppose your Realtor® helped you land a prime Orange County rental investment property—and you’ve been more than content with the result. Your longtime tenant proved to be conscientious and dependable, with resulting passive income that has been quietly building your bank account with very little oversight from you. In short, your Orange County rental investment has made…

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The HomeWork Show – Orange Counties Favorite Internet Radio Show On Saturday between 10am to 11am, push this button to listen to "The HomeWork Show".

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Second Thoughts on Buying an Orange County Home for Golden Years

Second Thoughts on Buying an Orange County Home for Golden Years

THE VOICE OF MERRILL … That housing needs change as people get older goes without saying. For Orange County Baby Boomers, the “getting older” concept has gradually morphed from the distant abstraction it seemed in the 60’s and 70’s to a more immediate concern. And of all the decisions that will have the most impact on those nearing their golden years, buying the right Orange County home—one that…

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Flipping Orange County Real Estate vs. Buy-and-Hold

Flipping Orange County Real Estate vs. Buy-and-Hold

THE VOICE OF MERRILL …  When you own an Orange County home your family lives in, you are by definition a real estate investor: it comes with the turf. Your investment is essentially a passive one. Until the day you decide to sell and move on, any improvement in its value is secondary to how well it serves to shelter your family.

How you think about your investment—and how you proceed to manage…

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The HomeWork Show

Show each week Saturday 10 to 11am.